There are several complications or problems that can occur while running Ubuntu and Windows in either a dual-boot or Wubi environment.

Most distros (versions of linux, Ubuntu is a distro), such as the tiny sliTaz, can fix most Windows problems and there are specialist distros (such as Trinity Rescue Kit and SystemRescueCd) that can fix a lot more.

This guide assumes that you either have Ubuntu on a LiveCd or installed on the hard-drive but other distros could be used just as easily.

Wubi "Missing hal.dll"

This is a frequent error seen on Wubi installations. It leaves Windows unable to boot and causes it to complain about a missing

C:\windows\system32\hal.dll

which is the Hardware Abstraction Layer for Windows.

1. Boot-up an Ubuntu LiveCd

2. On the top taskbar click on the "Places" menu
3. Select your Windows partition (it will only be shown by its partition size)
4. Navigate to windows/system32/dllcache
5. Copy hal.dll from there to windows/system32/
6. Reboot.

The full Wubi guide is at

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

Dual-Boot

Resizing Vista or Win7 Partitions

Windows 7 and Vista sometimes fails to boot easily after its partitions are resized outside of Windows. This is due to Windows using a very simplistic boot-loader. A regular file-system check is normal and to be expected on the first boot-up to Windows 7 or Vista because GParted programs Windows to do that by putting the 'dirty' flag in its file-system meta-data.

Resizing a Windows Partition in Windows

The Windows users way of resizing a Windows 7 or Vista partition is to

1. Go into the Control-Panel
2. Select "classic view" or "icon view" (you will have to look around hard for this)
3. Administrative Tools
4. Computer Management
5. Disk Manager (or something similar)
6. Right-click on the Windows partition and resize.

Resizing a Windows Partition in Linux

In the GPartEd or QTPartEd Partition Editors the tick-box align to cylinders must NOT be ticked because Windows 7 and Vista partitions usually start in sector 2048 instead of the normal standard sector 63. The Windows boot-loader needs Windows to start misaligned from the cylinder boundaries.

How To Recover

To recover from this boot problem, you can either;

1. Boot from your Windows Recovery Cd and select "startup repair".

2. Download.

   • For Vista : http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

   • For Windows 7 : http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/

   1. Burn the ISO to a disc
   2. Boot up from it
   3. Select Startup Repair.

Reinstating Windows

Sometimes we put Windows on one hard-drive and Ubuntu on the other so that we can 'stealth' the existence of Ubuntu on the system. Sometimes Windows users need to keep their "Freedom FROM Choice" and even setting the grub2 default to boot straight into Windows and hiding the menu from them is not enough. Perhaps if you need to return the machine to the shop or some other strange event has caused a need to return to Windows permanently.

1. Boot into Windows

2. Get to an MsDos command-line

"Start" button - "All Programs" - Accessories and look for "Cmdprmt" or something and type in

fixmbr

1. Reboot the machine and notice the lack of choice as it boots straight into Windows

2. To complete the sad task might require deleting the linux partitions from a LiveCd session because Windows wont be able to see them. You would have to resize the Windows partitions from inside Windows for Win7 or Vista of course.

Links

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsRecoveryCd

• NeoSmart Windows 7 Recovery Discs

• NeoSmart Windows Vista Recovery Discs

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide