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NTLDR Is Missing - How To Repair

Every once in a while I note, in the forums where I participate, series of questions that appear over and over again. So is the case with the “NTDR is missing” when the user attempts to boot their system. Below are some ways to fix or repair the problem so your system should boot up properly.

  1. This is the first thing to look at. Is your system trying to boot from a CD or floppy disk that is non-bootable? Remove the CD or floppy and try again.
  2. Have you added a new hard disk with another copy of Windows installed on the new disk? Have you confirmed that the drives are set properly as Master and Slave?
  3. If steps 1 and 2 do not apply,then it is time to pull out the big guns. Follow steps 4 through 10.
  4. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
  5. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
  6. Once in the Windows XP setup menu, press the “R” key to repair Windows.
  7. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the “1″ key and pressing enter.
  8. You will then be prompted for your administrator password; enter that password.
  9. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter “E.” This letter may be different on your computer.
    copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
    copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
  10. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Your system should now boot normally. Still having problems? Drop by the forum at lockergnome.com for more help. Registration is free.

[tags]NTLDR, missing, error, repair, fix, windows, copy[/tags]

44 Comments

I would definately recommend pulling ntldr and ntdetect out of the most recent restore point snapshot or even $uninstall before copying an older and quite possibly incompatible version from an installation disk. Also, before doing that I would recommend attempting a chkdsk and search through Found folders.

Might I humbly suggest my site:
http://ntldrismissing.com/
If the other solutions don’t work for you. It consists of making a non-invasive disk that boots your hard drive.
And it’s free.

It happen suddnly in my mate pc .. Huh

hello im saad i have a dell XPS 600 it says the floppy diskette is corrupted and says f1 to continue and f2 for setup
i press f1 then it says ntldr file missing
how do i replace or do anything
i have important data
plz help

Saad,

May I recommend that you post your question on the Lockergnome forum. You will be provided with expert assistance and should be able to get your problem fixed or at least be able to salvage your important data.

http://help.lockergnome.com/general/

You will need to register before posting your problem, but registration is Free.

Hi. My computer crashed and gave an error message. Now my Hard drive is corrupted(cant be detected by my computer). I bought a new hard drive and then tried to install windows XP service pack 2 on the new hard drive and i couldn’t. Is it because i don’t have windows 95 or 98 installed in the new hard drive??

Hello Mr. Z,

You do not need 95 or 98 installed first. May I suggest you post your problem over at the Lockergnome forum. And provide some more information. Any errors, was the drive formatted properly and so forth.

http://www.help.lockergnome.com

Regards, Ron

With an external hardrive case, the one case that you put your internal hearddrive in and plug into a USB port, can I remove my harddrive use an external harddrive and plug this into this laptop I’m using and coopy the NTLDR file onto the broken one?

Hello Bryan,
That should work. Please let us know what happens. Also for additional information, you could also post your problem at:
http://help.lockergnome.com
There are some experts there willing to help you with your computer problems for FREE.
All the best, Ron

Boot from CD option has disappeared from Boot Menu options. Boot from floppy ends in a starting DOS/loading files loop. Any suggestions?

Hello Gary,
I’d check the power and ribbon cable to the CD-Rom and mobo and make sure they are tight. It sounds like the BIOS isn’t see the Rom - just a guess.

If you are still having problems, take a ride over to:
http://help.lockergnome.com

One of the experts there should be able to help you further.

it has helped me out and i am most glad

Hello Francis,
Thanks for the comment and I am glad it worked for you.

Thank you so much. I was setting up a dual boot sysytem on a Vista based machine and had gotten evrything done except that I kept getting the NTLDR is missing error. I finalyy found this page and followed your instructions (modifying the drive letter to D; to reflect where I have my XP installation) and it worked perfectly.

Harris,
Glad it worked for you.
Regards, Ron

Many thanks, your advice was spot on, after getting the error message “ntldr” I thought F*** what Have I done now ,I did not have a clue but a few minutes on your site sorted it. So thanks once again.

Big Al,
You are welcome.

I have the NTLDR message on my Vista machine (two weeks old!). Any ideas on how to repair it? Everything I have read up until now has stated that the easy fix works only on XP and older machines.

Thanks!
Tami

Hello Tami,
If this is a brand new computer system from a OEM, I’d contact them first.

You can also try doing a Repair of Vista:

http://www.windowsvista.windowsreinstall.com/vistaultimate/repairstartup/part1.htm

I hope this helps, Ron

well.. i tried all those things that you told me to but it still……
and i can’t remove my CD after i wrote those stuff on my dos. please help!!!

