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Until today I had successfully followed instructions from this site to install Ubuntu 12.04 via Wubi, and then move it to a new partition (on a second hard disk). Everything was working beautifully.

However, after misreading some instructions on a related site, I uninstalled Wubi via Windows 7's Programs and Features control panel. I knew I was in trouble when the uninstaller displayed a message about removing a boot record; now my machine boots straight into Windows 7 with no option for using Ubuntu.

I do know that Ubuntu is still there and will become usable again once I fix up my machine's boot options. However, after reading many similar pages on this and related sites I still have no idea how to do this.

If I have learned anything, it is that this process seems incredibly complex and frankly very confusing, not to mention risky in terms of buggering things up and bricking my machine.

Can someone PLEASE post some simple (and foolproof) instructions on how to get Ubuntu booting again when I only have access to Windows? All I can tell you about my lost Ubuntu partition is that it was on /sdb-something-or-other (the second disk).

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  • This small tool fixes boot problems very well, try - help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair & do Recommended Repair. (You will need live disk of ubuntu to use this tool) Remember the url it produces at the end. Include in your question if this doesn't resolve the issue.
    – Web-E
    Nov 16, 2013 at 14:24
  • Do you have a LiveCD/USB up for the task of repairing the boot?
    – Braiam
    Nov 16, 2013 at 14:25
  • No, I don't have an Ubuntu Live CD. I did have the full installation ISO but I deleted it and threw away the CD I had burned from it.
    – Frank
    Nov 17, 2013 at 0:28
  • I can't make this work. I downloaded the 12.04.3 ISO, extracted the files, and burned them to a disc. They were a few MB too large for a CD so I burned them to a DVD. Then I tried to boot from the DVD. I know my boot options have the CD/DVD drive as first priority and I saw the BIOS say the DVD was boot ready ... but then Windows starts anyway. Even if I enter the Boot menu and specifically choose the DVD it still reverts to Windows! It's an old machine so there are no UEFI issues and I've booted from a DVD before. So something has changed since uninstalling Wubi....
    – Frank
    Nov 17, 2013 at 1:33

1 Answer 1

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I finally ended up with a regular Ubuntu installation instead of Wubi.

The problem may have been somehow related to my CD/DVD drive. I made a bootable USB medium and everything worked perfectly. Now I only see GRUB (listing both Ubuntu and Windows 7) so this is more streamlined than the previous setup using the Windows boot leader followed by GRUB. Both OSs load properly and any Windows apps that use networked licensing systems still run.

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