Restoring the windows xp bootloader without a distribution kit. How to perform the Windows XP boot loader recovery process. Editing any operating system entry in Boot Manager
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Recovery Windows boot loader 7 without a distribution and creating a dual boot using the MultiBoot program
Annotation
Restoring the Windows 7 boot loader after installing Windows XP and creating a boot menu are described in detail in the article Installing Windows XP on a computer with Windows 7 and is not difficult if you have a Windows 7 installation disk or a Windows 7 recovery disk. However, there are situations when neither one nor the other is at hand. The program is intended to help in this case MultiBoot, developed by participants of the OsZone conference.
Download MultiBoot program possible at OSZone soft portal from this page.
Program page on OsZone-Wiki: MultiBoot.
Development history
The program is based on Pavel Kravchenko’s idea to automate and present in a graphical interface (GUI) the user’s work on the command line - utility FixBootFull. However, the appearance operating system Windows 7 pushed us to improve the utility and expand its functionality. Currently, the program covers almost all the necessary functions of the utility bcdedit.exe, designed to work with operating system records, with the exception of the function of deleting an entry from the boot store (BCD) and adding an entry for a second Windows 7 or Vista system to the BCD.
Program features
With this program you will be able to:
- recover download files Windows Vista or Windows 7, erased when formatting the active partition; New
- restore the Windows Vista or Windows 7 bootloader that was erased during the installation of Windows XP;
- create configuration with dual boot both after and before installing Windows XP;
- specify the default operating system;
- edit entries of any operating system in the boot manager and determine their position in the boot menu;
- set a timeout for the menu with the choice of loading operating systems;
- export and import boot configuration data;
- display detailed information about the boot storage, boot files, disk and partition layout, and also save them in text file;
- run command line to execute commands manually;
- specify file parameters boot.ini rdisk And partition for boot errors in Windows XP. New
To make it easier to work with the program, each control element is equipped with a tooltip.
Starting the program
Download the archive with the program and unpack it into separate folder. If you booted into Windows XP, just run the program, and if you booted into Windows 7/Vista, run it as an administrator. After starting the program:
- will collect information about boot configuration data (BCD), disks and partitions, and installed Windows operating systems;
- will analyze the bootloader file version bootmgr;
- will search Windows XP boot files, including the contents of the files boot.ini(if there are several of them).
The result of the analysis will be reflected in the field Configuration Details on the tab Additionally.
The proposed version includes utilities bootsect.exe, so you do not need to additionally download or copy it from the Windows 7 installation disk, as well as the utility bcdboot.exe, available in the Windows\System32 folder of the Windows 7 operating system. You can read about the capabilities and use of the utility in the article BCDboot command line options.
Recovery tab
Let's look at the program functions implemented using this tab.
Each control element is equipped with a tooltip, which makes working with the program easier.
Figure 1 – “Recovery” tab: restoring the Windows 7 boot loader and adding an entry for Windows XP to the boot menu.
Restoring the Windows Vista or Windows 7 bootloader that was erased during the installation of Windows XP
When the checkbox is active Restore bootloaderWindows Vista /7 on all drives The command to repair the MBR compatible with Windows 7/Vista will be executed:
Bootsect /nt60 All
In the event that the computer has more than one hard drive, the command will be executed with the key /force.
If you are using the program as a BCD entry editor, uncheck this box.
Adding a Windows XP boot entry to the boot menu and storage.
You can add an entry to boot Windows XP both before and after installing it. If there is no Windows XP boot entry in the BCD, you will see a second checkbox: Add an entry to the boot menu for Windows XP, and in the field Executed commands and report– list of required commands.
Note: before adding the Windows XP download entry to the download store, in the combo box Select operating system There is no line about it, but the settings will be applied specifically to the created entry. At this stage you can:
- rename the created entry (by default – “Windows XP”);
- set Windows XP as the default operating system (if you do not want this, uncheck the corresponding box);
- determine the location of the entry in the boot menu (by default the entry will be located at the top of the list).
After clicking the “Run” button, the scheduled commands will be executed.
You can prepare in advance to install Windows XP and create a boot menu. To do this, run the program in Windows 7, configure the boot menu options in the same way as described above, but since there is no need to restore the bootloader at this stage, uncheck Restore bootloaderWindows Vista/7 on all drives and press the button Execute. After installing Windows XP, you only need to restore the Windows 7 boot loader.
Edit any operating system entry in the boot manager.
The Multiboot program allows you to edit existing boot records of operating systems. To do this, just uncheck both checkboxes on the tab Recovery over the field Editing a post. To start editing, select necessary entry in the combo box Select operating system. The remaining functions are similar to those applied to the created Windows XP boot record and are not difficult:
- renaming the selected entry;
- setting the selected system as the default boot system (if you do not want this, uncheck the corresponding box);
- changing the location of the entry in the boot menu (at the top or bottom of the list).
Setting a timeout
To do this, you need to change the value in the checkbox field Set OS selection timeout.
The command will be displayed in the control field
X:\Windows\System32\bcdedit /timeout nn
where X is the letter of the partition on which Windows 7 is located, nn is the number of seconds.
Executed commands and report field
A list of commands that you would need to run on the command line is displayed in the box Executed commands and report. After analyzing the existing BCD parameters, the program adds to the list only those commands that change the current ones. For example, if the timeout parameter is 15 seconds, it will not appear in the list of commands. Progress and results are visible in the field Executed commands and report. The text can be copied to the clipboard and then pasted into a notepad file or forum post.
When you press the button Execute The boot menu will begin to be created or modified, and the Windows 7 boot loader will be restored.
Restoring boot of Windows 7 or Windows Vista after formatting the active partition
Sometimes during the installation of Windows XP, more often during reinstallation, unsuspecting users format the active partition on which the Windows 7 boot files were located. Naturally, after installing Windows XP, the ability to boot into Windows 7 disappears. If you have an installation disk with Windows 7, restoring startup is a matter of a couple of minutes, but what if you don’t have one? MultiBoot is equipped with tools to solve this problem and without a distribution kit. At the beginning of the article I mentioned that the utility is used for this bcdboot.exe.
Figure 2 – “Recovery” tab: recovery of Windows 7 or Windows Vista boot files after formatting the active partition.
A window to restore the ability to boot Windows 7 will appear when the program does not detect a hidden BOOT folder on the active partition (or partitions, if there are 2 or more hard drives). All you have to do is configure the utility keys and select the active partition for BCD recovery. This program function is especially valuable for those who have Windows Vista installed, since the utilities bcdboot.exe not in Windows Vista.
WITH MultiBoot BCD recovery is a matter of a couple of mouse clicks.
“Advanced” tab
This tab provides you with the opportunity to see boot configuration data and the layout of disks and partitions in the field "Configuration Information".
Figure 3 – “Advanced” tab
If you need a text file containing the boot configuration data, click the Copy or Save links. In the first case, the information is saved in the clipboard, and you can use it as you wish. In the second case, you will be prompted to create a text file. There are two options for saving information:
The first will contain information about the operating system entries that form the boot menu, which is similar to running the command:
Bcdedit /enum active
The second option will contain information about all the entries contained in the BCD, which is the same as running the command:
Bcdedit /enum all
Data about Windows boot files, the layout of disks and partitions, installed Windows systems, and the text of boot.ini files will be added in any case.
Tools area
Creation backup copy BCD is necessary so that in the event of an unsuccessful installation of the operating system or after experimenting with the boot menu, it is possible to return the boot to a working state. To perform BCD export, click on the link Save. You will be asked to select a location to store the backup in the program folder. You can change it if you wish.
If you have a backup of your download data previously created by the program, you can restore it using the link Restore. To do this, click on it, specify the location where the backup file is stored, then click Open.
Console subsystem of the program
Help about the commands used in the MultiBoot console subsystem can be obtained by running
MultiBoot/?
