Solved BootMgr Missing after Easus Repart of C - No Repair Tool is Working

[remm]

Hello all, I hope someone can help me.

This is a neighbor's desktop (now in my possession to fix): HP Premier Slimline 1TB EFI/GPT Partitioned like this:

C (OS-W764) 100GB
D (Hidden HP Recovery Part 2GB)
E (DVD ROM)
F Pictures 200GB
G Another... 200GB
H Misc.... 500GB

She wanted to take 100GB from G and add it to C. So I used Easus to do that. All went well moving it from G to F, but then when adding the unallocated space to C, instead of Easus intercepting the reboot, the Windows Recovery routine kicked in and said it needed to repair Windows... when it rebooted it went into a DOS routine searching for DHCP.... until it finally said there was no bootable disc.

I ran the repair tool a few times with the same result. Finally, I booted from a Paragon rescue CD to restore a backup from an external drive. The operation completed but when I rebooted I got "Missing Boot Manager" error.

And now when I try to boot from the retail W7 CD or a Windows repair CD, I get "this disc not compatible with your system". So I cannot get to a command prompt to try the fix mbr commands.

All the partitions and data are there... it's just the MBR messed up (or the GUID or whatever a GPT disk uses). Obviously Easus was not able to finish its job of resizing C.... Unless it's just the BM messed up. So ...

1. Does anyone know of a BOOTABLE CD tool that will repair the Boot Manager for GPT disks?

2. If I have to reformat the drive and start over, which BOOTABLE tool should I use? (I have never worked with a EFI/GUID/GPT disk.) Again, I cannot use a tool inside Windows... it has to be from a bootable CD/DVD.

Any help at all will be truly appreciated.

 

[Kaktussoft]

C (OS-W764) 100GB is primary and active?

And now when I try to boot from the retail Windows 7 CD or a Windows repair CD, I get "this disc not compatible with your system". So I cannot get to a command prompt to try the fix mbr commands.

it lists win7 as installed OS?

 

[Kaktussoft]

instead of Easus intercepting the reboot, the Windows Recovery routine kicked in and said it needed to repair Windows... when it rebooted it went into a DOS routine searching for DHCP.... until it finally said there was no bootable disc.

DOS routine searching for DHCP?? Looks like it is trying network boot(?) What is boot priority in BIOS?

Did you restore an image to the 100GB partition (win7 OS). Very sure it was an win7 partition backup?

 

[Kaktussoft]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html option ONE. then

attrib c:\bootmgr
attrib d:\bootmgr
attrib e:\bootmgr
attrib f:\bootmgr
attrib g:\bootmgr
attrib h:\bootmgr

Which drive letter(s) has bootmgr?

diskpart
list vol
exit

Tell me if it's the 100GB, 2GB or ...partition

 

[remm]

C (OS-W764) 100GB is primary and active?

And now when I try to boot from the retail Windows 7 CD or a Windows repair CD, I get "this disc not compatible with your system". So I cannot get to a command prompt to try the fix mbr commands.

it lists win7 as installed OS?

It doesn't get that far. It asks for US keyboard, then when I click yes I get the error that it is not compatible with my system. I read somewhere this is because of the OEMs hidden recovery partition. ?

Note I am clueless when it comes to recovery partitions and GUID... my computers still use MBR and I wiped the drives when new to get RID of the hidden recovery part. But this is her computer and it's a 1TB GPT with the hidden recovery part in D.

 

[remm]

instead of Easus intercepting the reboot, the Windows Recovery routine kicked in and said it needed to repair Windows... when it rebooted it went into a DOS routine searching for DHCP.... until it finally said there was no bootable disc.

DOS routine searching for DHCP?? Looks like it is trying network boot(?) What is boot priority in BIOS?

Yes, when the drive would not boot, it started going down the list in BIOS looking for subsequent drives and found none, of course, b/c the internal was supposed to boot.

Did you restore an image to the 100GB partition (win7 OS). Very sure it was an win7 partition backup?

I think I used the wrong language last night... I did a Recovery in Paragon, not a Restore. The paragon archive was a single archive of the entire drive with all partitions, and I used the Recovery option to restore that archive to the entire drive.

I wanted to do a restore of C alone, and looked at that first, but wasn't sure what was screwed up with Easus not completing its re-size of C, or where/how the boot records work on a drive with GUID and a hidden recovery partition... AND I had already resized a few of the partitions leading up to this, and didn't want THAT to screw up a new boot, so I thought it safer and a better bet to let Paragon put the entire archive/drive back rather than cherry picking.

 

[Kaktussoft]

It doesn't get that far. It asks for US keyboard, then when I click yes I get the error that it is not compatible with my system. I read somewhere this is because of the OEMs hidden recovery partition. ?

Press SHIFT F10 when it asks for US keyboard!

 

[Kaktussoft]

So do #4

 

[remm]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/682-command-prompt-startup.html option ONE. then

attrib c:\bootmgr
attrib d:\bootmgr
attrib e:\bootmgr
attrib f:\bootmgr
attrib g:\bootmgr
attrib h:\bootmgr

Which drive letter(s) has bootmgr?

diskpart
list vol
exit

Tell me if it's the 100GB, 2GB or ...partition

Diskpart reported the sizes different than I listed. See : View image: diskpart sm Boot manager was found in the C (OS) 75GB and the (G) HP_Recovery partitions.

