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How to access Safe Mode:Reboot your computer while holding down the F8 Key. At the Advanced Options Menuselect the option for Safe Mode and press Enter.

How to access Last Known Good Configuration:

Reboot your computer while holding down the F8 Key. At the Advanced Options Menuselect Last Known Good Configuration.

How to access the Recovery Console: - take this link for more information

The Recovery Console is a set of tools which run from a Command prompt. If your system is formatted as NTFS then these tools can help you manage the partition. Youcan learn more about the Recovery Console through Help and Support or Click here for information about the different commands and their functions .

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To run the Recovery Console from CD boot with the Windows XP CD (or with theoptional 6 floppy disk set) and select "R" at the Welcome Screen.

The screen will switch to black and you will be asked which installation to log on to. If you only have one installation you will press "1". Remember that numlock is off at thistime.

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 Next you'll be prompted to enter your Admin password. By default it is created blank so just press Enter.

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At the C:\Windows command prompt type "Help" for a list of commands you can use.

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How to Repair the Boot Sector:

If XP won't start it may be due to a damaged boot sector or a missing or corrupt ntldr or ntdetect.com files.

To replace damaged ntldr and ntdetect.com you can copy fresh files from the XP CDusing the COPY command. Boot with the XP CD and enter the Recovery Console (asabove). At the Command Prompt type the following (where "X" is your CD-Rom drive

letter) allowing the files to overwrite the old files  COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C:

COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:

To repair a damaged Boot Sector at the command prompt type FIXBOOT and press

Enter. Then answer "Y"

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How To Format using the Recovery Console (click for info on How To Access The

 Recovery Console)

format drive : /Q /FS:file-system

Use the above command (where  /Q  performs a quick format of the drive, drive is thedrive letter of the partition to format  /FS:file-system specifies the type of file system touse [FAT, FAT32, or NTFS]) to format the specified drive to the specified file system.For example the following quick formats C partition as NTFS  FORMAT C: /Q /FS:NTFS

the following will do a full format of C as FAT32  FORMAT C: /FS:FAT32

*** Note: If a file system is not specified, then the existing file system format is retained.

Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart your Computer 

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How Partition using the Recovery Console: (click for info on How To Access The

 Recovery Console)

At the command prompt type DISKPART and press Enter.

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An interface is displayed which you can move through with the Arrow Keys. Press "C" tocreate a partition in unused space. Pressing "D" will delete the highlighted partition.

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How To Exit the Recovery Console:

You can not use Ctrl+Alt+Del to quit the Recovery Console. Instead type "EXIT" at the

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command prompt and Windows will be started.

Boot to Windows.

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Description of the Windows Recovery Console

This section describes the functionality and limitations of the Windows Recovery

Console. The Windows Recovery Console is designed to help you recover whenyour Windows-based computer does not start properly or does not start at all.

When you use the Windows Recovery Console, you can obtain limited access toNTFS, FAT, and FAT32 volumes without starting the Windows graphicalinterface. In the Windows Recovery Console you can:

Use, copy, rename or replace operating system files and folders, Enable or disable services or devices from starting when you next start your computer,Repair the file system boot sector or the Master Boot Record (MBR), Create andformat partitions on drives.

Note that only an administrator can obtain access to the Windows RecoveryConsole so that unauthorized users cannot use any NTFS volume. MoreInformation.

To install the Recovery Console as a Startup Option

With Windows running, insert the Setup CD into your CD-ROM drive.Start/Run/X:i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons. Follow the instructions on the screen.

Notes:

To run the Recovery Console, restart your computer and select the RecoveryConsole option from the list of available operating systems.

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administratorsgroup in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to anetwork, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing thisprocedure.

To see the commands available on the Recovery Console, type help at the at theconsole prompt.

To start the computer and use the Recovery Console

From the Setup CD-ROM

Insert the Setup compact disc (CD) and restart the computer. If prompted, selectany options required to boot from the CD.When the text-based part of Setup begins, follow the prompts; choose the repair 

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or recover option by pressing R. If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot system,choose the installation that you need to access from the Recovery Console.When prompted, type the Administrator password. At the system prompt, typeRecovery Console commands; type help for a list of commands, or helpcommandname for help on a specific command.