Figure 4 – Operation of the console subsystem of the program
To work with utilities bcdedit And bootsect you can use Multiboot, for example, to get information about BCD entries on partition C: with output to a text file:
MultiBoot -bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd >c:\bcd_on_c.txt
or rewrite the bootloader on multiple hard drives:
MultiBoot -bootsect /nt60 all /force
Separately, I would like to dwell on the team
MultiBoot –buildbootini
This command can be used to check if the file settings are correct boot.ini, especially if booting Windows XP in a dual boot configuration is not possible. As a result of executing the command, the text of the file will appear in the command line window boot.ini Restoring Windows 7 boot after installing XP and creating a dual boot on the forum.
operating system usually stored in the computer's external memory - on disk. When you turn on the computer, it is read from disk memory and is located in RAM. This process is called loading the operating system .
The disk on which the OS files are located and from which it is loaded is called systemic.
Programs can only run if they are in RAM, so OS files need to be loaded into RAM.
After turning on the computer, the OS is loaded from system disk into RAM. The boot must be performed in accordance with the boot program - the OS loader.
The loading of the OS can be represented step by step as follows:
The computer contains a ROM containing programs for testing the computer and the first stage of loading the OS, which are called BIOS (Basic Input/Output System - basic system input/output). Once the computer is turned on, these programs begin to run. Moreover, information about the progress of this process is displayed on the display screen. First, the hardware is tested and configured, then the OS starts loading. At this stage, the processor accesses the disk and looks for the presence of a small bootloader program in sector 1 of the disk. MasterBoot.
Master Boot looks for the main boot loader on the disk BootSector, loads it into memory and transfers control to it. Bootsector(boot sector) – part of the disk reserved for the OS boot program. This sector typically contains a short machine language program that loads the OS.
Next, the main boot loader searches for the remaining operating system modules and loads them into RAM.
After the OS has finished loading, control is transferred to the command processor. If you use the command line interface, a system prompt appears on the screen, otherwise the graphical interface loads.
Depending on the type of OS, the process of loading it will differ. The OS necessarily includes files responsible for the boot process. Let's consider the “work” of files in the process Windows XP downloads.
- Initial loading phase.
- System selection.
- Definition of "hardware".
- Configuration selection.
In the initial phase, NTLDR switches the processor to protected mode. Then loads the appropriate driver file system for working with files of any file system supported by XP (FAT-16, FAT-32 and NTFS).
If there is a BOOT.INI in the root directory, then its contents are loaded into memory. If it has entries for more than one operating system, NTLDR stops running - displays a menu of choices and waits for user input for a specified period of time.
If there is no such file, then NTLDR continues loading from the first partition, the first drive, usually C:\.
If during the selection process the user selected Windows NT, 2000 or XP, then press F8 and display the corresponding menu with boot options.
After each successful boot, XP creates a copy of the current driver combination and system settings known as Last Known Good Configuration. This collection can be used for booting if some new device disrupts the operation of the operating system.
If the selected operating system is XP, then NTLDR finds and loads the DOS program NTDETECT.COM to determine the hardware installed in the computer. NTDETECT.COM builds a list of components, which is then used in the HARDWARE key of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry branch.
If the computer has more than one hardware profile, the program stops with a configuration selection menu. Once the configuration is selected, NTLDR begins loading the XP kernel (NTOSKRNL.EXE). During the kernel boot process (but before initialization), NTLDR remains central to computer control. The screen clears and an animation of white rectangles is shown at the bottom. In addition to the kernel, the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL.DLL) is also loaded so that the kernel can abstract itself from the hardware. Both files are located in the System32 directory.
NTLDR loads device drivers marked as bootable. Having downloaded them, NTLDR transfers control of the computer further. Each driver has a key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Services. If the Start value is equal to SERVICE_BOOT_START, then the device is considered bootable. For each such device, a dot is printed on the screen.
NTOSKRNL goes through two phases during the boot process - the so-called phase 0 and phase 1. The first phase initializes only that part of the microkernel and executive subsystems that is required for the operation of basic services and continued boot. Phase 1 begins when HAL prepares the system to handle device interrupts. If there is more than one processor installed on the computer, they are initialized. All executive subsystems are reinitialized in the following order: Object Manager, Executive, Microkernel, Security Reference Monitor, Memory Manager, Cache Manager, LPCS, I/O Manager, Process Manager.