Thank you soo much ur page on how to fix the missing ntldr saved my life!! i’ve learned my lesson to always back up photos and important documents!!

thank you sooooo much

Hi hayley,
You are most welcome.
Ron

after i followed your instruction my computer succesfully startup to windows, but i could not log in. theres no icon to click so that i can log on, what can i do? i hope you can email me the answer, thanks!

Hello,

After attempting to restore my pc with various methods, I tried Miles’ website  http://ntldrismissing.com/). I’m happy to say that it worked like a charm, it’s been working for about a month now, with no problems. Thanks, Miles.

Thank you so much for this info. I have spent hours unsuccesfully trying to fix this problem. I did not want to loose all the info in my comp. This fix was quick and easy and it worked. Thanks again.

Hello
This did the trick. After following your instructions system booted right up.
Thanks for you help.

i enterd the first command on my widnows xp pc service pack 3 and is said file copied and then turned of before i could enbter the second command now when i turn my computer on it keeps restarting i tried to enter the commands again but this time it said forbiden :)

I`ve got the same error with my computer.I know all the steps.the problem is i don’t have a CD/DVD drive or a floppy drive.I went to Miles` site and then tried the repair with a USB flash drive, switched the boot order around and still got the error.I also enabled the Boot form another device selection from the BIOS.

Help Me!!!!!!SOS
Thanks if You Do!!!!

I Have an IBM Thinkpad T40. I Tryed to boot but wont let just says NTLDR Is MISSING Prees ctrl+Alt+Del to restart. I need help.tryed a lot of Windows xp cd’s non work

[...] based machine and had gotten evrything done except that I kept getting the ntldr is missing …http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2006/12/12/ntldr-is-missing-how-to-repair/NTLDR is missingInformation and help with resolving the computer error message ntldr is missing. … [...]

hi , i am suing win vista oem product of hp, i am getting ntldr missing eror, i would be thankfull , if anyone could help me out
sunder singh

Did HP supply you with a Vista DVD? If not, give them a call and get one. :-)

Thank take a look here.

http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2006/12/14/how-to-fix-ntldr-is-missing-update/

Hi,

I bought my e-machine 620; computerabout 5 years ago, I used to restore my computer with the 2 restor manufacture disk without problem, and one day my computer started problem then I took an enginer who changed the motherboard for it, then it last me for about 2 years until day before yesterday I wanted to restore my computer once again, I thought it is easy as the times before I changed the mother board.

but now I have reinstalled the 2 manufacture disk on my computer the screen is black and it can not be opened.

When the mother board was replaced I was given a CD called Intel-VIA, IVE 10 , Version 1.0 , 15G09X027000AK

as the computer screen is black I put the mother board CD into the driver and it asked for a floppy disk A. I put a normal floppy disk, then something on the blac screen completed after 100 second.

then it say press any kepy, I did it, at the end a messege came up saying NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart. I pressed any key, then again it say NTLDR is missing.

I tried the aboves several times but all is the same.

please advice me step by step how can get back the computer to a normal computer. because it can not be used now it is just saying press any key the NTLDR is missing.

Many thanks

Alo

Hello Alo,
I would venture a guess that because of the motherboard being changed, the disks you have are not properly setting up the video driver. I would format the hard disk and reinstall using the OEM disks and see what happens.

I would also contact the tech who replaced the mobo and seek his opinion as well.

Faizan A. Chughtai

July 10th, 2008
at 9:17pm

hey guyz

i heard the problem and infact faced one myself!!!

so that NTLDR file is actually the bootable file located in the root drive(i.e where WINDOWS is installed)

if the problem occurs…

enter the windows xp cd (if u r using windows xp)

1.then boot from that cd
2.when in setup press ‘R’ to repair the existing copy of windos.
3.the command prompt will ask for the copy of windows to repair as

1: C:\WINDOWS

press 1.

then give the administrator password.

type
(if ure cd-rom dive is ‘e’)

C:\WINDOWS>copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\

then

C:\WINDOWS>copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

there you go!!

now type ‘EXIT’ and reboot the system.

GOD LUCK…
feel free to
contact: cfaizan786@gmail.com

monica herrera

July 19th, 2008
at 2:42pm

What is a bootable CD i dont understand that???

A bootable CD is one that will start the system without using the operating system on the hard disk.

Hi,

Nice posting. NTLDR is a system file require for boot operation. If this file get corrupted then you can recover it with the help of stellar phoenix data recovery software which recover damaged, accidentally deleted data from hard drive.

Thanks

i tried everything else. nothing worked. This fixed me right up.

Thank you for taking the time to post and to share your knowledge.

Hi Marc,
Glad it worked for you. Thanks for letting me know.
Regards, Ron

excellant lol

Worked like a champ! thank you very much for posting fix. Simple and exact Instructions, couldn’t ask for anything more.

Hi Kurt,
I am glad it worked for you.

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