Can't boot into Windows 10 after installing Ubuntu on same SSD

Question

I installed Ubuntu from a USB stick, using the Live version to run gpartedto partition my disk. The disk is a 500GB SSD, and I reduced the size of the Windows installation, and then moved the next partition up to the left to remain beside it. I believe gparted noted it as a 'diag' partition.

EDIT: A quick explanation of the partitioning:

The original disk looked like...

|-recovery-|--------windows--------|-diag-|

I then shrunk the Windows partition from the right side...

|-recovery-|-windows--|-free-space-|-diag-|

After that, I moved the left side of the diag partition to move it up to the Windows partition...

|-recovery-|-windows--|-diag-|-free-space-|

After that, I installed Ubuntu. I set up /, /home and swap as separate, logical partitions in the empty space.

I successfully booted into Ubuntu (via the grub bootloader), and also into Windows 10 (via the same bootloader). Then, the next time I came to use the computer, I tried to boot into Windows 10, but received a BSOD with the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED error.

I loaded a Windows 10 install onto a USB, and booted into recovery mode. Automatic startup recovery failed to do anything useful. In the console, I entered the following commands, after searching the web for solutions:

bootsect /nt60 ALL /force /mbr

bootrec /fixmbr

bootrec /fixboot

bootrec /rebuildbcd

The last command failed to detect any Windows installations, so I followed the Microsoft guide, and removed the \boot\bcd file on the Windows drive, ran it again, and added the newly detected Windows installation.

These had no effect except to remove access to the grub bootloader, locking me out of both OSs.

I suspect that my problem may be caused by using gparted to move the 'diag' partition. Using diskpart in the Windows recovery console, I got the following information:

What can I do to enable Windows to boot again? I don't need to retain the Ubuntu partitions, so if it is necessary to remove or overwrite them, that is fine.

Answer 1

What do you mean you reduced the size of the Windows Installation? You can resize it, but you must be careful. If the partition moves it can cause your installation to become corrupt and not bootable. This usually only occurs when you move the "left" side of the partition.

BUT, that is for traditional HDD. SSDs work a little different and installations occur anywhere because of wear-level algorithms. So it is not really safe to change partition sizes after installations have occured.

Chances are you have botched it beyond repair. To accomplish dual boot, reinstall Windows and specify your partition sizes then.

Answer 2

There are three possibilities in this situation. Yours is not possibility 1, but could be either of the others. All 3 are below.

Possibility 1: Dynamic Disk

Your disk may have been converted to a Dynamic Disk somehow. This prevents you from having two boot partitions on one disk. From your image, I can see that your disk is NOT dynamic, but if others have this problem then Dynamic Disk is a likely cause.

Multi-boot environments

If you're running a multi-boot configuration on a computer, you should not convert basic disks to dynamic disks. Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 2000 all support dynamic disks; however, you will cause problems if you upgrade a basic disk to a dynamic disk if you have all of these operating systems installed on the same machine.

Source: http://searchenterprisedesktop.techtarget.com/tip/When-not-to-convert-basic-disks-to-dynamic-disks

To check whether your disk is dynamic, boot from a recovery drive, go to Advanced Options and choose CMD. Then type in 'diskpart' without quotes. Next, enter 'list disk', again, without quotes. You will see a list of all the disks connected to your computer. Disk 0 is probably the disk in question, but to check, type 'select disk 0', replacing 0 with the disk number you want to check. Then type 'detail disk'. Once you have found your disk, scroll back up to where you typed 'list disk' and look at the output. Find the right disk ID again, and look along the row. The second-last column, labelled 'Dyn', will have an asterisk * in it if it is a dynamic disk.

If your disk is dynamic, it can be converted to basic using the link below. If using option 2, 3 or 4 in the tutorial linked below, all data on the disk will be deleted, including the operating system(s). Backup any data you do not want to lose. If using option 1, backup the drive anyway if it contains any important data.

How to convert a dynamic disk to a basic disk: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/26829-convert-dynamic-disk-basic-disk.html

Possibility 2: Shrinking -> Corruption

By shrinking your Windows partition, you may have corrupted or deleted some necessary files. There is no soultion to this apart from completely reinstalling Windows. You may be able to salvage any important data via Ubuntu and copy them to another disk, but apart from that, everything will be lost. There is no way to check whether the filesystem has been corrupted, so if your disk is not dynamic (see above) then there is nothing you can do other than reinstall Windows and starting again. See below for a guide on reinstalling Windows.

Possibility 3: Something Else

Something else bad has happened. There is nothing possible to do in this situation other than reinstall Windows and start again.

How to reinstall Windows from a recovery drive:

1. Plug in a recovery drive. These can be made from an existing Windows PC by finding 'Create a recovery drive' in Control Panel. They can also be purchased online.
2. Turn your computer on and open the boot menu. This is done by pressing a key on your keyboard but the specific key varies by computer. It is commonly F2, F8 or ESC. There may be a message which tells you what key to press.
3. Once you have booted from the USB drive, find the 'Reinstall Windows' option. It may be in Advanced Options.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions to reinstall Windows. The process may take several hours.