Need to fix Windows MBR without using a CD

Question

I have a laptop which was Linux/Windows 7 dual-boot. I need to get rid of the Linux partition so that it only boots into windows.

I know how to do this if I have the Windows 7 CD(which I do). But this laptop does not come with a CD drive.

Is there anyway to do this without using the CD?

Solution 1

Do the following

1. Start a cmd shell running as administrator (Start / Search / cmd / right-click Run as Administrator)
2. Type bcdboot c:\windows

That will re-write the MBR and so remove grub and re-install the Windows loader.

Solution 2

A very easy solution would be to download and install Visual BCD Editor.

The tool comes with "Dual-boot Repair" utility. Run it and click "Automatic Repair". Confirm.

That's it ! You can reboot to Windows 7.

Explanation: The automatic dual-boot repair will (re)create Windows 7 MBR and PBR (master and partition boot record) and reset/repair the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store to default values (e.g. timeout 30 sec., Windows 7 as default loader).

Comments

[kamae]

Making a bootable USB flash storage is good idea but it is not only way.

[Rahmat Effendi]

@Kamae... I'm sorry but I answer to the Original Poster... His case... he doesn't have a CD ROM drive so the only possible way is to do it with a flash drive... The other option would be to plug in a CD drive... So it comes to the same... Find me an other way and I will accept that you put minus -1 to my answer... Don't just minus my answer for now "apparent" reason... The answer is for the original poster not for general answer...

[Rahmat Effendi]

@Kamae... It would be nice when you "flag" an answer... To actually explain properly WHY... Since Windows 7.. Like Paul Said a bit higher here the BCDBoot.exe is a new thing from Windows 7 that let's you re-write the MBR ... Nice blog about it : hanselman.com/blog/…

[rzr]

Is it possible to run bcdboot from linux or using vm ...