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    Questions about dual boot and RE Find

    I previously asked about the boot utility RE Find, but I ended up not needing to use it. On my Asus Netbook Grub worked flawlessly (unlike the previous nightmare I had on my Lenovo laptop). I've not just finished setting up a dual boot on a friend's computer with Kubuntu 13.10/64 and Windows 7 Professional. Grub worked perfectly and you can now easily choose which OS you want to use when booting up. But …..

    All is not perfect. I did not do the install of Windows 7. It's an install done by someone else when upgrading from Vista. I had scanned it with Malwarebytes and had found some maleware, which I killed off. A subsequent scan with the Kaspersky rescue CD found no more malware. However, the OS is showing some problems. I created a standard account for this person's son to use (so that he cannot install programs), but it's buggy. When you open that account, you have to put up with some popups saying such and such exe file is missing or that DLL file is not to be found. I'm scanning the PC again with Malwarebytes as I write this, and it's already found some malware again, though I don't know how serious it is at this point.

    In short, this thing could stand to have Windows 7 reinstalled. However, I've already spent a bunch of time setting up Kubuntu exactly how she wants it. It would be really nice if I could leave Kubuntu as is and reinstall Windows 7. Is that one of the good uses of RE Find? Can you reinstall a Windows OS, leaving Kubuntu in tact, and then set up the dual boot menu afterwards?

    It would be a huge time saver if I could only reinstall Windows and then not have to start from scratch with Kubuntu.
    Kubuntu 22.04 (desktop & laptop), Windows 7 &2K (via VirtualBox on desktop PC)
    ================================

    #2
    Again, I think SteveRiley is the guy to know the answer, and I encourage you to wait for him to return. Based on things, I think you will find the answer to be "yes," but I am no expert whatsoever and have zero hands-on experience with the subject. In the meantime, check his response to a question I asked, somewhat similar:

    https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post347410
    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

    Comment


      #3
      and, of course, this is for a full UEFI+GPT setup.
      An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

      Comment


        #4
        and, this might be useful, posting it here for you in case you've lost/forgotten the link:

        Going Grub-less

        https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post309740
        An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

        Comment


          #5
          @Tom: Yes, rEFInd will make an excellent substitute for GRUB on your dual-boot Kubuntu + Windows 7 machine. Please boot Kubuntu, run the following commands, and copy/pasta the output to a reply here. This info will help me guide you.

          Code:
          sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
          
          sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
          
          sudo modprobe efivars && sudo efibootmgr -v
          
          lsblk

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
            @Tom: Yes, rEFInd will make an excellent substitute for GRUB on your dual-boot Kubuntu + Windows 7 machine. Please boot Kubuntu, run the following commands, and copy/pasta the output to a reply here. This info will help me guide you.

            Code:
            sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
            
            sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
            
            sudo modprobe efivars && sudo efibootmgr -v
            
            lsblk
            Okay, I've run all those commands. Here are the results:

            Code:
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda
            [sudo] password for tommy: 
            
            Disk /dev/sda: 750.2 GB, 750156374016 bytes
            255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders, total 1465149168 sectors
            Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
            Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
            I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
            Disk identifier: 0x220da042
            
               Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
            /dev/sda1   *        2048      411647      204800    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
            /dev/sda2          411648   701489151   350538752    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
            /dev/sda3       701491198  1434222591   366365697    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
            Partition 3 does not start on physical sector boundary.
            /dev/sda4      1434222592  1465149167    15463288   12  Compaq diagnostics
            /dev/sda5      1373403136  1434222591    30409728    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
            /dev/sda6       701491200   709887999     4198400   82  Linux swap / Solaris
            /dev/sda7       709890048  1373401087   331755520   83  Linux
            
            Partition table entries are not in disk order
            
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$ sudo gdisk -l /dev/sda
            sudo: gdisk: command not found
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$ 
            
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$ sudo modprobe efivars && sudo efibootmgr -v
            Fatal: Couldn't open either sysfs or procfs directories for accessing EFI variables.
            Try 'modprobe efivars' as root.
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$ 
            
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$ lsblk
            NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
            sda      8:0    0 698.7G  0 disk 
            ├─sda1   8:1    0   200M  0 part 
            ├─sda2   8:2    0 334.3G  0 part 
            ├─sda3   8:3    0     1K  0 part 
            ├─sda4   8:4    0  14.8G  0 part 
            ├─sda5   8:5    0    29G  0 part /media/tommy/301234AC12347944
            ├─sda6   8:6    0     4G  0 part [SWAP]
            └─sda7   8:7    0 316.4G  0 part /
            sdb      8:16   1  14.8G  0 disk 
            └─sdb1   8:17   1  14.8G  0 part /media/tommy/WRITING
            sdc      8:32   1  14.6G  0 disk 
            └─sdc1   8:33   1  14.6G  0 part /media/tommy/TREE_NEW
            sdd      8:48   1    15G  0 disk 
            └─sdd1   8:49   1    15G  0 part /media/tommy/LANGUAGE
            sde      8:64   1    15G  0 disk 
            └─sde1   8:65   1    15G  0 part 
            sdf      8:80   0 931.5G  0 disk 
            └─sdf1   8:81   0 931.5G  0 part 
            sdg      8:96   0 931.5G  0 disk 
            └─sdg1   8:97   0 931.5G  0 part 
            sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
            tommy@tommy-Ideapad-Z570:~$
            Kubuntu 22.04 (desktop & laptop), Windows 7 &2K (via VirtualBox on desktop PC)
            ================================

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Qqmike View Post
              and, of course, this is for a full UEFI+GPT setup.
              Hmm...are you sure about that? The output of the fdisk command in your post #6 shows you have an MBR disk. If it were GPT, then fdisk would have displayed an output like
              Code:
              steve@t520:~$ [B]sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda[/B]
              
              WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.
              
              Disk /dev/sda: 256.1 GB, 256060514304 bytes
              255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31130 cylinders, total 500118192 sectors
              Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
              Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
              I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
              Disk identifier: 0x00000000
              
                 Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
              /dev/sda1               1   500118191   250059095+  ee  GPT
              GPT disks contain a "protective MBR" that appears to span the entire drive. This is to prevent MBR-style tools from attempting to make changes to the partition table.

              Also, the failure to load the evivars module -- as evidenced by the error message from efibootmgr -- indicates that the machine isn't running in UEFI mode.

              Comment

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