Windows 7 Windows 7 Boot Partition FUBAR :)

[smf]

Hey there,

When i first installed Windows 7 I had 3 RAIDs and I chose to install it on dev2. In that process win7 wrote the system / boot partition on dev0 and killed the header to that encrypted partition (even thought I did not select that device during the installation process). While I cried for days and nights about that, I've moved on

Basically now I have a system that won't boot unless that old dev0 "paper weight" is connected. And I can't use it for anything as Windows 7 won't let me format it because its a system partition.

I tried to rectify that situation by detaching all HDDs except the old dev2, hooking it up as dev0 and trying to write the necessary boot information on that drive using the win7 repair. However it can't find my windows on that drive and prompts me to insert the necessary drivers (whilst I'm able to browse the HDDs in question with no problems when its asking me to specify the location for that driver). Ironically, when I try to select "install windows" it prompts that there is a windows installation on that drive and that it would be moved to windows.old.

Link Removed due to 404 Error

I know this is all over the place, but I've attached a screenshot of the old dev0 (now dev1) and old dev2 (now dev0). (As I've been trying to fix this I've detached the biggest raid dev1).

I really would like to fix this windows 7 installation as I've been using it for 2 months and It would take me quite some time to get it back to the way it was, so reinstalling at this point is not an option.

I have win7 ultimate and my mobo is the GA-P35C-DS3R. If any other information is necessary I'll be glad to post it.

Hopefully someone can help,

Kind Regards, smf

 

[Saltgrass]

Let me warn you, I am not a RAID person, so if I mention something not RAID relevant, just ignore it.

A Windows 7 install will put its boot files on the primary drive in the system. This is determined in the Bios. Maybe next time you can keep the same problem from occurring.

Right now, in order to boot to Win 7 you need 3 things. The first is having the boot files in the Win 7 partition, which are bootmgr and a boot folder.

If you do not show those hidden system files present, you can open an Administrative command window and type:

bcdboot C:\Windows /s C:

Where C: is the Win 7 partition. If you can't tell, there are spaces between t and C:, s and /s , /s and C:

This will put the necessary files in the root partition.

Next (2) you need to make the win 7 partition active, which you can do with disk management.

And lastly (3), you need to set the Win 7 drive primary or first in the disk order in the bios. If you have the F12 option during boot, you can use that to change the boot drive during boot, but it is not permanent. You could also make the other partition inactive, but I would recommend changing the drive order. This assumes the Win 7 drive is not already primary, which it could be.

If something doesn't work for some reason, you can put the boot order back and be where you were when you started.

 

[smf]

tysm for your help. It worked just like you said and I can boot from my windows partition