Restoring Windows XP from a flash drive. Windows XP Boot Recovery

If you cannot restore Windows XP without reinstalling, then this article is just for you. Below we will describe various methods that allow you to do this “operation” without losses.

without reinstallation: option 2

If you were still able to boot, but there is no recovery point, then you need to try to restore the files using a disk with the Windows XP distribution kit (exactly the same build that you have installed) and one special built-in mini-utility.

To run it, you need to open the “Run” dialog box. Press "Windows"+R on your keyboard. Insert the disk and then enter “sfc /scannow”. As a result of this, all your corrupted or missing files will be recreated.

How to restore Windows XP without reinstalling: option 3

If your OS does not boot, then it means some boot files damaged. We need to try to revive them. This can be done using the command line.

Booting from disk. In the BIOS, set the drive as the first boot device, or press F2 when loading the system. It happens that f12. Depends on the BIOS version. The key will be indicated there and Boot menu.

Once you are in the console, you can try to revive the boot.ini file using the Bootcfg command. If you find it difficult to use it, then enter Bootcfg /?, and then you will get help on this function.

If the NTLDR file, which is responsible for booting, has been corrupted, then you must use the fixboot command.

If there are problems with hard drive, then the chkdsk command will come to your aid.

How to restore Windows XP without reinstalling: last chance

If everything is bad, it means you cannot start the computer. Because the system cannot work, you cannot use the “sfc” utility. But there is another way.

Again, we will need a disk with Windows. Let's go into the installation. Don’t be alarmed right away, since we are talking about restoring the OS without reinstalling.

We accept the agreement and so on. Next, the installer will scan HDD for the presence of other operating systems. If your old Windows is found (it will be undefined only if the programs on the disk and on the computer are different), then you will be prompted to install a new copy or restore the old one.

What will happen in this case? All your data will be overwritten Windows folders, as well as those system files that are located in the root directory. That is, everything most necessary and necessary for the stable functioning and operation of the system will be in in perfect order.

In addition, your program folder, desktop, etc. will not change. This is very convenient, but it takes the same amount of time as installation, if you do not take into account the time for installing software, drivers, and other things.

Tell me how to make it correctly bootloader recovery Windows XP, I had two operating systems and the Acronis OS Selector boot manager installed. I uninstalled one system and Acronis, now I have problems, first in the initial boot phase the message Bootmgr is missing appeared, I applied the Fixmbr and FixBOOT commands in the recovery console, now another NTLDR is missing error appears. I spent two days studying this console, but Win XP still won’t load, what did I do wrong? DRIVE.

Restoring the Windows XP bootloader

You, dear DRIVE, were two steps away from victory, you didn’t have enough patience, but it doesn’t matter, next time everything will work out. It is very important to know that the Bootmgr is missing error indicates that the master boot record or partition table is damaged hard drive, which is located in the first sector of the hard drive, by the way, you started successfully Windows XP Boot Loader Recovery and solved half of the problems, namely, they overwrote the master boot record with the Fixmbr command and wrote a new boot sector with the FixBOOT command, so another error began to appear and the only thing left to do was to copy three to the root directory of the partition with the operating system (mainly drive C) file boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr. Let's start from the very beginning and achieve it.

1. We are considering possible reasons Windows XP boot loader is damaged, check the BIOS settings in Boot Device Priority.
2. Using the Fixmbr and FixBOOT commands in the recovery console.
3. Copying the boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr files from the Windows XP installation disk into the recovery console and loading successfully.
4. If after reading the article you still cannot restore the boot of Windows XP, then read our other article " "

After turning on the computer, friends, it self-tests, then control is transferred to the master boot record of the hard drive, it contains a partition table of the hard drive and a small bootloader program that reads in this table information from which hard drive (if there are several of them) and which partition of the hard drive to produce loading the OS. Next, the kernel is loaded operating system V RAM and actually Windows startup XP. You also need to know that loading the operating system also involves a group of files located in the root directory of drive C, namely boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr. The presence of all of the above excludes the presence Bootmgr errors is missing when loading XP and ensures that the system starts successfully.

By the way, it is not always necessary to carry out such problems Win bootloader recovery dows XP, let's look at some of the reasons for this error that I personally encountered. The first is the simplest, if there are several hard drives in the system, violated Bios settings, namely for example in AMI Bios, in the BOOT tab, Boot Device Priority, then Hard Disk Drives, the hard drive from which you want to boot is not the one you need. Troubleshooting this problem and the reasons for its occurrence are well described in our article.

