Missing Operation System for Win10 after failed installation of Ubuntu 20.04 from USB - Aspire Z5771

mcb89

Hello Everyone I hope that someone on here can assist me step by step to fix my father's Acer Aspire Z5771 without him possibly losing his extremely important files for court and my files for Veterinary School.

For Background: His All-In-One PC upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 Home Premium OA, which was pre-installed when he purchased it years ago. Two weeks ago, I purchased a pre-made USB for Ubuntu 20.04 to have Ubuntu run alongside Windows. Unfortunately, during the process Ubuntu failed. When I restarted the PC without the USB it mentioned: Operation System not found. After trying to restart with the USB for Ubuntu, I was not successful with its installation and upon startup it stated boot not found, but was able to go F12 for boot devices and select UEFI Device which is the USB inserted for Ubuntu. Then it says error /boot/ file not found. Shortly afterwards it says checking disk and then gives me the option to try or install ubuntu. It fails when I try to install Ubuntu at the step where you choose the partition, so I closed out and tried to reinstall windows 10 from a USB to have Windows working again, despite not having Ubuntu working properly, but during the installation for Windows 10 from a different USB it states at the start installation section: No partition with windows and not able to install to drive 0 Partition 3 which has the majority of the computer's GB space. I tried to root and mount to ext 4, swap, efi, but each time it says it wasn't detected. I believe the message was no EFI was detected. 

After I did all of that I tried to restart the PC again, to go into the Bios, but it failed unless I hit the option DEL which takes me into the bios, since I was thinking maybe it would work if I could get into the safe mode or legacy mode, but I didn't see a legacy mode listed, only UEFI or EFIC (I believe). 

At the moment I can only use Ubuntu in try mode to access the internet, but I can't find any of my windows files and I wanted to do my best to save our important files, since after this pandemic is lifted we have to go back to court, and we already have a disadvantage of not having an attorney to represent my father, and I've been trying to resolve this for the last 2 weeks but each time when it seems something I do is about to work, it fails, and is frustrating my father and myself. 

I contacted the person I purchased the USB from when it first failed and we lost Windows 10. Unfortunately, they mentioned that they never heard of this happening before. The steps they mentioned didn't work, and I've been forced to try to figure things out on my own. 

Could someone kindly help by giving me some advice step by step on what I can try to do to retrieve our files, and get windows OS for Windows 10 working again, so we would have a PC that is operational again? 

I'm still learning about computers, so I would need it to be explained more in layman's terms, even though I have been reading up and watching multiple videos on how to resolve this, but it has been to no avail. Thank you for anyone that is able to assist us and doesn't mind trying to help us fix our PC. 

[Thread edited title to add the product name]

Commodore_1995#

The first step is to recover the files. You can use the windows 10 iso to perform this procedure. When installing windows, press shift + f10 and type the command notepad.exe

This command will allow you to copy files to another USB drive or external hard drive.

billsey

Or from the same boot open a command prompt and copy from there using xcopy or robocopy. Hopefully the problem is just that the Linux install attempted to install Grub, but failed, leaving the default UEFI boot point blanked out.

mcb89

egydiocoelho said:

The first step is to recover the files. You can use the windows 10 iso to perform this procedure. When installing windows, press shift + f10 and type the command notepad.exe

This command will allow you to copy files to another USB drive or external hard drive.

