Windows 7: Boot manager is missing (please read and help)

Looks like you might have deleted all partitions. Do you have data that isn't backed up?

Boot into PW CD, click on the HD (shown as Disk1, Disk2, etc) to highlight it.



Then from Wizards tab select Partition Recovery Wizard, let it scan for lost W and D partitions, once found check their boxes, click next to Recover them, then back on the PW drive map see that they are present again and click Apply before closing it down.

If you have further problems, posting back a camera snap of the PW drive map with listings would be helpful.

Hello, thanks for your patience and continuous help.

All my important files and family photos, etc, were backed up on an external hard drive before I restarted the computer and got the 'boot manager is missing' error. However, there are few important files that I did not back up that were on the desktop.

Is it possible to delete the Windows 7 partition from inside Windows 7? And I was even using Windows 7 after I deleted the Windows Vista partition, so how can Windows 7 disappear at the restart?

I did what you told me to and it looks like the Partition Recovery Wizard found the W partition (Windows 7) and D partition (my personal files) and it says about them: lost/deleted. While it says about the C partition (Windows Vista which I deleted): Existing, and then it changed the statues of the C partition from 'Existing' to 'Overlapped'. Anyway, I did not continue with the operation because when I selected the D and W partitions and clicked 'Finish', I got a warning message saying: At least one of the existing partition will be deleted. Are you sure that you want to continue? So I clicked on 'No' because I want to ask what this warning message means and what I should choose 'Yes', or 'No'.

Also, sorry for not uploading camera snaps--I tried to upload them from my phone but it was taking forever. I will try again soon. When I upload the photos can you also look at the check boxes I checked to see if I checked the corrected ones because there were more folders/files, other than the D and W partitions, that were found lost/deleted. I don't know if I should checked them or not.

Thanks a lot.

Please see the attached captures of my computer screen

You've repartitioned over the entire HD which is why your original partitions are missing. I believe the error refers to the empty partition which now spans the entire HD, that it will be replaced by the missing partitions which you checked, probably setting your HD back to exactly how it was before you repartitioned the entire HD space with a new partition.

However I don't see Vista listed there if it was installed in the lower numbered address. The only sizeable partitions showing are your Windows 7 and the 121gb partition I'm guessing is your data at the right end of the drive.

So I would continue with the partitions you've checked, then after Recovery Wizard completes, Apply the step on the master PW drive map so it completes everything.

Then see if you can get Windows 7 to boot. If not, boot back into PW CD, rightclick on Windows 7 partition to Modify>Set to Active, OK, then click on the HD to highlight it, from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, Apply. See if Windows 7 boots, if not boot into Windows 7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.
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What I would do myself is copy my files out after booting into Windows 7, or rescue them to your external using the Windows 7 DVD or Repair CD this way: Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console

Then I'd reinstall Windows 7 so that it is correctly lettered C instead of W, which happened because it was installed from Vista rather than correctly booting the DVD to install.

Is there a way to connect my HD to another computer and access it like an external HD? I want to do this to save my important files before I continue with the Partition Recovery Wizard steps--just in case something goes wrong.

Those files are not available until PW CD recovers their missing partitions. Windows will only see the one large empty partition which was repartitioned over everything.

Your files were deleted during repartioning. It's only due to the our most valuable free tool being able to recover them that they may be retrieved. Normally file retrieval on this scale costs a lot.

If you want to err on the side of caution then only recover the partition with the files. I would reinstall the OS anyway since it was installed incorrectly, and who needs Vista?

[However I don't see Vista listed there if it was installed in the lower numbered address. The only sizeable partitions showing are your Windows 7 and the 121gb partition I'm guessing is your data at the right end of the drive.]

Hello thanks a lot for the help, so far I am understanding the problem better.

Ok, here is some info that might help explain the HD partitions:

OS_Install is the name that was given to the C partition and it came with Windows Vista installed on it. Fadi is the name of the D drive and it has my personal files on it. Windows 7 is the name of the W drive on which I installed Windows 7. The reason I am mentioning this because it looks like OS_Install is either the old C drive which had Vista on it, or a new partition which replaced everything. Does this make a difference in the way I should proceed? When I go home I will explore the OS_Install partition to see what folders it has inside, that might help me understand better what it is.

I am so grateful for the PW CD, if it works by recovering my files I will definitely make a donation. Thanks.

If OS_install is Vista it shows no files except 100mb on the partition which appears to take up the whole disk, including numbered sectors that also belong to Windows 7 and your data partition.

When you first boot into PW CD, rightclick on OS_Install to Explore, see what files are there.

You'll likely have to abandon OS-install to recover the others. I don't see where Vista is in the Recovered partitions list.

Perhaps boot into a live GNU/Linux cd, find your important files, then copy them to an external drive? Just a thought.

Hello, I continued with the steps above and clicked Apply and restarted my PC but it still wouldn't boot into Windows (I will upload screen shots later). And then I booted into PW CD but I couldn't set Windows 7 as the Active drive--the option was not available (I couldn't click on it, it was an inactive option). Do you know where do I go from here? Thanks a lot.