Okay i had to format my windows partition on the laptop. No big deal.. just pop in the old windows disc, and do a fresh install (after proper backup of course :p) to the correct partition.
However i like to use my laptop for Ubuntu also, and thus have dual boot. But windows insists on having control over the whole MBR. Hmm so this install lost me my dual boot functionality. Technically all i lost was the GRUB install that allowed me to boot from Ubuntu’s partitions.
Normally i would do a complete reinstall of the whole machine, taking me about a whole day considering all the programs i use, and backups to restore. However i didnt feel like this grand gesture, and was pressed for time.
A quick search gave me the quick fix for restoring dual boot functionality thus saving me some time. So here is the solution to re-install GRUB after installing Windows or in some other messing up your MBR
- Boot into Ubuntu using the Live CD. I used Ubuntu 8.04 currently.
- Open a terminal. Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
- In the terminal type the follwing steps:
- sudo grub
- This should result in a GRUB Prompt with grub>
- find /boot/grub/stage1
- Remember this information
- root (hd0,4)
- setup (hd0)
- And you are done!
The above is a simple rewrite of the instructions found on the official Ubuntu help.
After following the steps you restart and everything should be working normally again 😀
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