NTLDR is missing - what to do and how to fix it?! NTLDR is missing, what should I do? Restoring NTLDR is missing What does ntldr mean

If you are familiar with this inscription - NTLDR is missing- this means that your computer is trying to boot Windows XP installed on it, but the operating system was unable to find one or more system boot files. What could be the reason and what to do with the NTLDR is missing error? Let's figure it out together...

Reasons for the NTLDR is missing message

So, there are several main reasons why Windows cannot find the NTLDR boot file.

• Hard drive or motherboard has failed
• Connecting another hard drive and making it boot priority
• Incorrect installation of another OS and, as a result, a conflict between the two systems
• Changing the active disk
• Missing NTLDR file due to accidental deletion

Unfortunately, the most common occurrence is a malfunction of the hard drive or motherboard - either the disk itself is not readable, or the mother cannot read information from the disk due to a faulty controller. In this case, the best solution would be to purchase new equipment, having first identified what exactly does not work.

But while we don’t know this, there is a chance to try to restore the system with our own hands.

The NTLDR file has been deleted

One of the common causes of the “NTLDR is missing” message is the accidental deletion of the ntldr and ntdetect.com bootloader files or as a result of viruses. In order to restore it, you need to boot from the installation disk with Windows XP (learn how to do this, and go to the menu for selecting the installation type.

Here we press the “R” key to launch the recovery console from which we will copy our file to the computer.

A black screen will open with a blinking cursor on the command line. We write: “DIR C:/” (or D, depending on which disk Windows XP was installed on). A list of files in the root folder will open - make sure that it does not contain the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM file.

If it is there, then read the next subsection of this article. If not, then write the following command:

copy D:\i386\ntldr C:\
copy D:\i386\Ntdetect.com C:\

In this case, the letter “D” is the drive letter that is assigned to the DVD drive from which the file is copied. Yours may be different (E, F, G, H or something else).

After this, the missing files will be copied to the system folder on the computer and Windows will be able to boot.

Designating the system's main boot source

There is often a situation when you purchased a new hard drive, connected it, and the computer automatically set it as a priority for loading Windows. Since in fact there is no OS on it, the error “NTLDR is missing” is quite legitimately displayed, indicating the absence of a Windows system file.

To fix it, restart the computer and when the very first messages appear, press the key - either DEL or F2, depending on the BIOS version, to get into the Net BIOS program.

Here in the menu we find the “Boot” (Hard Disk Boot Priority) or “Advanced BIOS Features - Boot Device Select” section.

and as the first boot source (First Boot Device), select the HDD and the one on which Windows is installed. They are listed by model number.

Menu items are navigated using the “+/-” or “PgUp/PgDown” keys.
After that, press “F10” to exit and save the settings.

Error NTLDR is missing appears for several reasons; it is unpleasant because it is impossible to run. Possible options for the problem. Error message like:

Windows XP could not start because the following files were missing or corrupted: WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM NTLDR MISSING. You can try to repair this file by starting the Windows Setup program from original floppies or boot from CD-ROM. Select ‘r’ at first screen to repair.

or short version:

NTLDR is missing

Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart

An error occurs when Windows boot loader file not available Ntldr and Ntdetect.com. The reason for this may be various malfunctions.

Although the computer itself says that it cannot find Windows boot file (Ntldr and Ntdetect.com) and can't load operating system, but how could this happen? There are several reasons for this, for example, strong MFT fragmentation NTFS partition from which it comes Windows. This may happen due to copying a large number of files, and after a reboot you may see error NTLDR is missing. Deleting files in the root folder of the boot disk will most likely not fix the error. Due to the severe fragmentation of MFT, it was necessary to create an additional allocation index, and since the allocation indexes sort files alphabetically, NTLDR file may fall into the second placement index. Windows boot loader does not process files that are in the additional index, this leads to error NTLDR is missing. The reason for the appearance of a large number of files in the root is the automatic copying of files by some program, or the creation and deletion of temporary temp files to the root of the boot partition. To solve this problem, you can use point 3. If this does not help solve the problem, then I advise you to refer to points 1 and 4 of the “Problem Solutions” section.

Cause of occurrence NTLDR Is Missing errors May be installing an old Windows NT system on a machine with Windows XP. Due to the nature of shared and older NT-like systems, if installed on top of an existing Windows XP. Windows NT systems have a simple boot loader that does not define additional tools start Windows XP. To solve this problem, you can use points 2, 4 or 5.

Ntldr and Ntdetect.com may be damaged or deleted due to unreasonable user actions or program errors. After changing the active partition NTLDR Is Missing error appeared when booting the computer, since for the Windows boot loader to work properly, it is necessary that the system files used be located on active section. To solve this problem, use steps 1, 2, 4 or 5.

