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I have done something really wrong to my boot system and ended up formatting the whole thing.

Only problem, the hard disk now does not allow me to install Windows anymore. But Ubuntu still works perfectly.

Can anyone suggest the solution please????

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What exactly is the thingy? Have you tried repair the Windows installation? –  Ramhound Aug 20 '13 at 13:06
We will need some more information. What exactly did you do? What is a "boot system"? Do you mean MBR? Were Ubuntu and Windows installed on the same hard drive (not partition, physical drive)? How does is "not allow" you to install? What error message do you get? –  terdon Aug 20 '13 at 13:06
Sorry, I have formatted the whole hard disk (become blank obviously). Yes, Ubuntu and Windows were installed on the same disk but different partition (obv). –  Quang Thinh Ha Aug 20 '13 at 13:06
@QuangThinhHa - What errors do you get when you attempt to install Windows? –  Ramhound Aug 20 '13 at 13:09
Couldn't remember but there was something like "Windows could not be installed on this partition. Make sure it is supported or made bootable to Windows" is what I could remember. –  Quang Thinh Ha Aug 20 '13 at 13:11

2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Go here:


And follow the steps under "Using the Custom installation option and reformatting the hard disk". Windows does not play well with linux file systems on its own. Since you had Ubuntu before, your filesystem is either ext3 or ext4. You'll need to reformat the hard drive from ext3/ext4 to NTFS. But follow those instructions and it will help you do that and install Windows.

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Thnx for the info. I have reformatted everything back to NTFS using Hirens Boot. Thanks god. –  Quang Thinh Ha Aug 20 '13 at 14:33

to keep ubuntu and install windows at the same time, you can try resizing ubuntu's partition using a partition manager like gparted. to do that, you can use system rescue cd to resize your ubuntu partition and create a new partition for windows. if at any point you feel confused or don't know what these stuff mean, you can just google a bit to get enough knowledge to be able to make informed decisions on what you want to do.

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