Initializing the I/O Manager begins the process of loading all system drivers. From the moment where NTLDR stopped, drivers are loaded by priority. A failure to load the driver may cause XP to reboot and attempt to restore the Last Known Good Configuration. The last task of phase 1 of kernel initialization is to launch the Session Manager Subsystem (SMSS). The subsystem is responsible for creating the user environment that provides the NT interface. SMSS runs in user mode, but unlike other applications, SMSS is considered a trusted part of the operating system and a “native” application (uses only executive functions), which allows it to run the graphics subsystem and login. SMSS loads win32k.sys - the graphics subsystem. The driver switches the computer to graphics mode, SMSS starts all services that should start automatically at startup. If all devices and services started successfully, the boot process is considered successful and a Last Known Good Configuration is created.
The download process is not considered complete until the user has logged into the system. The process is initialized by WINLOGON.EXE, which runs as a service and is supported by the Local Security Authority (LSASS.EXE), which displays the login dialog. This dialog box appears around the time Services Subsystem starts the network service.
Tell me how to make it correctly bootloader recovery Windows XP, I had two operating systems installed and the Acronis OS Selector boot manager installed. I uninstalled one system and Acronis, now I have problems, first in the initial boot phase the message Bootmgr is missing appeared, I applied the Fixmbr and FixBOOT commands in the recovery console, now another NTLDR is missing error appears. I spent two days studying this console, but Win XP still won’t load, what did I do wrong? DRIVE.
Restoring the Windows XP bootloader
You, dear DRIVE, were two steps away from victory, you didn’t have enough patience, but it doesn’t matter, next time everything will work out. It is very important to know that the Bootmgr is missing error indicates damage to the master boot record or partition table of the hard drive, which is located in the first sector of the hard drive, by the way, you started successfully Windows XP Boot Loader Recovery and solved half of the problems, namely, they overwrote the master boot record with the Fixmbr command and wrote a new boot sector with the FixBOOT command, so another error began to appear and the only thing left to do was to copy three to the root directory of the partition with the operating system (mainly drive C) file boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr. Let's start from the very beginning and achieve it.
- We are considering possible reasons Windows XP boot loader is damaged, check the BIOS settings in the Boot Device Priority item.
- Using the Fixmbr and FixBOOT commands in the recovery console.
- Copying the boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr files from the Windows XP installation disk into the recovery console and loading successfully.
- If after reading the article you still cannot restore the boot of Windows XP, then read our other article " "
After turning on the computer, friends, it self-tests, then control is transferred to the master boot record of the hard drive, it contains a partition table of the hard drive and a small bootloader program that reads in this table information from which hard drive (if there are several of them) and which partition of the hard drive to produce loading the OS. Subsequently, the operating system kernel is loaded into RAM and Windows startup XP. You also need to know that loading the operating system also involves a group of files located in the root directory of drive C, namely boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr. The presence of all of the above eliminates the presence of the Bootmgr is missing error when loading XP and ensures successful startup of the system.
By the way, not always when similar problems needs to be carried out Win bootloader recovery dows XP, let's look at some of the reasons for this error that I personally encountered. The first is the simplest, if there are several hard drives in the system, violated Bios settings, namely for example in AMI Bios, in the BOOT tab, Boot Device Priority, then Hard Disk Drives, the hard drive from which you want to boot is set to not the one you need. Troubleshooting this problem and the reasons for its occurrence are well described in our article.
The use of third-party programs in the master boot record, so-called boot managers, for example Acronis OS Selector, is used mainly when there are several operating systems on the computer; the manager displays a convenient OS selection menu at the beginning of boot. You need to use such programs very carefully, in case of incorrect removal from the computer itself. Acronis programs OS Seletor, a very big chance to get started restoring the Windows XP boot loader. The same applies to the GRUB bootloader, which allows you to use Linux and Windows XP on one computer; when you remove GRUB, you will leave your computer alone with an incomprehensible boot record and without hesitation it will show you Bootmgr is missing. In this case, we will correct the situation in the console Windows recovery XP, first enter the FIXMBR command and rewrite the master boot record, and secondly use the FIXBOOT command to write a new boot sector.
