Wubi

Installer Boot Menu

Asked by Bernard Boey

I have installed Ubuntu on a USB device that has less than 2GB of space. I have loaded Wubi on the USB device and installed on my windows 7 computer. After restarting, there are two OS to select. I used Ubuntu a few times and during the last time I ejected the USB device. Then, I restarted the computer, hoping to use Windows 7. However, the screen something like I had to insert some boot device. (text-based interface) I inserted the USB device and restarted the computer by pressing the shutdown button (I forced shutdown as I could not shut down from the text-based interface) and pressing it again. Now, it directs me to a installer boot menu (text-based interface). There are some options like "Run ubuntu from this disk", "Install Ubuntu on a Hard Disk", "Test memory", "Boot from first hard disk", "advanced options" and "Help". The 1st and 2nd option reboots the computer and directs me to the same menu.The 3rd and 4th option just sort of reloads the menu. There is nothing in "advanced options" and "help" does not help me much. Currently, I cannot access both Windows and Ubuntu. I cannot do anything on the computer? HELP!!! What should I do?

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Wubi Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
bcbc
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Bernard Boey (bbkc22113) said : 		#1

Oh ya it is Ubuntu 11.04

Revision history for this message
bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#2

Try running Ubuntu (make sure it says: run without installing) and once booted to the desktop, download and run the bootinfoscript so we can take a better look at your setup:

http://bootinfoscript.sourceforge.net/

Pleases post the results to http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/ and return here with a link to the pastebin address.
Thanks

Revision history for this message
Bernard Boey (bbkc22113) said : 		#3

It cannot boot to the desktop. I am using another computer now. I have tried using another CD to run Ubuntu but it directs me to a graphic-based page. There are the options "Try ubuntu without installing", "Install Ubuntu", "Check disc for defects", "test memory", "Boot from first hard disk" and a whole lot of F*(eg. F5) options. I have tried the 1st option but it just reboots after it hangs for a very long time and directs me to the same page. What should I do?

Revision history for this message
Best bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#4

It's hard to know what has happened... but if you are booting from your harddrive and it is directing you to the USB device, then it means you have replaced the bootloader on the hard drive MBR with one pointing at the USB device (likely Grub2).

For Windows you need the windows bootloader. So, boot from a Windows repair disk to a repair command prompt and run:
bootrec.exe /fixmbr

That will tell the hard drive to boot from the partition with the boot flag set. This is windows' boot partition. If that fails, then you'll need to continue with windows repair. Hopefully it's just the bootloader and that will fix it.

(It's hard to know without the full diagnosis the bootinfoscript gives, but in the best scenario this will get you booting again).

Revision history for this message
Bernard Boey (bbkc22113) said : 		#5

Thanks bcbc, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
Bernard Boey (bbkc22113) said : 		#6

Finally! I used a System Recovery Disc from Neosmart and I tried what you said but it did not work. So, I ran startup repair 2 times and finally I can use Windows 7 again! Thank you very much! It should be working now but I probably will only use Ubuntu again after some time. By that time I will probably have more questions. Thank you again!

Revision history for this message
bcbc (bcbc) said : 		#7

That's good to hear. I'm sorry you had some issues.