Thanks for trying to help. I was able to get notepad to open to copy files but once I got into it I tried to look in my This PC and in the section Libraries, but I couldn't find my files to be able to copy anything. I tried to select documents folder, pictures folder, etc., but nothing would be allowed to be selected for the files to open. I tried to change the files of type option to all instead of text, and have auto-detect for encoding. I also tried to select the different disk drives, but system reserved is almost nothing on it for volume it says 33.6 of 99.9 mb and local disk C and doesn't state how much GB, and wont let me access it unless it's formatted, which I didn't select. Unfortunately it seems my files are lost or were wiped. I can't finish the windows installation because it says windows can't be installed on disk 0 partition, and I finally found a way to proceed with the installation, but for some reason I don't see legacy as an option in the Bios, which was the only way I could find how to have my windows to be able to reinstalled without a disk. I have Ubuntu 20.04 on usb which I purchased and windows 10 on a usb that I made on my own, which worked on my lenovo to fix the same problem. On my acer my disk drive for the pc ended up getting broke, so I can't use disks for this computer, which makes the task of fixing it to use windows and ubuntu (for the regular installation, since I only been able to use ubuntu in try mode)  and have my files back, a serious challenge, that I still have been working on, since I can't really afford to clean the hard drive, even though if it takes much longer I might have no other option to resort to. 

mcb89

billsey said:

Or from the same boot open a command prompt and copy from there using xcopy or robocopy. Hopefully the problem is just that the Linux install attempted to install Grub, but failed, leaving the default UEFI boot point blanked out.

Hello Thanks for responding to my post. I was able to get into robocopy, but for some reason everything I try doesn't work. I was able to check the directory for the dir that the command prompt is in which is X:\sources>dir and I found out that windows is somewhere still on it, because it was listed: 12/06/2019 11:09 pm 664,888 win32ui.dll, along with files from 2019, which is when I believe the PC was restored before, but I only see files from then and this year listed. So many my files were not wiped, as I originally thought it might have been, but I still need assistance in knowing how to copy what is on this PC, so I can proceed and hopefully be able to fix this PC, I can't believe I'm still trying to get it work properly without any further success.

 I also was able to get notepad to open to copy files as the other user suggested on my post, but once I got into it I tried to look in my This PC and in the section Libraries, but I couldn't find my files to be able to copy anything. I tried to select documents folder, pictures folder, etc., but nothing would be allowed to be selected for the files to open. I tried to change the files of type option to all instead of text, and have auto-detect for encoding. I also tried to select the different disk drives, but system reserved is almost nothing on it for volume it says 33.6 of 99.9 mb and local disk C and doesn't state how much GB, and wont let me access it unless it's formatted, which I didn't select.

I'm still at a lost as to how I can retrieve my files. I can't finish the windows installation because it says windows can't be installed on disk 0 partition, and I finally found a way to proceed with the installation, but for some reason I don't see legacy as an option in the Bios, which was the only way I could find how to have my windows to be able to reinstalled without a disk. I have Ubuntu 20.04 on usb which I purchased and windows 10 on a usb that I made on my own, which worked on my lenovo to fix the same problem that this PC is similarly having, but the lenovo had legacy mode. On my acer my disk drive for the pc ended up getting broke, so I can't use disks for this computer, which makes the task of fixing it to use windows and ubuntu (for the regular installation, since I only been able to use ubuntu in try mode)  and have my files back, a serious challenge, that I still have been working on, since I can't really afford to clean the hard drive, even though if it takes much longer I might have no other option to resort to, even though I'm concerned and don't want to lose my legal and educational documents, since I'm not sure how that is going to hurt me even more by not knowing what files I don't have a copy of that I'll need once the country opens back up for court. 

If you could help me or anyone else that knows how to resolve this and can help by explaining some suggestions, step by step, I will be grateful. Thanks again.   

Commodore_1995#

In my opinion, the easiest and fastest way to recover files would be by connecting the hard drive to another computer, via a USB adapter.

mcb89

egydiocoelho said:

In my opinion, the easiest and fastest way to recover files would be by connecting the hard drive to another computer, via a USB adapter.

