A few days ago, I was playing a game on the Windows partition of my laptop. I finished up the game, and there was a message telling me that the Windows 8.1 update was ready to be installed. Several reboots later, Windows was updated, and my boot partition lay a mangled heap on my hard drive. Linux Mint was nowhere to be seen.
Windows 8.1: Fine
Linux Mint: Innaccessible. Feared dead.
I was despondent, for I was too busy to attempt to fix the situation. Work was pressing, and life was insistent. Finally, a few days later, I found the time to attempt a fix. The first tool I found was known by the unassuming name of “Boot-Repair”. I reached. I grasped. I burned it to a CD-ROM. I ran the program, still fearing for my linux partition. Boot-Repair lead me along a merry path, performing great deeds, and giving me minor tasks of my own to perform along the way. And then it stopped, and Boot-Repair turned around and triumphantly proclaimed, “IT IS FIXED! Now restart your computer!” So I restarted my computer.
WTF!#(*)!@#
I rebooted. Then I tried the special reboot button that I used to reboot into Windows. (It’s a Lenovo Y500. They have a special reboot button) No luck. Nothing worked. I cast about several different ways until I finally discovered what had happened. Boot-Repair had overwritten the boot record ON THE WINDOWS PARTITION. Windows 8.1, with all of its UEFI must-protect-myself-from-the-user attitude, was now refusing to boot. Meanwhile my Linux Mint partition was now fully accessible.
Windows 8.1: Inaccessible. Presumed encrypted to hell.
Linux Mint: Fine.
And thus I am forced to conclude that my Windows partition has been ruined beyond my will to attempt yet another boot manager fix. Time to reformat my hard drive as a full Linux machine. If I try to play another game, it will have to be under Linux. Windows 8 has proven that it simply doesn’t play well with others.
About D. J. Carmen
Software developer, fire spinner, musician, occasional artist, and wandering soul. Depending on the day, you may find me working on my latest project, walking about the park, or skipping stones by the river.
