Windows 7: BCD of death (BCD missing, bootrec rebuild fail)

Hi everyone,

I'm working on a Windows 7 x64, and had to remove one of my hard drives recently. After removing it I discovered that the boot files were installed into that drive, and the system won't load. I tried many solutions listed in the forums (such as using the startup repair tool with 3 reboots, using bootrec /rebuildbcd, etc) but to no avail.
Right now I'm trying to rewrite my bcd, but bootrec /rebuildbcd returns 0 available operating system installed. What should I do?
Sorry if this post is a bit convoluted, it's 6:30am here and I've been up all night trying to fix this issue.
Thanks in advance
sq

SquareDevil,

Do you have access to another Win 7 x64 system?

If yes, make a System Repair Disc

START | type System Repair | Enter key | Create Disc button

++++++++++++++++++++++

If not, and you have a Win 7 DVD, you can use it.

The objective is to get to a command prompt where you will issue a couple of commands.


COMMAND PROMPT - GO TO A COMMAND PROMPT USING A SYSTEM REPAIR DISC

1) Insert System Repair Disc into optical reader.
2) Shutdown your computer.
3) Boot up your computer from the System Repair Disc
If your computer doesn’t boot from the optical drive, then
Immediately after pushing your Power ON button, start tapping the F2 key to get to the BIOS to change the boot order.

On some computers, you can:
Immediately after pushing your Power ON button, start tapping the F12 key and choose CD/DVD to change the boot order only for this time.
4) Wait while a mini-version of Windows is loaded and finally the System Recovery Options dialog appears.
5) SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS dialog |
Select a keyboard input method |
NEXT button
6) SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS dialog
will search your system for installed versions of Windows.
7) SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS dialog |
select the Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows radio button |
NEXT button
8) SYSTEM RECOVERY OPTIONS |
Choose a recovery tool |
9) Click on command prompt from the list shown

Run any desired commands and type EXIT when finished.
Remove the System Repair Disc.
Shutdown your computer.
Power on your computer.
■Boot up from your Windows 7 DVD.
■At the first dialog window, press SHIFT + F10 key combo
■You will have a X:> command prompt
X: is a ram drive created by Windows 7.
======================================


Now that you are there, here are the commands you need:

REPAIR-RESTORE-FIX THE MASTER BOOT RECORD


Ø Boot to System Repair Options
Ø Click on Command Prompt
Ø Type cd boot and hit ENTER
Ø Type BOOTREC /RebuildBCD and hit ENTER
this rebuilds the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) file
Ø Type BOOTREC /FixBoot and hit ENTER
The /FixBoot option writes a new boot sector to the system partition
Ø Type BOOTREC /FixMBR and hit ENTER
this writes a Vista / Win 7 MBR to the system partition; does not overwrite the existing partition table
Ø

I did all that. It didn't work.
I used a Windows 7 install dvd to reach the command prompt.
Attempting bootrec /rebuildbcd returned an error since it could not locate my operating system (found 0 operating system etc.)
Eventually after some playing around with the bcdedit functions, I managed to create a bcd file and then run bootrec /rebuildbcd followed by the other commands you mentioned (/fixboot and /fixmbr) but still got the same "bootmgr is missing, please press ctrl+alt+del" error message.

Bootmgr is missing - Fix

You may have to perform this procedure, reboot, and perform agin and reboot, perform again and reboot.

SquareDevil,
Your not the only one who has gone too long without sleep.

After a short break, I reread your original post.

I suspect that your partition may possibly not be marked as active.

Once again, use your Win 7 DVD to get to a command prompt.

When there, enter:
DISKPART
LIST partition

from the info you see there, I want you to select the partition which has your windows on it.

The partition is probably 1

You select the partition by typing:
SELECT 1 (assuming it is 1)

type
DETAIL PARTITION (this will further verify that you 've got the correct partition)

In the detail information, there is a line reading:
Active: No (if I've guessed correctly)

You need that to read:
Active: yes

The way you do that is real simple:
type:
ACTIVE

now you can exit on out.

A partition has to be marked as active if you want to boot from the partition.

Sorry, I already did both.
The first thing I did was mark the partition as active, even before running bootrec.
I checked - this was the only partition marked as active (the other partition is inactive).
Due to suggestions in several other threads, I tried several reboots (some threads said that startup recovery takes 3 reboots to work, so I did that - with 5 reboots and it still didn't work). I kept getting the same error.
I tried again to delete the bcd and remake it (manually with bcdedit or by using /rebuildbcd) - both did not work.
....
So I gave up and reinstalled Windows 7. Lost a lot of data and I'll loose more time on reinstalling software and the likes, but that's better than having a downed computer.
Sorry all and thanks for trying to help.... This error is something that apparently happens quite a lot. You'd think the Windows 7 installer would allow the user to select on which partition to put the boot files... or at least move said files to the system folder after installation is done.

Sorry to hear of your problems, but thanks for taking time out to update us.

I realise it's no good to you you now, but the boot files can be moved:

Moving Boot manager to Different Drive

Yeah, I saw that too, but the hard drive with the original boot files is no longer in my possession. Thanks anyways

You're very welcome. I hope your Windows 7 experience proves to be a better one from now on.