But that’s not all, after correcting the boot record, as well as recording a new boot sector in the console, the situation with the error output may remain unchanged and there may be other errors, for example: NTLDR is missing. In this case, you need to make sure once again that there are boot sector files directly involved in booting Windows XP:, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr, in the root directory of the disk (C:), in principle, three of these files are enough to boot Windows XP.
The easiest way is to use a Live CD, boot from it, then go to the root directory of drive C and make sure that these files are present; if they are not there, then you need to copy them from any working XP and upload them to yourself, checking them first and if necessary by editing the boot.ini file, a simple text file that contains the path to the Windows XP system files, you must do this, otherwise you will get another error, you can read.
But I like another way: restoring the Windows XP boot loader using the recovery console. If you have an XP distribution, let's use it and copy our three files boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR to the root directory of drive C. I assure you it’s very simple, and you don’t need to edit the boot.ini file, the console will do everything itself.
We boot from the Windows XP installation disk, select restore R. If we have one operating system, set the number 1.
If there was a password, enter it; if not, press Enter.
Enter the FIXMBR command, this command is to restore a damaged hard disk partition table, it will overwrite the master boot record.
Confirm the recording of the new MBR, set Y
Enter the FIXBOOT command and agree to write a new boot sector.
Copy the files ntldr, NTDETECT.COM, boot.ini from the distribution to the root of the system drive C.
Enter the MAP command and look at the letter of our drive, in my case (D:)
Enter the drive letter D: and press Enter.
Go to the i386 folder, which is located on the installation Windows disk XP, from it we copy our NTLDR file to the root of drive C.
Enter the command cd i386 and Enter
We copy the NTLDR file to the root of our system disk with the operating system with the command
Booting Windows XP is a complex and multi-step process, starting from the moment you turn on the computer and ending after the desktop appears on the screen. During these few minutes, many operations are performed that are hidden from the user’s eyes, each of which lasts from a fraction of a second to several seconds. The process of starting the system itself can be compared to a relay race, where each participant goes through his part of the path and solves his own, strictly defined tasks, after which he passes the “baton” on. If at least one participating component falls out of this chain, the boot process stops and an error message is usually displayed on the screen.
To have an idea of how Windows XP boots, let's briefly look at its sequence. We will not consider the pre-system stages of turning on the computer (self-testing, initialization and start of BIOS code execution, etc.), and we will conditionally take the moment of reading as the beginning of the system start BIOS program first hard sector the disk where the master boot record (MBR) is located, containing boot code and a partition table (logical disks). So:
- The BIOS reads the MBR (Master Boot Code) and transfers control to it.
- The MBR boot code checks the partition table and finds a partition marked as active, reads its first (boot) sector (Boot Sector), and passes control to the code written there.
- The boot sector code transfers control to the Windows NT bootloader - the NTLDR (NT Loader) file, which is located in the root directory of the disk where the operating system is installed.
- Windows boot loader converts processor to 32-bit safe mode work, checks for the presence of the hiberfil.sys file (hibernation image) and if found, loads it. If there is no such image, NTLDR reads the Boot.INI boot configuration file. If more than one operating system is listed in this file, a menu is displayed for the user to choose which system to boot.
- When the user presses the F8 key before starting the system, NTLDR opens a menu of additional boot options:
- Next, the ntdetect.com program is loaded to determine the configuration of the computer’s hardware devices.
- After this it loads Windows kernel XP (file ntoskrnl.exe) and the Hal.dll (Hardware Abstraction Layer) library, whose task is to hide differences in computer hardware from the kernel code.
- The NTLDR loader then loads the drivers marked as bootable and passes control to the kernel (ntoskrnl.exe).
- HAL initializes the hardware and prepares the interrupt controller.
- Next, the input/output system is turned on and the remaining drivers are loaded, which are assigned the “auto” startup type.
- The kernel loads the Windows session management subsystem - the Smss.exe file, which creates the user environment and continues loading - starts the graphics subsystem (driver win32k.sys), the client-server subsystem (Csrss.exe) and the user logon program (Winlogon.exe and Lsass.exe) .
