Question

1

Windows 7 doesn't show in boot menu after installing GRUB and Ubuntu

rated 0 times [ 1] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 5686 / 3 Years ago, fri, august 27, 2021, 6:41:56

I had a system with windows 7 installed on it.
For installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, I installed GRUB.
Now Ubuntu is working fine. But the GRUB boot menu at system startup doesn't show Windows 7, after successful installation of Ubuntu.

Following is the output of sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders, total 976773168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x71c30ce5



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1              63       80324       40131   12  Compaq diagnostics

Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary.

/dev/sda2           81920    29044735    14481408    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda3   *    29044736   522272767   246614016    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda4       522274814   976764927   227245057    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)

Partition 4 does not start on physical sector boundary.

/dev/sda5       522274816   651298815    64512000    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda6       665636864   709464063    21913600    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda7       808998912   976764927    83883008    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT

/dev/sda8       651300864   665634815     7166976   82  Linux swap / Solaris

/dev/sda9       709466112   808984575    49759232   83  Linux



Partition table entries are not in disk order

omitting empty partition (6)



Disk /dev/sdb: 32.0 GB, 32017047552 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 3892 cylinders, total 62533296 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x71c30ccf



   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdb1   *        2048    16775167     8386560   84  OS/2 hidden C: drive

/dev/sdb2        16777214    62531583    22877185    5  Extended

/dev/sdb5        16777216    54396927    18809856   83  Linux

Answers

Only authorized users can answer the question. Please sign in first, or register a free account.

enefiama

Add To Favorites

Follow

Total Points: 43

Total Questions: 125

Total Answers: 102

Location: Gabon

Member since Sat, Jul 25, 2020

4 Years ago

enefiama questions

1 Cannot use Python 3.10 as interpreter on Pycharm

Sat, Jun 19, 21, 01:27, 3 Years ago

1 Risks of replacing .bashrc file from one computer to another

Wed, Aug 3, 22, 12:34, 2 Years ago

1 replace text with part of text using regex with bash perl

Mon, May 23, 22, 09:15, 2 Years ago

1 wifi keeps dropping in 20.04

Mon, Aug 8, 22, 03:41, 2 Years ago

1 Ubuntu 20.04: Why does turning off "wi-fi can be turned off to save power" turn my wi-fi off?

Sat, Nov 27, 21, 20:36, 2 Years ago

View All

answered 3 Years ago peafowkes · Accepted Answer

Thanks to all users and askubuntu forum, I finally got it all sorted out.

Following are the list of steps:

I formatted the c drive of windows using gparted to ntfs.

Changed the BIOS setting 'SATA Operation' from 'Intel Smart Response Technology' to 'ATA'.

Reinstalled windows 7 using live CD.

After successful installation of windows, grub was over written, so there was no boot menu at start up and windows 7 was boot straight away.

I loaded ubuntu using ubuntu live CD. (Did not install, just run ubuntu).

Ran following commands in terminal:

sudo mount /dev/sda9 /mnt  # sda9 was the partition i had previously set for ubuntu



sudo rm -rf /boot



sudo ln -s /mnt/boot /boot



sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install grub-pc



sudo grub-setup /dev/sda



sudo umount /boot

After this i ran 'Boot Repair' with recommended settings.

Removed the extra lines i had added in /etc/grub.d/40_custom, and did update-grub.

Now I have the boot menu with both ubuntu and windows 7.

(I am not sure, but I think I could have avoided reinstalling of windows and managed with just boot-repair, if i had made the SATA operation change in BIOS first.)