Windows 8 multiboot partition says its empty but has files

Plo124

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Hi, I recently tried to install Ubuntu 12.10, and lost access to Windows 7 and 8.1, after a LOT of looking for bootable disks and stuff, I did fix it.

After recovering the operating systems (I had to delete Ubuntu partitions and then fix the Windows 7 bootloader, because there was 6 primary partitions), the Windows 8.1 partition says its 10.0GB and empty, but when I double click on it, you can see the files inside.

This is bad, because when I try to boot in Windows 8, it gets to the login screen after a long boot time, then it just shows the time, battery, and internet status, and the rest is a blue screen, implying its broken. I found out this is because some OS files are missing, which might be related to the above paragraph. I have lots of paid software in Windows 8, and it was LOTS of downloading, so I dont want to wipe the drive, or have to touch the data, only be able to boot into Windows 8 again.

Many thanks in advance.

**** Edit ****
When I open in a partition viewer, it shows the 70GB partition as it should, and also
Sorry this is in the wrong catergory, I wanted help quickly, and misread the category title.
 

My Computer

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I suppose a question and a request. When you boot and use whatever F key to open the Boot Device menu or go into the bios, what options (devices) do you show for booting into your OS? For instance, is there a Windows Boot Manager

A snipping tool picture of your disk management window attached here might help us understand the situation.

The type of install you have and the way you installed Ubuntu might be important, for instance if you have a system configured as UEFI and installed Ubuntu as MBR or Legacy, it might help determine what happened to your system.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
When you boot and use whatever F key to open the Boot Device menu or go into the bios, what options (devices) do you show for booting into your OS? For instance, is there a Windows Boot Manager

The Windows 7 boot menu does display, with my old Wubi (Windows Ubuntu), which I deleted now, and Windows 7.

A snipping tool picture of your disk management window attached here might help us understand the situation.
http://i.imgur.com/4uc1ifE.png
(and there is files inside D:/ when I open it)

The type of install you have and the way you installed Ubuntu might be important, for instance if you have a system configured as UEFI and installed Ubuntu as MBR or Legacy, it might help determine what happened to your system.

I got a Ubuntu boot USB, and installed it like that. I had made a empty Extended partition of 30GB to install Ubuntu, so I put the required 3 partitions on it, and it deleted the Extended partition and made it Primary partitions. This meant I had 6 primary partitions.
Then Ubuntu installed on it's 3 partitions, then when I shut it down to go into Windows, I noticed it took over the Windows 8 bootloader. After hours of trying different things, I got a Hyrins Boot USB, and selected boot from Hard-Drive, and the Windows 7 boot manager appeared.
Then I had to delete the Ubuntu partitions, and get a Windows 7 disk and repair the bootloader file, so I dont need to plug in the USB every time.
Then I realised Windows 8 is still down, and the one in the Win7 bootloader is the (recovered) one. The Windows 8.1 alone doesnt boot at all, giving an error, that /Windows/System32/winload.exe is missing.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
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    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
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    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
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From looking at your attachments, it might appear at least some of your problem is being created by D: which shows as 78 GB in device Manager, but 10 GB in Explorer. Possibly some data about the drive has gotten corrupted, probably by the 6 primary partition situation.

It may be necessary to get that situation sorted out, But taking the wrong step might cause loss of data, so be careful. But, for now, I would suggest downloading one of the third party partition managers, like Partition Wizard free Home bootable version, so you can look at the drive from outside of windows. Depending on what it shows, it may contain some utility to straighten out the drive dynamics so as to correct the problems.

If it were to become necessary to change which partition was marked active, this utility would also be good for that.

You show the C: partition as active. Was it always that way or was that part of your initial fix so you could boot Windows 7? I am thinking the boot files for Windows 7 and 8 are still in the small partition. If you were to check it, after allowing for viewing of hidden and protected operating files, you may see a Boot folder and a bootmgr file, plus a couple of others. If the files are there, you might be able to use that partition to boot after you get the D: partition straightened out.

Let us know how it goes and a camera is good for taking some pictures and you can attach them here using the paperclip on the Advanced replies.

You may think I am being vague, and you would be right. I don't want to suggest something that might harm your data.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
I did use GParted to delete the Ubuntu partitions, and it did show WIN8 as the size it is now.

Windows 7 has always been the Active partition, because of how the boot works.

The F:/ has lots of unusual folders, most importantly it contains the System Volume data.
All of the drives have a bootmgr file, and I know what they do. Windows 7 has always been the one who boots, even when the Windows 8 bootloader was being used.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
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    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
It looks like we aren't going to get very far but you probably still need to straighten out the disparity in how Windows thinks the D: partition is configured. GParted may show the same configuration as Partition Wizard, but not really sure.

You also might try booting into the recovery media or install media and running the command bootrec /scanos to see if it picks up the other Windows version. If it shows another one, using the bootrec /rebuildbcd command might allow you to add it to the boot. Still not sure if will work if the Windows 8 OS partition is being recognized as only 10 GB. Running the /FixBoot and /FixMBR flags with bootrec.exe might also help, but it might also cause problems for your current situation.

Use Bootrec.exe in the Windows RE to troubleshoot startup issues

I don't really have anything else I can suggest, so hopefully someone else will have a recommendation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Hi,
When I run Windows 8.1 (without the recovered), it gives that error that winload.exe is missing, is this likely due to the boot sector, or a partition error.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
The winload.exe file is for a legacy install, which you seem to have, and is kept in the \Windows\System32 folder on the OS partition. I am thinking your system cannot read the D: partition correctly and does not see that file structure.