Causes NTLDR Is Missing error appears Not only software, but also hardware problems can cause problems. The NTLDR error also appears in cases where an attempt is made to connect an additional second hard drive with an installed operating system to the computer. Or when the motherboard has an old BIOS version installed. To solve this problem, you can use point 6.

Solutions to the NTLDR Is Missing Problem

Attention! Save important data before following the steps below.

Replace Ntldr and Ntdetect.com files in Windows XP.

Launch the Recovery Console from the Windows XP disc and press the "R" key when the screen appears. Select the boot partition and enter the fixboot command.

Copy Ntldr and Ntdetect.com files

Start your computer from a boot disk in MS-DOS mode and copy the Ntldr and Ntdetect.com files from the I386 folder on the Windows XP disk to the root of the boot disk.

But first you need to remove the attribute from the files "System", "Read Only", "Hidden" using the attrib command:

attrib ntdetect.com -r -s –h

attrib ntldr -r -s –h

Using the Bcupdate2 utility

For solutions to the NTLDR Is Missing problem there was a special Bcupdate2 utility. We boot from the boot floppy disk and run on the command line:

BCUpdate2.exe C: /f

where C: is the boot partition. We give consent to launch the utility and press “y”, and after a successfully completed operation, reboot or write:

Run a:\bcupdate.exe From:

Change active partition

Change active partition you can do it in 2 ways:

a) With the help boot floppy:

• Boot using a floppy disk.
• At the command prompt, type fdisk and press ENTER.
• When asked to enable large disk support, select Y (yes).
• Select the “Select active partition” command, press the key with the number of the partition that you want to make active, and then press the “ENTER” key

b) With the help Windows Recovery Console.

If it appears again when booting from CD NTLDR Is Missing error, check the location of the jumpers on your drive:

• Boot using the Windows XP CD.
• When the “Welcome to the Setup Wizard” message appears, press F10 or R to begin the recovery process.
• To launch the Recovery Console, press the C key.
• Type "cd.." to go to the root directory of your boot drive.
• Enter the drive letter of your CD drive.
• Enter cd i386.
• Enter Copy ntldr “your boot drive letter”:
• Type Exit.

If the partition is not formatted using Windows, this may come in handy fixboot command from the recovery console, which overrides the default settings that are written to the system boot partition. Fixboot overwrites hard disk boot sector and does active partition bootable. It is also possible that the master boot record (MBR) is damaged, and to restore it, use the “fixmbr device_name” command. Attention! fixmb commandr may damage the partition table if or there are hardware problems. Using this command may create inaccessible partitions, so before executing the command, check the system with an antivirus program and check important data by connecting the HDD to another computer.

Check the boot.ini file, whether the “paths” to your system are correctly written in it and whether the partitions are correctly defined.

Connecting the HDD to a computer running Windows XP or Windows 2003.

Through disk management, look at the correctness of the created partitions and logical drives, as well as make the first partition of the disk active and copy 2 files there: NTLDR and NTDETECT.com from a working operating system. After these operations, install the hard drive back and boot from it. Try resetting the BIOS settings and installing the HDD on the 1st IDE cable as a master.

If a new HDD is connected to the computer and an NTLDR error appears

Check to see if Windows is installed on this hard drive. Use the format command to format the new hard drive, but remember that all data will be deleted. Also try updating the BIOS, connecting the drive to a different slot, or replacing the cable. Often this error is caused by the appearance of bed sectors in areas occupied by system files. And if you start to experience “bad things,” it means that the drive will eventually fail and you need it soon.

If the computer stops booting and the message “NTLDR is missing Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart” appears on the screen, then the easiest and most effective way to solve the problem is to reinstall Windows by formatting the system partition. However, this method is not suitable for every case, because when formatting the partition, all user data stored on it will be deleted. Therefore, we will keep reinstalling Windows 7 in mind, but look at other ways to fix the error.

Identifying the reasons for NTLDR is missing

The NTLDR is missing error tells users that the bootloader cannot access the boot files ( Ntldr And Ntdetect), so you won't be able to start Windows 7.

To fix the NTLDR is missing error, you need to determine the cause of the problem. Correct diagnosis is half the success, so carefully check all possible sources of error.

Hardware failure

If the computer is old, then the cause of the problem in question may be problems in the operation of the hard drive or the motherboard controller to which the hard drive is connected. Sometimes it is enough to simply switch the cables to which the hard drive is connected.

You can check the functionality of the motherboard by connecting a known working hard drive to it. If the problem is caused by a hardware failure, then the only solution is to replace the hardware.

Wrong download priority

If you connected a second hard drive, but forgot to set the boot priority in the BIOS, then the system may not detect the files needed to boot and issue an NTLDR is missing error.

Solution to the problem:

1. Restart your computer and - at startup, press the Delete key (for some computer models F 2).
2. Find the "Boot" tab. It should have a section “Hard Disk Boot Priority”.
3. Using the arrows on the keyboard, change the priority, placing the hard drive with the installed system in first place. For more information about changing the boot sequence in Bios, read the article.

