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So, I was about to install ubuntu (dual boot) so therefore needed to repartition my hard drive. Its UEFI/GPT Windows 10. I used easeus partition tool to: - shrink the windows partition - create ext3 60GB - create ext3 3GB swap

Now I can't boot, error: 0xc0000225

I think easeus really messed up. I booted ubuntu live and these are my partitions: GParted screenshot

Clearly the partitions were not created...

I had UEFI turned off I think. Also I am affraid I might (not sure) have had an older version of easeus installed which doesn't support GPT and was therefore trying some MBR stuff (possible?)

I ran boot-repair bootinfo summary: http://paste.ubuntu.com/12739485/

How can I resolve this without losing my install? Note: I already ran chkdsk from windows media and auto repair didn't help

Would resizing the partition back to full size fix anything? (unlikely) Could resizing have changed the GUID of the drive/partition?

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    Genereally better just to use Windows own partition tools to shrink the NTFS partition and then reboot immediately as it needs to run chkdsk after a resize. And then use gparted from Live installer or separate gparted live disk. You now show a BIOS boot of Windows in MBR which will never work. Windows on gpt will only boot in UEFI mode. And you booted Boot-Repair in BIOS mode. You need to always boot in UEFI boot mode, but maybe have secure boot off, UEFI on, CSM/BIOS/Legacy off if separate settings. Also use ext4 for Linux partitions and swap has no format.
    – oldfred
    Oct 10, 2015 at 19:08
  • Doesn't Windows show up or does it fail to boot?
    – UTF-8
    Oct 10, 2015 at 19:30
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    Possible duplicate of Unallocated space with important data
    – Fabby
    Oct 10, 2015 at 21:20
  • @UTF-8 Fails to boot
    – ovg
    Oct 10, 2015 at 23:38
  • @oldfred How would I have a BIOS boot? Could this have happened while attempting to repair with windows media (booted in BIOS mode)? Would you say that this could be my main issue i.e. having an BIOS boot when I should have a UEFI boot. Should Boot-Repair be able to solve this problem? (I'm just afraid of causing more damage)
    – ovg
    Oct 10, 2015 at 23:51

2 Answers 2

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From the comments, I gather the problem is fixed; however, I want to offer some explanations and clarifications, so....

I had UEFI turned off I think.

The vast majority of EFI-capable computers use EFI firmware. It cannot be turned off. Some such computers do enable you to force a BIOS/CSM/legacy-mode boot, but the EFI is still running underneath it all. Most EFIs don't even let you truly force a BIOS-mode boot; enabling the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) just makes a BIOS-mode boot an option, not a requirement. To understand this, consider an analogy: The CSM (which enables BIOS/legacy-mode booting) is to EFI what dosemu is to Linux -- both enable a more sophisticated environment (EFI or Linux) to run programs written for a less sophisticated environment (BIOS or DOS). When you run a DOS program via dosemu under Linux, though, the computer is still running Linux; and when you boot a BIOS-mode OS via the CSM, the firmware is still EFI.

Ultimately, the CSM creates more problems than it solves, at least on modern computers. Occasionally it's necessary, but as a general rule, my recommendation is to leave the CSM disabled. Enabling it (aka "disabling UEFI mode") may be what caused your problem in the first place -- or at least, it may have been a critical part of what caused the problem.

Both your GParted screen shot and the Boot Info Script output indicate that /dev/sda uses GPT. As such, Windows must be installed to the disk in EFI mode, and in fact the Boot Info Script output shows EFI-mode Windows boot loader files (or at least, files with appropriate filenames). The Boot Info Script output also, however, shows a BIOS-mode Windows boot loader on the disk. This boot loader would be useless on a GPT disk, though. My hunch is that EaseUS wrote that code to the MBR, but it might have been left over from a previous installation. In any event, it's possible that by activating the CSM, it ended up executing this useless boot code, which resulted in your failure to boot.

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  • Yes this is exactly it. And when it was repaired easus was the first thing to appear
    – ovg
    Oct 14, 2015 at 7:34
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You need to insert your Windows DVD and boot from it. Well hidden, there will be a text called "Repair Windows" or something like it. To get there will take 10 minutes, the time it actually takes to do the job will be about 1 second.

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  • @ovg Did this answer your question?
    – UTF-8
    Oct 11, 2015 at 18:52

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