Dual boot windows 10 and LM

42

Bravo. :partying_face: :tada: :confetti_ball:

Now, that you have full image backup of your hard drive, you can start to find out, if your original hard drive is still working fine.

As a first step, it’s usually a good idea to check the S.M.A.R.T. status of a hard drive.

This is how that can be achieved, for example:

This can give some hints, if the hard drive has issues or not. Though, sometimes a hard drive may have issues, even if it has seemingly fine S.M.A.R.T.S. stats.

Assuming all seems fine, which I hope it is, especially if Clonezilla didn’t show any errors during the cloning operation, you can start applying some of the other suggestions mentioned in this thread.

For example, you could try re-installing the OS and experiment, what works best for you, learning how things work, in the process, if that is another goal you have.

Now, that you have a backup, you can always get data back from that drive, if things go really wrong. So, you are safe, now.

To be absolutely sure, your backup was successful, you should attach that backup drive to a working computer and check if the contents look like what you would expect. Are partitions there? Is all data available? If yes, you are good to go.

In the worst case scenario, it could happen that you encounter hardware errors in the process of restoring your system, which may indicate that your hard drive is failing or has failed. In that case, it would be strongly recommended against using that hard drive, for anything but completely unimportant data.
However, I do not want to scare any horses here! That example would only be the worst case scenario. It’s quite likely, this won’t be the case in your situation. I just wanted to mention it, to be thorough with my explanations.

P.S.:

Do not touch any data on the backup drive! Use it only to READ data, but do not write any data! This assures, the backup drive will be as safe as it gets. Or else you would need to have a backup drive for the backup drive

(Of course, this data might become obsolete at some point, which would then mean, that the data can of course be moved away or deleted.)

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43

Okito,

kobac

4Dand14

and others

This is what I tried so far


The Pc is still booting and operating fine from Linux.

  1. Booted from PC windows system repair disk


entered cmd prompt=entered bcdedit and enter “ result was ‘System cannot find file Specified’

2 Entered 
bootrec /fix mbr ‘result was The operation completed successfully’

  1. Rebooted PC and would not give me a grub menu or boot in win 10 or linux either one

  2. Had to reboot and I used Rescatux 0.74 iso. Ran grub repair and program said grub restored.

  3. Rebooted using HDD Got Grub Menu.

Linux Mint 20.2 Mate

Advanced options for Linux Mint 20.2 Mate

Windows 10 (on / dev/ sda1)

Windows (on /dev/ sda2)

When I choose Linux mint 20.2 Mate it boots into Linux.

When I choose windows 10 (on /dev/ sda1) it does nothing.

when I choose windows (on /dev/ sda2) It gives me a dark image of nothing.

As a side note I did use cmd line entered bcdedit and got the response “ bcd is not recognized as an

internal or external command, operable program or Batch file>

Any suggestions? Hope you understand that I am a novice at trouble shooting but will ing to learn some things.

44

@topaz115
That does not surprise me, Grub has over written your Windows
boot sector.
When your PC is booted from the Windows repair disk, you can use Diskpart to check your different partitions, Google Diskpart for the commands to use.
bcdedit also has a few more commands that is in need of being ran, bootrec /ScanOs, bootrec /RebuildBcd, bootrec /Fixboot and the bootrec /fixmbr.
How to Rebuild BCD File and Master Boot Record (MBR) in Windows 10? | Windows OS Hub This webpage may help.
You can reinstall Windows 10 with their media creation tool, just got through with one, no activation is required as long as Windows 10 is legit. Be aware that the new version of Windows 10 will only boot from a Microsoft Account or a legitimate Email used for the user account.

45

Ran a disk check on the 1tb HDD using linux mint and “Hard drive health-Smartctl” and did not show any errors. Passed
Windows 10 will not load regardless of anything I have tried thus far. I think there are some files missing in the windows install due to power outage. What is left but a complete reinstall of windows 10. :fearful:Any other suggestions or suggestions B4 I try that?

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46

@topaz115
Looks like a reinstall of W10 is about your only option, if you want to run Windows. You will lose Linux
with the W10 reinstall. Put Linux on a different drive, the next time, and make sure grub installs to
the drive Linux is on. I for one do not boot my PC with grub, but I do use EasyBCD, installed in
Windows to boot my Linux install. Good Luck!!!

