Windows 7: Moving the boot manager

I've been dealing with this for a while, and since I'm about to move my computer, I can't have hard drives hanging out the side and stuff, so it's time to get it fixed.

About 6 months ago, I got a new hard drive, and installed windows 7 pro on it. My old hard drive with the Windows 7 ultimate beta was still in the computer, and I guess the installer used the bootmgr from the old hard drive, so whenever I try to disconnect the old hard drive, I get the BootMGR not found, ctrl-alt-del to restart, error message.

I tried startup repair, which did not work- when I disconnect the old hard drive, the installer cannot find any windows installations to repair. I played around with bcdedit, but that was a no go, as I really had no idea what I was doing. I tried to manually copy over the bootmgr file, but it gave me some permission error and didn't let me, which was extremely aggravating, as I was running as an administrator.

And here's the bcdedit.
I really want C: to be stand alone, as D: is currently hanging out and lying on the floor next to my computer. The only thing it's used for is the bootmgr.


Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /enum /v

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=D:
path \bootmgr
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
displayorder {33f63f16-a753-11de-bd9c-e5bc9241decc}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {33f63f16-a753-11de-bd9c-e5bc9241decc}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7 Professional
locale en-US
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {c75a17ec-a731-11de-9869-806e6f6e6963}




EDIT: I also forgot to mention, as I doubt it matters, but I deleted the old Windows 7 ultimate entry via msconfig.

You need to unplug unwanted Windows 7, mark the intended Windows 7 active, then boot DVD Repair console or Repair CD to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the MBR to it.

To mark it active, use free PartitionWizard bootable CD, or boot Windows 7 DVD/Repair CD, press Shift F10 at bootup to open a Command Prompt, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (confirm this is intended Windows 7 HD, only one plugged in)
ACTIVE
EXIT

Now return to Startup Repair in list and run up to 3 times with reboots to get it started.

If it will not start, then try to jumpstart Repair by opening command line again to type: bootrec /fixmbr and then bootrec /fixboot, see if it finds installation to Startup Repair X3.

I have a similar issue. My bcdedit screen looks identical as far as the manger being on D and the bootloader being on C.

My issue is that C: is a logical drive and D: is the active, primary partition. So I can't unplug the drives as you mentioned above

Is there no way for me to get that bootmanager over to C: as so the D: drive won't be a system drive and I can wipe it and use it for random storage?


FYI, My problem stems from a former XP installation on D:
Thanks

Hello indymusician, welcome to Seven Forums!



There's a couple very easy ways to sort your issue but before we make any specific recommendations will you please post a snip/screen-shot of the entire disk management drive map with a full description as to which drive/partition is which, so we can see what you have going on as there may be a fairly simple way to resolve the situation.

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.


How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

I have a similar issue and hope there's a quick solution. Like the good old days when you could type sys c: - anyhow, my Win 7 install is on c: but somehow the files required to boot wound up on F: I would like to remove the drive containing F: and move all required files to C:

And the BCDEDIT screen cap

bmos, it would be best you started your own thread rather than highjacking this one. But let me give you a quick answer:

Disconnect all drives except Disk 4 and run system recovery off your installation disk 3 times - see here: Bootmgr is missing - Fix

Your 100MB partition landed on disk 3 because the installer always grabs one with a lower port number.

Other than that you have a somewhat weird setup - e.g the dynamic disk 0 and apparently two SSDs.

Hello bmos, welcome to Seven Forums!


Power down the PC and disconnect all HDDs except the target HDD/SSD, connect that to the #1 SATA port of the motherboard and set it as the second boot device after the CD/DVD drive in the BIOS then boot the Windows 7 installation DVD to do the startup repairs, power down and reconnect the other HDD/SSD leaving C: connected to the same mobo port.

The boot repair functions are all automated in Windows 7 now, no need to run the commands manually.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times


Be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

Hi bmos,

Set Disk 4 ahead of Disk1 in bios boot order.

Boot windows 7 dvd/recovery disc and run startup repair - might take 3 runs.

Apologies for hijacking thread. Thanks all for the advice. Bare Foot kid provided the clue as I had to move the SSD off the Marvell controller before Win 7 Repair console would recognize it. Repaired with only 1 boot!