set Ubuntu/Vista choice timeout to 0; can't get back to Vista

[jsalsman]

I installed an Ubuntu partition and everything was going great with EasyBCD (great utility!) until I made Ubuntu the default.

I thought the timeout was 0 before I did that, but I might have set it from 1 to 0 at the same time.

So now I can get in to Ubuntu 8.04 just fine, but not Vista, even with [Tab], [F1], or [F2] -- it just waits 0; even if I have queued one of those keys in the keyboard buffer. Is the keyboard buffer being flushed?

I can mount my /windows Vista NTFS partition just fine in Ubuntu. Is there any way to change the timeout to 1? Or boot into Vista?

 

[mqudsi]

Hi jsalsman, welcome to NST.

Boot into the Vista DVD, enter the command line, and issue

bcdedit.exe /timeout 5

Then reboot.

 

[jsalsman]

Great, thanks !

 

[johnnyg]

but with no Vista DVD?

one problem, though - this solution would work for me (exact same problem) if I didn't have the useless 'recovery cds' that the HP laptops make for you (no command line interface).

Is there any way to edit the Vista boot commands from Linux? I mounted the NTFS partition and played around in c:/boot a little, but it's not so easy in Vista.

 

[Mak 2.0]

Hello JohnnyG. Welcome to NST!

Repairing the Windows Vista Bootloader - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

You can use our documentation to repair the Vista bootloader. We also have a option to download a fully legit Vista Recovery CD/DVD for either 32 Bit or 64 Bit.