Bootmgr is Missing; several repair methods unsuccessfully attempted

This is my first computer build, and it has been working, by and large, solidly since I assembled it late last year**. I booted it up earlier this week and got the “BOOTMGR IS MISSING” screen. My first step was to go into the BIOS and make sure the boot order was correct.

There are three internal drives in the computer: an SSD with my main Windows 7 install, a drive with a hackintosh boot to OSX 10.9, and a drive for use with windows backup. I’ve tried switching the cables around to eliminate the possibility of a bad cable, and checked that all connections are secure. I tried all of the steps outlined below both with all the drives attached and with only the boot drive hooked up.

The boot order seemed fine, but I tried a few variations to make sure it hadn’t gotten mixed up. 6 drives showed up in the BIOS- both a UEFI labeled version and non-UEFI (P1:, P2:) for the non system drives, and what appears to be a non-UEFI version of the boot (P0:) and the Windows Boot manager on the boot.

Changing the order did not make much difference. I can boot into the Hackintosh drive just fine, but any variation on the boot drive still gives the BOOTMGR issue. Occasionally the boot drive will load to the startup repair screen, but telling it to repair appears to be unsuccessful as it loops back to the repair screen, and telling it to boot windows normally goes to the BOOTMGR screen.

When I remove all drives but the boot drive, I sometimes get two choices showing up in the BIOS (non-UEFI version of the boot (P0:) and the Windows Boot manager) but usually the boot manager doesn’t show up as a choice.

Changing the BIOS to Legacy only mode as opposed to UEFI only or combo often goes to a screen saying “Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot drive…”

The computer does not have an internal optical drive, but I have a USB drive that I’ve been booting to my install disc from. In following various directions for repairing the BootManager (including the process outlined here: Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Boot and here: https://www.sevenforums.com/installat...-t-repair.html ) I kept running into the issue that my boot drive would not show up in the drive select for the repair tools. After several reboots and some messing around in the BIOS (mainly switching between UEFI and legacy modes) it now shows up in the list fairly regularly. I have to make sure to boot from the UEFI version of the optical drive, or else I get a compatibility error on the repair tools.

Sometimes the startup repair says it can’t fix the issue, and sometimes it says it can’t find an issue. The console commands for fixing the bootmanager ( Error 0xc0000225 on boot ) report successful completion, but the ones that scan for windows installs always report 0 installs.

I could get through the steps for marking the partition as active, but it would error out on the last step.

I tried doing two different system restores, both of which reported as successful but neither made a difference.

Out of curiosity I tried the initial steps of the installer, but it said it couldn’t install Windows on any of the 4 partitions that showed up on the boot drive because of the drive type, despite there being an existing install on the drive.

Part of me thinks I could be missing something in the BIOS since I’m not very familiar with it, but I’ve cycled through the options I think would make a difference without much luck. I can’t think of any big system changes that happened within a few days of the issue starting.

**The oddest thing in my mind, this has actually happened a couple of times before, but both times I didn’t have time to really troubleshoot, and when I came back to dig into it a few days later, everything booted up fine. No such luck this time, but even it it did just start working on its own, I’d like to figure out what’s making the issue.

I just got a cleanly formatted drive that I did a basic install of Windows7 on, and it seems to boot alright. As far as I know the Windows backup I have on the internal drive is up to date, but in case it’s a few days old or there’s a problem I’d rather not start with wiping the current boot drive completely if it can be avoided.

Any suggestions or thoughts on what I’m missing would be greatly appreciated.

If you have a working Win7 now, then plug in the other drive and post back the requested screenshot for Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image.

If not then download Partition Wizard CD ISO, burn to CD with WIndows Image BUrner, boot it and take a camera snap of the full drive map showing all listings. Then use PW to Mark Partition Active the 100mb System Reserved (if you have it) or C, which is required before you should even bother to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

If you followed all of the steps in Troubleshooting Windows 7 Failure to Start then you should already have the PW CD since it is involved in several important steps which can't be ignored if you are doing everything possible to boot Win7.

As it is failing to confirm Active partiton means you haven't even reached first base yet. If it was fouling out during Diskpart, did you miss that I specified in tutorial you can use PW CD to do this?

bigmck said:

Post a screenshot of you Disk Management. It might help. Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

Sorry for the stitched together nature of the screen- this is taken from the new install I just did, and I haven't gotten the drivers installed yet.

