Replaced old HDD, lost Bootable OS files

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  1. Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit
       #1

    Replaced old HDD, lost Bootable OS files


    I am running Win7 and had a separate HDD where the boot files where contained.
    the drive expired and i have been trying to set my OS drive to the primary/active partition.
    so far i have done these steps but with no luck in booting to windows


    1) ran diskpart from CMD and set the OS HDD to active
    2) ran (DVD Drive) D:Boot/BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H: (OS Drive)


    now im not sure how to proceed,
    do i need to copy these following files to the root of the OS hdd?
    – NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI
    if so where do i copy them from?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 9,606
    Win7 Enterprise, Win7 x86 (Ult 7600), Win7 x64 Ult 7600, TechNet RTM on AMD x64 (2.8Ghz)
       #2

    Rty running Repair Install 3 times to restore the Boot files

    Repair Install
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2,736
    ...
       #3

    eraser82 said:
    I am running Win7 and had a separate HDD where the boot files where contained.
    the drive expired and i have been trying to set my OS drive to the primary/active partition.
    so far i have done these steps but with no luck in booting to windows


    1) ran diskpart from CMD and set the OS HDD to active
    2) ran (DVD Drive) D:Boot/BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H: (OS Drive)


    now im not sure how to proceed,
    do i need to copy these following files to the root of the OS hdd?
    – NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM, BOOT.INI
    if so where do i copy them from?
    Hello eraser82, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

    You are on the right track. If you have indeed made your Windows 7 partition "Active", you have some options to restore booting to your Windows 7. We are limited in what we can recommend without a clear understanding of how many hard drives you now have and how many partitions etc.

    First possibility is to use the 7 DVD again and just select the "Startup Repair". This will put the missing files you mentioned on the active 7 partition so you can boot again. It may take as many as three times to complete all the necessary steps, but it is almost always successful.

    Startup Repair

    Another option is to manually rebuild the BCD yourself (in the Windows 7 active partition) with the "bootrec" commands:

    How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

    Please let us know how we may best help you here?

    Cheers!
    Robert
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    awesome,

    i will proceed with these actions and let you know if its working


    i manually copied NTLDR and NTDETECT files but that did not seem to work.

    should i remove these files or are they harmless
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,736
    ...
       #5

    eraser82 said:
    awesome,

    i will proceed with these actions and let you know if its working


    i manually copied NTLDR and NTDETECT files but that did not seem to work.

    should i remove these files or are they harmless
    These files are normally located in the "root", or C drive. They will be replaced by either the "Startup Repair" or "bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd" so should be harmless.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    i seem to have a problem,

    i can rebuild the MBR but not the BOOT file, when i try to do that i get a element not found.

    same with running rebuildbcd - it detects the OS but when i say Y to set as boot i get the message - element not found.

    looks like i need to manually make a BOOT.ini or am i missing something?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 2,736
    ...
       #7

    eraser82 said:
    i seem to have a problem,

    i can rebuild the MBR but not the BOOT file, when i try to do that i get a element not found.

    same with running rebuildbcd - it detects the OS but when i say Y to set as boot i get the message - element not found.

    looks like i need to manually make a BOOT.ini or am i missing something?
    Did you try the "Startup Repair" from the DVD? Ignore any message that Windows cannot be found and go to the Startup Repair utility and run it three times, reboot in between each time you run it.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    I will try that (thought the other way would be faster than 3 reboots(have to install raid drivers each time)

    the only question I have is, will the startup repair work if the OS is not showing up in the previous menu where you select the os?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 2,736
    ...
       #9

    eraser82 said:
    I will try that (thought the other way would be faster than 3 reboots(have to install raid drivers each time)

    the only question I have is, will the startup repair work if the OS is not showing up in the previous menu where you select the os?
    Ahhh ... more info ...

    To the best of my knowledge, the Vista 7 "bootmgr" will NOT boot directly from a raid setup. A 100MB boot partition to hold the boot files and then allow booting to raid is part of the Vista 7 Installation Setup.

    It seems we need to know more about your computer. If you do not have access to the hard drive because you can no longer boot to Windows 7 or another Windows OS on the computer, I would suggest you download a live Linux CD where you can use "Gparted" to view your hard drive map, and a browser to capture and post a picture:


    Screenshot and Upload using MWSnap

    Screenshot with Paint

    https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...en-forums.html

    An example of a hard drive map:

    Replaced old HDD, lost Bootable OS files-phaze_01.png
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 7
    Win 7 Pro 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Not so comfortable with Linux, could I install xp onto a USB stick or USB hdd?
      My Computer


 
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