- After the user logs in, Userinit.exe is launched, which launches the system shell (Explorer.exe) and network connections. Meanwhile, the desktop appears on the screen.
Why won't Windows XP boot?
The reason why Windows XP won't boot could be any failure in the boot process, such as one or more components being missing or damaged. This could be the boot code in the first one hard section disk or active partition, the NTLDR bootloader itself, files responsible for starting Windows, as well as the system registry, which contains information about what to run and in what order.
Loading problems most often result from:
- unqualified installation of several operating systems on hard drive when instead of creating a dual boot configuration, boot code later installed system overwrites previously installed code;
- viral infection, mainly ransomware blockers, which can modify the launch parameters of files important for loading in the system registry, the files themselves and boot sectors on the disk.
- defects in the surface of the hard drive, leading to damage and loss of data on it;
- interruptions in the computer's power supply during read-write operations of files responsible for loading (if during startup or shutdown Windows operation An unexpected shutdown has occurred, the likelihood that the system will not boot again is quite significant).
Windows XP Boot Recovery
To figure out why the system won't boot, it's important to determine at what point in the boot process it fails. Problems at the very early stages of start-up will differ in appearance from problems with the boot files responsible for logging into the system. Let's figure out how to diagnose typical Windows boot failures and how to deal with them.
MBR (Master Boot Record) corruption
It manifests itself in that the computer boot is interrupted immediately after startup - after information about the computer manufacturer is displayed on the monitor, the screen remains black. Sometimes an error message is displayed, for example:
- Invalid Partition Table – damage to the partition table;
- Missing Operating System– operating system not found;
- Error Loading Operating System – error loading the operating system.
Solution
- Boot from the Windows XP installation disk to the Recovery Console: place the installation disk in the drive, configure the BIOS to boot from the CDDVD, and run the installer.
- When the text “Welcome to the installer” appears on the screen, press the “R” (recovery) key.
- The Recovery Console will launch. The screen will display a list of copies of Windows XP installed on your computer and you will be asked to select which one to sign in to.
- Next, enter the administrator password (if you have one). If it is not there, just press Enter, followed by the command to rewrite the MBR boot code: fixmbr, press Enter and Exit to exit the console and restart the computer.
This command only restores the MBR boot code, but, unfortunately, does not restore the partition table. Partition table recovery requires the use of third party utilities, For example, TestDisk - one of the free and easy to understand tools.
Boot sector corruption
The symptoms look like MBR corruption, but the system may display the following errors:
- And disk read error occurred – disk read errors;
- NTLDR is compressed – NTLDR loader is archived (compressed);
- NTLDR is missing - the bootloader was not found.
Solution
- Download the Recovery Console and log into the copy of Windows XP you need;
- Enter the command: fixboot– the bootloader (code) of the active partition will be overwritten. Next – Enter and Exit.
Important! If your system's root directory does not have the Windows boot loader file NTLDR, you will have to copy it from the installation disk or another copy of Windows XP and place it on the C: drive (if the system is located on it).
WITH the advent of Windows Vista utility was created Bootsect.exe, designed to rewrite the boot code of disk partitions. It can also be used to repair booting Windows XP.
You can use the Bootsect.exe utility if you have another operating system on your hard drive. Windows system or by booting from a Windows LiveCD (“live” disk with an operating system that runs when booted from a DVD or flash drive).
Restoring the system boot using Bootsect.exe is performed as follows:
- copy the Bootsect.exe file (can be taken from the distribution of Windows Vista and higher) to the root directory of the system whose boot you want to restore.
- start the command line and run the command: Path_to_bootsect.exe /NT52, For example: D:bootsect.exe /NT52.
Boot configuration errors in the Boot.INI file
If configuration file Windows XP boot contains errors or is missing, the NTLDR boot loader will not be able to find the system. The following messages indicate problems with Boot.INI:
- Check boot path and disk hardware – a suggestion to check the path to the boot disk and the disk itself;
- Could not read from selected boot disk– read data from boot disk failed;
- Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem – due to problems with the disk configuration, Windows could not be loaded.
