Cannot boot Windows 7 Professional without DVD!

[sushi714]

Hello,

I posted this problem on Microsoft answers yesterday, but have yet to find a working solution, so I am posting it here, in hopes that someone has had the same problem and has found a fix for it...

I purchased Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (as a student) and created an ISO, then burned it onto a DVD. I installed Windows 7 Pro on a system previously running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit.

I had no problems until this past Sunday. At first, I had a "BOOTMGR is missing" error. Since I had "custom" installed Windows 7 on the same hard drive I had Vista on without formatting the drive, I thought that formatting the drive and reinstalling Windows 7 would solve the problem, but it has not.

My current boot error provides the following information:

File: Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc0000034
Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information.


I've read several posts with solutions for problems similar to this and most have suggested first trying to have the Windows 7 install disc try to identfy boot problems. I have done this and experienced an interesting problem. When it scans the drive for boot errors, none are found, but I noticed it says my Windows installation is on the D: drive, but when I am actually logged into Windows 7, the installation is on the C: drive. In addition, I have also tried a suggestion to use command prompt and fix the BCD (bootrec /RebuildBCD), but it still has not changed anything.

I am really clueless where to proceed from here. I have held off from reinstalling anything onto my system in case any solutions presented require me to reformat or lose any of my applications/settings.

The only other thing I can think of that is potentially causing this error is that my secondary hard drive (B is listed as Disk 0 under Disk Management, while the drive with my Windows 7 installation (C is listed as Disk 1.

Thanks in advance for any help and please let me know if any additional information would be helpful to anyone willing to find me a solution for this problem!

 

[Jonathan_King]

Have you tried running Startup Repair?

 

[sushi714]

Yes, I've run startup repair before and it says there are no boot errors. As I said in my initial post, I also found it strange that repair says my Windows installation is on my D: because when I actually log in to Windows 7, my installation is on my C: drive.

 

[SIW2]

Hi ,

please post a screenshot of Disk Management window. (Type disk Management in start search - click "create and format hard disk partitions" ) -maximize the window - post a screenie.


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

 

[sushi714]

(Posted 2 screenshots, since my DVD writer was all the way on the bottom of the list.)

My Windows installation is on C: in this case (rather than D:, where Windows 7 startup repair finds my installation).

Also, I just realized this after searching around the web about "System" partitions, when I first installed Windows 7, my secondary drive (B:, as shown in the screenshot) was not active, so I went into Disk Management and made it active. Not sure if this in any way cause the problem, but I figured I'd provide this information in case it may have.

 

[SIW2]

Go into Bios, make sure DISK 1 is the first HD in bios boot order. After cdrom is ok - but it must be the first HD .

Boot the dvd . Run Startup repair 3 times.

 

[sushi714]

Go into Bios, make sure DISK 1 is the first HD in bios boot order.

Boot the dvd . Run Startup repair 3 times.

Will do...be back in a few...

 

[sushi714]

Okay, so I changed the boot order to boot the HDD Group first with the hard drive that has my Windows installation on it, but all 3 times I restarted it took me directly to the error I mentioned in my first post.

Could B: drive being labeled as a "System" partition be causing a problem during the boot? Or is there some other explanation for all this?

 

[SIW2]

Yes, that's exactly it.

Type cmd in start search - when it pops up, rt click and run as Admin , then type: ( Press enter after each command.)

Diskpart

sel vol b

inact

exi

( to leave diskpart)

bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

d:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 ALL /force /mbr



Close cmd prompt.

Restart - without the dvd in the drive.

 

[sushi714]

Thanks again...going to test it out, brb.

 

[sushi714]

Yes, that's exactly it.

Type cmd in start search - when it pops up, rt click and run as Admin , then type: ( Press enter after each command.)

Diskpart

sel vol b

inact

exi

( to leave diskpart)

bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

d:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 ALL /force /mbr



Close cmd prompt.

Restart - without the dvd in the drive.

Okay, so I followed all of these instructions, but still ran into the following error:

File: Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc0000034
Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information.

