NTLDR is missing, Press any key to restart - bootdisk README file 2005-02-21

If the bootdisk didn't work for all 10 choices, you will likely need to try one of the other files as boot.ini because your windows installation is not installed to %systemdrive%\windows

Rename boot.ini to windows.ini

Rename winnt.ini to boot.ini and try all 10 choices

Still no luck?  Rename boot.ini to winnt.ini

Rename winxp.ini to boot.ini and try all 10 choices

Here is a copy of the page address:

http://www.tinyempire.com/shortnotes/files/ntldr_missing.htm

And here is a copy of all the contents of the page in case you can't get back there on your own:

NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart

How to fix: NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart
When your computer starts, the BIOS attempts to find the primary hard drive's active partition to read the first sector for the MBR, it uses that info to load the rest of the OS.  For Windows NT4/2k/XP the NTLDR takes it from there.  If you get the "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" what's most likely going on is the BIOS either didn't look for the right drive, didn't find the right partition, it wasn't active, didn't find the MBR, or the MBR didn't list NTLDR in the right place, or the location of NTLDR changed.

If possible, try to change back whatever hardware or software change you just made. (What_if_I_made_new_changes_that_I_want_to_keep?).

The quick test to make sure your OS installation is still good is to create an MBR and NTLDR on a floppy disk and check your partitions.  Here are the instructions to do this:

Get a blank floppy (whatever is on it will be erased)

Find a working Windows NT4, 2000, or XP machine and format the floppy. Do not select "Quick Format" or "Create MS-DOS boot disk" (Windows 95/98/Me won't format the floppy correctly What_if_I_can't_find_a_NT_computer?).

Download and expand the file fixntldr.zip onto the floppy so that the files are on the root, like A:\ntldr A:\ntdetect.com A:\boot.ini. .(Whats_in_fixntldr.zip? What_if_I_don't_want_to_download_a_file_from_a_website_I_don't_trust?)

Do you remember if the folder you had your Windows installation in was named "Windows"?  If you can't remember just keep going.  (If it was named "Winxp" or "Winnt" then rename the boot.ini file to windows.ini and change either winxp.ini or winnt.ini to boot.ini)

Put the floppy into the floppy drive of the computer with the problem and start it back up.  Once your computer gets past the BIOS screen your computer should try to access the floppy drive and you should see a black screen with white letters that says: (What_if_I_don't_see_this_screen?).

1ST TRY THIS seleccione esto primero
2ND TRY THIS choisissez cette seconde
3RD TRY THIS wahlen Sie diesen Third
4TH TRY THIS selezioni questo fourth
5TH TRY THIS selecione este fifth
6TH TRY THIS seleccione este sexto
7TH TRY THIS choisissez ce septieme
8TH TRY THIS wahlen Sie dieses achte
9TH TRY THIS selezioni questo nono
10TH TRY THIS selecione este decimo

This file is set up to automatically select the "1ST TRY THIS" choice after 30 seconds.  Try it first, but if it gives you an error (usually something about a hal.dll file not loading) and doesn't continue booting into Windows XP, try the other options.  ("1ST TRY THIS" aims for a WinXP installation to the first drive on the first partition, if yours is different, you will have to select another option.  "ninth" aims for a Win98 installation on drive C, and "tenth" aims for a Win98 installation on drive D)

One of the choices should eventually boot you back into Windows.  (If you go all the way to option 10 and still get errors on startup, try changing boot.ini to windows.ini and then winxp.ini to boot.ini, run through all 10 possibilities again, then change winxp.ini to boot.ini and winnt.ini to boot.ini and trying those 10 choices.)

Once you get back into windows, try to change back whatever you were last doing and boot normally, it that doesn't work, use the boot disk to boot and then go to the root of your C:\ drive and rename boot.ini to boot.ini.bak, ntldr to ntldr.bak, and ntdetect.com to ntdetect.com.bak, then copy the files that are on your floppy disk to the root of your C:\ drive so that the files are on the root, like C:\ntldr C:\ntdetect.com C:\boot.ini.  If it prompts you to overwrite a file, press "Yes".  After they have been copied over, be sure to remove the "Read-Only" attribute from the properties of the files. (Right click on a file, choose properties, and uncheck the Read-Only box).

