[Solved] Fix ‘NTLDR is Missing’ Errors
“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. The article says that the problem may occur if your existing Windows 95, 98, or 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!). 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. They advise that most likely 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. They suggest it could have been caused by computer is booting from a non-bootable source, hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS, a corrupt NTLDR and/or NTDETECT.COM file, a possible misconfiguration of boot.ini file, a bad attempt to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32 etc.
How we fixed Missing NTLDR on Our Computer
We tried several of the possible solutions, 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 was tested on older versions of Windows – if you have Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10, then you need to check if these will work for you.
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.
U can use any linux based OS that offer live cd
like Ubuntu, Linx Mint and so on
then copy the ntldr file from a normal computer with same os to a pendrive and then put in the c drive in the live OS in your computer
that will do!
My computer was slow and hard to do anything with it. My cousin had this Dell she had abandoned and told me if I wanted it, have at it. Then my NTLDR is missing. Am using another set, not a whiz, 88yr old Army First Sergeant
Yes if you are receiving the NTDLR error message then your boot loader is most likey corrupted or damaged (possibly by a virus). The above link provides excellent information on how to repair the boot loader in windows vista via the installation disk. If all else has failed for you i would highly recommend it.
Anyone experiencing this error on windows vista or 7 i would HIGHLY recommend this link and do what the 2nd comment suggests by James. He explains EVERYTHING in simple terms and how he fixed the error which also worked for me aswell! heres the link: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-hardware/ntldr-is-missing-on-vista/9dbd22a3-5bc7-4a3b-b659-5a287ee4ba84?page=1&tm=1310802454645#footer
I had to restore my Windows Vista computer to original factory state using the recovery disc and after that was done I got the message ‘NTLDR is missing’ display as well. Never got that message before, didn’t even know what it meant, but after researching the meaning I knew exactly what the cause was. I had just recently installed a second hard drive and the computer was trying to boot from it, which of course had no operating system and thus the cause for the message. After changing the boot sequence to the main drive the problem was solved.
Quickest fix is to just remove the HDD and use a USB cable to connect it to a PC then with and using any old windows disc from any PC just search for then copy and paste the NTLDR file in a couple of different folders on the hdd, replace it and it will load as before. Never mind all that crap the so called experts tell you when you google it just do it this way and save a lot of time, Kind regards, Roy.
Is it possible that cleaning your CPU may reduce the chances of having computer errors?
i tried the mentioned steps but could nit store the ntldr how can i do it help me???????
how do i recovery my ntloader from dos i cant use a bootable disk
after I convert FAT32 to NTFS.
and after I restart my computer for complete setting
a word “NTLDR is Missing” comes…
I’ll try to troubleshoot by using “fdisk and scandisk” through win98.
to recover my computer configuration. . .
But those command did not work..
I’ll tray also formatting and installing new windows.
I don’t know is it contenously work after several hours or time.
finally I got it…..
but there is something happened…
I had this happen with my Vista…didn’t see any articles helping to fix it…but I figured it out on my own..even though I had to format my drive…not sure what caused it but basically I took the media direct cd and booted from that and allocated all available disk space to the c-drive….just because vista did not want to reinstall because it wasn’t reading my disc drives correctly…after it formatted my drive and put my computers files in the correct area I wa able to reinstall Vista….lesson learned back up your files :)
I had this error message when windows tried to boot from a usb flash drive, removing it solved the issue
I’d just like to say in reply to Ronalds post way back in( June 15, 2007). Good on ya mate! Good to see a simple unplug and plugging back in a power socket to IDE 0, to eliminate( NTLDR is missing) can get windows XP up and running still. Worked for me and beat hours of downloading and searching for or paying others to fix the problem. Cheers mate! Scott
Hi All,
I was not able to start windows xp so i formatted all the drives of my HDD by connecting it with another working computer which is having windows xp.But now when i connected my HDD to my motherboard and trying to install windows xp from cd drive on it.It displays a message NTLDR is missing press ctrl+alt+del to restart.I have kept cd as the first boot device.
Anybody please help me out to solve this problem.Please reply as soon as possible.
As happened with my computer try to allocate your drives to make more space. What could have happened is that somehow your computer decided that there were too many files threw a tantrum and spit out your information to unexeptable places and created clone drives…..Try your media disc if all else fails reformat and reinstall your XP and remove all unnecessary accesories from your computer..
this happened to me right after i loaded up the windows xp home disk but i really don’t give a shit because i have like 10 hard drives but i just wanted to see what was the ntldr was, so then could i go on into my computer and get this C:i386ntldr C:i386ntdetect.com from there or do you get it off internet thanks people.
An install (Roxio Creator 2010) deleted NTLDR which left me with an unbootable machine. Acronis (F11 during boot-up) permitted the reload of an earlier back-up.
The problem is that people who suffer this failure can’t get here to this site to search out a solution and rarely think of Googling the solution on a public library computer.
At first this is a frightening problem. Hard to plan ahead for something you know nothing about.