To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit.

If you have already installed the Recovery Console

During Startup, select Recovery Console from the startup options menu. If youhave a dual-boot or multiple-boot system, choose the installation that you need toaccess from the Recovery Console. When prompted, type the Administrator password. At the system prompt, type Recovery Console commands; type helpfor a list of commands, or help commandname for help on a specific command.To exit the Recovery Console and restart the computer, type exit.

Important Note: Because the Recovery Console is quite powerful, it isrecommended for use only by advanced users or administrators.

To Delete the Recovery Console

Open My Computer.Double-click the hard drive on which you installed the Recovery Console.On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.Click the View tab.Click Show hidden files and folders, clear the Hide protected operating system

files check box, and then click OK.At the root directory, delete the \Cmdcons folder.At the root directory, delete the file Cmldr.At the root directory, right-click the Boot.ini file and then click Properties.Clear the Read-only check box, and then click OK.Open Boot.ini in Notepad, and remove the entry for the Recovery Console. It willlook similar to this:C:\cmdcons\bootsect.dat="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

Save the file and close it.

Modifying the Boot.ini file incorrectly may prevent your computer from restarting.Be sure to delete only the entry for the Recovery Console. Notes:

To open My Computer, double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop.It is recommended that you change the attribute for the Boot.ini file back to read-only after you complete this procedure. You may also want to hide your systemfiles again.

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The commands available when using the Recovery Console are:

Attrib CD Chdir  

Chkdsk Cls Copy

Del Delete Dir  

Disable Diskpart Enable

Exit Expand Fixboot

Fixmbr Format Help

Listsvc Logon Map

MD Mkdir More

Rd Ren Rename

Rmdir Type Systemroot

Attrib: Changes the attributes of a file or directory.

Batch: Executes the commands specified in the text file.ChDir (Cd): Displays the name of the current directory or changes the currentdirectory.Chkdsk: Checks a disk and displays a status report.Cls: Clears the screen.Copy: Copies a single file to another location.Delete (Del): Deletes one or more files.Dir: Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a directory.Disable: Disables a system service or a device driver.Diskpart: Manages partitions on your hard drives.Enable: Starts or enables a system service or a device driver.

Exit: Exits the Recovery Console and restarts your computer.Expand: Extracts a file from a compressed file.Fixboot: Writes a new partition boot sector onto the system partition.Fixmbr: Repairs the master boot record of the partition boot sector.Format: Formats a disk.Help: Displays a list of the commands you can use in the Recovery Console.Listsvc: Lists the services and drivers available on the computer.Logon: Logs on to a Windows 2000 installation.Map: Displays the drive letter mappings.Mkdir (Md): Creates a directory.More: Displays a text file.

Rename (Ren): Renames a single file.Rmdir (Rd): Deletes a directory.Set: Displays and sets environment variables.Systemroot: Sets the current directory to the systemroot directory of the systemyou are currently logged on to.Type: Displays a text file.

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This list can be obtained in the Console by typing "help" without thequotes.

A Discussion About the Bootcfg Command and Its Uses

The bootcfg command is a Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console commandthat manipulates the Boot.ini file. This command has a function that can scanyour hard disks for Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, andWindows XP installations, and then add them to an existing Boot.ini file or rebuilda new Boot.ini file, if one does not exist. The bootcfg command enablesadditional Boot.ini file parameters to be added to existing or new entries.

To use the bootcfg command, start the Recovery Console with the Windows XPCD-ROM, and then click Recovery Console. Or, install the Recovery Consolelocally, and then select the command from the Boot menu. More Information.

How to Boot Windows Preinstall Environment from a Hard Disk

This section describes how to configure the Windows Preinstall Environment(WinPE) to boot from a hard disk.

NOTE: More than likely the supported methods to boot WinPE (by means of aCD-ROM or from a Remote Installation Services (RIS) server) are the mostcommonly used methods. The method that is described in this article is providedfor informational purposes. More Information.

