Moved Windows partition to the left, won't boot (EFI)

[Raketemensch]

I'm at my wits' end with this problem.  I've searched all over, but can't find a solution.  I'm fairly new to Linux, pretty comfortable fixing most windows problems.  I've been messing around A LOT with installing linux distros recently I feel somewhat familiar with BIOS and bootloaders and EFI, at least on the linux end, but now this problem is mostly to do with windows booting, which I'm not too familiar with.

I'll try to be brief. I have a quadruple boot EFI system: Windows 8.1, Linux Mint (debian), OpenSUSE, and Fedora.
Before the troubles, sdb was like this:
sdb1 : fat32 300MB EFI boot
sdb2 : 900MB recovery
sdb3 : 128MB Microsoft reserved
sdb4 : 187GB Windows 8.1
sdb5 : XXXXX (this was the 20GB recovery partition that I moved to another HD, but it got wiped)
sdb6 : Suse
sdb7 : Mint
sdb8 : Fedora

I was on kind of a high having successfully installed and got on my way to customizing 3 linuxes.  I had already deleted that large recovery partition, so while i was in the process of adding space to and moving the linux partitions, I decided to delete the other small microsoft reserved partitions (NOT the EFI partition).  I'm almost certain that at this point I successfully booted into all 4 systems to see if anything broke.  Then when it seemed like everything was okay, I decided to move the Windows partition to the left, planning to allocate that space somewhere.  In Gparted (standard linux partitioning program), it warned me that moving a windows partition was a bad idea, but I figured I'd be able to deal with it.  It successfully moved the partition but now Windows fails to boot.

The EFI partition is there and I can get into all the linux bootloaders.  The Windows partition seems completely intact.  After trying to boot into windows it will give an error message when I mount it in linux, but after doing startup repair from a windows USB I can mount it (startup repair fails no matter how many times I try it though).

My understanding of the problem now is that the bootmgr.efi file is pointing to a physical location on the disk to find the system but it's not there.  I guess Linux partitions don't mind being moved around but Windows does.  Is this the case?  If so, how do I fix it?

Additional information, attempted fixes, etc:

1) I've tried booting from every single .efi file on sdb1.  In fact, at one point I had 12 boot entries in the BIOS, and I think it fried the BIOS.  I couldn't get past POST, freaked out, and needed to physically tear the thing apart, pop out the CMOS battery to reset it, and after that it came back (still with all the boot entries though).  Has anyone ever encountered this? It's fine now.

2) I've tried ubuntu's boot-repair, but that seems to just find the windows .efi files so it doesn't help.

3) Windows startup repair doesn't work.  I've tried it 4 times in a row several times.

4) Searching for phrases like "moved windows partition, won't boot", or "create new bootmgr.efi" usually result in pages on how to repair or create the BCD file.  I've tried several of these solutions with no luck, and I don't think this is the problem anyway.  Originally Windows 8 had no boot manager screen.  When I was installing the first linux distro I used EasyBCD, which created a Windows boot manager screen, but no linux.  Since that Grub would boot to the windows boot manager.  After upgrading to Windows 8.1 the windows boot manager screen disappeared, but Grub still worked fine booting into all systems.  When attempting the fix at:

http://www.fixedbyvonnie.com/2013/12/how-to-repair-the-efi-bootloader-in-windows-8/
and following up with this page which someone in the comments sugggested:
http://www.techspot.com/guides/630-windows-8-boot-fix/

I found that "bootrec /scanos" yields 0 windows installations.

5) I tried changing the boot flags for sdb4 to all kinds of combinations before running startup repair with no luck.

6)  The only other solution I can think of at this point to try is creating two "dummy" partitions to the left of sdb4.  I have no record of the exact sizes of the original ones, and I'm reluctant to mess around with moving the windows partition again.  Is that a crazy idea?

7) It's probably clear I'd really rather not re-install windows.  I don't have the original install disc.
 
If anyone can offer any help I'd really appreciate it.  Solutions, other posts that cover the same area, or corrections if there seems to be something that I've misunderstood... ANYTHING, please!
 
Thanks.

[patio]

In what order were these OS's installed ? ?

[Computer_Commando]

Try repairing with EasyBCD.
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

[Geek-9pm]

Buy another hared drive and start over. Use to old disk as you backup.
Your understanding of how partitions are  named and used is not good enough.
Never delete a partition n in Linux named 5. Unless you know what that means.
GParted is very useful,  but can really ruing things if you let it.

GParted -- Documentation
Also:
http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/parted.html

EFI system. Much of Linux was built before EFI.