Disk 0 should be the problem child, Disk 1 is the Windows Backup disk I was using, and Disk 2 is the clean install.

Thanks!

You've installed DISK0 Windows 7 in UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums mode.

DISK1 has the GPT protected partition which means it is also a GPT partition which can only sustain a UEFI install: UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS - YouTube. I dont' know why it has an Active flag if it is GPT. Maybe it's some kind of special Hackintosh install.

DISK2 is a normal MBR install as signified by the System Active flags on it.

Do you have the BIOS set for Legacy BIOS enabled or CSM Enabled or Both, with UEFI boot first? If not sure, look at those settings choices in BIOS setup and post back a camera snap of the expanded choices so we can see them (or write them out). Don't miss any settings, or include them all for us to see.

bigmck said:

Which drive is your Windows and which is the Mac?

For that shot I didn't have the mac drive hooked up- I swapped it out for the drive I did a new install on. So that makes Disk 0 the drive I'm trying to get to boot up, Disk 1 the target for Windows Backup from when things were working, and Disk 2 the clean install I booted into to take this picture.

gregrocker said:

You've installed DISK0 Windows 7 in UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums mode.

DISK1 has the GPT protected partition which means it is also a GPT partition which can only sustain a UEFI install: UEFI BIOS vs. Legacy BIOS - YouTube. I dont' know why it has an Active flag if it is GPT. Maybe it's some kind of special Hackintosh install.

DISK2 is a normal MBR install as signified by the System Active flags on it.

Do you have the BIOS set for Legacy BIOS enabled or CSM Enabled or Both, with UEFI boot first? If not sure, look at those settings choices in BIOS setup and post back a camera snap of the expanded choices so we can see them (or write them out). Don't miss any settings, or include them all for us to see.

As far as I know none of the disks here should be affected by the Mac install- they were all up and running (minus Disk 2, the one I just formatted and did a clean install) before I did the Mac stuff, which has been running cleanly for a couple months now.

I didn't change the BIOS Boot Mode Selection from "UEFI and Legacy" while things were working. I've swapped between that mode and "Legacy Only" and "UEFI Only" some as I've tried different techniques to solve the problem.

There's also an option for Storage Boot Option Control which was on "Legacy First" (other options: Disabled, UEFI Only, Legacy Only, UEFI First). I switched to UEFI Only briefly to try something, but switched it back.

CSM Support is set to "Always", and the menu is greyed out and unchangeable.

Let me know if any other info would be helpful.

Thank you for your help with this

Set it to UEFI first if you want the UEFI Win7 to boot first.

Unplug all other HD's besides Win7, boot it to run a few Startup Repairs,
report back results.

gregrocker said:

Set it to UEFI first if you want the UEFI Win7 to boot first.

Unplug all other HD's besides Win7, boot it to run a few Startup Repairs,
report back results.

Set
Boot Mode Selection to UEFI Only
and
Storage Boot Option Control to UEFI First

All drives except the SSD disconnected, booting up goes to a screen that says

Warning
No bootable device is detected.
System will enter the BIOS Setup Utility

In the BIOS, the drive does not at all in the boot sequence

If I plug in my USB disk drive and boot to the Windows7 x64 install disc (selecting the UEFI option for the drive in the list) and go to Repair your Computer, it takes me to the system recovery option screen where no drive is listed in the Select an operating system to repair screen.

If I boot from the non-UEFI selection for the USB drive, still no drive shows up in the recovery option screen.

—
Set
Boot Mode Selection to UEFI and Legacy
and
Storage Boot Option Control to UEFI First

All drives except the SSD disconnected, booting up goes to a screen that says

“Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key”

In the BIOS, the drive shows up but without a UEFI tag

If I plug in my USB disk drive and boot to the Windows7 x64 install disc (selecting the UEFI option for the drive in the list) and go to Repair your Computer, it takes me to the system recovery option screen where no drive is listed in the Select an operating system to repair screen.

If I boot from the non-UEFI selection for the USB drive, still no drive shows up in the recovery option screen.


So none of these options get me to a Startup Repair screen