Having Accessed Desktop from Windows 10 Insider can't boot Windows 7

swarfendor437 · 04 Sep 2018

Yesterday I had to bring work home with me. A notebook taken off the network was to be deployed elsewhere. The IT technicians based at work flatten Notebook drives - they remove the recovery partition. So I had to download the ISO from the Dell Support website. Like Windows 10, any images will overwrite anything and the only large scale device available to me was my Patriot 64 Gb memory stick which had some useful files and apps on it (About 25 Gb). I booted into the Windows 10 Insider Pro build (expires 14.12.2018) and proceeded to access my Windows 7 Pro drive to move stuff off my Patriot USB stick to Windows 7 Desktop in a newly created folder. (Have tended to avoid booting into Windows 10 with 7 drive connected and fell foul of not following my strict routine). On attempting to boot into Windows 7 now, all I get is the startup logo followed by a black screen and mouse cursor but no login prompt. Have found similar issue reported here:

Windows 7 boots to black screen with cursor before login screen after - Microsoft Community

I suspect changing the permissions to be able to access the Windows 7/my user/Desktop folder as permanent caused this issue and have since found an Windows10Upgrade folder on C:\ drive which I have always avoided.
I have used the Windows Repair Disc which at first came back with no OS found - then using another utility, noticed that the 7 System Partition was not flagged as 'Boot' - so changed this. Subsequent repair disc boots then found the partition and the usual bootrec.exe /FixBoot and bootrec.exe /FixMbr reported success but in reality no change happened.

I then followed the guide here:

How to Rebuild the BCD in Windows

again to no avail - Booting into my GNU/Linux OS kept in the hotswap bay and used more than Windows 7 but need 7 for some apps to run, I can see all my data and apps and downloads. Is it a case of 'biting the bullet'; backing up all the data and doing a fresh install?

Thanks for any advice - even if it means 'biting the bullet'! ;-)

mrjimphelps · 05 Sep 2018

Are you saying that you took a laptop home from work, and that you are having to do a rebuild on it? Normally the IT folks are the ones who rebuild / reimage work computers. In fact, with some companies, you could get fired for trying to rebuild a work laptop on your own.

Your best bet here would be to ask the IT folks at your job to reimage the laptop and thereby make it ready for you to use. Or ask their advice as to what to do here, so that you don't violate some company policy.

swarfendor437 · 05 Sep 2018

OK perhaps this is turning into an advertisement for spectacle companies! LOL! I work for a service based in a school. The IT technicians there are responsible for putting our IT kit on their network. The Notebook in question had been downgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise to match their network. Kit that belongs to the service not on the network is MY responsibility. We do not have permission to install hardware proprietary recovery software and work did not own a memory stick big enough to install the recovery media too. So I took the kit home to sort out which I have done successfully only to have my kit screwed during the process of backing the contents of my memory stick to my Windows 7 desktop. Are we clear now?

The notebook had to be upgraded to Windows 10 for redeployment to staff employed in our service based in another office. Anyway I am resigned to the fact that my Zorin OS 12.4 Lite (xfce) rig will be used to extract my precious data and downloads to an external drive and a rebuild this weekend. But thanks for replying even if it was totally off track. And before you ask why I did not use my GNU/Linux drive, Dell doesn't support Windows isos to be downloaded to GNU/Linux.