Repair Windows 7 boot menu on UEFI

I accidentally deleted the Windows 7 boot entry in the Windows Boot Manager. My laptop uses UEFI instead of BIOS. The OS is Windows 7 64bit Home Premium.

Here what I tried and its results:

1. Use startup repair: I tried to use Startup Repair from a Windows 7 Installation Disk (actually, a USB). However, it said that the Recovery Options was not compatible. There are many causes as mentioned in Causes of incompatibility and I was able to eliminate these:
   
   • 64-bit Installation Disk: Checked
   • Windows 7 installer boot to UEFI: don't know how to check
   • CPU and OS architecture are the same: Processor (CPU?) Architecture is AMD64, OS is Windows_NT (don't know if the same or not)
   
   
   Many suggest to use startup repair but I don't know how to make this work.
   
2. Use bootrec following Repair Windows 8 efi bootloader: three commands finished succesfully but I still doesn't see the Windows 7 boot entry in the Windows Boot Manager.
   
3. Use diskpart: open diskpart from the command promt from the Windows 7 installation USB. I was able to see
   
   >>list disk
   Disk #### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
   Disk 0 Online 698GB 1024KB *
   Disk 1 Online 3864MB 1024KB
   
   >>list volume
   
   
   Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
   Volume 0 F DVD-ROM No media
   Volume 1 C Data NTFS Partition 138GB Healthy
   Volume 2 D Entertain NTFS Partition 393GB Healthy
   Volume 3 E Recovery NTFS Partition 25GB Healthy
   Volume 4 SYSTEM NTFS Partition 200MB Healthy Hidden
   Volume 5 OS NTFS Partition 140GB Healthy Hidden
   Volume 6 G WinUSB NTFS Partition 3859MB Healthy
   
   I found that
   
   1. My disk is a GPT disk
   2. The Windows partition (volume 5) is hidden.
   
   
   I tried to unhide the windows partition using
   
   1. active: The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk. The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.
   2. attributes volume clear hidden: Virtual Disk Service error. The object is not found.
   
   
   This has something to do with the UEFI since my PC doesn't use MBR. I think if I can set the OS partition to active I can boot to Windows. But don't know whether this is correct and how to do it.
   

This is how i "accidentally" delete the windows 7 boot entry: I use EasyBCD 2.1 to add Ubuntu entry to the boot manager since after installing Ubuntu, I can't boot to Ubuntu. However, it was no use since EasyBCD couldn't identify any boot entry. I tried to add some Ubuntu entries and a Windows 7 entry for testing but still didn't see any of them in EasyBCD (in the Windows boot manager, they all appeared). Later, I realized that EasyBCD 2.1 didn't support EFI but EasyBCD 2.2 beta does. That's why the entries doesn't show up in EasyBCD 2.1. Then, I downloaded EasyBCD 2.2 and deleted the added entries leaving a Windows 7 and a Ubuntu entry. The problem may come from here when I delete the wrong Windows 7 entry.

Lets start with the basic stuff first. In your bios, there should be a Windows Boot Manager listed in the Boot options. Is that set to first priority? USB flash drives need additional steps to make them useable in UEFI. The Windows USB maker will not work. Use an Install DVD if you have one, if not, download one from here.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/offici...digital-river/

If you need to boot to the UEFI version of the Install DVD, you also need to go into the bios and select the UEFI DVD entry.

I will go through your post after this response, so let us know if you are able to run the Startup Repair, if needed.

What motherboard/system do you have?

Edit: EasyBCD is not UEFI aware. It may be able to repair some things, but I don't recommend using it, but since you say a beta does, I will do some testing.

Ubuntu has UEFI also and installs fine using it. No need to use some additional procedure to add it to the boot. Just use the Boot Menu F key to choose it from the list, or go into the Bios to set it first priority. The Boot Device list menu in a one time choice, and does not set that device to first priority in the bios.

Thank you very much for your help.

Saltgrass said:

Lets start with the basic stuff first. In your bios, there should be a Windows Boot Manager listed in the Boot options. Is that set to first priority?

Yes. It is. The Windows Boot Manager is the first option.