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about that, but since this is an All in one PC, I'm unsure how to do that, and I wouldn't want to make things worse. Right now the only thing I came up with is trying to install Aomei partition assistant and convert the Drive on the Acer from MBR to GPT, since that seems to be the reason why it's failing to install windows 10 back via the win10 usb I made. But now I ran into the deliemma that using my other computer which is windows to download aomei to use on the one not working that I only can have sort of work via ubuntu in the try version; Ubuntu won't open the app for partition assistant. So now it seems I'm back at almost square one, unless I can find a way to get aomei to work in ubuntu. It seems that's the only program that won't delete my files, when converting from MBR to GPT. I don't know if you have any other suggestions on what I could do other than removing the hard drive suggestion or could assist with how I can have aomei to work on the acer, since when I try to download aomei on the acer directly, the mouse won't allow me to open the download, as well as, the mouse keys option using the keyboard. It really is something how something meant to be simple, turned into such a nightmare. And the person I purchased it from, seems to know even less on how to handle this situation, than what I tried. Their suggestions each failed. 

billsey

The first step though is to try and recover your data form the original install. Once that is done we can work toward getting Windows running again. When you are in the command prompt you are on an X: drive that's really just a little virtual drive the install environment made in memory. You should do a "DIR C:" to see if the C: drive is where the windows files rest right now. If not try "DIR D :" and "DIR E:". Very likely one of those will give you a list that includes the Program Files folder, the Windows folder and the Users folder among others. Take note of that drive letter. We'll assume it's C: and my next few steps will use C:. If it's a different letter just substitute...

Do a "DIR C:\Users" (note the back slash, that's typically above the enter key not beside the shift key). You will likely see a Public folder and a folder with something like your username. The one with your username is where all your libraries are. Do a "DIR C:\Users\<username>" with the proper username filled in. You should see folders like Desktop, Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. Those are what we're going to copy off to make sure you don't lose any of that data.

The next step is to use a USB flash drive or USB hard drive to give yourself somewhere to put those files. Plug it in to a USB port and wait a bit for the system to recognize it. The go back to where we started and do a "DIR D :", "DIR E:", etc until you see that drive. For now we'll assume it is D : though you'll want to use the actual letter that's correct. Now we can start the copy. I'll use xcopy for an example but if you're more familiar with robocopy or some other utility feel free to use that instead. We want to copy everything in the user folder over to a folder on the flash drive we'll name <username>. We want to copy even subdirectories so that you can be sure to get everything rather than trying to make value judgements on what's important and what isn't. Here we go:

"XCOPY C:\Users\<username>\. D : \<username> /E /C /I"

And then wait a while, and wait a while longer, and ... heck just go do something else while it's copying. The /E says to copy everything in all directories and subdirectories. The /C says to just keep on going if it bumps into an error rather than giving up. The /I says if the destination doesn't exist yet and it's copying more than one file to create a folder for those files, that handles cases where you are copying a file with the same name as a folder.

When everything is finished do a "DIR D : \<username>" to make sure it looks right, then maybe a "DIR D : \<username>\Documents" and such to make sure they all also look good. Let me know if you get stuck anywhere...

Note that I had to stick a space between D and : and between : and / or else it would just put up an emoji with it's tongue out or with a wry look. Don't type the space when you are in your command prompt. (or maybe )

mcb89

billsey said:

The first step though is to try and recover your data form the original install. Once that is done we can work toward getting Windows running again. When you are in the command prompt you are on an X: drive that's really just a little virtual drive the install environment made in memory. You should do a "DIR C:" to see if the C: drive is where the windows files rest right now. If not try "DIR D :" and "DIR E:". Very likely one of those will give you a list that includes the Program Files folder, the Windows folder and the Users folder among others. Take note of that drive letter. We'll assume it's C: and my next few steps will use C:. If it's a different letter just substitute...

Do a "DIR C:\Users" (note the back slash, that's typically above the enter key not beside the shift key). You will likely see a Public folder and a folder with something like your username. The one with your username is where all your libraries are. Do a "DIR C:\Users\<username>" with the proper username filled in. You should see folders like Desktop, Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. Those are what we're going to copy off to make sure you don't lose any of that data.