47

Thinking, will get back with you 4dandl4.
My current machines will not run win 11 and I am not sure I am going to buy any more PC’s. I am 80ish with IPF and have according to the doctor about 1-3 years left. If it was not for the wife ( she only likes Windows) I would not care about keeping windows. I have been using Linux since they discontinued Windows XP. Thanks for your response.

1 Like
48

@topaz115
I will be 74 this month, and neither will any of my machines run W11. I do have and still use XP that
is installed on another machine, so make your wife happy and put Windows on one drive and Linux
on another drive, and it does not take a big drive to run Linux, I only use a 120GB SSD to run Linux,
and have never had any trouble. Good luck with the doctors.

49

Will see if I have a spare hard drive. If I need help would you be willing to help me do that?Linux on a small one and windows on another drive. And set up like yours not to be booted by grub.

50

@topaz115
I will help if I can. When I say I do not use grub to boot my PC, let me clarify. My Windows drive
is the default drive to boot, Linux is chosen with a EasyBCD boot menu, this will give the grub menu
for booting. One can also use the Linux drive for default and use the grub menu for booting, but I
will not let Linux write over my Windows boot files.
The first thing I will need from you is a description of your PC, as to what it can and will not do, like
how much ram you are using, HDD size, and, PC brand, or a photo of the PC if possible.
Will be looking forward to hearing from you.

51

Will get back to you after weekend. Thanks

52

Had to order a special cable for the new HDD and some mounting hardware for the HP tower will not get them until 15 of the month. Wonder if administrator could close this thread and I will start another one.

53

this is a funny thread, rather typical of tech types to overthink a problem
basically (unless the hard drive is damaged) it is just ‘stupid windows’
never even use the ‘restore’ feature at all, and certainly not in favor of a simple uninstall operation
you can use it, but don’t rely on it, just for emergencies, cross your fingers



  1. just copy what you can access on the windows partition from your linux install or some other usb linux or live cd. Get all your precious data moved off onto something else. You don’t have to copy the whole drive. This is just in case the drive fails completely before you copy what you want off it, which you can do immediately, so
 kind of a pointless idea.
  2. reinstall windows
  3. reinstall linux (doing this 2nd means the grub will take over from windows mbr so no fuss)
  4. having multiple hard drives is great, if you can, like not a laptop with only one drive
  5. assume windows will break given any opportunity. use pApps instead of ‘regular’ apps, no install. You can install stuff and use it but expect it to break.
  6. BACKUP often. If you have a 2nd or 3rd hdd then use that for downloads and data and stuff like that, then when windows breaks you won’t even be bothered.
    .
    These guys are right, though. It is good to try to recover the hdd and the install and stuff, but if you don’t know what you are doing it is just so much better to re-install windows instead. Hope you can get your data off it.
    Just to refresh, the best way is to boot linux (whatever version) using a usb thumb drive, then copy the data from the windows drive to a different thumb drive or portable usb hdd/ssd. Then reinstall windows and linux. And don’t use system restore, ever. (or if you do, then only for emergencies)
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54

Watch this video for complete solution

55

Boy wish I had done that before I made the backup with Clonezilla and reinstalled win 10 to the same drive. Is there any way to copy and paste from the backup

56

That would’ve been a bad idea, because even the post you reference mentions precisely the advantages of an entire Clonezilla backup: the backup helps even if your original drive will fail. At the point of time you were discussing the Clonezilla backup, it was not clear (and still isn’t entirely), if your original drive would hold for long enough.
So, you did everything the best way, so far. :+1:

You can mount the Clonezilla image or, in your specific case, the backup hard drive, just as any other drive. Then you can access the files, just as usual. But remember, do not modify anything on the backup drive, to keep the data safe. I would recommend to mount the drive “read-only”.

57

yep, my advice some days/weeks back.

  • safeguard your valuable data, with linux running or with live linux cd/usb
  • clear old W10 parttions
  • reinstall windows 10 on the cleaned partition
  • to make the linux grub overruling, reinstall linux-mint , which will make grub to overrule the windows boot manager (or follow the lead I gave above to reinstate linux grub over Windows boot without reinstalling mint, itsfoss has some information on this).
  • run happy dual boot
58

responded. Great forum to be a part of. While we are chatting is their a post that you’re aware of that describes how to take a clonezilla partition image (ext 4) and move to a new drive.

