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I foolishly formatted the partition Ubuntu was on using Windows disk management, and now cannot boot my existing Windows 10 installation. I only have access to two things:

  1. my laptop's (Asus X555) setup utility which is the Aptio Setup Utility, which I can bring up by pressing F12,
  2. and the undeleted GRUB Rescue command-line interface.

Aptio Setup Utility

It has two "boot options":

  1. [P0: ST1000LM024 HN-...] (from hard disk)
  2. [P1: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM...] (from DVD)

When I reset everything to default it says Hard Drive instead of number 1. But when I "save and exit", which restarts, that option turn back into [P0: ST1000LM024 HN-...] which boots grub.

And pressing/holding F9 or Shift while booting does not load Windows as many articles like this one suggest.

GRUB Rescue

Most commands that many Q&A articles like this one suggest do not work in my Grub. For example here is what does work in my Grub:

  • ls (which says (hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos2) (hd0,msdos1))
  • set (which says cmdpath=(hd0) prefix=(hd0,msdos6)/boot/grub) root=hd0,msdos6
  • insmod (which says error: one argument expected.)

And here's what does not work:

  • exit (contrary to most answers, exit does not work for me)
  • chainloader
  • menuentry
  • chkdsk (is this one even Linux's? I saw it in some posts)

Which all say Unknown command ' that command '

Is there any way I can boot my working Windows up without using DVDs such as Windows Installer or Live Ubuntu? (I have neither)

Any and all help is appreciated, I am in a crisis.

SMMH
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  • you can do `ls (hd0,msdos5)` and also `ls (hd0,msdos5)/` – jsotola May 29 '21 at 17:55
  • @jsotola any such `ls` command prints `FileSystem is unknown`. I think all my partitions are NTFS. – SMMH May 29 '21 at 18:12
  • i think that you have to load a module `insmod ntfs` – jsotola May 29 '21 at 18:26
  • `lsmod` should list the loaded modules – jsotola May 29 '21 at 18:35
  • try `ls (hd0,msdos6)/boot/grub/` – jsotola May 29 '21 at 18:36
  • If you deleted the Linux partition that has most of grub you also delete the folder with all the insmod files which you probably need to boot Windows manually. You need to find a friend, work computer, neighbor with a Windows system and take a flash drive to them and install bootable Windows repair recovery. Always have a repair or live installer for current version of every operation system. Always have good backups on other devices before any major system change like delete a partition. Also better to have originally installed Windows in UEFI boot mode as then you could boot Windows. – oldfred May 29 '21 at 18:53
  • @jsotola both `insmod` and `lsmod` are unknown commands; also, `(hd0,msdos6)` does not even exist. I tried all partitions and all are "unknown FileSystem". – SMMH May 29 '21 at 18:56
  • @oldfred I have no one, and a bootable USB drive did not work as my laptop for some reason is only booting from DVD and HDD, and not USB. – SMMH May 29 '21 at 18:58
  • You have converted system to a "brick" or "boat anchor", your choice. I do believe you can purchase DVD or flash drive from some sites. Its just I do not trust most of those. For Linux they can only charge the cost of making the DVD or flash drive as Ubuntu is free. Windows most likely would not be an official copy & I would avoid those at all costs. You can download Windows 10 from Microsoft for free and use without license for 30 days, but have to have a working system. If system was orginally Windows, it has its Product key inside the UEFI, so you can easily reinstall it. – oldfred May 29 '21 at 20:19
  • @oldfred All I can do at this point is the get the DVD; the USB did not boot. Thanks for your help! – SMMH May 30 '21 at 09:58

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