Restoring a bricked dual-boot?

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by bellgamin, Jan 18, 2022.

  1. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Also, any machine that came with Win8 or newer is almost certainly UEFI.
     
  2. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    On MX's XFCE, Start>Disks didn't give the info. Start>Quick Systems Info showed: UEFI (Legacy) 8/14/2019

    From that info. I *assume* my computer is UEFI & "Legacy" means... it's an old-time classic UEFI, like an abacus had, waaay back in 2019? :confused::p
     
  3. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    That's confusing.

    Have a look with GParted. Do you see a EFI System Partition? UEFI systems have one. MBR (Legacy, BIOS) systems don't.

    Also in GParted, click View, Device Information. What is the "Partition table"? It's in the left hand side. Is it msdos or gpt?
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2022
  4. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    Will do so tomorrow. I'm back on Win7 now & surfing the net while (multi-tasking) watching Castle re-runs on TV.
     
  5. bellgamin

    bellgamin Registered Member

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    No, I do not see an EFI partition.
    Screenshot_2022-01-21_10-31-38.png
     
  6. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    Thanks. It's a MBR system. Also known as Legacy.

    That's fine.
     
  7. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    I checked my notes on BitLocker. Is this consistent with what you understand?

    Let's say you have a Win10 OS, BitLocker is on for the OS. After any restart BitLocker is on and the partition is unlocked. Because it's unlocked you can do a VSS backup.

    If you want to create an image offline you boot into TBWinRE. The partition is now locked and you have to unlock it before creating a backup. It's a pain to type the following so have a script. Either of the following will unlock the partition. Use your own passwords.

    Code:
    manage-bde -unlock C: -recoverypassword 098032-033550-457622-063591-281171-518969-471988-435237
    Code:
    manage-bde -unlock C: -RecoveryKey "G:\6968786A-786B-4C69-B753-F2F5BEEE9175.BEK"
    Practically, the first is easier.

    The partition is now unlocked and you can create an IFW backup image using "Read from Volume".

    You can create single partition or entire drive images. But if you want BitLocker to be on after the restore, do a partition restore of the OS, not an entire drive restore. Prior to doing the restore in TBWinRE, unlock the OS partition with manage-bde. BitLocker will be on when you next boot Win10.
     
  8. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Hi Brian,

    In my case my entire Windows partition is Bitlocker encrypted. However, I don't use the methods you describe above for offline backups. What I do is:

    1. From Windows I go to Bitlocker settings then choose the "Suspend" Bitlocker option for the Windows partition.
    2. I plug in my IFW pendrive and restart computer.
    3. When booting to the Recovery environment is completed, Bitlocker is "Suspended", or unlocked, so I can backup using the "Read from Volume" option in IFW. I seem to remember some years ago you advised me to use this latter option when I had issues :)
    4. After creating the backup image, I remove pendrive and boot back into Windows where Bitlocker will automatically "un-suspend" itself.
    The Suspend option is very handy, since it does not actually remove the Bitlocker encrypted state from partition, it only unlocks it for offline image backups or restores, and basically until the next reboot into Windows.

    EDIT

    I forgot to mention my device uses TPM, so I don't need a password to unlock Bitlocker to get into Windows. I do have the Recovery key saved for it just in case.
     
  9. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    wat0114,

    Thanks for that. I'd forgotten about the "Suspend" method.

    But if you can't get into Win10 for some reason, then you would have to unlock with manage-bde prior to doing a restore. But if you can get into Window then "Suspend" is a lot easier than manage-bde. I agree.
     
  10. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Exactly where your method - which I confess to not knowing about until now, thanks for that! - has an advantage if one can't get into Windows. Actually, I've been in that situation not once, but twice before, and in both cases I used a less convenient and efficient method, which works fine all the same, where I booted into Linux, used GParted to format the botched Windows drive which removes Bitlocker encryption, then I booted into the IFW live rescue environment to restore an image.
     
  11. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I found these tests I'd run a few years age.

    Tried to restore an OS image to a locked partition in TBWinRE. Failed. "A hard drive error occurred when writing 80 sectors…………"

    In IFL, an OS image was restored to a locked partition. The restore succeeded but BitLocker was off when Win10 booted. As expected.
     
  12. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Oh okay, that is probably the same or similar error that I got when I tried to restore to a locked drive years ago. I do remember you helping me out of the issue.
     
  13. Brian K

    Brian K Imaging Specialist

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    I just ran some BitLocker tests.

    In the
    manage-bde -unlock C: ...
    line, you need to edit C: to the drive letter of the OS partition as seen in TBWinRE.
    If you run (from a Command prompt in TBWinRE)...

    Code:
    manage-bde -status
    ...it will let you know the drive letter of the OS partition. It's unlikely to be C:
    It helps to have Explorer++ in TBWinRE as you can access the script and edit it to the correct drive letter. Put "pause" in the script so you can see what has happened.

    Code:
    manage-bde -unlock F: -recoverypassword 098032-033550-457622-063591-281171-518969-471988-435237
    pause
    My drive letter was F:
     
  14. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Thanks Brian, I will try this method out on my next backup.
     
  15. Sampei Nihira

    Sampei Nihira Registered Member

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    I hate dual boot.:thumbd:
    When I install a Linux distro in a Windows PC, it means that the Windows OS has become impossible to use in a satisfactory way.
    With my ex Windows XP pc this critical point was never reached.
    With my daughter's ex-W.10 pc the tipping point was reached with 21H1.
     
  16. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    How so if I may ask? Is it because you can only use one OS or the other and not both simultaneously?
     
  17. Sampei Nihira

    Sampei Nihira Registered Member

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    What would be the advantage of using a Linux OS on my new PC with Windows 10?;):)
     
  18. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    Who knows, you might just find yourself dropping Windows in favor of Linux ;)
     
  19. Sampei Nihira

    Sampei Nihira Registered Member

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    ;)
    I can use Linux but I usually prefer Windows.:)
     
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