I then restarted with the DVD in the drive again and it immediatly booted and took me to Windows 7 install. I went to repair and noticed there were no Windows installations listed, so I did a Startup Repair.

Took the DVD out after the startup repair and got the same error above during the boot again, so I restarted again with the DVD in the drive. I didn't boot from the DVD, but just left it in and let it start up on its own and it brought me back into Windows 7 again. Checked Disk Management to see if anything changed, but still looks like it did when I posted the screen shots.

So basically, I'm back at where I started...

 

[SIW2]

Did all the commands report as successful?

Open an elevated command and type:

bcdedit /enum /v

Post the contents it displays

 

[sushi714]

I am unsure. I'm pasting everything in the cmd window below so you can see the results when I entered in the commands you suggested. (Basically, I'm trying this again, so I'll see if it fixes it the second time.)

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>Diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7600
Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: PLATINUM
DISKPART> sel vol b
Volume 1 is the selected volume.
DISKPART> inact
DiskPart marked the current partition as inactive.
DISKPART> exi
Leaving DiskPart...
C:\Windows\system32>bcdboot c:\windows /s c:
Boot files successfully created.
C:\Windows\system32>d:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 ALL /force /mbr
Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.
B: (\\?\Volume{a41593c4-c731-11de-b8eb-806e6f6e6963})
Forced dismount complete, open handles to this volume are now invalid.
Successfully updated NTFS filesystem bootcode.
C: (\\?\Volume{a41593c5-c731-11de-b8eb-806e6f6e6963})
Updated NTFS filesystem bootcode. The update may be unreliable since the
volume could not be dismounted during the update:
Access is denied.
E: (\\?\Volume{a41593d8-c731-11de-b8eb-806e6f6e6963})
Could not open the volume root directory:
The parameter is incorrect.
F: (\\?\Volume{a41593d9-c731-11de-b8eb-806e6f6e6963})
Could not open the volume root directory:
The parameter is incorrect.
G: (\\?\Volume{a41593da-c731-11de-b8eb-806e6f6e6963})
Could not open the volume root directory:
The parameter is incorrect.
H: (\\?\Volume{a41593db-c731-11de-b8eb-806e6f6e6963})
Could not open the volume root directory:
The parameter is incorrect.
\??\PhysicalDrive0
Successfully updated disk bootcode.
\??\PhysicalDrive1
Successfully updated disk bootcode.
\??\PhysicalDrive2
Could not prepare disk(s) for update:
The device is not ready.
\??\PhysicalDrive3
Could not prepare disk(s) for update:
The device is not ready.
\??\PhysicalDrive4
Could not prepare disk(s) for update:
The device is not ready.
\??\PhysicalDrive5
Could not prepare disk(s) for update:
The device is not ready.
Bootcode was successfully updated on at least one volume.
C:\Windows\system32>

 

[SIW2]

That looks right.

 

[sushi714]

SIW2, you're a life saver!

Not sure what happened the first time I entered the commands, but seemed like the 2nd time did the trick.

Thanks so much -- now I can get back to my life!

 

[SIW2]

I think you may have made a typo the first time.

Glad it worked for you.

Have fun.

 

[SpawnoChaos]

I think you may have made a typo the first time.

Glad it worked for you.

Have fun.

AWESOME! I just had the same problem... thank you for this!

 

[SIW2]

Glad to see it worked for you - have fun running 7.

 

[NikeMike]

Thank you.

Resolved my issue as well. Greatly appreciated.

 

[venombmw]

Hi … I have a same problem with some differences … I format and install windows 7 Ultimate on my pc in my new raid array of 2 Intel ssd’s … I have made 10 format and installs the os because I cant boot directly from the array and I need to boot first from dvd and after from boot manager the windows 7 … I have make bootable the array from nvidia raid creator, the order in bios boot sequence is correct with array first in boot line but all the time I need the dvd support to run the os … if the dvd not present "disk boot failure" … with 10 formats and reformat and delete array and recreate array all from the beginning I can’t think were may be the problem … anyone can help me … sorry for my English …