How to Fix “NTLDR is Missing” Computer Errors
December 28th, 2005“NTLDR is Missing : Press any Key to Restart” – this is the first message I got on my computer screen when I turned it on… and NTLDR Missing errors werer not as uncommon as I thought it was! Here is my experience troubleshooting NTLDR Missing errors on my computer…
What is NTLDR?
NTLDR is short for NT loader – a program loaded from the hard drive boot sector that displays the Microsoft Windows NT startup menu and helps Microsoft Windows NT load. So when it goes missing for some reason, your windows cannot load. I use Windows XP on a Pentium 4 PC. Though it seemed common on a routine google search, it was not so easy to fix and many forums reported that formatting hard drive was the last solution eventually.
Causes and fixes of NTLDR is Missing
Firstly I started with Microsoft Support to get an official reason for the computer error and they have the causes to it-
SYMPTOMS
When you try to install Microsoft Windows XP or upgrade to Windows XP on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition, you may receive the following error message after the first restart during the installation:
NTLDR is missing
Press any key to restartCAUSE
This problem may occur if your existing Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition installation was cloned and then applied to a drive that has a different geometry from that of the source drive of the cloned copy.RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, correct the Heads (sides) value in the FAT32 BPB so the Windows XP startup can continue. To update the value, rewrite the Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition startup code.
But the problem was that I had an original preinstalled Windows XP on my branded PC, and there was no attempt to “try to install Microsoft Windows XP or upgrade to Windows XP on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows Millennium Edition”. So I went looking for alternative sources of help.
I can across a site NTLDRmissing.com – a problem common enough to deserve its own domain name, of course it redirects to another site. It helps you make a NTLDR boot disk to get back into Windows and Use windows to fix the boot files on the hard drive. And this is why the problem occured in the first place they say
“When your computer starts, the BIOS attempts to find the primary hard drive’s active partition to read the first sector for the MBR (Master Boot Record), it uses that info to load the rest of the OS. For Windows NT4/2k/XP the NTLDR (New Technology Loader) takes it from there. If you get the “NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart” what’s most likely going on is the BIOS either didn’t look for the right drive, didn’t find the right partition, it wasn’t active, didn’t find the MBR, or the MBR didn’t list NTLDR in the right place, or the location of NTLDR changed.”
ComputerHope has another excellent article enlisting the causes for these errors and tutorials on how to fix them too.
Cause:
1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.
How we fixed NTLDR Missing on Our Computer
We tried several of the possible soultions, but none worked well. Finally what worked was that since NTLDR was missing, we decided to substitute the NTLDR file in the right place. Since we had access to another computer, we copied the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM which was available from the recovery CD which comes with computer. If you do not have the recovery CD, they were available from the site mentioned above or is available from another computer using the same Operating System (Windows XP in our case). The location was C:\i386\ntldr C:\i386\ntdetect.com
We then used a bootable disc to restart the computer (the Win XP bootable CD did not work, a Win 98 bootable CD worked). After entering MS DOS mode, these 2 files were copied to the C drive in the proper location. After restart, then pressing F10 on start up (used for system recovery on my computer), we were able to start the repair of Windows via system recovery (which was not possible earlier). This reinstalled all Windows drivers and system files, while preserving all data on my computer.
Thus, I was saved from formatting my hard drive, learned how to make a bootable disc, learned copying files in MS DOS, how to perform system recovery and remember to keep the original PC system recovery CD safe. So before you end up formatting your hard drive, give these other options a try.
NOTE: This article is for informational purpose only and is just a detail of how I went about fixing my computer for common NTLDR error which can affect your computer too. If you are not an expert in hardware or software computer issues, seek professional support. Unnecessary mishandling the computer hardware of software could make your computer unusable and cause data loss permanently.
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Ok, so here’s my problem … Ronald I actually thought yours was going to work!!! Of course with my luck it didn’t. I installed windows vista on my computer (huge mistake, I know). I didn’t like the program so I decided to go back to Windows XP. Little did I know, you can’t actually do that (so my computer says anyway). I decided to delete a few files (big mistake). I to get the same message NTLDR file missing..blah blah blah, restart. I’ve done everything that every article has told me to do, except the main topic here. I don’t have a floppy or A: drive. Anyway, Ronald I did exactly what you said to do, but as far as I get is to instead of saying NTLDR is missing now is says something about Disk Boot Failure. It doesn’t go on to your step 5 or 6. I’m in a dalemma here because I don’t have any previous versions of windows except XP. What do I do now? Suggestions from anyone would be GREATLY appreciated.
