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  • windows boot configuration data file does not contain a valid os entry

Here's what happened, i always dualboot my laptop, windows and linux, i was fixing the grub menu, using easybcd as i always do. but i clicked install bcd by mistake on the first partition where windows 7 is installed and messed with the bios i believe. I can still boot to ubuntu but not to windows, here's what i see when i try booting to windows:

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software problem might be the cause. To fix the problem:

1- insert your Windows installation disc and restart your computer.

2- choose your language settings and then click next.

3- click repair your computer.

If you don't have the disc contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

File : \boot\bcd Status: 0x0000098

Info: the windows boot configuration data file does not contain a valid os entry
I don't have the disc, And there's no one i can contact for assistance. I don't want to reinstall windows nor to remove ubuntu. I was thinking about downloading wine on ubuntu, running easybcd on it and fix the issue using easybcd, if i can reach easybcd i know how to fix it, but i don't think my solution will work.

How about reseting the Bios setting? will i face any problem afterwards?
I'm not sure. But you can download and install Windows 7 Recovery.iso on a USB drive, it's not legally free to download, but you know where to download it if you want to do so.
After you download the .iso file, you can install it using Unetbootin from Ubuntu, if it doesn't work, try applying this tutorial, but you will need to find another computer to do so under Windows.
Or just burn the .iso to a CD / DVD.

Once you've done that, boot up from the USB drive.
thanks man, i have the laptop of my brother i can use it and i have tons of empty Cds, i'm gonna follow this guide I can't thank you enough! i thought i need to buy a windows cd.

One last question, will i lose anything that i already have on windows?
There's a chance you might've corrupted your Windows partition. (I'm actually pretty sure you did). So first thing is avoid any write operation on this partition. The more you write on it, the less chances you have of recovering what you had.

Recovery is a nasty business, and let's be honest, a kind of voodoo dark art. There's no telling what you lost and what you will be able to recover until you actually attempt a recovery. So before you attempt to repair Windows, you should try a recovery.

I use the Unix tool called foremost. It's the most effective I've ever tried. Once you're done with your recovery, you can then attempt to save Windows.

I hope I caught you in time...
I don't think i lost anything, because i can boot ubuntu and from there i can access all my windows files located on C and D, but well you mentionned that it might be corrupted, so I'm backing up all my ebooks and music and important stuff on a usb, just in case. thanks for reminding me about that possibility.

Now i'm ready to get my hands dirty, i'd like to get windows working, but if i can't it's okay, i'll install win 8 instead or just use ubuntu on the whole laptop, as i mentioned before on another thread i only use windows for computer science projects (c++, c#, java, vb...) but i think mono is fine.

I checked foremost, it seems only for linux, my linux is fine, my problem is with windows, i think i messed with the bcd.

A side note, i wish i could subscribe for new posts on your blog.
I checked foremost, it seems only for linux, my linux is fine, my problem is with windows, i think i messed with the bcd.
The OS running foremost has absolutely nothing to do with it. You can recover files from your Windows partition, from within Linux. It's actually recommended that you work from another partition so you don't write anything on the Windows part of the disk.

You already know that you can read your Windows file from within Linux ...
yes, there's nothing to recover, it's MBR problem or something related to bcd, so i don't think i need foremost, and i'm afraid to go for the first solution given by Avtvav, because some people say:
Using a System Repair disc on a different PC than one it was created on isn't recommended. These discs contain device drivers and other files specific to the system, so unless your source and target PCs are similar (same) in terms of hardware, you might end up causing even more problems.
I'm searching for a safe solution, i already have one, downloading a windows iso boot it up, and use the repair option. But I'm not going to download 3 gb to fix a silly problem like mine.

I'm not going to give my laptop to the computer store next door, they don't know anything about computers, you give them a computer, they fornat it. That's not an option. I'm not going to buy a windows cd, waste of money to fix a silly problem. I'll try to borrow one from and fix it, But the best option is to find a small tool that i can burn to a disc like super grub disk for example which fixes grub issues, i hope to find a similar tool to fix bcd and mbr issues, i didn't find anything yet.
you need to boot from windows 7 disc choose repair them command prompt and enter the following commands:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot

and if you want you can enter bootrec /rebuildbcd and choose the os you want to add to the boot list.
Αντνάν solution worked!! thank you so much!!! i'm not having any issues at least for now.
@DNA i didn't have to enter any commands, windows repaired everything automatically.
thats good but why to download the bootable recovery iso while simply you can use the windows 7 disk. Anyway when you select startup repair windows will execute the commands i gave you automatically.
I didn't download anything, my brother has a 64 bit win 7 so i used this tutorial. It's not the same tutorial Αντνάν told me about, but the same website wrote both tutorials, and it's pretty much the same concept, that's why i'm thanking Αντνάν, he showed me the site.

I save the commands you wrote, I might need them some other day.
2 months later
it is a matter of rebuilding the BCD for windows , happens a lot