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Thread: Ouch, lost autoexec.bat

  1. #1
    UKMuFFiN
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    Ouch, lost autoexec.bat

    Again, as a result of playing with linux, my windows got burned.

    Last night, booted into ubuntu with the plan to partition my drive for a dual boot because I'm trying really hard not to spend more money this month (getting a new drive). So use the ubuntu install to make the windows partition smaller then make a new one for linux, next step only shows the whole SDA1 as installable partition, (no choice) So go back a step and gparted shows both the partitions as black - unknown. Ooops

    Promptly reboot, yep, no OS to boot, boot into windows disc, Recovery console, Fixboot, FixMBR, reboot. Sigh of relief with the windows xp logo boot screen. But then it says it cant find autoexec.bat. Checking on my dads pc and in work autoexec.bat is an empty file(?, so whats the point in it?)

    Anyway, I've brought the HDD into work so can I just copy the file over? or is there more I need to do to fix it?

    Cheers.

  2. #2
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    autoexec.bat is a relic from MS-DOS. it's not used by NT5 (XP, 2K)

  3. #3
    UKMuFFiN
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    so why won't XP boot because it cant find it? It says it cant find it then reboots. :-S

  4. #4
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by UKMuFFiN View Post
    so why won't XP boot because it cant find it? It says it cant find it then reboots. :-S
    it'll be an unrelated problem

    i suspect your FAT is screwed, and other critical boot files have gone AWOL

  5. #5
    The late but legendary peterb - Onward and Upward peterb's Avatar
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    Try creating an empty file called autoexec.bat.
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  6. #6
    UKMuFFiN
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    Seems the partition is hidden, so tried Fdisk but its not listed (Just been informed fdisk can't see NTFS, so that would be why.)

    Any freeware progs out there that can do the job?

  7. #7
    Network|Geek kidzer's Avatar
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    Im pretty sure there's a utility on UBCD that can view NTFS partitions, can't remember which one though - http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ if you want a look.
    "If you're not on the edge, you're taking up too much room!"
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  8. #8
    Agent of the System ikonia's Avatar
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    fdisk should be able to see partitions - as its just that a partition - not a file system. If fdisk can't see the partition listed then that partitions probably doesn't exist.
    It is Inevitable.....


  9. #9
    UKMuFFiN
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    Quote Originally Posted by directhex View Post
    it'll be an unrelated problem

    i suspect your FAT is screwed, and other critical boot files have gone AWOL
    So how would you go about fixing that then? The partition can't be in the hidden state can it if it boots? However plugging it in with a USB adaptor thing, I can see it in Computer Management>Disk Management, but cant give it a drive letter. Also the Repair installation doesn't appear when booting into the install disc.

  10. #10
    Agent of the System ikonia's Avatar
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    you can see what in computer managment - the disk or the partition

    if its the disk - of course you can see it - you've just plugged in a disk
    if its the partition then is it marked as dynamic ?
    If you can only see the disk - they you've messed up your partitions some how
    It is Inevitable.....


  11. #11
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    GNU Parted might be able to build a coherent partition table from what you have .

  12. #12
    UKMuFFiN
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    The Gparted Live CD shows all info being correct - NTFS partition size and usage info also correct But how do I actually repair it? Other tools have said there's loads of bad sectors. I'm at the stage where I just want to get my data and don't care about windows. If in Gparted I resize it, make a new partition on the end, will that restore the table? *Feeble cry "help me"*

    edit: tried resizing it with gparted, - error
    Last edited by UKMuFFiN; 02-11-2006 at 05:16 PM.

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