Access Floppy Drive from Recovery Console

To enable write access to floppies from within the R.C., click Start, Programs,Administrative Tools, Local Security Policy. Under Local Policy, Security Options,double-click "Recovery Console: Allow floppy copy and access to all drives andall folders." Select Enabled, then click OK.

Note: The following steps may also be necessary:

"After you enable the security policy, it must be applied (possibly across thedomain) before becoming the effective policy on the local computer. This is

necessary before the set command is truly enabled and available for use duringa Recovery Console session. You can run the following command to force arefresh of the local computer's policy after performing the policy change listedabove: secedit /refreshpolicy machine_policy

After the local policy is refreshed and the enabled Recovery Console securitypolicy is in effect, you should be able to start Recovery Console and use the setcommand to enable any of the four environment options."

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In the Recovery Console, you must then type: set AllowRemovableMedia =TRUE

Accessing Other Folders in Recovery Console

This security policy will also access to files and folders other than the defaults (normallyaccess is restricted to \winnt and \cmdcons). To enable access to other folders, simply boot to the Recovery Console command prompt and type: set AllowAllPaths = true 

You will then be able to access other files and folders on your computer. Please keep inmind that this is a potential security problem, and that you should be careful to restrict physical access to computers that are configured in this way.

How to fix: NTLDR is missing, press any key torestart

If you got this on Windows Vista

Windows Vista does not boot like previous versions, you can keep reading my page to boot into an existing installation of 98/NT/2000/XP, but if you have just a single Vistainstall and nothing else, " NeoSmart.net" has a fantastic article on "Recovering theWindows Vista Bootloader from the DVD" and an awesome program called EasyBCD. Itlooks like they are doing great things over there for getting the problem resolved onVista.

If you got this on Windows XP (or Windows 2000, or NT4, or Windows 98)

Keep Reading.

What happened? (How NTLDR works and why your PC can't find it)

When your computer starts, the BIOS attempts to find the primary hard drive's active partition to read the first sector for the MBR (Master Boot Record), it uses that info toload the rest of the OS. For Windows NT4/2k/XP the MBR is pointed to the NTLDR  

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(New Technology Loader) and it 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 theright drive, didn't find the right partition, it wasn't active, didn't find the MBR, or theMBR didn't list NTLDR in the right place, the location of NTLDR changed, or you arelooking at a hardware failure situation (memory/cables/drive/motherboard/etc).

The first thing to do is try to change back whatever hardware or software change you justmade (this could be as simple as leaving a floppy disk in the drive or you need to reseatthe cables). If the contents of the drive are especially important and you have no backups,I would recommend removing the hard drive, placing in an enclosure, and backing up thedata first, in fact, backup all of your computers. (What if I made new changes that I wantto keep?).

Make a NTLDR boot disk to get back into Windows.

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 if you can just boot back up into your system, thisdisk will check many of the partitions for a working windows installation. Here are theinstructions to do this:

1. Get a blank floppy/cd-r/usb (whatever is on it will be erased), and put it into a workingcomputer.

2. If you have a working Windows machine download my fix: Floppy fixntldr.exe | CD-R fixntldriso.zip | USB ntldrusb.zip onto a working computer (What if I don't want to download a file from a website I don't trust?). (Experimental 64 bit WinXP Floppy 64ntflop.exe | CD-R 64ntiso.zip)

Do you remember if the broken computers had the Windows installation in "Windows"?If you can't remember just keep going (What if it was not named Windows but WINNTlike in NT4 or 2000?) .(If your backup system is NT4 or Windows 2000: What if my backup system is Mac /Linux or another alt OS?).

