Windows won't boot

Guys today i was installing Garuda linux, some how my esp partition got deleted, now i am unable to access windows.
some how i managed to install Garuda. Is there any way i can resetup esp partition so that i can access windows.
currently:
/dev/sda2 is set to /boot. /dev/sda2 was supposed to be esp partition.
/dev/sda4 has windows installed.
/dev/sda6 garuda installed with root and bios_grub flag
/dev/sda7 swap.

other partition has windows recovery etc. But when i try to recover windows by pressing f11, nothing happens.
I dont want to loose my data and garuda installation. Any help please.
Both Garuda and windows are important for me as Ableton and other vst crashes in virtual box and i use linux for data science.

Maybe you can use it?

pacman -Ss testdisk
extra/testdisk 7.1-2
    Checks and undeletes partitions + PhotoRec, signature based recovery tool

and

:slight_smile:

Did you have backups of your data? If not, this is a good life lesson.

Partitions don’t delete themselves.

If your Windows recovery partition is gone then you can use a Windows recovery medium. That’s very out-of-scope for this forum.

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If the partition is really deleted, there is nothing we can do, unless testdisk can.
You may find better answers to Windows related sources.

Check physically the contents of your current $esp for a windows folder. If there is no, maybe you could copy related files from another windows PC, but I don’t know if this will fix it.

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Boot up a new Windows 10 ISO that you downloaded from here,
Write it to USB using the AUR utility woeusb-ng that you installed from here, A reboot is necessary.
Then use the 'Repair' function shown on the screen. I believe it is in the lower left-hand corner.

You'll lose the Garuda installation, most likely, but it should save your Windows & data. Use at your own risk.

regards

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@arul from now on, I would suggest using Windows' System Restore function to set Restore Points. It is similar to what an updated Garuda also provides. Then you'll be doubly protected (somewhat) from yourself.

It's all a learning process. :wink:

regards

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As everyone here has already commented repairing a Windows install is a little out of our field of expertise. While I was very adept with Windows when it was my primary OS, I haven't used Windows in many years so I'm hardly qualified to give advice in that regard.

We can not provide support for a broken Windows install. As already mentioned, you need to seek advice for repairing a Windows install on a Windows support forum.

Generally, the best way to try and recover lost data is to use dd to make a bit for bit exact duplicate of your drive that needs recovery to a larger size drive. You should then attempt your data recovery from the duplicated drive. This lessens the possibility of data loss if you make mistakes during your data recovery attempts.

Testdisk has fairly good success at recovering deleted partition tables, however the more you mess about with the drive you want to recover, the less likely the recovery will be successful.

This is why I spend far too much time on the forum arguing with others not to recommend dual booting to those new to Linux. For those that already know what they are doing dual booting is fairly straight forward. However, as you've now learned the hard way, you must always make backups beforehand. For those that don't make backups, and haven't researched dual booting very thoroughly, this is a sure recipe for disaster.

Sorry, but we really can't help you with this mess you've created. You're on your own if you decide to travel down the multi-boot roadway without studying a roadmap first and get yourself lost.

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