The EFI System partition (ESP) is a partition on a data storage device that is used by computers adhering to the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). When a computer is powered up and booted, UEFI firmware loads files stored on the ESP to start installed operating systems and various utilities.

But rather than go into that now, I think you should just  start over again. One method that works well is to use one drive for windows systems, and other drive for Linux systems. You can can the boot order in the BIOS to boot up the other drive. Having two desperate drives makes troubleshooting easier. 

[Raketemensch]

In what order were these OS's installed ? ?

Computer came with Win8.  First installed Linux Mint, then OpenSuse, then Fedora, then deleted Linux Mint and replaced it with Linux Mint Debian Edition.

But, as I said, everything was going smoothly until I moved the Windows partition, and I can still boot into all 3 linuxes.

Buy another hared drive and start over. Use to old disk as you backup.
Your understanding of how partitions are  named and used is not good enough.
Never delete a partition n in Linux named 5. Unless you know what that means.
GParted is very useful,  but can really ruing things if you let it.

GParted -- Documentation
Also:
http://www.gnu.org/software/parted/manual/parted.html

EFI system. Much of Linux was built before EFI.But rather than go into that now, I think you should just  start over again. One method that works well is to use one drive for windows systems, and other drive for Linux systems. You can can the boot order in the BIOS to boot up the other drive. Having two desperate drives makes troubleshooting easier. 

Can you explain exactly where you think my understanding of partitioning is not good enough?  sdb5 was deleted long long ago, and it's deletion resulted in zero problems.   I've never come across anything indicating that the number '5' is for some reason special as you seem to suggest.  It's not a logical partition, if that's what you're thinking.  I knew what that partition was and intended to delete it.  As for buying another "hared" [sic] drive, doesn't that seem like a very drastic solution?  I still have 3 functioning operating systems, and I figure if worst comes to worst, the most I would need to do is re-install windows.

The EFI partition is intact.  All other OSes are booting.  Attempts to create new EFI boot files through bcdboot / bcdedit /bootrec all SEEM like they worked, but will only result in a perpetual windows splash screen.

[Geek-9pm]

Primaries being 4, the first logical partition is always 5. So any partition with number of five and up is a logical one

This is from a Linux documentation and it is wrong.
Deleting partition 5 will cause unpredictable problems.

[Raketemensch]

This is from a Linux documentation and it is wrong.
Deleting partition 5 will cause unpredictable problems.

This drive is GPT.  The number of primary partitions is not limited to 4.  All the OS partitions I listed have always been primary partitions.  There has never been a logical partition on this drive.  Windows (and all other OSes) had no problem booting after sdb5 was deleted months ago.  I listed it  above merely in the interest of thoroughness and to avoid people asking why sdb4 was followed by sdb6, and then mistakenly assuming as you are that it must be the cause of this problem.

[Computer_Commando]

Try repairing with EasyBCD.
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

[Geek-9pm]

This drive is GPT.

I stand corrected. When using Linux on GPT there is no extended partition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table
My remark is for Linux users who use the old partition software in Linux.

[Raketemensch]

Try repairing with EasyBCD.
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Thanks for the suggestion.
I would like to give that a try, but I currently can't boot into a windows environment, and have not been able to get EasyBCD running on linux. 

But isn't EasyBCD just a GUI for the standard tools like bcdedit, bdcdboot, and/or bootrec that one can fiddle with on a windows install disc (through repair - troubleshoot - etc - command prompt)?  I've followed several sets of instructions and various combinations of tricks using those, all to no avail.

I noticed that they (neosmart) have a bootable  repair ISO.  I might give that a try after some more tinkering, but it's a hassle for me to buy things online with a chinese bank account.

I'm also honestly just exhausted and ready to give up and re-install windows.  I've tried dozens of solutions, some of which even seemed to apply to this precise problem, but there must be some variable that I haven't been able to identify, and at this point it's just a quixotic waste of time.

**********************************
WARNING TO ANY FUTURE READER:  When a partitioning program informs you that moving the windows partition may cause problems, it is NOT joking.  There MIGHT be a simple solution, but then again there might NOT BE.
**********************************

[Geek-9pm]

**********************************
WARNING TO ANY FUTURE READER:  When a partitioning program informs you that moving the windows partition may cause problems, it is NOT joking.  There MIGHT be a simple solution, but then again there might NOT BE.
**********************************

Worth repeating. Partition programs do not always modify the boot loader correctly. They often fail. Also, there is little value in moving a partition from one place to another.

For about the same investment of time, one can setup a new hard drive with the desired layout and keep the old drive as an archive. Noways hard drives are the cheap and reliable mass storage devices. You can buy a good 1 TB HDD fro $100 and under. Not super fast, but functional.