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Thread: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

  1. #1
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    The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Hi all

    I have a rig I built myself around 5 years ago. It's on an Asus PK5E mobo with core 2 quad cpu Q6600 and 4mb of DDR2 Ram. The hdd is 500Gb which I had partitioned into C: and D: drives with 32bit Vista running from D: and C: holding Win7 files. I had never used the Win 7 files and in preparation for converting this rig to a NAS (alongside a new build that I'm planning), I used CC Cleaner to delete all the files from C:. However, upon rebooting I have been presented with the bootmgr missing error.

    I have tried every thing I know on this. Nothing came up from Chkdsk /r on C: or D: and SATA and power cables all fine and seated well. Boot order in the bios is correct. Using the Vista disc to run Win RC and get the command prompt but bcdedit and bookrec seem to work correcly. The repair function identifies a missing bootmgr but doesn't fix it. The only thing is that after I run bootrec /rebuildbcd it stil doesn't identify any windows installations.

    After three days I now feel that I'm going round in circles! At least all my data is backed up! But, please, any advice or ideas would be gratefully received.

    Many thanks

    RR

  2. #2
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Update, I have used bcdedit /enum and found that bootmgr is on C: whereas the vista os is on D:, so the challenge is to get bootmgr onto D: as well (can't put vista on C: as the partition is only 50Gb).

    Any ldeas?

    Many thanks

  3. #3
    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    It's another frustrating example of Windows shoving the bootloader on any disk it likes, generally not the one you thought you'd chosen as the boot disk. For that reason, I generally recommend unplugging all but the desired boot drive when installing Windows if it's easy to do.

    Bootrec should work here, but try it with the /fixboot flag.

    Edit: Just realised you said both the partitions are on one disk, I thought you were using two disks and had erased the secondary drive. The above should still work though IIRC.

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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    It's another frustrating example of Windows shoving the bootloader on any disk it likes, generally not the one you thought you'd chosen as the boot disk. For that reason, I generally recommend unplugging all but the desired boot drive when installing Windows if it's easy to do.

    Bootrec should work here, but try it with the /fixboot flag.

    Edit: Just realised you said both the partitions are on one disk, I thought you were using two disks and had erased the secondary drive. The above should still work though IIRC.
    Many thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, when I run bootrec / fixboot it says the operation has completed successfully but bootmgr is still on C: and the problem remains!

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    In the recovery prompt, after checking what the partitions are called (it may not be the same as your Windows install sees them), run:
    bootsect /NT60 C:
    Replacing C: with whatever partition your Windows install is on.

  6. #6
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    In the recovery prompt, after checking what the partitions are called (it may not be the same as your Windows install sees them), run:
    bootsect /NT60 C:
    Replacing C: with whatever partition your Windows install is on.
    Thanks again, this time command prompt is telling me 'bootsect is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable programme or batch file'!! Time to reboot again...

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Oh sorry you might have to manually navigate to the directory in the CD.

    E:\boot\bootsect

    Where E: is the drive letter of your CD-ROM, which you can check with the 'list volume' command under diskpart.

  8. #8
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Thanks Aqua man! Still no joy, though... got bootsect going, did bootrec /fixboot but still bootmgr is on c: but windows boot loader is on d:

    Do you think wiping c: would throw the boot sequence off the scent?

    Cheers RR

  9. #9
    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    It could be that the BIOS is looking through the partitions in order and arriving at the old one first, which of course won't work if you've removed all files/folders from the partition.

    Formatting the old partition, provided there's nothing important on it OFC, might help things, and I'd recommend doing that anyway if you're going to re-purpose it as it will likely still contain some hidden system stuff.

    What partitions are marked as boot/system/active/etc under diskpart?

  10. #10
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    Red face Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post

    What partitions are marked as boot/system/active/etc under diskpart?
    That was a really helpful nudge - so many thanks for mentioning diskpart- which I found was a very useful (if time consuming) utility.

    I was able to use it to identify that the disk partition marked as drive C: was active whereas D: was inactive. Changing that around enabled me to use the recovery system to repair the OS on D: and so I'm up and running once again!

    So many thanks indeed watercooled!!

    Cheers

    RR

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: The dreaded bootmgr missing problem

    Glad to hear it, glad I could be of some help.

  12. Received thanks from:

    RobbieRoy (01-09-2014)

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