  All done?  Hi, I'm Miles Comer and I developed this "solution" back in 2002 when I had to fix my relatives computer without me standing over their shoulder.  I hope I was descriptive enough and that your problem was solved.  If you are still having trouble, read on, but if the floppy fixed it for you, might I humbly suggest you  for $3 (PayPal accepts all major credit cards). The first $100 I get from here I want to get WinImage Pro so that the process of creating a bootdisk will go from a 5 step process to a 2 step process, but they want $60 to be able to distribute your own images, so I'll have to wait on that (as of February 2005, I've gotten $5.12 total, next 2 people get Gmail invites).  If you can't donate money, and speak a language other than English, how about helping get some mirror pages setup for other languages?  Just contact me with the simple form, or just use the form to say "thanks": 
Email Address (optional)  
Message:for fun, tell me what country/state you are from
 

If using the boot disk to create a new MBR and NTLDR did not help, or copying the files to the root of the C:\ drive and you remove the disk and still get the message when you boot up.  Then we know that the programs are fine, and the 3 startup files are fine, but perhaps the MBR is incorrect.  Correcting the MBR takes a few different directions, choose any of the following sections:

Installation CD Option: Get an installation CD: (the full version of the Windows XP CD, the upgrade version is non-bootable).  Start your computer with your XP (or 2000) CD (in your BIOS "Boot Sequence" the CD-Rom will need to be accessed before the hard drive, and a dialog will appear that says "Press any key to boot from CD..." and you need to press a key on the keyboard to have it begin booting from the CD)
Choose to repair a windows installation from the recovery console. Once you are logged in to your recovery console,  select the number that represent your C: drive more than likely it will be 1. It will ask for your admin password, enter it you have one or just hit enter if you don't know it.

Once you are logged in to your recovery console, change to the CD drive, and enter the subdirectory \i386.  Type in 
copy ntldr c:\ (if it prompts to overwrite, press "Y" for Yes)
copy ntdetect.com C:\ (if it prompts to overwrite, press "Y" for Yes)
bootcfg /rebuild (it should ask if you want to add a new installation, type "N" for NO, if still nothing, come back to this option and choose "Y" for YES)
to copy over ntldr to your hard drive. After this is complete, type in 
exit
to exit the recovery console and restart your computer. Try starting your computer normally now. It should boot up. If that doesn't work, try going back into the recovery console and type: 
fixboot C:
fixmbr C:

They describe another method for using Recovery Console here at 5 Star Support.com: http://www.5starsupport.com/faq/booting.htm#7-9

Win9x Boot Disk Option: Get a Win9x floppy and boot with it and when you get your A:\ prompt type 
sys c: 
at the command line. Or while there type 
fdisk 
and make sure that the correct partition and hard drive are labeled "active".

If neither of those options worked, try checking your hardware, replace cables, try different power cable, ensure jumpers are on properly, ensure that the drive you want to boot from is on the Primary IDE connection (IDE 0) and is set as the first device on the IDE cable (Master).  At best your data is still intact, so you can put the drive in another computer and back it up.  You can most likely save your data, but if your okay with losing it, fdisk to erase all your partitions, recreate one as primary, set it to active, and format it, run sys c: and see if you can't reboot to at least a C:\ prompt.

If your still looking for help, of all the other online write ups, I found this the most helpful (be sure to first select what you were doing that got you into the NTLDR situation):
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

If you need to do further research on this topic, here is links to Microsoft talking about this topic: 
Windows XP Resource Kits: Initial Startup Phase 
NTLDR missing when you install or upgrade Windows XP over 95/98/ME 
How to Troubleshoot NTLDR is missing in W2k 
How To Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows 
The computer does not start after you change the active partition by using the Disk Management tool 
Error message when you start your computer with a non-system disk 
Windows XP Resource Kits: Replacing the Boot Sector 
Windows XP Resource Kits: Using Recovery Console to recover from startup problems 
How to create a bootable disk for an NTFS or FAT partition