The use of third-party programs in the master boot record, so-called boot managers, for example Acronis OS Selector, is used mainly when there are several operating systems on the computer; the manager displays a convenient OS selection menu at the beginning of boot. Such programs must be used very carefully, incorrect deletion from the computer of the Acronis OS Seletor program itself, there is a very big chance to do restoring the Windows XP boot loader. The same applies to the GRUB boot loader, which allows you to use it on one Linux computer and Windows XP, when you remove GRUB, you will leave your computer alone with a boot record that it does not understand, and without hesitation it will show you Bootmgr is missing. In this case, we will correct the situation in the console Windows recovery XP, first enter the FIXMBR command and rewrite the master boot record, and secondly use the FIXBOOT command to write a new boot sector.
But that’s not all, after correcting the boot record, as well as recording a new boot sector in the console, the situation with the error output may remain unchanged and there may be other errors, for example: NTLDR is missing. In this case, you need to once again make sure that there are boot sector files directly involved in loading Windows XP: , NTDETECT.COM , ntldr , in the root directory of the disk (C:), in principle for Windows boot XP is quite enough for three of these files.
The easiest way is to use a Live CD, boot from it, then go to the root directory of drive C and make sure that these files are present; if they are not there, then you need to copy them from any working XP and upload them to yourself, checking them first and if necessary by editing the boot.ini file, simple text file, which contains the path to the system Windows files XP, you must do this, otherwise you will get another error, you can read.
But I like another way: restoring the Windows XP bootloader using the recovery console. If you have an XP distribution, let's use it and copy our three files boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR to the root directory of drive C. I assure you it’s very simple, and you don’t need to edit the boot.ini file, the console will do everything itself.
We boot from the Windows XP installation disk, select restore R. If we have one operating system, set the number 1.

If there was a password, enter it; if not, press Enter.

Enter the FIXMBR command, this command repairing a damaged hard disk partition table will overwrite the master boot record.

Confirm the recording of the new MBR, set Y

Enter the FIXBOOT command and agree to write a new boot sector.

Copy the files ntldr, NTDETECT.COM, boot.ini from the distribution to the root system disk WITH .
Enter the MAP command and look at the letter of our drive, in my case (D:)

Enter the drive letter D: and press Enter.

Go to the i386 folder, which is located on installation disk Windows XP, from it we will copy our NTLDR file to the root of drive C.
Enter the command cd i386 and Enter

We copy the NTLDR file to the root of our system disk with the operating system with the command

If you encounter a significant number of system problems in Windows XP, you can use the System Rollback feature to restore it to one of its previous states. But available function becomes only after loading the operating system. What should you do when a message appears warning you that the registry, boot loader, or one of the critical system components is missing or damaged, especially when the OS cannot be loaded even with the last successful attempt or in safe mode?

Most users prefer to reinstall the operating system due to the lack of knowledge about the existence of a tool called the recovery console. It will allow you to resume the functioning of Windows XP in a matter of seconds, which will avoid re-installing the OS with everything software and device drivers.

Recovery Console - Classic command line, which supports most system commands designed to solve problems related to the functioning of the computer when it is impossible to boot Windows XP. It allows you to do the following:

• work with file system objects as in the standard command line;
• fix the boot sector and master boot record;
• activate or disable services the next time the OS boots;
• perform partitioning, creating and formatting partitions.

Running System Resume

In order to launch the recovery console, you must have an installation disk or bootable USB flash drive with the distribution kit installed on your PC. With CDs going out of circulation, bootable USB drives with OS installation files are becoming increasingly popular. Such a flash drive is created in a few minutes using, for example, the Rufus utility.

• We insert the disk into the drive or flash drive into the USB port (the main thing is that the BIOS supports booting from removable media).
• Reboot or turn on the computer.
• Call the boot menu using function key(it is indicated during BIOS loading).
• Select a USB device or CD-ROM.

• When a black screen appears with an inscription like below, press any button to boot the computer from removable media.

• On the preparation screen Windows installations XP, we are waiting for the installation files to download.

• In the next dialog, click “R” to launch the recovery console.

• Enter the number corresponding to the required copy of Windows XP to restore it.

As a rule, there is only one installed on the computer, so we enter “1”. If you have a password account The administrator will have to provide a password for it. If it is not there, press “Enter” to launch the recovery console.

• A black window called the Recovery Console will open. In its text line you can enter system commands that are not available for entry in Windows XP. Their entire list with brief explanations can be called up by entering the “help” command.
• This way you can restore the master boot record system partition by entering "fixmbr". If there is no parameter specifying a partition letter, the master boot record will move to the current partition.

• To confirm the execution of the command entered into the console, use latin letter“y” and click on the “Enter” key.

• After entering the “fixboot” command, a new boot boot will be written to the system disk. Windows entries XP. These commands must be used if errors with the text “NTLDR is missing” appear, indicating that the bootloader is damaged or missing.
• After finishing work, enter the “exit” command, which allows you to close the console and restart the computer.

Most used console commands

In order to see information about all the commands supported by the Windows XP Recovery Console, you must enter the code “help” in its text line. Afterwards, a long list of commands will appear with an explanation of their meanings, use cases and keys that expand the capabilities of this command.

A list of frequently used commands that can be useful to any user.

