BOOTMGR is missing - Windows 7 64-bit

S

stillerz

Member
Hi,

Getting this message now at boot "BOOTMGR is missing. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL". My system is/was dual booting Windows 7 64-bit and XP. Something happened after I did a backup, and now it doesn't startup normally. I'm on a Lenovo, so if I press F11 during initial startup I somehow get my old boot menu and can load Windows 7 fine -- don't know how that works exactly, but it does.

Here's the cut & paste from EasyBCD 2.0 debug mode:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=D:
path \bootmgr
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default {8822cd0c-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
resumeobject {8822cd0b-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
displayorder {8822cd0c-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
{8822cd0a-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 4

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {8822cd0c-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {8822cd0b-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
nx AlwaysOn
detecthal Yes

Real-mode Boot Sector
---------------------
identifier {8822cd0a-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
device partition=S:
path \NTLDR
description Windows XP
Click to expand...
Here's boot.ini:

[boot loader]
timeout=4
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
Click to expand...
There are actually 4 partitions on my hard drive -- Recovery partition, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows XP, and a data partition. The Windows 7 install was originally a Vista install that came with the system that I upgraded to Win 7. I added the Windows XP partition and dual-boot configuration myself long ago.

Short term, I'd just like the system to boot normally to my boot menu as it did before. My next step is to eliminate the Windows XP partition altogether, but not ready to do that until this BOOTMGR message is gone.

I've tried booting from the Windows 7 install CD and using the recovery option, but no help. It either tries automatic recovery and nothing happens or it gives me an error message that says I'm using the wrong version of windows.

Any ideas?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Did you set the BCD to point to S for XP ?
It should be pointing to "system", which appears to be D
If S is "system", then the boot manager entry in the BCD is wrong.
 
Last edited:
Hi Terry,

No, "I" didn't set the BCD to point to S for XP. Some change happened automatically/unintentionally as the result of the backup utility I used.

Is there an easy path to correct this?

Thanks!

(Also, the HDD is first in boot order. Already checked that)
 
Ok, the XP entry needs to be pointing to D:.

EasyBCD should automatically correct this. Delete the current 2k/XP entry and add a new one, allowing EasyBCD to autoconfigure.
 
I vaguely remember in the Disk Management view that the D: drive used to have the word "Boot" in the config description area -- e.g. "Boot, System, Active...". "Boot" is now on the "C:" drive somehow.

So, if I auto-reconfigure the D: partition, is that the problem that it will find and fix?
 
"boot" indicates which system you're currently running.
It moves depending on whether you're looking at DM with XP or W7.
You can either delete/add the incorrect XP BCD entry and let EasyBCD recreate it properly as Jus suggested, or you can just use the Basic tab of the "advanced settings" button to change S back to D for the XP entry.
 
Thanks, I did the option to
use the Basic tab of the "advanced settings" button to change S back to D for the XP entry
Click to expand...

But, no change. I still get the BOOTMGR is missing message at startup.

Here's the new debug info:

Code: 
Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier              {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \bootmgr
description             Windows Boot Manager
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
default                 {8822cd0c-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
resumeobject            {8822cd0b-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
displayorder            {8822cd0c-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
                        {8822cd0a-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
toolsdisplayorder       {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout                 4

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier              {8822cd0c-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
device                  partition=C:
path                    \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description             Windows 7
locale                  en-US
inherit                 {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
osdevice                partition=C:
systemroot              \Windows
resumeobject            {8822cd0b-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
nx                      AlwaysOn
detecthal               Yes

Real-mode Boot Sector
---------------------
identifier              {8822cd0a-1988-11de-b638-bcaa90a063f3}
device                  partition=D:
path                    \NTLDR
description             Windows XP

I'm hesitant to delete and rebuild anything for fear that if it doesn't work, I won't be able to boot at all. Right now, I still can boot by pressing F11 when the BIOS splash screen appears.

I'm still puzzled as to why I can get to the dual-boot menu correctly when I do that. Somehow when its getting the correct settings. Is there a way I could copy from wherever that is loading?
 
What do you tell it to boot from after F11 ?
Is there a bootmgr there ?
Is that the "active" partition ?
 
Hi Terry,

When I hit F11, the regular/normal windows boot menu just comes up and I pick Windows 7 (or Windows XP, although I'm not using XP anymore). There's nothing else that comes up before that.

I somewhat suspect that F11 forces it to boot from the recovery partition (or the "S:" drive) somehow and there's a copy of all the boot files and configuration there. I don't know how it got there -- probably some automatic system recovery thing that comes with Lenovos.

Addendum:

Also, I was looking at the debug info above. Not sure if this is helpful, but I checked the hidden files on the D: drive and there is no "\bootmgr" folder. There is however a bootmgr file on both D: and S:, but they have different date/time stamps and sizes.

The S: and D: drives also both have a "\Boot" directory.
 
Last edited:
There is no bootmgr folder, it's directly in the partition root.
Going back to my original reply in post #3

Did you set the BCD to point to S for XP ?
It should be pointing to "system", which appears to be D
If S is "system", then the boot manager entry in the BCD is wrong.

The problem seems to be that D has erroniously been set "active" at some point.
Go into Disk Management and make S active, then the reboot should work normally.
You'll also need to undo the XP change to D in the BCD and put it back to S (which will become "system" when it's active.)
 
Hi Terry,

My memory is foggy about when I setup the dual-boot config last year back when this was just a Vista machine, but I don't think the S: drive was ever the active system or boot drive. I vaguely seem to recall that XP needed to be the active drive to allow having Vista as the C: drive on the first partition, something to do with having XP installed after Vista.

Anyway, I'm hesitant to change the active drive if there's a chance that it results in the system being completely un-bootable. Is that possible here?
 
you have a boot folder and a bootmgr on S so it fulfills the requirements for a Vista/7 boot.
What are the sizes of the S and D bootmgr files ?
If D has bootmgr and is currently active, then you shouldn't be getting a "bootmgr is missing" message !
 
bootmgr on D: is 375KB and was created on 7/13/2009 at 9:39pm
bootmgr on S: is 326KB and was created on 1/20/2008 at 9:22pm

No idea why these are different...
 
If you have a bootable partition manager (CD or floppy) (you can get GpartEd online free if you need one), you need never fear changing the "active" flag. You can always flip it back.
That said, you shouldn't change the active flag willy-nilly, but in your case you've checked that the boot files exist, so it's not a problem
The "active" flag just tells the MBR which partition to look in for the bootmgr.
I guess the older one is an OEM custom version. 375k is the size of the present W7 bootmgr.
 
I don't have access to my CDROM drive at the moment, but I will in a few days, so I'll wait until then to try changing the active drive.

Is there any way to tell which bootmgr file was actually used during startup?
 
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