Still can't get it to work?  Why not send me an email and I'll see what I can do:

Email Address  
Did my bootable floppy work? 
Did you have a windows operating system working before you got the message? 
Have you changed anything prior to getting the message? (details help)
Any other info you can pass along that might seem helpful: (like "I made a donation :) ")

 


What_if_I_made_new_changes_that_I_want_to_keep?
Adding a new hard drive or a new drive array often causes your computer to miss the NTLDR, to fix it you'll want to specify in the BIOS which device to boot from first, and you'll want it on your IDE0 channel and as the master (first on the chain) with jumpers set to Master, and then use fdisk to make sure that the first partition is a primary partition (and set as active), and that none of the other drives or partitions are set to active.  If you made changes as drastic as a new motherboard you may just want to go with a full format and reinstall regardless (backup your data first). Go back

What_if_I_can't_find_a_NT_computer?
Try this: Download the file fixntldr_RawRite.exe to your desktop and double click on it to have it open it's contents. (If you prefer not to download a self-extracting file, use the zip file: fixntldr_RawRite.zip and expand it however you choose).

Open the file named rawwritewin.exe 

 

Then tell it to use the file fixntldr.img that is in the same directory that rawwritewin.exe is in.

Press the "..." button:



 

Then select the "fixntldr.img" file, in the directory "fixntldr_RawRite":



 

Press Write:



Once it gets done writing the img file to the floppy, we should be able to take your floppy to the broken computer and switch it on.  (Most computers are set up to boot from the floppy before booting to the hard drive, if yours is not you can tell it to by changing the "Boot Sequence" in the BIOS)

What is all this doing?  Well the "rawwrite" software is used to format the disk in such a way that it can be used to help boot the OS.  Then it moves 5 files to the floppy drive (These files are also contained in this zip file: fixntldr.zip) Go back

Whats_in_fixntldr.zip?
Two program files copied from a Windows XP installation named "ntldr" and "ntdetect.com" these assist in booting your existing installation.

And a text file named "boot.ini" that is what you use to make the selection of which partition and disk you are trying to boot from.  The contents of boot.ini are as follows:

[Boot Loader]
timeout=30
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows

[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="1ST TRY THIS seleccione esto primero" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows="2ND TRY THIS choisissez cette seconde" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="3RD TRY THIS wahlen Sie diesen Third" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\Windows="4TH TRY THIS selezioni questo fourth" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\Windows="5TH TRY THIS selecione este fifth" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\Windows="6TH TRY THIS seleccione este sexto" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\Windows="7TH TRY THIS choisissez ce septieme" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\Windows="8TH TRY THIS wahlen Sie dieses achte" /fastdetect
C:\="9TH TRY THIS selezioni questo nono"
D:\="10TH TRY THIS selecione este decimo"

winxp.ini has "Winxp" instead of Windows, and Winnt.ini has "Winnt" instead of Windows.

I threw in some Spanish / French / German / Italian / Portuguese for international flavor. Go Back

What_if_I_don't_want_to_download_a_file_from_a_website_I_don't_trust?
If you don't want to use these files then you will need to copy 3 files from an existing installation of Windows (Try to find one as similar to yours as you can)

Copy the NTLDR, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini file from the root of the C:\ drive from a working computer.  You can copy the info in my boot.ini file or just change the info in it to match your existing installation. Go Back

What_if_I_don't_see_this_screen?
If you do not see the screen come up with the different selections and immediately goes back to the "NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart" error, then you will need to change the "boot order" in your systems BIOS to first select the Floppy Drive (sometimes called "Removable Media Drive") before it tries to boot to the Hard Disk (sometimes called "Fixed Disk" drive).

To get to the BIOS, when the computer first starts try pressing the CTRL or ESC or END or DELETE or F1-12 keys to get it to stop trying to load windows and instead go to a screen that allows you to make configuration changes to your machine.

If you are uncomfortable in modifying your systems BIOS, please consult a professional to make this change for you. Go Back

See more of Tiny Empire's ShortNotes to fix your problems.


 

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