Windows 7: Another BOOTMGR missing, I cannot work around it

Hi!

I’m trying to help a friend sort out an issue. It concerns a Windows 7 Premium 32bit laptop. At start-up we get the “BOOTMGR is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart”.

Now, I came across an article at howtogeek.com called “Fixing “BOOTMGR is missing” Error While Trying to Boot Windows 7 or Vista”. I didn’t have a Windows 7 repair disk handy but managed to create on from a torrent. The next problem was that I couldn’t get my operating system to show up in the System Recovery Options List. The article stated I could manually type “bootrec /fixboot” in the command prompt. I did. Several times. Still the computer didn’t work and the operating system didn’t show up.

My next step was to find this forum, and the guru “gregrocker”. I found a thread from 2 June 2010 with my exact problem where “gregrocker” explained how to mark Win 7 as active. I followed these steps but I still can’t get the computer to start or the operating system to show up in the list.

So, my question is: Is there any chance to get a one-on-one treatment with “gregrocker”? =)

I’m not sure what action to take at this point. I’m pretty sure my friend would like to keep all data on HDD if possible.

Thank you!

first thing is getting a win 7 iso from more reliable sources. A lot of torrents only have what is needed to install a (cracked and possibly backdoor-ridden) win 7 to keep the iso size low. Stuff with slipstreamed SP1 won't work as well. They are also illegal.

I'd suggest you to download this which is legit and from microsoft. Of course it ain't activated. There were legit isos of retail versions of windows but I cannot find them atm. Maybe you can if you google around.

This should make sure you are using a tool that works.


Second, what did happen before that message turned up the first time?

Perform a startup repair from recovery environment. It has a clickable text afterwards "view diagnostics results" or something like that. Click on it. What does it tell you? Status 0x0 is success and not a problem

Make sure the Windows 7 HD registers and is set first to boot in BIOS setup.

Next work through these steps for Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot

Alright guys, I appreciate your assistance!

@ bobafetthotmail: You’re of course right, for some reason I don’t like paying for these stuff... Right now I decided to skip the whole “save all data on HDD” business, you might say I listened to your advice only I decided to get a legit .iso the full Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit supported by the Windows 7 sticker product key on the back of the laptop.

@ Kaktussoft: It says 0x0 everywhere except under “Root case found:” where it says:
---
Boot manager is missing ot corrupt.
Repair action: File repair
Result: Failed. Error code = 0x15
Time taken = 0 ms
---

@ gregrocker: I tried the Troubleshooting guide, it didn’t help anything.
1. I wasn’t able to get the Safe Mode started.
2. Windows Defender Offline wasn’t able to run on the PC. Finally I got Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 to work, it didn’t find a single threat.
After this I moved to step no. 6 and the Bootrec.exe. Sadly I got the response stating no supported Windows was installed on the computer. I tried all different commands and got the answer several times. I decided, as I wrote to bobafetthotmail above, to try to install Windows again from scratch.

Thanks to all of you! I really appreciate your efforts!

Why reinstall??

recover environment->command prompt:

Describe what you see.

DIR C:\windows
DIR D:\windows
DIR E:\windows

Which one is windows?

Well, I decided I was in it up over my head. I didn’t understand a thing. Plus, it told me there was no supported Windows installed on the computer.

I’ve previously followed gregrocker’s explanation, I can’t really remember the exact outcome in words.
---
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK #
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION #
ACTIVE
EXIT
---
Anyway, this did unfortunately not do anything to help me...

You have to tell me what partitions you have and their sizes. and which one is active. Otherwise I cannot help you

You don't have to pay to get the iso. What you pay for is the key (the licence actually).

Btw, the first step of this tutorial contains the link to a trusted site where you can download legit and clean isos of all retail versions of Windows.

Again to activate them you need the sticker, or whatever you have with the key on it.

The tutorial linked guides you in installing Windows 7, so if you really want to reinstall, follow it and you won't go wrong.

In addition to the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which provides everything you need to get a perfect reinstall, I would first wipe the HD with Diskpart Clean Command to overwrite any code in the boot sector.