System update of 5-14-2025 had a problem, I made it worse

Maybe; as long as the Windows bootloader is intact.

I’m beginning to suspect that this might be the problem. Maybe os-prober doesn’t regard the partition as bootable. :thinking:

@soundofthunder
Thank you for the edits. I thought I was doing better.

1 Like

Windows 7 DVDs (most of them) have a recovery environment which should allow to at the barest minimum run some diagnostics – chkdsk for a start – and possibly install a fresh bootloader (Manjaro’s bootloader would likely be demolished in the process as Win 7 was never made with the intention of multi-booting; Grub would then need to be installed again later). OEM disks may or may not have the recovery environment (usually not). I haven’t used (stock) Windows 7 for a decade, so that is not something I can easily guide from memory.

@Aragorn and @soundofthunder

I’m very leary of reloading windows and Manjaro when the problem happened during a stable (regular) Manjaro update. If that is the verdict, then i will.

The windows 7 recovery enviroment on sda1 is the one that Grub recogizes!

There is a Windows Recovery partition on the OP’s drive, but without any means to boot into it, it’s pretty useless. :man_shrugging:


Yes, but it does not let you boot into it, or does it? :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Which is why the Installer DVD/ISO would be needed.

I suppose we need to ask the question…
Do you have the Windows 7 Installer DVD?

1 Like

@Aragorn

I have not selected the option to boot to Windows recovery, because past experience has shown that once it is started there is no way to stop it. I was trying to find the fix to the Manjaro update. When i was able to run win7 (yesterday) i did do a disk check. I was uncertain if the Grub regenerations would cause windows problems. It passed.

Yes, I have the Win7 DVD.

That’s good to know, because it might allow recovery of the Windows bootloader (if indeed it’s damaged). Is it a retail Windows 7 or OEM?

It is an OEM version.

grub does not write to your Windows partition.

That is what I generally hear from other people as well — I don’t use Windows — but under the circumstances as they stand, I don’t think there would be much of an alternative. :man_shrugging:

I am wrong. It is a retail version. Sony told me to update through Microsoft. I apologize. It’s been 10 years since the transaction.

Are you certain it’s not an OEM recovery disk of some kind?

Booting into a Windows recovery environment should do just that - boot into it - and nothing else, until you command it to do anything else.

I see, well that should at least make it usable if it comes to that.


It could be useful to confirm that the Windows bootloader is still intact. Booting with the Windows DVD (Windows Setup), but dropping to a command prompt instead of installing Windows, would let you run diskpart to verify that it’s still active. However, this is not something easily guided through a forum; we can’t see what you see.

If you do decide to verify that, then the commands are simple enough once you get there.

Shift + F10 will usually open a Command Prompt, or the recovery environment will give another method.

diskpart
select disk 1
select partition 1
detail partition

then look for “Active: yes”
If it’s “no”, then the boot sector is likely damaged or missing.

Typing exit and pressing Enter (twice) would exit diskpart and the command prompt; then simply exit the Windows Installer.

1 Like

@Aragorn

My apologies for the abrupt departure. The system sent me a message that I had reached my limit of posts as a new user and said not to post for 16 hours :flushed: I wasn’t sure if that time was a minimum, so I waited.

I used the time to try Soundofthunders advice.

2 Likes

@soundofthunder

Disk 1 is no longer recognized, from any win7 recovery USB, DVD or from the Grub windows recovery option. That option is actually the VAIO recovery tools. It reports can see 3 hard drives and running its diagnostics says they are good. But it can’t see any system files on the drive containing windows.

It appears the most efficient way to solve problem, is to close this thread; reinstall the System I won’t name, and then reload Manjaro. If I experience the same behavior with the new install (and its UEFI settings), perhaps this laptop is too old to run new Manjaro.

This confused me for a moment, as your inxi output from earlier clearly shows you only have one disk.

Then I realised you must be referring to partitions as disks.

I’m tending to agree.

With a legacy system and only one disk, I’d suggest installing Windows first, and when comes time to install Manjaro, choose the manual partitioning option in Calamares (the installer).

I’d also suggest formatting partitions as EXT4 rather than BTRFS, as it may prove more versatile with the older hardware.

That said, choosing EXT4 will also allow a wider set of options during install, apart from manual partitioning.

It seems at this stage we can only wish you luck.

Regards.

1 Like

I wanted to thank everyone who answered my post.
I was obsessed with understanding “how” I goofed things up from the Manjaro side of the system, and what process I needed fix what I messed up. I didn’t consider the whole machine :flushed:…
I apologize for wasting everyone’s time :frowning_face:
Reloading the OS who will not be named fixed part of my problem. I didn’t want to be the poster who posted once and disappeared; but I will go back to “lurking”

4 Likes

The time spent (however indirectly) lead you to a solution, so no time has been wasted this end.

Good to know you’re back on track.

It’s customary to mark the post that helped you the most as the solution to a topic to allow others to find it easily (or dismiss it if irrelevent to their issue).

I have taken the liberty of marking the post that seems to apply (mine, in this instance).

Regards.

2 Likes