1 Like
59

Here is some more info on PC


Report Type                                       Quick Report
Computer                                          DESKTOP-3GV45EE
Generator                                         
Operating System                                  Windows 10 Enterprise Professional 6.3.19044
Date                                              2021-12-16
Time                                              10:56

--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
  Operating System                                  Windows 10 Enterprise Professional
  OS Service Pack                                   -
  DirectX                                           4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
  Computer Name                                     DESKTOP-3GV45EE
  User Name                                         

Motherboard:
  CPU Type                                          Intel Pentium III Xeon, 3333 MHz
  Motherboard Name                                  Unknown
  Motherboard Chipset                               Unknown
  System Memory                                     8064 MB
  BIOS Type                                         Unknown
  Communication Port                                Communications Port (COM1)

Display:
  Video Adapter                                     Intel(R) GMA 4500  (3899004 KB)
  Video Adapter                                     Intel(R) GMA 4500  (3899004 KB)
  Monitor                                           Generic PnP Monitor [NoDB]  (LTS0R0322442)

Multimedia:
  Audio Adapter                                     High Definition Audio Controller [NoDB]

Storage:
  IDE Controller                                    Standard SATA AHCI Controller
  SCSI/RAID Controller                              Microsoft Storage Spaces Controller
  Disk Drive                                        WDC WD1002FBYS-05A6B0
  Disk Drive                                        WDC WD3200AAKS-61L9A0
  Optical Drive                                     hp DVD-RAM GH60L
  SMART Hard Disks Status                           Unknown

Partitions:
  C: (NTFS)                                         524323 MB (173122 MB free)
  D: (FAT32)                                        511 MB (511 MB free)
  E: (NTFS)                                         99 MB (52 MB free)
  G: (FAT32)                                        510 MB (510 MB free)
  H: (FAT32)                                        511 MB (511 MB free)
  Total Size                                        513.6 GB (170.6 GB free)

Input:
  Keyboard                                          HID Keyboard Device
  Keyboard                                          Standard PS/2 Keyboard
  Mouse                                             HID-compliant mouse
  Mouse                                             PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
  Network Adapter                                   802.11n USB Wireless LAN Card  (192.168.1.81)
  Network Adapter                                   802.11n Wireless LAN Card
  Network Adapter                                   Intel(R) 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection
  Network Adapter                                   Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
  Network Adapter                                   Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter

Peripherals:
  Printer                                           Fax
  Printer                                           Microsoft Print to PDF
  Printer                                           Microsoft XPS Document Writer
  Printer                                           OneNote for Windows 10
  USB1 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A64 [NoDB]
  USB1 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A65 [NoDB]
  USB1 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A66 [NoDB]
  USB1 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A67 [NoDB]
  USB1 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A68 [NoDB]
  USB1 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A69 [NoDB]
  USB2 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A6A [NoDB]
  USB2 Controller                                   Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A6C [NoDB]
  USB Device                                        802.11n USB Wireless LAN Card
  USB Device                                        Logitech USB Input Device
  USB Device                                        USB Composite Device
  USB Device                                        USB Input Device
  USB Device                                        USB Input Device
60

FYI, I took the measurements myself. I didn’t get them from a manual. The model number is BE600M1.

We had two power hiccups yesterday (rare for our area). Our PC carried on with no problem.

61

When you boot your machine do you boot into a Grub Menu? If so choose the Windows Manager option and from there, go to the Terminal. Run sfc /scannow at the Sys32 prompt. * Wait for the SFC scan to finish scanning your computer and repairing corrupt files. This may take a long time; ensure that you don’t close the Command Prompt or shut your computer down. Restart your device after the scan is complete. Similarly to the System File Checker, DISM is a command used to repair an image of Windows 10. By running it, you may be able to restore the problem that caused the calculator issues. * Once in the Command Prompt, type in the following two commands and press Enter after reach one to execute it: **Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup, Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth . Wait for the commands to finish running and restart your computer . Hope this helps.