3. Make the new boot disk:*Floppy: Run the fixntldr.exe file by double clicking it. Click OK to overwrite the blank floppy disc in the working computer, you should see some screens about writing a newfloppy disk. (If you don't like running an exe from me, you can run fixntldr_RawRite.zip and just replace the RawRite.exe file inside with one you trust) (now go to step 4)

*CD-R: This is not a normal file you burn to a CD, it is an "ISO" file, you must firstextract the fixntldriso.zip file by right clicking it and choosing "Extract All" then Next>Next>Finish then download a program called "ISO Recorder" from herehttp://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm (Windows 2000 users use Active ISO Burner IsoBurner-Setup.exe) and install it. Once it's installed, right click the fixntldr.isofile and choose to "Copy image to CD" or "Burn ISO file" and let it burn the cd (now goto step 4)*USB: Right click the ntldrusb.zip file and choose "Extract All" Next>Next>Finish

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Then Insert your USB Stick into the working computer (remove any other USB sticks,and be sure there isn't anything on the USB stick that you want since we are about toerase it);Double-click HPUSBFW.EXE in the ntldrusb folder;Check "Create a DOS startup disk" and "using DOS system files located at" then press

the grey button with the "...";A box will come up asking you which folder to select, point it to the "dos system files"folder;Press OK; Press Start; Press Yes; Let it run for just a few minutes till a new box comesup; Press OK; Press Close;Open the "putonusb" folder, copy all the files, paste them onto the usb stick (just in theroot of the drive, like E:\);Eject the USB Stick; Remove it from your computer;Place it into the computer with the "NTLDR is missing" issue, reboot it.You will see the Windows 98 screen pop up for a second, then you will see a black screen with white letters prompting you to "replace boot sector of the drive C: (y/n)",

 press the y key;It will go to a C:\ prompt, reboot the computer by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del; (now go to step4)

4. Put the new floppy/cd-r/usb you have just created into the computer that gets the NTLDR is missing error message, turn the broken computer off.

Using the boot disk in the computer with the "NTLDR is missing" error .

Start back up the broken computer with the floppy/cd-r/usb inside it/plugged into it.Once your computer gets past the BIOS screen your computer should try to access the

 boot disk and you should see a black screen with white letters ( What if I don't see thisscreen?). that says:

1ST TRY THIS seleccione esto primero2ND TRY THIS essayez ceci en deuzieme3RD TRY THIS wahlen Sie diesen Third4TH TRY THIS selezioni questo fourth5TH TRY THIS selecione este fifth6TH TRY THIS seleccione este sexto7TH TRY THIS essayez ceci en septieme8TH TRY THIS wahlen Sie dieses achte9TH TRY THIS selezioni questo nono10TH TRY THIS selecione este decimo

(I threw in some Spanish / French / German / Italian / Portuguese for internationalflavor.)

This file is set up to automatically select the "1ST TRY THIS" choice after 30 seconds.Try it first, if it was the wrong selection, you will likely get one of these four errors:

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1. Windows could not start because file "<Windows Root>\system32\hal.dll was missingor corrupt

2. Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.Could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware. Please

check the Windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardwarereference manuals for additional information.

3. I/O Error accessing boot sector file multi(0)disk(0)fdisk(0)\BOOTSECT.DOS

4. Immediate reboot

If you get the immediate reboot or some other weird error, try pressing F8 at the "1st TryThis" selection screen, it will give you a prompt where you can select Safe Mode, andthen try the "1st Try This" option again. Safe Mode is a special "minimal" version of Windows that doesn't load certain parts of the operating system that might have caused

the problem.

One of the choices should eventually boot you back into Windows. (What if none of theoptions worked?) .

Use windows to fix the boot files on the hard drive.

If you got back into Windows, stop whatever you are doing and backup your mostimportant information from this computer.

 Now that you are done backing up the most important info, try to change back whatever 

you were last doing and boot normally, it that doesn't work, put the floppy back into the broken computer and double click the fixntldr.bat file on the floppy drive, if it asks you tooverwrite a file, just type in y for yes (the file copies boot.ini, ntldr, ntdetect.com fromthe floppy to the C:\ drive and removes the read only attributes). That process take a fewminutes, then remove the floppy and reboot.

If you are using the cd or usb solution, copy the boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com files toMy Computer > Local Disk C:\ > and overwite whatever files might be there, then rightclick each file, choose properties, uncheck the Read Only attribute, and click OK.