After completing these steps, exit the BIOS by pressing F 10 to save the configuration.

Boot record corruption

Another effective method to get rid of the NTLDR is missing error is to restore the functionality of the Windows 7 bootloader through the recovery console, which is launched from .

To exit the console, type “ Exit". After restarting the computer, the NTLDR is missing error should disappear when Windows 7 starts.

If you have never encountered this error, then you are very lucky. But, often, it appears precisely when you don’t expect it at all.

Many users immediately begin to reinstall the system, because formatting it is a very reasonable decision.

But what to do if you have absolutely no time to reinstall or, for example, there is very important information on the system disk that you do not want to lose? It is absolutely possible to deal with this problem without reinstallation, and we will help you figure it out.

What does this error mean?

Literally, the abbreviation means: nt loader, that is, it is a load based on NT technology.

In other words, such an inscription can be interpreted as the absence of a boot file.

From this you can understand that your boot file is damaged, but do not worry: this problem can be solved without even reinstalling the operating system.

It most often appears in versions of Windows operating systems such as 2000, Vista, XP, 7 and 8.

Therefore, we will show how you can fix this error using the example of versions of XP (which is similar to 2000 and Vista), as well as the seventh version (identical to the eighth and tenth).

In addition to damage to the boot file, the error may also occur in the absence of others.

And in order to correctly and successfully launch into the operating system, you must have three main files that are in active mode on your device. This:

• Actually, the NTLDR file with the bootloader code;
• The boot.ini file with requests for the formation of a selection menu and startup settings for the required operating system;
• An ntdetect.com file that collects software status information.

And if at least one of these files is missing, then your device is probably guaranteed to fail to boot in the near future.

In any version of Windows, this file is usually located in the root folder on the system drive, that is, on the C drive.

By the way, the above files are often located there as well. boot.ini And ntdetect.com.

Reasons for the error

The ntldr is missing error could occur due to various reasons, for example:

• Damage to the cable that connects the motherboard to the device’s hard drive;
• The system hard drive is missing from the list of boot devices. In the Boot Device Priority section of the BIOS, you need to check the sequence of devices during boot time;
• Failure of the hard drive due to failure of memory sectors;
• When installing the disk, the jumpers in it were installed incorrectly;
• The NTLDR file from the operating system was erased by a virus;
• The boot.ini file was moved or deleted from the root partition;
• The NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files were considered temporary and were moved to another folder;
• There are too many files in the root directory. The peculiarity of NTFS is that all file data is located in the MFT database. And when there are too many files, the database divides them into segments, the files in which are sorted alphabetically. If there are a lot of files, then NTLDR may not be in the first segment. But the problem is that when loading, the operating system only accesses the first segment, in which it may not find the required file.

This list of reasons is not complete. But the above can happen both separately and simultaneously with others.

Software error

Before eliminating the error, it is necessary to understand what we are faced with and understand how the system startup process occurs.

We don’t care about everything related to the launch of hardware; we will move on to the software.

First, the computer reads the MBR master boot record, which is located in the first partition of cylinder zero of the system disk.

It is very small in volume, only 512 MB, but it contains code that helps the computer start up.

The boot record analyzes all disks, finds the active partition in them and transfers control to the boot sector that is located on it.

And this sector, called the Boot Sector, contains all the information about the size and type of the file system and disk parameters.

Important:

in versions older than 7, instead of the NTLDR file, Winload is used, which is located in the path C:\Windows\System32\winload.exe.

Having received control, the bootloader executes the following commands:

• The central processor switches to 32-bit operating mode;
• Access to the file system is organized;
• Displays a menu for selecting systems, if several are installed, by obtaining data from the boot.ini file;
• Launches ntdetect.com (an application that collects hardware information);
• Activates and transfers all hardware information to the ntoskrnl.exe file, which is the core of the operating system.

And after which the operating system starts.

How to fix the error?

Once we have figured out at what stage of startup the error occurred, we can begin to fix this problem.

First, let's look at the occurrence of this error on versions of Windows such as 2000/XP/2003, because the solution for them will be similar.

Let us repeat once again for the launch to be successful, you must have the following files:

→ Ntldr;

→ Ntdetect.com;

→ Boot.ini.

Let's take a closer look at the bootloader and its accompanying components.

V Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista

1. First you need to display hidden system folders and files in "Explorer" . Click section "Service" and we find there "Folder properties".

1. Next, go to the bookmark "View" and from points "Hide protected files" uncheck the boxes. And at the point "Show hidden files" and put a mark on the folders. In addition, we recommend from point "Hide extensions for registered file types" also uncheck the box.

1. We apply all the changes, and by going back to the system disk window, we will be shown the necessary files that are responsible for loading the system.