Open an Adminstrative command prompt and type the following and attach the resulting .txt file, or zip and attach.

bcdedit /enum all > %userprofile%\Desktop\bcdtext.txt

The BCD store controls how the system boots, so it may give some indication of what your system is seeing.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Do I replace the file path with the location to a txt file on D:/ ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
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    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
The command is meant to put the text file on your desktop. Just copy and paste it into the window or type it. You will see the bcdtext.txt file on you desktop I am looking for.

If you want to see what it is, just open it, or type the first part of the command in the Admin command window.

It should look like the following
C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /enum all > %userprofile%\Desktop\bcdtext.txt

C:\Windows\system32>
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
If you have ANY small (100 to 200mb) partitions, you should NOT remove them, there is a high probability that your Boot Sector is on that partition... Either way be careful.

If you want to install an OS other than Windows 8, you should either wipe the whole drive, or remove the drive and install a new empty drive. I found this out to my extreme grief once when I tried to update a Windows Vista Laptop to 7 - It had one of those 100mb partitions, I wiped it, and it removed my Boot Sector.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro with Media Center/Windows 7
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    Asus M2N-MX SE Plus/Asus A8M2N-LA (NodusM)
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    Recently lost my Windows 8 on my main PC, had to go back to Windows 7.
@XweAponX
Its a simple fix, create the boot sector, and run a Windows7 disk, and select that new partition, and there was a "fixboot" command, you could probably google it quickly.

@Saltgrass
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9t7mhbya3xh1ndb/bcdtext.txt

I was tweaking it a bit with a program called "VisualBCD", but thats after Windows 8 broke.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
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    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
Ok, I am looking at the entries in the BCDtext file. Usually the first grouping of 8 numbers will distinguish each identifier, with the last two of the eight numbers the ones that usually change.

I am not looking at your recovery or any other entries. We can work on that later.

Your boot manager should show these as your options.

{current}
{7e5a94e8-7ce2-11e3-9bb9-082e5f8356a8} <-error here
{7e5a94eb-7ce2-11e3-9bb9-082e5f8356a8}
{b25769d3-2ec6-11e1-85ea-eeaf3738e8fe}
{572bcd60-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
The one {current} is your Windows 7 Loader Identifier. The {7e5a94e8 (Windows 8 (fast)) and {7e5a94eb (Windows 8 recovered) are both pointing to the same partition, D: The first one, and probably the original, has an error for the osdevice entry and shows it as unknown.

But the second loader, does point to the right place and should get you into Windows 8 if the winload.exe file was where it is supposed to be. But, just for verification, when you are in Windows 7, you can open the D: partition in Explorer and see the normal Windows file structure and go to the System 32 folder, as the loader shows it?

Sorry, but I am still hung up on the partition only showing as 10 GB in Explorer.

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {7e5a94e8-7ce2-11e3-9bb9-082e5f8356a8}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 8 (fast)
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
integrityservices Enable
custom:17000077 352321653
osdevice unknown <--should be partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {7e5a94e7-7ce2-11e3-9bb9-082e5f8356a8}
nx OptIn
custom:250000c2 1

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {7e5a94eb-7ce2-11e3-9bb9-082e5f8356a8}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 8 (recovered)
locale en-US
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {babfa84a-940a-11e3-8253-806e6f6e6963}
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
I put the Windows 8 (fast) the partition as D:/, and it gives this error:
20140221_115306.jpg
But when I hit Enter, it boots into this, which is what I explained as what happens when I boot into recovered mode:
http://imgur.com/AZGcTyJ

Then I thought I could fix it by making a bootable disk in a healthy windows 8 disk, so I proceeded to "Refresh PC", and got this error, even though my Windows 8 documents are in 1 drive.
http://imgur.com/gMdDEUl
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
The Wndows 8 (fast) option is the one showing the error. What happens if you boot to the Recovered version?

If your earlier comment about booting into the Recovered is the Windows Boot Manger noted as Recovered, I will have to ask again, can you go to the winload.exe file in the Windows 8 install.....? If you can't, we are wasting our time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Whats the "windows 8 install"? If its the D:/ partition, I can access the file, and I can right click and edit with notepad, and it doesn't give an error (the file has content). And the recovered mode is the same thing.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
Then I really have nothing else to suggest. From what I can see, it should be working.

Maybe someone else will have an idea... If you ever decide to reinstall, before you do that, you might use some third party partition management and try a partition recovery on the Windows 8 partition.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
Which 3rd party tools would offer this? I have GParted, and might have Partition Magic working.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Proffessional 64-bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP pavilion dv6
    CPU
    Intel core i5 2.4GHz 4core
    Memory
    4GB SO-DIMM DDR3 2-chips @ 2gb ea.
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon 1GB-Ram 6049m
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Security Essentials, IOBit malware fighter
The only one I have experience with is Partition Wizard. If Partition Magic is of the version compatible with Windows 8, it might also work. I would be a little leery of GParted since in thinks the Linux partitions are fine, it may not be able to see a problem.

But again, if a Windows 8 repair doesn't help recover the install, I do not have any other suggestions.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Grown
    CPU
    i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77 -v Pro, Z87-Expert
    Memory
    16 G
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX 680 Classified (2)
    Hard Drives
    Kingston SSD 240 GB
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