If you get back into Windows again, you can change that "1st Try This" menu by going

into Start > Control Panel > PerformanceAndMaintenance/System > Advanced tab >Startup and Recovery section, Settings button > System Startup; then change the "DefaultOperating System:" to the selection that worked for you, and change the box that says"Time to display list of operating systems" to however many seconds you want (usually 1second). Click OK twice. (screenshots)

If you copy the file over and boot up and get a "NTLDR is compressed" error message, be sure to uncheck "compress contents to save space" on the hard drive.

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(What if the bootdisk worked, but I can't get into Windows without it?) .

(What if I want to do further research?) . (Can I read other peoples questions and your answers? Sure: http://m-ntldrismissing.blogspot.com/ )

Advertisement 

It worked! Please help me back. - Keeping website in "maintenance mode"

All done? Hi, I'm Miles Comer and I developed this "solution" back in 2002 when I hadto fix my relatives computer without me standing over their shoulder. If I fixed it for you, might I humbly suggest you use a credit card or PayPal to donate for $5 or whatever amount you choose.

PayPal email address: [email protected] you don't have a credit card or pay pal account, you can mail a check to me, just sendan email to [email protected] and I'll let you know my mailing address.

If you want to say "thanks, it worked for me", just add a comment to this blog post "Singyour praises here".

I added this button because I am sometimes told that the other Donate buttondoesn't show up.

For $25 you can get a banner ad on this page for 1 month, new advertising opportunities

available now.

Ad revenues help, but it's your donations that are the force that keeps this site up and ableto make improvements. Before it was much more difficult to create the boot floppy, butwith WinImage Pro (for $80!) it's much simpler. I then had a bounty out of $50 for aUSB solution which was paid, then I donated $50 to Gilles Vollant Software for theBootPart program that's on the inside of it. At some point I'll make the "rename boot.ini"instructions to just "double click this .bat file". Luckily, Windows Vista does not givethis error, thought it may still have the problem, I'm not 100% sure. However withWindows 98 still used by millions 7 years later, I'm sure Windows XP won't disappear anytime soon and thus this page must stay. If you have tried my solution (or find a better 

one) for Windows Vista, please let me know :)

Special thanks to "Nightowl" for his awesome guide of how to make a bootable cdwithout a floppy when roxio refused to read my floppy drive to make a 64 bit XP bootable cd. http://nightowl.radified.com/bootcd/bootcdintro.html ($30 to their donate button)

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A free way to help me would be to link back to my webpage. Either from your own web page, or if you belong to any discussion forum that has to do with computers, or has alounge section, why not let everyone know I helped you out by making a post and in that post, link back to my webpage? Use this address in case I change something in the future:

http://ntldrismissing.com/

HighStyleDoggy.com is my best sponsor to date, they have provided me with loads of support over the years, andreally make everything in my life possible. Please visit them for all your pampered pooch's needs :)

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, andyou'll want it on your IDE0 channel and as the master (first on the chain) with jumpersset 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. Trysetting the BIOS to it's defaults or clearing the CMOS memory. If you made changes asdrastic as a new motherboard you may want to run a repair install as described here:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

Come back if you still get the error after that. Go back 

What if I don't want to download a file from a website I don't trust?

If you want to make a floppy yourself, format it using a Windows NT/2000/XP computer (it can't be Windows 95/98/ME) and then get a copy of 3 files from a working Windows NT/2000/XP computer: NTLDR, ntdetect.com, and boot.ini come off the root of the C:\drive. Either put those on the floppy and boot up with it, or somehow copy those to theC:\ drive of the broken computer.

If you can't get access to those files, but still don't want to run an executable from awebsite off the internet, download and expand onto the floppy this zip file: fixntldr.zip.

What's in fixntldr.zip?

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

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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" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\Windows="2ND TRY THIS essayez ceci endeuzieme" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="3RD TRY THIS wahlen Sie diesen Third"/fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\Windows="4TH TRY THIS selezioni questofourth" /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\Windows="5TH TRY THIS selecione este fifth"/fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\Windows="6TH TRY THIS seleccione este sexto"/fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\Windows="7TH TRY THIS essayez ceci enseptieme" /fastdetectmulti(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(4)\Windows="8TH TRY THIS wahlen Sie diesesachte" /fastdetectC:\="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.