Cheers Ron. I tried everything on the net and left your option till last. Go figure….it work. THe CD boot first Option in BIOS was tried, but the NTLDR still came. I had no luck with the boot CD. Rather than going to the shops and paying someone to fix it I tried the dangerous option by Ronald. Even with the hard OUT of the boot sequence order, that loader error still came. Figures that no harddrive lets the CD rom boot properly
I have the same problem as Tisha…any help would be great…I have try to boot from USB drive but that didn’t work either…still get the same message…
Hey Kevin, I actually decided to put my hard drive in another computer and it booted up just fine. I read some more articles throughout the web, and I believe my problem was that the motherboard was weak. If you have another computer that you can put the hard drive in I would try that. Also, I hope you didn’t have anything important on that hard drive because I had to reload the OS and lost everything. I would definitely try to put the hard drive in totally different computer and try that.
Dear Sir,
I don’t have any problem right now but there may occur problems so i want to say that please send me some useful ideas related computer troubleshooting i.e.(basic computer maitainance) so that i can solve many things as hardware technicians are doing now a days. I am from Nepal and I have keen intrest in computer maintainance. So plz plz plz send me tips so that i can do better in the field of computer maintainance . As i have already stateed below about my email. SO you can send it in my mail . I hope for your favourable reply. I remail Sir.
Your sincerely,
Rupesh,Nepal
Hi
I have same NTLDR missing problem. As i have installed XP without any changes to same drive, i.e. c:\. So now how can i go to previous xp configuration? i want to delete the recent xp, what should i do to do that?
Plz send me mail regarding this.
Thanks
I had a similar problem with installing a new HDD. No booting WinXP bootable CD possible. After reading Ronald’s 2 cents I tried succesfully the following. Inserted XP CD – use HDD as external USB drive. Could only delete partition on HDD because the BIOS did not recognise drive. Switched off system. Removed external USB drive/power cables and connected internal flat/power cables. Start system and voila… I could boot from XP CD and format drive and install XP OS. I worked for me hope the same for you.
Back again.
My two cents worth still applies and I will stand by it… because it WORKED. I am sure there are people who after reading my comment above as a last option – attempted it and succeeded, and did not confirm that it does indeed work.
With PCs, there is ALWAYS more than one way to skin a cat.
Yes, as “ping?” said, hot-plugging hard disks is a bad idea, no shit! but if it works – it works!
I DID indeed have the hard disk third (LAST) in the boot sequence (after the CD-ROM first and Floppy drive) BUT with the hard disk still attached (after deleting everting on the hard disk with the XP OS installed) the BIOS WILL still find the error “NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart” from that stupid hard drive.
The only proper option is the use the as mention here and on every other forum on the net is the “recovery CD”, “boot bisk” etc…. If you have not got those, options lol… or then consider paying someone at the shops.
THEN… and only then if that does not suit you, try my 2 cents post.
Of course I would prefer to have done the safer option/s, but what I did was the last resort … I did not have any floppy boot disks and did not want to pay someone at the shops to fix it, so with common sense about – bypassing the loading issue CAUSED by the hard disk, I tried what I did (as post above) as the LAST resort… and it WORKED Sherlock.
The reason why I rekon the error “NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart” occurs
is because the hard tells the BIOS that info is missing. It will NOT let you boot anything else WITH the hard disk is present, EVEN with the CD ROM last in the boot sequence (the boot sector on the hard disk CAUSES the error folks – even it you tell it to boot the CDROM first in sequence – I did not have any floppy disks to try however). To get the WINDOWS XP CD to BOOT UP AND START LOADING AS NORMAL the hard disk has to be bypassed (the floppy disk options probably apply here.. so if you got them, try it first).
I still don’t have any floppy disks, and will never ever get any…. So if ever I format my hard drive again and erase everything, I will be sticking to my guns. Those who concur – please confirm.
Regards,
Ronald
Ronald … I believe your “2 cents” is do-able, but I messed up majorly. What I did wrong is that I got angry with my computer (Windows Vista) and started deleting files that should have never been deleted. Had the error just occured on its own, I honestly believe your technique would have worked for me. Everything you have said in both posts that I have read, make perfect sense. I just wish I would have found your posts before I did what I did. I don’t like to bother with those pesky shops either. Chances are they are going to charge me an arm and leg for something so simple as turning the computer on, when all I needed to know is where the power switch was … lol. At the point that I needed to fix my computer, I really didn’t care what I did to it. I honestly believe though, that my problem was the motherboard. This is an HP and this is the 2nd time I have had that problem. I just wish I could remember the forum I was in to say exactly what it was saying. It basically described everything (as your first post did), then it went on to say if that fails then I would need to replace the motherboard, which I did, and my OS loaded just fine. So like I say, if I would have found your post before I got so mad at my computer, I honestly believe your solution would have worked. I think you did a splendid job explaining a simple task. Thanks Ron!
