Vista is stuck in a reboot loop.

[thesilentman]

As the title states, Windows Vista is stuck in a reboot loop after I attempted to repair my Ubuntu bootloader. I used boot-repair on my Ubuntu Live USB and hit "Recommended Repair." Now, Vista is stuck in an endless reboot loop and System Restore fails to work as it doesn't recognize my hard drive (the Live USB does, though). Is there any other tools or such that may help me get out of this situation? I prefer a non-destructive way, as all of my private and current data is on the hard drive where Vista is installed. I also don't mind using Ubuntu's terminal, but I have to be sure that my drive doesn't get wiped.

 

[SnowyGamester]

You could use the Vista install DVD to try and fix the boot record (or if you don't have that download a recover cd [http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/4020989/Windows_Vista_Recovery_CD]). Using the startup repair option should fix it though if not you should be able to run a command line from there in recovery options (typing "bootrec.exe /FixMbr" might do the trick, failing that try "bootrec /fixboot"). From there try Ubuntu again to get that back working.

 

[thesilentman]

You could use the Vista install DVD to try and fix the boot record (or if you don't have that download a recover cd [http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/4020989/Windows_Vista_Recovery_CD]). Using the startup repair option should fix it though if not you should be able to run a command line from there in recovery options (typing "bootrec.exe /FixMbr" might do the trick, failing that try "bootrec /fixboot"). From there try Ubuntu again to get that back working.

Problem is, I already tried that and the hard drive that has Vista doesn't show up when I enter the Recovery CD. Looks I may have to resort to waiting until I can buy Windows 7...

But there should be a way to fix MBR through Ubuntu, shouldn't there?

 

[SnowyGamester]

There should be. A bit of googling gave me this [http://www.geekedchef.com/2011/02/restore-windows-mbr-with-an-ubuntu-live-disk/] though I don't have enough experience with Linux to say whether that'll work (I just googled "ubuntu terminal mbr" to find that). You could also check your BOIS to see whether you're hard drive is set to IDE emulation as that may make the disk drive show up for the Windows DVD.