The contents of fixntldr.bat file is:

%systemdrive%cd\

rename boot.ini boot.ini.bak rename ntldr ntldr.bak rename ntdetect.com ntdetect.com.bak 

copy a:\boot.ini boot.ini /-Ycopy a:\ntldr ntldr /-Ycopy a:\ntdetect.com ntdetect.com /-Y

attrib boot.ini -h -r -s -a

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attrib ntldr -h -r -s -aattrib ntdetect.com -h -r -s -a

(It is renaming the files on C:, copying the files from A:, then removing the hidden, readonly, system, and archive attributes. My sincere thanks to Jorge Toscano for providing

the code for the bat file and the Portuguese translation) Go Back 

What if my backup system is Linux or another alt OS?

Floppy: (fixntldr-winnt if you are using Windows 2000 or Windows NT4) FIXNTLDR ISO image for Windows NT4 and Windows 2000 (ntldrusb-winnt for Windows NT4 or 2000 or upgrades from)

I made the disk an executable to make it easier to make a floppy. Of course that onlyworks for Microsoft OS's. If you back up system is Linux or any other alternativeoperating system, then use xpnt4lix.zip / xpnt4lix.rar for Windows XP installs or 

2knt4lix.zip / 2knt4lix.rar for Windows 2000 or NT4 installs, you will need touncompress those files). (These are previous versions in case those img files don't work for you: fixntldrimg.zip or fixntldrimg.rar ). You'll need a program like rawrite.exe (whichworks in DOS if you can get there from a Win98 boot disk ) but for your OS. ReadRedHat talk about making a floppy from an image (and I have it on good word that thecommand in linux is "dd if=filename.img of=/dev/fd0" or do a search on Google. Youmay also be able to do that linux command line in a Mac. But if you have an easy way tomake a boot floppy on a Mac I don't know about, please let me [email protected] , or just send it along using one of the forms. If you give me asolution. I'll give you $10 from the pay pal account on this site.

If none of these options work for you, check out the What if I don't want to download afile from a website I don't trust? section to try and find a way you can create the disk yourself with your current configuration, then drop me a line to let me know how you didit. Go Back.

What if it was not named Windows but WINNT like in NT4 or 2000?

For a floppy: Instead of just the fixntldr.exe, use the fixntldr-winnt.exe file if your systemis NT4, or 2000, or was upgraded from a previous installation of NT4 or 2000.

For a CD-RW: fixntldriso4w2k.zip

For a USB drive: ntldrusb-winnt.zip

If you named your windows directory something like "shinyhappypeople" then open the boot.ini file and change any mention of "windows" to "shinyhappypeople" like so:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\shinyhappypeople="1ST TRY THIS"

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Save changes, and put the disk back in and continue on trying the 10 choices. 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 tochange the "boot order" in your systems BIOS to first select the Floppy Drive (sometimescalled "Removable Media Drive") before it tries to boot to the Hard Disk (sometimescalled "Fixed Disk" drive). If you are using the cd or usb solutions, move those beforehard drive.

To get to the BIOS, when the computer first starts try pressing the CTRL or ESC or ENDor DELETE or F1-12 keys to get it to stop trying to load windows and instead go to ascreen that allows you to make configuration changes to your machine. Once there, trylooking for a "Boot Order" screen that will list your floppy, cd-rom, and hard drives witha number, (typically 1-3), look for instructions on the screen on how to make changes,

and move your floppy to 1 and CD-ROM to 2, find a way to exit and be sure to save your changes. Go Back 

What if none of the options worked?