Latisha
this info really helped thanks Kellie!!!!
If you are having this problem with a wiped disk, rather than use the “pull the cable” trick you can any of a number of boot cds and simply mark the partition as non-bootable – the xp install cd will then proceed as normal.
i had this probem after the first reboot when installing Windows xp sp2, but when i booted with dos and check for the ntldr file and ntdetect file they were there. So, i assumed that the problem was in the MBR. i then used a uility to fix the MBR from DOS (lots of them is on Herin’s CD), and restarted .. and everything were on its track again and completed setup as normal.
Hi
I have a preinstalled version of Windows XP Media Centre on my laptop and have this NTLDR missing problem. As such there is no recovery console. I borrowed a friends version of XP (Home Edition or Professional – I can’t remember – just know it is not Media Centre Edition) accessed the recovery console and copied the NTLDR and NTDETECT files to my laptop. I reboot my comp and I still get the same error message. Is the problem still happening because I have got XP Media Centre on my comp and used the NTLDR from a XP Home/Professional edition? If so is there any place I can download the appropriate file from as I have asked all my friends and they dont have XP Media Centre edition.
I was able to access my c: and the files on it also using Knoppix originally however after trying some of the fixes on forums and using the recovery disk from my friends XP and the fixboot command I can still access my c: however the files I originally had are no longer there.
PLease help!
How to possible NTLDR missing probleme solved without windows xp setup.
I ran into this problem after replacing my IDE cables (I got some new ones that are better quality–old computer). I mistakenly plugged the master hard drive into a slave socket. After having a boot-up problem, I realized the mistake and corrected it.
However, my computer still fails to boot and shows the message “NTLDR missing”. I tried swapping back my original cables–problem persists.
If an attempt to boot from a master hard drive is done with it in a slave position, does this cause some writing to the hard drive that introduces this problem? It appears there are a number of ways to try recovering from the NTLDR Missing problem. Given my scenario, what’s the safest and simplest way to recover? Thanks!
I also have a problem NTDLR is missing, can any one say using the Windows XP CD recovery can fix the problem by copying NTDLR.exe and NTDetect.com ?
Have the same problem after upgrading to a bigger hard drive on my Toshiba Satellite 2800-10. I have tried all suggested solutions and think right now that he BIOS is too old to handle ´big (40 Gigs)’ disks. The way to boot up the system right now is to have a floppy with the ntldr in the floppy drive at boot up. The system somehow finds the floppy ntldr file and then resumes booting Windows XP Pro. Not perfect but it will do for the moment.
I tried a norton system works disk then win XP instal disk. Neither would boot even though I have the CD set to boot before the HD.
I will try the “tinyempire’ floppy cure as I just put it on a floppy. I doubt my floppy will be recognized.
What I am thinking is maybe my MOBO battery IS DEAD.
Ronald has a good solution. It is a last resort. I tried that before I read this forum, and it worked. For a while. It worked long enough to finish the XP setup, then I turned it off after the setup. I turned it back on and it started working, but I had to restart (forgot the keyboard -.-). When I restarted it started normally made the same sounds it normally does and then BAM blank screen. It hit the computer load screen. Then I see a quick flash of the BIOS showing me what I have in all the drive bays and the normal kind of stuff. But when it comes to the part where it SHOULD boot Windows XP, it just sits there, idling like an idiot. It sits there and neither the hard drive speeds up nor the little light on the front flashes (the one that tells you if its processing data). It sits there and never does anything. I probably killed my hard drive, but its my first build ever, so I imagine I was bound to screw something up. For some reason I cant get into BIOS (I think its because the computers hotkey to get there during start up is different then im used to (usually F1 or F2). But I am sure the boot sequence is as follows: 3.5″ Floppy, CD-ROM, and finally the HDD. As far as I know it sees that the HDD is there, but it doesnt want to boot from it.
Its formatted using NTFS instead of FAT32. I used Ronalds way (yes I hot-plugged my HD, but really, I dont care), and it worked. So if you are desperate, try it. Anyone think they know how I screwed it up, please help me out.
