Remove Grub & Restore MBR

Mark Phelps · 15 Mar 2011

You generally don't have to reinstall Linux to get it booting again. With Ubuntu, you can reinstall GRUB directly from the CD without having to reinstall the entire OS. Don't know what options Mint provides, but it would be worth your checking on their forums to see if they have a similar capability.

Also, with Ubuntu, once you have the Linux drive booting, you would reconnect the Windows drive, but continue to boot from the Linux drive, open a terminal, and enter "sudo update-grub" -- to regen the GRUB menu and add an entry for Windows. You should check for this on the Mint forums as well.

essenbe · 15 Mar 2011

Mark Phelps, that may be a good suggestion and may work. I have used Mint in the past. It is a distro based on Unbutu.

metania · 15 Mar 2011

Thanks, Mark. Actually I reinstalled Linux last night anyway, since I had just installed it the day before, on that 2nd hd. All is working just like I want it to now-woohoo!

I unplugged the Linux drive. Booted from Win7 repair DVD, ran Startup Repair about 5 times, no dice. Still couldn't boot into Windows. What I ended up doing is going to the command prompt from the Win7 DVD and entering:
bootsect /nt60 d: /mbr. That fixed it and I could then boot into Win7 no problem!

Then I unplugged Windows drive, attached 2nd drive, reinstallled Linux Mint, plugged both back in and powered up and voila- booted into Win7. I get into Mint by tapping F12 and choosing its drive at startup/restart.

All this because I'm trying to figure out if my ongoing crashes are due to a Windows compatibility/software glitch or a hardware problem. If I don't get crashes in Linux, my guess is it's not hardware.

BTW, what's the advantage to adding Windows entry to GRUB with "sudo update-grub" over what I'm doing now with F12?

essenbe · 15 Mar 2011

In my opinion, it is all in what you want. I believe that will put you into a dual boot situation. The downside would be - if you ever decide to uninstall linux, Grub will be in the windows boot menu and you will not be able to boot into windows without going through what you just experienced. That is my understanding anyway.

mjf · 15 Mar 2011

I am an occassional user of puppy linux and linux mint. Both are installed on USB flash drives. If I was a frequent user then I'd definitely use a separate drive but also BIOS booted.

Mark Phelps · 16 Mar 2011

metania said:

BTW, what's the advantage to adding Windows entry to GRUB with "sudo update-grub" over what I'm doing now with F12?

None, really. Since you can toggle OS's with the press of a key, using GRUB to do the same thing really doesn't buy you anything. It's just that some folks want to do that using a menu, instead of pressing a function key.

essenbe · 16 Mar 2011

Mark Phelps, just for my information; are you saying that my response was incorrect? What I wrote has been my experience unless I did it wrong.

Mark Phelps · 17 Mar 2011

essenbe said:

Mark Phelps, just for my information; are you saying that my response was incorrect? What I wrote has been my experience unless I did it wrong.

No, you're not wrong. The OP asked about the advantages of using GRUB over simply pressing a function key. You told him of one of the disadvantages -- overwriting the MBR with GRUB.

Nem · 17 Mar 2011

I recently messed up my MBR, on accident

. Fixed it with running Win7 repair CD and in the CMD prompt i did bootrec /fixMBR 1st than ran startup repair and all was fine. Dual boot is just a hassle imo, if ya gotta decent sized USB Flash or a USB HDD ..that's where i installed mine.