What to do if there are no files

If you do not have one of the files, then this, in fact, is the reason that you cannot boot the system. But don't panic, they can be restored.

Since we don’t have the necessary files, we need to find them somewhere and install them in place of the missing ones. There are several options:

• Copy files from the installation disk;
• Copy from another device;
• Download from the web.

The last two options are too simple and can be easily handled, so we will look at the first and most difficult option - using the installation disk.

1. To begin with, insert it into the drive and start booting from the CD and set the boot to the BIOS.
2. Initially, it may seem to you that a standard system reinstallation is being performed, but when you see a window as in the figure, you need to select the option To restore Windows XP using the recovery console, press “R” and, in fact, press R on the keyboard.

1. The Recovery Console helps you access the system in text mode if it does not boot. You will not be able to control with the mouse, so you will only have to use the keyboard.
2. The program will scan the disks, checking them for the presence of the OS, and then display the results found. In our case, there is only one operating system installed on the computer, which is displayed as number 1.

1. Please note the question: Which copy of Windows should I sign in to? Since there is only one, press the number 1 on the keyboard and the Enter key to confirm the entry. And also, if you have an administrator password, then you must enter it; if not, click confirm again.
2. After this you will be logged in. To navigate and search for the necessary files on the disk, you need to know the basic commands.

Since we need to see the contents of the disk, we first need to enter it. To do this, enter the command “cd ..”, which means:

• cd – change folder

Space and two dots - is analogous to the Back arrow "Explorer" .

1. Be sure to keep track of all spaces, dots and other characters, as they play a very important role and the further loading of the command depends on the spelling.
2. Next, press Enter and enter the English letter C to get to the system disk folder. To display the contents there, enter the dir command.

1. After this, we need to go to the CD drive with the installation. In the path command, enter the letter by which the optical drive is designated on your computer. If you don't remember, use the guessing method - sooner or later you will guess. For example, “D:”, “F”, “G” and so on.
2. After selection, enter the dir command and look for the I386 folder in the contents - it contains the files with the bootloader that need to be copied.

1. Let us repeat once again what the entire path will look like.

1. Among all the displayed files, you need to find the one you need.

1. To copy it, you need to enter the command “copy ntldr c:”, which indicates in turn which command is being executed, with which file and where to copy it. Again, remember to pay attention to all signs! Ideally the command should look like this:

Successful OS launch

NTLDR is missing in Windows 7/8/10

For these versions, the solutions are similar to the previous one:

1. Boot the system using external media and enter recovery mode.

3. After this, you need to select the method of system recovery that interests us - console line.

4. Unlike the previous method, here you need to enter only two commands:

● bootrec /fixmbr

● bootrec /fixboot

/FixMbr– this parameter writes basic information to be loaded into the system partition. Used to solve problems that are associated with loading or removing when loading non-standard code.

/FixBoot– writes to the system partition of the boot sector.

5. After entering the commands, press Enter to confirm and reboot the device.

conclusions

If these options are inconvenient for you, then you can try another one.

Remove the hard drive from your computer, move it to a computer with exactly the same version of the system and copy the files from there.

But, the skills of working in the console will never become superfluous and will always be useful to you.

Therefore, do not rush to reinstall the OS, try to figure it out yourself first.

How to resolve the NTLDR is missing error

The video tutorial discusses the situation when the NTLDR is missing error appears when you turn on or restart the computer, which can be caused by the deletion or damage of the boot.ini, ntldr and NTDETECT.COM files

While loading the Windows operating system, the user may encounter an unpleasant message on the monitor screen:

NTLDR is missing
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart.

There may be several reasons for this malfunction:

The system uses several hard drives, booting from the wrong drive;
- CD, flash drive, floppy disk inserted;
- severe fragmentation of the MFT table of the root folder. If the root folder's MFT contains a large number of files, it may become so fragmented that an additional allocation index must be created. Because allocation indexes list files in alphabetical order, an NTLDR file may end up in a second allocation index;
- NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM files were deleted by the user;
- files were damaged due to a power failure or hard drive error.

To solve this problem, we extract all possible storage media and, if this does not help, choose one of the following methods:

1. The easiest way is copy data files from a working machine and replace.

Connect the hard drive to another computer;

Boot from LiveCD

2. Boot from the original Windows XP disk in "Recovery Console" mode. After the command line appears:

Use command fixboot.

Copy files from the disk "copy D:\i386\ntldr c:\", "copy D:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\" and change the attributes for the copied file
attrib ntdetect.com -r -s –h
attrib ntldr -r -s –h

Use a utility from Microsoft Bcupdate2.exe (DOS program).
Bcupdate2.exe C:/F
/q - quiet mode (the /y option must also be used)
/y - do not require confirmation
/f - update the used volume
/t - check only for old boot code