Need to move MBR, running into Bootmgr missing error


  1. Posts : 23
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    Need to move MBR, running into Bootmgr missing error


    I have what I hope is a nice clean Windows 7 install on a fairly new hard drive (C:) from earlier this year. But I recently determined that the MasterBootRec is still on a tiny old otherwise empty hard drive (Q:)I need to remove.

    I tried following these instructions to move the MBR; I made my C: partition Active, in the BIOS moved this drive to the first boot position, then threw salt over my left shoulder, stood on one foot, and used my Repair Disk to run the system repair 3 times (per a Win7 tutorial).

    No luck, just a BootMGR missing error msg on restart w/o the CD.

    Next I followed another tutorial for fixing the BootMGR using the repair CD cmd prompt & 3 bootrec commands run on C:, the last being "bootrec /RebuildBcd" upon which I got "completed successly" but also zero Windows installation found. Sure enough, restart still showed Bootmgr missing until I put that old crummy disk back to the top of the boot list.

    Please help!!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Need to move MBR, running into Bootmgr missing error-diskstoragepic.jpg  
    Last edited by sstowell; 21 Aug 2014 at 18:47.
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  2. Posts : 3,487
    Win 7 Pro x64/Win 10 Pro x64 dual boot
       #2

    Did you leave the crummy old disk connected while you tried to repair the bootrec?
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  3. Posts : 23
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Yes, it was marked inactive & at bottom of the BIOS boot list, but still connected.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3,487
    Win 7 Pro x64/Win 10 Pro x64 dual boot
       #4

    You could try rebuilding the MBR/BootMGR with that drive disconnected and see what happens. Maybe your efforts are just rebuilding the MBR on the crummy drive because that's what the repair CD finds...
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  5. Posts : 23
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Thanks, I think that is the next step (for tomorrow!). Repeat the full 3 times magic of the Repairs with the drive disconnected (and while standing on one foot of course).

    You just have to hate Windows... well at least I have to
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  6. Posts : 16,119
    7 X64
       #6

    diskpart
    sel vol q
    inact
    exi

    Now boot repair/installation cd and run startup repair.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 23
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Yes that was one thing I did try. Diskpart, marked all volumes inactive accept the newer install C: drive volume. I forget exactly what happened at that point: I think it would not boot, but maybe it did boot but then Q was active again... losing track of the various steps! Anyway, until I made Q: active & boot disk, I could not boot & start Windows from hard drives... got the bootmgr missing error. Tomorrow I will try these steps again, but with Q: disconnected. My fear is that the results will not be much better... but TBD.
      My Computer

  8.    #8

    Try Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD - Windows 7 Forums

    If this fails confirm C is Active, unplug all other drives, run the 3 Startup Repairs again.

    Report back results, including any error messages or failure behavior.
      My Computer


 

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