If you need to boot to the UEFI version of the Install DVD, you also need to go into the bios and select the UEFI DVD entry.

I will go through your post after this response, so let us know if you are able to run the Startup Repair, if needed.

I use a USB stick instead of the Install DVD. I was able to select UEFI: JetFlashTranscend 4GB 1100 (the USB). There is another option without UEFI. I make the USB bootable using WinUsb Maker: http://www.joshcellsoftwares.com/201...nUSBMaker.html and format it under FAT32. Don't know if this is enough to boot it to UEFI.

I will try using a DVD as you said.

What motherboard/system do you have?

The system specifications are:

CPU : Intel® Core i7-3610QM (4×2.3GHz) (Cache 6MB) - Turbo Boost 3.3Ghz
Chipset : Intel® HM77 Express Chipset
Memory : 4GB DDR3 (Bus 1600MHz)
HDD : 750GB SATA 7200rpm

BIOS info
BIOS vendor: American Megatrends
Version: 206

Edit: EasyBCD is not UEFI aware. It may be able to repair some things, but I don't recommend using it, but since you say a beta does, I will do some testing.

You are correct. EasyBCD does not support UEFI.

Ubuntu has UEFI also and installs fine using it. No need to use some additional procedure to add it to the boot. Just use the Boot Menu F key to choose it from the list, or go into the Bios to set it first priority. The Boot Device list menu in a one time choice, and does not set that device to first priority in the bios.

Let me rephrase this: the Boot Device list is in the BIOS (access by pressing Delete when the computer starts). From the Boot Device list, I can select the order of the boot devices which may include: Windows Boot Manager, DVD, USB (UEFI or not)... The Windows Boot Manager is the Boot Menu F key that you mentioned ?

Bios or firmware, whatever you want to call it, are set up differently by different manufacturers. On my Asus board, an F8, during the splash screen, will bring up a Boot Device menu so I do not have to go in the Bios for a one time choice. Del gets me actually into the Bios setup. Mine is AMI also.

Even if your Flash Drive shows UEFI, it may not work. Check the file structure against the attachment to see if yours agrees. It also has to be formated in FAT32 to work.

Saltgrass said:

Bios or firmware, whatever you want to call it, are set up differently by different manufacturers. On my Asus board, an F8, during the splash screen, will bring up a Boot Device menu so I do not have to go in the Bios for a one time choice. Del gets me actually into the Bios setup. Mine is AMI also.

Even if your Flash Drive shows UEFI, it may not work. Check the file structure against the attachment to see if yours agrees. It also has to be formated in FAT32 to work.

The file structure is the same since I was follow this guide to install Windows 7 in native EFI mode from USB. The USB is also formated in FAT32. I just recheck all of the above.

More info, I just found out that the Windows partition is not only hidden but it is also a EFI System partition. Hope this helps.

Your problem is you need to boot into UEFI and do a startup repair.

You can try doing a Bcdboot C:\Windows to see if it might help, but a Startup Repair is probably necessary.

One more thing, the USB flash Drives, even when they do boot correctly can be a little flaky during a repair operation. Possibly if you remove the flash drive, it will not give you that compatibility problem error. If you remove it too soon, you may get a driver error message, so wait until just before selecting "Repair", I believe. Another reason I recommend using the DVD, if possible.

The info on the partitions is probalby unnecessary, and yes, all GPT drives have a 128 mb hidden partition, and UEFI installs have a 100 mb EFI partition.

Edit: GPT drives don't use Active partitions.

I just tried to Bcdboot C:\Windows but it doesn't work. The error message is Failure when attempting to copy boot files. My C drive as I see does not contain any Windows directory.

I'm burning a DVD, I will try the DVD when it finishes.

If you are looking at the directory from a command prompt window, the C: drive may not actually be C: so you might check d: also. If that were to be the case, the command would need a D: instead of C:

I need to check something on my system, and be back in a few minutes.

Ok, I got it. I just checked all the other drive but none of them contain the Windows folder. However, as I said above, the partition that contains the Windows folder is Volume 5 and it is hidden. I cannot specify it in the bcdboot command.