It Fixed it for me - NTLDR Missing

I recently had a client bring a Windows XP Pro laptop to me that would not boot.
Upon start up it would immediaty display the following error.

"NTLDR is missing Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart"

My problem seemed to be a missing or damaged boot.ini file.
To fix the problem:

Boot off of the XP CD and start The Recovery Console by Pressing R.

At the command line type

bootcfg /rebuild

It should start to scan your hard drives for any Windows XP installations and then display what it found. Follow the steps to add your Windows XP installation to the boot.ini file.

The first prompt asks Add installation to boot list? (Yes/No/All).

Type Y in response to this question and press Enter. ( 'A' should also work)

The next prompt asks you to Enter Load Identifier:

Type Windows XP Professional or Windows XP Home Edition and press Enter.

The final prompt asks you to Enter OS Load options:

Type /Fastdetect here and press Enter.

Type exit and then press Enter to restart your PC.

If you only had a missing or corrupt boot.ini file Windows XP should now start correctly.

As usual this may not be the only way to solve the issue but "It Fixed It for Me"

For more of my "It Fixed it for me" articles please click here.

Labels: , , ,