Thanks,
Shane
Roland Thank u very much, u method worked..what i did was to remove the power to the SATA hard drive and on boot up i quickly inserted back the power, it did boot from the CD but it displayed another error..it said no hard drive found..so i left it cos i know from there on i can handle it.
I FOUND THE SAME ERROR ON MY COMPUTER.I SEARCHED MANY WEBSITES FOR RECOVERY.THE ULTIMATE TOPIC I FOUND ON THIS ARCHIVE.I THANK YOU ALOT BCOZ THE WAY YOU EXPLAINED WAS HIGHLY GREAT.I EVEN FOUND MANY SOLUTIONS BUT EASY ONE WAS
->JUST INSERT XP CD AND CHOOSE RECOVERY OPTION
->(OR) INSERT XP CD AAND REINSTALL IN SAME DRIVE WHERE YOUR EARLIER XP WAS WORKING.
=MORE PROBLEMS MAIL ME AT SVENKATREDDYBTECH@GMAIL.COM FOR A CHAT=
I was building a RAID1 array and after loading the XP it wouldn’t boot and gave me “NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart”. I switched the SATA cables between the drives and it booted up without the “NTLDR is missing, press any key to restart”.
I had this problem and unplugged all my other hard disks except the primary one and it worked.
still trying to figure out what causes this.
it doesnt seem to be a software problem.
Really thanks to Jago first comment it returns that i have removed the first drive i boot from (Dvd-rom)which causes my cpu to give me this message. by changing the boot sequence the windows has started normaly; so before anything check that first
Hi All,
I am also having this missing ntldr press ctrl+alt+del to restart after adding a new sata hdd into my pc. I’ve changed sata cable settings, gone into the boot menu and was able to boot from the other 2 sata hdds but windows won’t recognise the new sata hdd. After few changes pc didn’t boot and kept showing missing ntldr, press ctrl+alt+del to restart…Would you know how to fix this, please help
Further to my previous posting: I was able to see the new HDD in the BIOS, other time it was not even there. Anyway windows won’t recognise the new hdd
Do you guys think the hdd may be a problem?
Ron is the man!!! been fighting this laptop for two hours I set the booted to the cd rom with the hard drive out then shoved it in as the xp disk started loading and all is fine
thank you ron for another way to skin that cat
NTLDR missing message showing. We can copy the NTLDR file and fix it through the CD – Drive to the path at System32 are windows ? We can do like that???
Okay, I’ll jump in. My husband was doing something on the computer, Saturday. He told me he was “changing from the ‘new’ Yahoo mail page back to the ‘classic’.” It locked up, so he rebooted. I think he said it did it again, so he rebooted, again. He also told me he got a message (on the Yahoo screen) that said his display needed to be changed in order to view the “new” yahoo mail page. Then he just turned it off. When I booted up, nothing happened. Nothing! Black screen, with the front light on the box staying orange, the color of “hibernation.” I pulled the hard drive out and put it in another machine and booted. “Missing NTLDR; Press any key to restart,” appeared. I’m not sure why there would be a difference between the two machines and the appearance/lack thereof of the error message. Any ideas? I’m still in the process of repairing, by the way, and there seems to be a wealth of information on this subject. I’m glad I’m not the only one perplexed by this.
By the way, my computer is my baby. I’m poor, so I do all my own work on it, if I can. I certainly don’t want to lose all my info (no, I don’t backup the way I should). I did NOT ask my husband if he attempted to change anything…he wouldn’t know…bleh.
A lot of people get frustrated when they see “ntldr is missing” No need to panic. Use your recovery disk, [Windows reinstallation cd]. Boot from cd, when ask, to repair or install a fresh copy of windows press R to repair. When repair starts press 1 for c:windows. If you have put a password to access windows, type your password, if you didn’t put a password just hit enter. At the c prompt type C:\i386\ntldr C:\i386\ntdetect.com. The file will be copied on your hard disk. When finished, just type exit and remove recovery disk. That should do the trick.
but if i hit the enter 3 times, it wil restart the computer..
Dear Friends, The NTLDR Missing Message is an easy error to repair, do these steps to solve this on.
1. insert windows xp cd
2. both your computer with windows xp cd
3. in the installation menu choose (R) for repair consol
4. now enter your windows drive like 1, 2, 3, 4
5. enter your administrator password if dont have then leave it blank
6. go to cd room drive
7. now type copy d:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
8. now restart your computer and enjoy your fixed windows.
Thanks