Note there is also a 100MB SYSTEM FAT32 hidden partition that has a boot folder and boot manager in it, I saw from using MiniTool.... but since it is not assigned a drive letter I could not have diskpart check that partition. All other part's are NTFS.

Also, it does NOT appear the HP_Recovery part is hidden afterall.

Thanks to EVERYONE for their replies!!!

 

[Kaktussoft]

diskpart
select vol c
active
exit

Now boot normally. what happens??

 

[remm]

diskpart
select vol c
active
exit

Now boot normally. what happens??

select vol c ->
Volume 1 is the selected volume.

active ->
The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk.
The ACTIVE command can only be used on a fixed MBR disk.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Was disk always a GPT disk? Is bios in "UEFI boot" mode?
Did you make the backup from this disk in gpt mode?

 

[remm]

Was disk always a GPT disk? Is bios in "UEFI boot" mode?
Did you make the backup from this disk in gpt mode?

1. Yes. This is the disk that came with this new computer (6mo ago). When she got it I set it up for her, using the current version (at that time) of Easus PM to repartition the 1TB into the drives you see, uninstalling useless stuff, installing FF, etc.

3. When that was done I used Paragon to make a complete backup. (I would have used Macrium but the free version did not support GPT last January.) I did not do anything fancy in Paragon... just created a backup of the entire drive using the defaults. I assumed since Paragon supported GPT it knew how to backup a GPT drive.

2. Again I am unfamiliar with these GPT setups, but when I hit esc at the POST and get into the menu, there is nothing in the "BIOS" settings that indicate this, but there is in the main menu...

If I choose BOOT MENU the first choice is:

-> UEFI Boot Sources
Windows Manager
UEFI: STxxxx (HD SN)

Legacy Boot Sources
ATAPI CD/DVD Drive
SATA2
HArd Drive
SATA0
Network Controller

And there is a
Run UEFI Application which I have not tried

There is also System Recovery but that just takes me to the normal thing that doesn't work...

 

[Kaktussoft]

So it tries UEFI: STxxxx (HD SN)
as first boot option? How many partitions do you have?

 

[remm]

Btw yesterday I also ran the internal diagnostics on the hard disk and it passed.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Force boot to UEFI: Windows Boot Manager

 

[Kaktussoft]

Was disk always a GPT disk? Is bios in "UEFI boot" mode?
Did you make the backup from this disk in gpt mode?

1. Yes. This is the disk that came with this new computer (6mo ago). When she got it I set it up for her, using the current version (at that time) of Easus PM to repartition the 1TB into the drives you see, uninstalling useless stuff, installing FF, etc.

3. When that was done I used Paragon to make a complete backup. (I would have used Macrium but the free version did not support GPT last January.) I did not do anything fancy in Paragon... just created a backup of the entire drive using the defaults. I assumed since Paragon supported GPT it knew how to backup a GPT drive.

2. Again I am unfamiliar with these GPT setups, but when I hit esc at the POST and get into the menu, there is nothing in the "BIOS" settings that indicate this, but there is in the main menu...

If I choose BOOT MENU the first choice is:

-> UEFI Boot Sources
Windows Manager
UEFI: STxxxx (HD SN)

Legacy Boot Sources
ATAPI CD/DVD Drive
SATA2
HArd Drive
SATA0
Network Controller

And there is a
Run UEFI Application which I have not tried

There is also System Recovery but that just takes me to the normal thing that doesn't work...

Can't you boot to someting like UEFI:ATAPI DVD ?? Of course insert a win7 install dvd in tray

 

[remm]

So it tries UEFI: STxxxx (HD SN)
as first boot option? How many partitions do you have?

Yes, it tries the internal HD first.

As to partitions, are you referring to this? View image: diskpart sm ?

When I initially repartitioned her drive back in January when she got this computer, I just made the C: partition smaller and used the unallocated space to make the additional partitions you see in diskpart. I did not create the C from scratch as I did not want to wipe/reformat her drive, not being familiar with GPT ... I was afraid if I wiped the HP_Recovery part it would not boot since I am unfamiliar with UEFI hardware/GUID. So I left everything as it was, got Easus, and just did everything like that.

Then yesterday she said she wanted more room in her C drive, and less in her Pictures... and using Easus again.... but (to reiterate), the re-sizing process got interrupted on the reboot by the Win Repair tool... and it didn't work and the repair tools couldn't fix it. Then I did the recovery with Paragon to at least get back to the January archived image... and that's when "MIssing Boot Manager" appeared. And here we are...

 

[remm]

Force boot to UEFI: Windows Boot Manager

How do I do that? When I boot normally (which should accomplish that) I get the Windows logo for one second, then black screen and then a text-based Windows Home 7 (recovered) DOS screen that keeps flipping off and on over and over.... in a loop.

 

[remm]

Can't you boot to someting like UEFI:ATAPI DVD ?? Of course insert a win7 install dvd in tray

When I install a Win 7 retail disc it indeed boots to the CD... then I click Repair and it says "This version of system recovery options is not compatible with the version of Windows you are trying to repair. Try using a disc that is compatible with this version of Windows."

This is a W7 64 Home Premium retail disc downloaded from online, as she did not receive an OS disc, of course. But the reason it says it is incompatible is because of the OEM recovery options and that proprietary crap they put on. (This is why I wipe all recovery partitions on my personal systems!)

I did NOT try just going ahead and reinstalling Windows, as I was hoping to repair the Missing Boot Manager and not have to rebuild Windows.