Hi all, My 64bit windows 7 won't boot with the message "BOOTMGR is missing" and now I'm trying to fix that. I tried using the recovery options provided with the windows 7 disc. When I try to do an automatic repair, it says it can't automatically repair. It gives a list of detailed reasons with lots of numbers but the thing that catched my eye was "MissingBootManager" or something like that. I tried doing it manually through the console using bootrec with all its options and chdsk, but that didn't work either. Nothing works ps. Windows Loader was activated on my system... --- As a side note, this is how it all happened: I had two partitions - partition 1 had a windows 7 installation, partition 2 was empty - windows 7 on partition one broke, I installed another windows 7 on partition 2 because I didn't want to loose my original files and was in a hurry - I booted a linux live cd and deleted everything on partition 1, which obviously was a big mistake because i didn't realize there were some special boot files that the windows on partition 2 was using on that partition. Thanks in advance for your reactions!
Tried from command prompt instead of using the recovery manager? The "fixboot" command is supposed to recreate the bootmgr file and the rebuildbcd will recreate the list of OS's. Code: bootsect.exe /nt60 SYS /force bootrec.exe /fixmbr bootrec.exe /fixboot bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd You didn't change which partition was the active partition did you? If you did you need to use diskpart to set the partition back to active. As an FYI you may also need to reinstall the loader * After running the commands you may need to use the startup repair option once more.
@Daz I did everything you said, twice to be sure, but the problem remains. When I do /rebuildbcd however, it says something like "total amount of found windows installations: 0" (note: But it does find 1 windows installation when I rename C:\boot\BCD to C:\boot\BCD.old (after doing the /export command) and then do the /rebuildbcd afterwards) Also what I forgot to mention: When I select the first option in the recovery menu for my windows 7 installation, it says something about the recovery tools not being compatible with my current installation of windows, and that I should use another recovery disc that is compatible. But this is wrong, because it's the exact same disc I used to install windows with. -- Thanks for the quick reply!
Is the disk an AIO version (x64 & x86)? If it is then that's why you get the error as the recovery environment is actually broke on them disks. If you install Windows again on the now blank partition then it should fix the boot problem for the other partition too
@Daz Yes, it's AIO, hadn't realized that before. Actually, the blank partition isn't blank anymore, since it contains lots of stuff I need. But that's no problem since I can install windows next to all my important stuff right? After installing, how would I remove this installation of windows fully without breaking the boot manager? Excuse me if this is a stupid question, I've searched the internet and couldn't find anything on this subject.
You would be able to use EasyBCD to move the bootmgr and BCD over to the "safe" partition. You may then simply have to access disk management to make sure the correct partition is also marked as active. I think if you install Windows onto the drive without formatting it then your files will remain on it. I'm not 100% on that but I know that's what Windows does during a repair install at least.
@Daz Thanks a lot for your advice. The last thing you suggested worked, and I have all my important stuff intact. It seems that I have to reinstall the windows loader (thank you for that too). I guess it's better to install the windows loader AFTER I use EasyBCD?
Yes. After you've used EasyBCD to move the boot files and you've made sure the correct partition is marked as active (the one you moved the boot files to) then you can install the loader
Thanks. It's awesome to know that there are hackers around like you (I'm an aspiring developer myself but I still have a long way to go ). Anyway, your work and help is much appreciated.