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wanted to run 2 operating systems on the same laptop so downloaded manjaro ( I have windows 8). When i opened 'Gparted' (after booting manjaro) in order to partition my disk i got the message "partition(s) 3 on /dev/sda have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use. You should reboot now before making further changes". I clicked "ignore" and tried to make partitions but I couldn't because I have already 4 partitions. I restarted the computer and tried to boot my windows 8 but I got an error (the error starts with a sad face :( it disappeared very fast). I have tried to system recovery and resetting the PC and I the the message "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing." I don't know what to do now.

The question is: how do I fix this problem and log in to windows or at the very least restored my computer?

Thanks in advance. If anything is unclear I can add more details.

I run "parted -l" & "lsblk" on terminal and i got this (after booting Manjaro, but manjaro is not installed yet.):

[manjaro@manjaro ~]$ parted -l
Model: ATA Hitachi HTS54756 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 640GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      32.3kB  1049kB  1016kB  primary
 2      1049kB  147MB   146MB   primary  ntfs         boot
 3      147MB   210MB   62.9MB  primary
 4      210MB   607GB   607GB   primary  ntfs


[manjaro@manjaro ~]$ lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 596.2G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0 992.5K  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0   139M  0 part 
├─sda3   8:3    0   8.2G  0 part /bootmnt
└─sda4   8:4    0 565.3G  0 part 
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
loop0    7:0    0   112K  1 loop 
loop1    7:1    0 174.5M  1 loop 
loop2    7:2    0 863.8M  1 loop 
loop3    7:3    0   284M  1 loop 
[manjaro@manjaro ~]$

Here is a picture of Gparted:

http://postimg.org/image/m44uwut0f/

I'm a newbie at this, any suggestions on what to do next.

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5
  • Could've overwriten windows' partitions in the 1st "partition(s) 3 on /dev/sda have been written", or in the subsequent ignoring reboot & doing other "stuff." Should add to Q output from parted -l & lsblk? Even a screenshot of gparted maybe?
    – Xen2050
    Commented Dec 20, 2014 at 23:16
  • I have uploaded the screenshot. I'm unsure of what you mean by "Should add to Q output...".
    – user3697625
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 10:18
  • just meant edit the Question & add the info, you got it perfect. I'm not sure what to do about the partitions though... sda3 could be the new one you created, and sda4 (almost whole drive) may be the old windows (not sure about "recovery" label). sda1 maybe the gpt boot partition, and sda2 a windows boot partition? You could mount them and take a look, at least see if your old files are around - I'd do that first before installing linux, unless you have a good backup already & don't mind re-installng windows.
    – Xen2050
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 11:20
  • Here's a Q with LOTS of info on dual-booting Windows 8 & Ubuntu, should be applicable askubuntu.com/questions/221835/…
    – Xen2050
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 11:21
  • I'm completely new at this and this is the only pc i have, i have to get it functional asap. I don't know how to mount and check the partitions. Where should should i mount? Can you tell me what to write on the terminal? Thanks.
    – user3697625
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 19:46

1 Answer 1

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By looking at the screenshot - correct me if I'm mistaken:

/dev/sda is marked as a SYSTEM, but does not have a "boot" flag set.

/dev/sda2/ has a boot flag set but doesn't seem to be manjaro booter.

In other words, you tried to utilise a hard drive while breaking up the partitioning. It seems Windows tries to boots from /dev/sda but it cannot find its way, because it was installed on /dev/sda4.

You are in a perfect opportunity to:

a) learn a lot of OS and system internals stuf

b) reinstall the system. Files should be accessible on "Recovery" mount easily enough.

Out of curiosity, can you try to launch /dev/sda4 from Vbox? We could try to emulate the OS in a virtual environment.

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename devsda4.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda4

This way you could be able to launch your previously "physical" OS in a virtualbox - create a new VM and attach the created VMDK file as a hard drive.

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2
  • Hi, downloaded the Virtualbox but it doen't work since it requires I install the kernel module virtualbox-host-modules. When i install it it requires me to restart the computer but if i do so then i'm back to square one with no virtualbox (I haven't installed manjaro yet). Is there an easy fix for an inexperienced user like me? Would it be easier to just install Manjaro and lose all my windows documents (i didn't backup anything) and later install windows 8? I really don't understand the stuff with mounting and sda and how to do that. My priority is to get back to windows 8.
    – user3697625
    Commented Dec 21, 2014 at 22:59
  • If you start a LiveCD ubuntu lets say, it should automatically mount your hard drive with Windows, as long as it wasn't encrypted with bitlocker for example or truecrypt or anything like that. If you had bitlocker enabled drive, then it will be quite hard to recover (but still possible if you have the keys). Truecrypt - the same. Take a look around in the explorer
    – AlexPawlak
    Commented Dec 23, 2014 at 22:25

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