Resurrect Vista

B

beauparc

Member
Power User
Background. I have three internal HDDs. C: running Win7. E: as backup. U: running Ubuntu. Before upgrading to Win7 on C: I copied the entire Vista installation to E: and just used it to retrieve emails and other stuff.

Having installed Ubuntu the machine initially boots into the GRUB loader which gives me the choice of which OS to launch. To my surprise it also gives me the option of running Vista. I tried it and naturally, after trying to run, Vista stopped with a message asking me to insert the original disk to repair the installation.

Question. Will this work or am I likely to corrupt Win7 and/or Ubuntu? I assume that it will work because neither Win7 or Ubuntu will be loaded. Assuming that I can get Vista to boot, will anything actually work?

I liked Vista; I had a fast, stable system and would like to get it back.

If anyone has any ideas as to how I can it working again, I will be eternally grateful.
 

My Computer

System One

Hello beauparc,
You may have to re-install the Vista Boot-loader, do this by carrying out a Startup Repair.
Hope this helps, good luck and post your results.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Build
    CPU
    QX9650 (black box) [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q Premium
    Memory
    8GB-4x2GB Corsair Dominator DDR 2-1066
    Graphics card(s)
    2 x ASUS EAH 4870 X 2 (Quad)
    Sound Card
    Supreme FX 2
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Fujitsu Siemens 22inch flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    150 Gig WD Raptor 300 Gig Maxtor 300 Gig Maxtor, (External)
    PSU
    CoolerMaster 1000
    Case
    CoolerMaster N-Vidia stacker 830
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-U12P x 1x120mm fan, 6x120mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Keyboard
    Logitech G15
    Internet Speed
    20Mbps
    Other Info
    Audio FX Pro 5+1 gaming head set
Thanks for your reply stoneys-nutz. You've confirmed my thoughts nicely.

I'll do the deed within the next couple of weeks and let you know what disasters have happened ;)

Thanks again
 

My Computer

System One

Hi!
I had the same problem when i upgraded from 80GB SATA to 160GB SATA. I unplugged my other vista back-up hard drive when i inserted the disk, so i just had my cd drive and my vista hard drive running.

Daniel :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive 1 250GB sata main drive. 1 160GB from old install. 1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk. 1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD | Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |
squeesy cheese, thanks for your input. I see what you are getting at and I think that since GRUB handles whatever system loads, I won't have to physically disconnect the Win7 and Ubuntu drives to do a repair install on Vista.

Might be safer though :D
 

My Computer

System One

Arepair install, or a statup repair.

Either way , you will probably lose grub as a result.

You can reinstall it if you like , or install it to the Linux partition and let windows boot manager handle the boot process.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Vista
    CPU
    Intel E8400
    Motherboard
    ASRock1333-GLAN R2.0
    Memory
    4gb DDR2 800
    Graphics card(s)
    nvidia 9500GT 1gb
  • Operating System
    win7/vista
    CPU
    intel i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    ballistix 2x8gb 3200
Aha! yes, SIW2, if you repaired vista, wouldnt GRUB just see it as another bootable drive and let you boot from it? I dont have much knowledge on multibooting.
And beauparc, i disconnected the back-up because it would try to repair it, it wouldnt be able to because it came from my old Dell Optiplex GX270, but you know, it saved a bit of time :D

While im here, on my netbook there is a SD card slot, could i load Ubuntu on an SD card and would it boot, or would i have to do the GRUB thingie first?

Thanks and hope it works out for you beauparc,
Daniel :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive 1 250GB sata main drive. 1 160GB from old install. 1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk. 1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD | Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |
hmmmmmmmmmmm it's been awhile since I messed with grub. But I think there may be something to using the Windows boot menu and putting grub in the Linux partition. At least awhile back I was using Boot Magic to boot NT 4 server and Win98, then had grub in the Linux partition to select which kernel to boot.

The Vista repair is very likely to want to put itself on the MBR so grub will likely get hosed anyway. You might try VistaBootPro. Not free anymore but last time I looked it was only $8. Or maybe BCDEdit and use the Vista booter to boot everything. I know there's a way to have another boot menu call the grub boot menu in the Linux partition. Maybe check the Linux howtos.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
Okay, thanks for the info, SD cards are cheap now, 8GB PRT MicroSD Secure Digital Card
I reckon ill get one of them, and 8GB will be enough for Ubuntu, and if i need to, i can create a new folder in my documents for my Ubuntu bits.

Thanks,
Daniel :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Custom built.
    CPU
    AMD FX-4170 Quad-Core @ 4.2GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 @ 1333MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Nvidia geforce GTS240 1GB, 3GB shared memory. SLI soon.
    Sound Card
    realtek high definition audio, onboard.
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19 inch widescreen monitor, DVI.
    Screen Resolution
    1440 by 900, 32 bit colour, 75 hertz.
    Hard Drives
    1 128GB Kingston SSD Now OS drive 1 250GB sata main drive. 1 160GB from old install. 1 500GB for re-directs from OS disk. 1 Seagate GoFlex External 1TB with backups.
    PSU
    750 watt.
    Case
    Foxconn TSAA699.
    Cooling
    4 fans.
    Mouse
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Mouse.
    Keyboard
    Trust Wireless Optical Deskset Keyboard.
    Internet Speed
    download about 60/65MB/s, upload about 3/4MB/s. Virgin Media
    Other Info
    ASUS EEEPad Transformer 16GB with Dock w/32GB class10 SD | Dell PE1950 II / 2xDual Core Xeons @3.00GHz / 16GB RAM / PERC 5i/R / 2x36GB SAS OS - 2x1TB SATA Data both RAID 1 |
So many kind replies :D Thank you all so much.

squeesy cheese. I think you and I are on the same wavelength here because booting the computer loads GRUB first (incidently, this is GRUB 2 not GRUB legacy). GRUB, in turn, then allows me the choice of Win7, Vista or Ubuntu to load. Win7 or Ubuntu load and run perfectly. Vista obviously won't because it's broken. Logically therefore, repairing Vista will then allow it to load when selected and I don't think that GRUB will be affected.

SIW2. Losing GRUB wouldn't really be a problem. I'm only using Ubuntu for something to do in the evenings because Win7 is so boringly reliable it never breaks down ;):D:D. So reinstalling Ubuntu would be no bother at all.

MilesAhead. Using EasyBCD2 in Win7 does not show Vista as an option. Rewriting Vista's MBR as part of a repair install should surely correct this. Or am I being overly simplistic?

Once again I offer my sincere thanks for all the help provided. I will report back and let you all know what happened. If the report appears within a week, the news will be good. If the report is delayed much longer.........:cry:;)
 

My Computer

System One

To be honest when I was doing my multi-booting everything Windows NT or higher used ntldr and ntdetect.com. The game has changed. I would look at new grub howtos if you can find them. Also everything about everything bootable can be found on BootLand
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion m9515y
    CPU
    Phenom X4 9850
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Some Radeon Cheapie with 512 MB Ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    CRT
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    750 GB SATA 3G 2 SIIG Superspeed docks w/WD Caviar Black Sata II or III
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