How to restore Windows 7 MBR without a CD

Posted by Brandon Bertelsen on Ask Ubuntu See other posts from Ask Ubuntu or by Brandon Bertelsen
Published on 2010-10-10T20:14:46Z Indexed on 2011/01/13 21:59 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 375

Filed under:

boot

|

dual-boot

|

windows-7

I have been playing with Ubuntu for a few weeks now, and I'd like to revert my computer back to it's original - factory - defaults.

On the computer I have a recovery partition (it's a netbook). I went through the process of recovery and everything seemed fine. However, when I restart the computer I'm presented with

grub rescue >

Now, my understanding is that when I installed Ubuntu "side by side" it replaced the MBR or something like it, with GRUB.

I've read on a slew of forums, that I need to use a Windows Recovery Disk.

Here are my issues:

a) I don't have a recovery disk, I have a recovery partition - it's a netbook. b) I don't have an external cd drive.

What I do have is a USB key that has about 1gb of space on it.

Thanks in advance.

© Ask Ubuntu or respective owner

Related posts about boot

Dual Boot issues with Windows 7 and Ubuntu

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I'm finding myself in a rather unique situation. I've read through just about every resource I can find about this and while things have helped me understand some background, I haven't yet been able to find a solution. So I'm asking here. I originally had just a Windows 7 64-bit OS installation on… >>> More
Windows 7 wont boot from any boot loader except for 'Windows Boot Manager' after partition resize

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I have a triple boot system on a single SSD. OSX, Windows 7, and Ubuntu. I use Chimera (basically another version of Chameleon) as my boot loader. Usually I can boot all 3 without any issue, but after using GParted to make my Ubuntu partition 2 Gigs larger, Windows 7 throws me an error when trying… >>> More
Unable to boot Windows 7 after installing Ubuntu

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I have Windows 7 on my machine and then installed Ubuntu 12.04 using a live CD. I can see both Windows 7 and Ubuntu in the grub menu, but when I select Windows 7 it shows a black screen for about 2 seconds and the returns to the Grub menu. But if I select Ubuntu it's working fine. This is the contents… >>> More
12.04 upgrade broke grub? (not wubi related)

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I just updated from 11.10 to 12.04, with no major problems (it took a while to get past a request to restart ssh, mysql and some other services, but I did no fiddling by myself, everything was done by the installer). However, after restarting, grub can't do anything. Picking the new linux installation… >>> More
Another "Windows 7 entry missing from Grub2" Question

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Like many before me had the following problem that after installing Ubuntu (with windows 7 already installed), the grub boot loader wouldnt show windows 7 as a boot option, though i can boot fine if I use the "Choose Boot Device" options on the x220. The difference is that I try using UEFI only so… >>> More

Related posts about dual-boot

How do I know if I am running Wubi or a proper dual-boot?

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I tried to setup a "proper" Windows/Ubuntu dual-boot system, by installing Ubuntu from a USB key. However, I simply could not get the laptop to boot off the USB despite the fact that I made the appropriate changes to the boot device order in the BIOS. So I then turned to Wubi, and (to cut a long… >>> More
Uninstalling Vista from dual boot of Win7/Vista

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Topic title says it all. Right now I have 2 things I need to do... 1) Remove the windows.old folder. My problem with this is that when I go to disk cleanup, the "Remove Previous Window Installations" option isn't there. Not sure what to do here. EDIT: Solved this part. Didn't hit button clean… >>> More
Windows 2000 uninstall on a dual-boot 2000/XP system

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
While several questions have already been answered about removing an OS from a dual-booting machine, most refer to Windows 7 vs. Linux/Vista/XP. I have W2K installed on my older HDD (Drive C). Later on I bought a new HDD and installed XP's under W2K environment. Each time I turned my PC on, I had… >>> More
Partition disk for dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7 (shared files)

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I wish to dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7. I wish to have my documents available from both OSes. Do I create a single partition and it just works? 2 partitions, one for each OS? 3 partitions, one for each OS and one for the "my documents"? [EDIT] I used 3 partitions, one for each partition and… >>> More
Partition disk for dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7 (shared documents)

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I wish to dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7. I wish to have my documents available from both OSes. Do I create a single partition and it just works? 2 partitions, one for each OS? 3 partitions, one for each OS and one for the "my documents"? [EDIT] I used 3 partitions, one for each partition and… >>> More