Solution
- Launch the Recovery Console.
- After logging in, run the command: bootcfg /rebuild – Each disk partition will be scanned for a copy of Windows XP installed on it. When the first system is detected, the user will be prompted to add information about its boot to the configuration file:
The boot configuration will be restored.
Damage to system files
Many files take part in loading Windows - in addition to those we have named, several dozen more. The absence or damage of any of them can lead to the fact that the system will not be able to start, but instead will reboot cyclically or “delight” the user blue screens death (BSoD). Screenshot of one of typical mistakes related to system files at boot time is given below:
The entry “STOP C000021a (fatal system error)” indicates a fatal system error associated with problems in the Winlogon.exe or Csrss.exe execution input. This most likely indicates that the files are damaged or missing.
Solution
To perform boot repair, you need to find similar files and return them to their “rightful places” - in the WindowsSystem32 directory. Their copies are located in the Windows storage - the WindowsSystem32DllCach folder or on installation disk in the i386 folder. On the distribution disk, files are stored in compressed form and must be unpacked before replacing. This can also be done with Recovery help Console:
- Copy the folder from the installation disk to the USB flash drive i386, connect it to your computer.
- Log in to the system whose bootloader you want to restore.
- Enter the command: expand d:i386winlogon.ex_ c:windowssystem32- with her help archive file winlogon.ex_ on the installation disk will be unpacked into a folder system32 under the name winlogon.exe. You can restore other files in a similar way. D: – in this case – the letter of the flash drive.
Damage to the SYSTEM registry hive
This registry hive contains information about the startup type of drivers, without which Windows cannot start, as well as some information about the boot configuration. Therefore, if the partition becomes damaged, the NTLDR boot loader will pause and display an error message.
Registry files are unique for each system, so restoring them by transferring them from another copy of Windows is impossible - you need your own partition. A copy of the registry created at the time of system installation is stored in the WindowsRepair directory
Solution
Restoring a damaged partition is also easy to do via the console.
- Sign in to Windows.
- Enter the command: rename c:windowssystem32configsystem system.old and press Enter. The damaged registry hive will be renamed, and now you can copy a new one in its place.
- Run the second command: copy c:windowsrepairsystem c:windowssystem32configsystem– the partition will be restored. After this you will be able to boot the system.
Hello, dear blog visitors.
Launching operating systems from Microsoft Corporation consists of several main stages, arranged in a strict sequence. And if at least one of the elements fails, you most likely will not be able to boot. There are many reasons why situations like this happen. In general, to solve the problem, the Windows XP boot loader is restored. Later in the article I will tell you how this can be done quickly and easily.
The boot record (aka MBR) stores some code that is needed to start the operating system. So, after turning on the power, the BIOS checks all major systems. Then it transfers control to just the above-mentioned area.
And if after Ubuntu installations or other OS, you suddenly saw one of the inscriptions on the monitor: “ no boot device », « ntldr is missing"- you need to restore the bootloader.
Reasons( )
There are several main reasons why such problems arise:
Mechanical damage to the hard drive.
Power problems.
Incorrect installation of Windows 7, after which there may be no inscriptions on the monitor.
Removing Linux or the launch manager.
MBR( )
In general, the process of “resurrecting” a computer if the problems described above are detected is carried out in several stages, and at each of them it is worth checking the functionality of the device. So, the first thing you need to do is restore the MBR. To do this, we perform several actions:
The MBR has now been restored. You can restart the device and check its functionality.
Boot sector( )
In most cases the message " NTLDR is missing" indicates problems with the boot record. In some cases, this occurs as a result of hard drive failure.
In general, in terms of general indicators, this case is similar to that described above, so it is better to use two commands:
As you can see, without a boot disk (flash drive) it will not be possible to “resurrect” the system.
Boot.ini( )
If the previous option did not change the situation, we correct the file Boot.ini. To do this, perform a few simple movements:
During execution, the program will scan all disks for availability of Windows. The user will be prompted to change the configuration file. As a result, the OS should now start correctly.