Some Weird Windows problems

[icecreamberni]

I tried to install Linux Mint paralell to Windows today. But something went wrong and destroid the whole Partition. Luckily i could fix this. So I installed Windows and from then this happens on startup:

Could it be that there is some stuff on my other HDD(didnt install Windows there only Games and some other stuff) that windows detects? (Only the first button works, the other just creates some Error)

[Camacha]

You probably do not want to hear a solution like this, but in these cases it is often best to reinstall the whole thing. Not only you are sure not to inherit old problems, you also give all your system drivers and programs an update.

Then again, I am not known for my patience in dealing with these kinds of problems. You can mess about for days, or just use the sure fire clean install option.

[InterCity]

^This. Get a linux on your flash drive, recover what you need with it and reinstall the rest. I don't recommend taking programs to your new system, unless it's something you can't get again. Then again, windows often behaves weird if you mess with it.

[icecreamberni]

Well, if there is no other solution ill just let it be. Dont want to reinstall again because, my GPU is a bit weird. You need to turn off Powerplay in MSI Afterburner or it will crash the whole computer every few minutes. (guess some problem with the voltage converters:confused:) Its a pain to install it fast enough. Anyway thank you.

[Fel]

I don't speak dutch, can you translate?

Reinstalling it is the "We don't know how to fix your problem" solution; I suspect that's the new "Safe Mode" screen.

I suspect that you overwrote the EFI bootscript with the linux installation; something that could be fixed in safemode via

http://www.fixedbyvonnie.com/2013/12/how-to-repair-the-efi-bootloader-in-windows-8/

or you may end up needing to use bcdedit, for reference (not 100% certain, I just adapted this script, but it needs to be run in the efi partition; this was for refind and microsoft's boot manager may need a few peculiars to work correctly, so try the above link first)

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgr.efi

bcdedit /set {bootmgr} description "Windows 8.1"

pause

linux also comes with efibootmgr.

[icecreamberni]

Uhm, thats german. Betriebssystem Auswählen = Choose Operating System, the other one is just some settings and stuff(there is also the cmd.exe)

And no that isnt the safemode screen. I can start it normally by clicking on the first button. This screen is just anoying,so i want to get rid of it.

Edited April 25, 2015 by icecreamberni

[Fel]

Well, you aren't "me"

I screwed up my system several times with the linux partition creation; but I also learned how the system works and how to fix things.

It's hard to tell exactly what you did wrong; for instance windows 8.1 comes with a serious bug due to how it shuts down and starts up, that modifying the ntfs partition can easily cause corruption and screw things up. Disabling "hibernate"/"fast boot" (which, despite the claims, is pointless) removes this issue... but ntfs-3g (the linux ntfs driver) should stop you if you're doing this.

Screwing with the EFI partition in linux CAN make the partition unreadable from anything but linux. I confirmed this across several independent platforms that gParted does some screwed up thing with fat32. I never tested it with mkfs.vfat so I don't know if it is unique to gParted or linux in general.

Of course, most linux installations will install their own bootmanager, which, if it doesn't install right will not recognize the windows efi. Removing this is likely to cause more problems and hence you end up in what I suspect is safemode.

I personally, would find out what went wrong before just reinstalling everything;

*can you screw up your system worse? The method above SHOULD just add entries into the efi-boot list; "if you know what you're doing" you can check things out and see if everything is all right with the partitions with diskpart (look, don't delete or modify)

But.... yeah.... don't do anything other than what was specified about the bootmanager because if you don't know what you're doing and aren't prepared to fix worse problems.... I mean, if you did screw up the efi partition (they really make them far too big, 64MB is plenty) then it will need to be reformatted, but things can go very south very fast if you lose access to safemode.

- - - Updated - - -

And no that isnt the safemode screen. I can start it normally by clicking on the first button. This screen is just anoying,so i want to get rid of it.

Okay, you have a secondary efi boot entry... I really should boot into windows first to make certain I give you EXACT instructions; might also want to try things myself; but I should be able to get rid of that.

Edited April 25, 2015 by Fel

[Fel]

Okay, I've confirmed this works with no foreseeable issues on my end. (rebooted several times)

Find the "windows" or "super" key on your keyboard. It is between the spacebar and the left control (ctrl) key. Press windows+x and press A or select "Command Prompt (Admin)"

Type bcdedit

you should get a list of the boot manager and the boot loaders

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier {current}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.efi

description Windows 8.1

locale en-US

integrityservices Enable

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {default}

bootmenupolicy Standard

C:\Windows\system32>

First, attempt to find the loader that doesn't have the correct Windows-8 partition letter. You probably are C:, but CHECK to be certain, command prompt should target the correct drive letter.

If both entries (Well, for your problem, I believe you have 2 entries, one good one bad) are the same partition, check the path; one of the paths should lead to an invalid entry.

If you only have one "Windows Boot Loader" entry (make CERTAIN not to tamper with the "Windows Boot Manager" entry), you have remnants somewhere that are being added into the boot menu. (this is the official interface, so I cannot help you there).

If you find the invalid entry, and are certain it is invalid (basically, just do the two checks I gave you, if there are two entries but both pass, don't do anything), type

bcdedit /delete "value under identifier"

where "value under identifier" is the marked portion (do NOT type the value in my entry unless it is what you want to delete)

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier {current}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.efi

description Windows 8.1

locale en-US

integrityservices Enable

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {default}

bootmenupolicy Standard

*I'm sorry I have to patronize you here; but I just need to be certain that what I am saying to do is very clear. I am more than willing to learn from my mistakes, but if my not being clear causes a confusion and you end up paying, that is a fault on me.

[icecreamberni]

Windows-Start-Manager

---------------------

Bezeichner {bootmgr}

device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1

description Windows Boot Manager

locale de-DE

inherit {globalsettings}

integrityservices Enable

default {current}

resumeobject {d025471f-eb48-11e4-ad0d-f8e9e7610d09}

displayorder {current}

{efb389f3-b475-11e4-bbba-ea8f26f1351a}

toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}

timeout 5

Windows-Startladeprogramm

-------------------------

Bezeichner {current}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description Windows 8.1

locale de-DE

inherit {bootloadersettings}

recoverysequence {d0254721-eb48-11e4-ad0d-f8e9e7610d09}

integrityservices Enable

volumebandid 1

recoveryenabled Yes

allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {d025471f-eb48-11e4-ad0d-f8e9e7610d09}

nx OptIn

bootmenupolicy Standard

useplatformclock Yes

Windows-Startladeprogramm

-------------------------

Bezeichner {efb389f3-b475-11e4-bbba-ea8f26f1351a}

device unknown

path \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description Windows 8.1

locale de-DE

inherit {bootloadersettings}

recoverysequence {efb389f4-b475-11e4-bbba-ea8f26f1351a}

integrityservices Enable

volumebandid 1

recoveryenabled Yes

allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075

osdevice unknown

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {efb389f2-b475-11e4-bbba-ea8f26f1351a}

nx OptIn

bootmenupolicy Standard

hypervisorlaunchtype Auto

useplatformclock Yes

C:\Windows\system32>

One of them has no device. I think thats the one thats broken. And the Paths are the same. and bezeichner = identifier, startladeprogramm = boot loader

And I had to delete the whole partition to not get an error before installing windows 8.1 again.

Edited April 26, 2015 by icecreamberni

[Fel]

That is perfectly safe to delete.

bcdedit /delete {efb389f3-b475-11e4-bbba-ea8f26f1351a}

I'm glad I could help out, I know how much of a pain reinstalling windows can be.

[icecreamberni]

Thanks a lot for youre effort. It works perfectly fine now.