If using the boot disk to create a new MBR and NTLDR did not help, or copying the filesto the root of the C:\ drive and you remove the disk and still get the message when you boot up, your options for a solution diverge into different areas. 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 followingsections:

Installation CD Option

Performing a "Repair" installation of windows. Get an installation CD: (the full versionof the Windows XP CD, the upgrade version is non-bootable). Start your computer withyour XP (or 2000) CD (in your BIOS "Boot Sequence" the CD-Rom will need to beaccessed before the hard drive, and a dialog will appear that says "Press any key to bootfrom CD..." and you need to press a key on the keyboard to have it begin booting fromthe CD)

See screenshot of the repair install in action:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

Recovery Console Option

You can choose to repair a windows installation from the recovery console. Once you arelogged in to your recovery console, select the number that represent your C: drive morethan likely it will be 1. It will ask for your admin password, enter it you have one or justhit enter if you don't know it. Follow the recovery console instructions from here:

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http://www.5starsupport.com/faq/booting.htm#7-9

Also the bootcfg command can be used from the recovery console as a possible solution.The extent of the command is to lengthy to go into here, but feel free to google it:

http://www.google.com/search?q=bootcfg

Then try using the floppy again. Go Back .

Hardware Problems

If neither of those options worked, try checking your hardware, replace cables, trydifferent 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 theIDE 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, andformat it, run sys c: and see if you can't reboot to at least a C:\ prompt.

You also may be having hard drive failure problems, here's a handy thread to check for those problems:http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7602

Still nothing?

If your still looking for help, of all the other online write ups, I found this the mosthelpful (be sure to first select what you were doing that got you into the NTLDR 

situation):http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htmandhttp://www.short-media.com/articles/repair_windows_xp

It's possible the hard drive itself has failed, and if that's the case, I heard one of the peopleon the MaximumPC podcast recommend this company for data recovery:http://www.quetek.com/ If reading stuff online feels like you are going in circles and youneed some serious help, you can email me ([email protected]) and I'll post your question and answer to my blog (anonymously of course).

. Go Back 

What if the bootdisk worked, but I can't get into Windows withoutit?

Stop - Backup your important files - Then proceed

Inside Windows Option

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Once back into Windows, right click on the My Computer option, choose the Manageoption. The Computer Management window will open, click on "Disk Management" onthe left pane. One of the disks it lists, and one of the drives on it, will need to be markedas active. It will be which drive letter you have placed the 3 boot files into (this willlikely be the C: drive on Disk 0). Right click on that drive letter and select "Mark 

Partition as Active", you may first have to convert the partition to a Primary partition before you can mark it as active. Close and reboot.

If that doesn't work, go into "My Computer", right-click each hard drive, select"Properties", switch to the "Tools" tab, click the "Check Now" button, check both optionsthen click "Start"; if you selected the system partition it will require it to be rebooted anddone outside of Windows. When you reboot you will see a message about "Disk checkingwill begin in 7 seconds", let it do this and don't skip it. It may take awhile and will boot back into Windows when it's done.

If that doesn't immediately work, and you have more hard drives than just C:, try placing

the 3 boot files into other drives like D:, E:, F:, etc. Reboot each time to check if that wasthe one that fixed it, and when you find the correct one, mark it as active.

Win9x Boot Disk Option

Get a Win9x floppy and boot with it and when you get your A:\ prompt type:fdisk and make sure that the correct partition and hard drive are labeled "active" (usually thefirst hard drive with the first partition).

If you had a Win 9x install on this machine you may need to also run the command: sys

c: (or d, e, or f for the installation).

Recovery Console Option

Go into the recovery console by booting up with a Windows XP cd and go through theoptions till you get to the recovery console, you will need the admin password for thisoption (if you do not know it, just hit enter, that will work if it is blank). Then issue thecommand: fixboot

Boot Drive Only

One of the visitors commented on the blog that if the hard drive is not marked as active,disconnect every hard drive but the boot drive, and get it to boot, then add the additionaldrive. His post is here http://m-ntldrismissing.blogspot.com/2008/02/got-back-in-ran-bat-file-but-now-in.html?showComment=1222949520000#c1047342531695498573 .

New Hard Drive Option

Purchase a new hard drive, remove the old one, install the new one as master, install your OS, install the oldone as slave (remember to change jumpers), copy all the data off the old hard drive, burn CD's or DVD's of 

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the most important stuff, perform a low-level format of the old drive, make a partition on it and use it asbackup storage drive or just