The next step is to use a USB flash drive or USB hard drive to give yourself somewhere to put those files. Plug it in to a USB port and wait a bit for the system to recognize it. The go back to where we started and do a "DIR D :", "DIR E:", etc until you see that drive. For now we'll assume it is D : though you'll want to use the actual letter that's correct. Now we can start the copy. I'll use xcopy for an example but if you're more familiar with robocopy or some other utility feel free to use that instead. We want to copy everything in the user folder over to a folder on the flash drive we'll name <username>. We want to copy even subdirectories so that you can be sure to get everything rather than trying to make value judgements on what's important and what isn't. Here we go:

"XCOPY C:\Users\<username>\. D : \<username> /E /C /I"

And then wait a while, and wait a while longer, and ... heck just go do something else while it's copying. The /E says to copy everything in all directories and subdirectories. The /C says to just keep on going if it bumps into an error rather than giving up. The /I says if the destination doesn't exist yet and it's copying more than one file to create a folder for those files, that handles cases where you are copying a file with the same name as a folder.

When everything is finished do a "DIR D : \<username>" to make sure it looks right, then maybe a "DIR D : \<username>\Documents" and such to make sure they all also look good. Let me know if you get stuck anywhere...

Note that I had to stick a space between D and : and between : and / or else it would just put up an emoji with it's tongue out or with a wry look. Don't type the space when you are in your command prompt. (or maybe )

Thanks for taking the time to try to help. I followed your suggestions but unfortunately it seems it might be another dir because for DIR C:\ and DIR E:\ It stated "The volume does not contain a recognized file system. Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted. 

I had to use my win usb to go into command prompt because without it it says os is not found or something to that same meaning. For DIR D :  \ it gives the files for the usb that were copied when I made the windows usb, since I cant get into command prompt without the usb that was made for windows.

I noticed it has when I type DIR:
program files, program files (x86), sources, users, windows, and 262,144 offlinerecenvtrace.etl. then lists 2 files and the bytes, and 5 dir bytes free.

If I only write DIR it gives me 83 files and 5 dir. Within the files under X:\Sources> 
It has <DIR> en-US, <DIR>inf, <DIR> recovery, <DIR> . , and <DIR> ..,  theres also the rest listed either with .gif, .xsl, .dll, .bmp, .exe, .txt, .admx, .ini, .ttf, and .cfg. I see win32ui.dll but I can't find the dir it is listed as for the program files. DIR without any letter gave me program files but that doesnt seem helpful in trying to proceed, since I dont have the dir letter. Any other suggestions on how to get past this, so I can try the other steps you kindly wrote out? Thanks for your time in trying to help us. 

I meant to write Dir D : \ without the spaces because with the spaces, it gave the smilie as you mentioned in your last comment. 

billsey

It sounds like when you are booted into the install image and in the command prompt that your system partition is D. That's not unusual, it just means another partition glomed onto the letter before your system partition could. So, your Documents and such will be under D : \Users and you can follow the rest of the instructions using D as the source. Now, when you plug a flash drive in, unless the flash drive has been formatted in a different filesystem, such as Linux would do, it should show up as E: or F: or something after that. Use the DIR command to see if you can find it.

If it's been setup for Linux we'll have to fix that, so let me know...

mcb89

I just tired Dir but Dir D is my usb drive for windows. When I tried Dir X:\Users public did show up. Then I used X:\Users\Public and I found ., .., documents, downloads, music, pictures, and videos listed. 

I tired robocop. But since I didnt have a username I tried the . &.. but neither worked.  I ended up trying public instead since I dont have a username listed, so this is what it looked like.

X:\Sources> X:\Users\Public.D:\Public/E/COPYALL/IS/IT/IM but it came up: The system cannot find the oath specified. I tried changing the part after E to what you had and it had the same response. Tried xcopy and it had the same response too. 

Thanks again for trying to assist. You have been the most helpful so far, and we appreciate your time. 

billsey

X: is just the temporary drive that the USB creates when you boot into install or repair mode. So D : is the install image and C: and E: both say the file system is bad? That is pointing to a corrupted partition which means we may not be able to recover the files. Try this, run "CHKDSK C: /R" to see if it can recover things. It will take quite some time if it can do anything.