• Bootcfg is a utility command for editing a Windows XP configuration text file called boot.ini.
• Bootcfg /default will automatically detect and select one of the installed operating systems as the default OS.
• Bootcfg /add will start the process of scanning disk drives for copies of Windows XP on them to add to the boot menu.
• Bootcfg /list – visualizes a list of operating system versions installed on the computer with identifiers for installing one of them as the main one.
• Chkdsk – check the specified partition for the presence of hardware damage and, when the appropriate keys are specified, will try to reassign bad sectors(/r) or restore them (/p).
• Diskpart – will launch the integrated Windows utility to manage magnetic hard disk partitions.
• Help – when you enter a command without keys, a list of commands that the Recovery Console supports will be displayed.
• Command_help – will display a list of available parameters for the specified command with a brief explanation of their functions and use cases.

Sometimes you need to boot a computer with a damaged operating system in order to get files from the system disk and reinstall Windows. Most of the flash drives offered, unfortunately, do not work very adequately, for example they fall out blue screen etc. This flash drive does not pretend to be a full-fledged operating system, but as practice has shown, Windows XP boots from it on almost any hardware that supports booting from USB devices.

In order for the disk to be visible, it must work in IDE mode, if you have AHCI mode, then it needs to be at least temporarily changed to IDE.

(42MB) - Simple bootable flash drive with Windows XP. Allows you to extract files if your main system does not boot. It has a built-in GHost that allows you to make disk backups or cloning. There are problems with launching other programs and antiviruses... But it is simple and very unpretentious to hardware, and also has a microscopic size.

Due to the enormous popularity of this article, I offer another flash drive.

or download in parts - There are many differences. This flash drive contains a lot of utilities for restoring your computer. You can run your own programs, for example latest antiviruses. It is also possible to install drivers for your equipment, configure network connections, editing the registry, recovering information from a hard drive, utilities for cloning and backing up data, etc. Tested on computers from the Pentium 4 generation and higher, as well as on a couple of netbooks. To run, you need 512MB of RAM and a flash drive of at least 1GB. Unpacking to a flash drive is completely similar to that described below, only the image name has changed to mega_flash.gho. If possible, write in the comments about the results of use. If this flash drive does not boot, then the treatment recipe is described at the very end of the article(Missing MBR Helper error)!

Actually in the archive there is an image of a flash drive and Windows version GHost programs.

So, from the flash drive (512MB in size or more) we remove everything useful, because... it will be formatted in file system NTFS when deploying the image to it and run the file ghost32.exe and click OK.

The interface is very ascetic, select Local -> Disk -> From Image. That is, we will expand the disk from the image.

By default, the same folder in which you unpacked the downloaded archive should open, you need to select the file flash.gho - this is the image of the flash drive.

Now the most important moment! We choose where to unpack this image. There are no drive letters here, there is only the size, so be guided by it so as not to accidentally ruin another drive!

Here in the New Size field you need to select the maximum size of the flash drive, if suddenly the number does not correspond to the size of the flash drive, then write the size larger than your flash drive, then the number will automatically adjust to the size of your flash drive.

That’s it, now when you click “Yes” the unpacking will begin.

If such an error suddenly appears, it means that the flash drive is in use. Either you have some program open from it, or it can, for example, be used by a player like Winamp. Click “Yes” and then the process will forcibly close everything that was connected to the flash drive.

The image is unpacked, click "Continue"

And click "Quit"

All that remains is to boot from the created flash drive. The space on the flash drive takes up about 150MB, so you can leave it like that just in case. In addition, Norton GHost can be used to back up data, as well as Acronis True Image. For example, to backup the system partition, select Local -> Partition -> To Image, and to unpack the image back to disk, respectively, Local -> Partition -> From Image.

If when you try to load a mega flash drive (the big one) an error occurs, then . After unpacking the archive, run the file “grubinst_gui.exe” where it says DISK, select a disk that matches the size of your flash drive and click on the Install button. The bootloader will write this to it. Thanks to Deimos for looking into this issue. I’ve already tried unpacking on many flash drives, but no errors arose anywhere to fix anything. Good luck everyone!

Hello, now I’ll tell you how you can restore the bootloader not only, but also manually, which often helps in most cases.

How does the computer boot process occur?

After the computer is turned on, it self-tests, then control is transferred to the master boot record of the hard drive, it contains a partition table of the hard drive and a small bootloader program that reads in this table information from which hard drive (if there are several of them) and which partition of the hard drive load the OS.

Next, the operating system kernel is loaded into RAM and Windows XP actually starts. You also need to know that loading the operating system also involves a group of files located in the root directory of drive C, namely boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr. The presence of all of the above eliminates the presence of the Bootmgr is missing error when loading XP and ensures successful startup of the system.

What could be the reasons for the Bootmgr is missing error?

1. The first is the simplest, if there are several hard drives in the system, the Bios settings have been violated, namely, for example, in AMI Bios, in the BOOT tab, Boot Device Priority, then Hard Disk Drives, the hard drive from which you want to boot is set to the wrong one, which is needed.

2. The use of third-party programs in the master boot record, so-called boot managers, for example Acronis OS Selector, is used mainly when there are several operating systems on the computer; the manager displays a convenient OS selection menu at the beginning of boot.

You need to use such programs very carefully; if you incorrectly remove the Acronis Disk Director program from your computer, there is a very high chance of restoring the Windows XP boot loader.

3. The same applies to the GRUB bootloader, which allows you to use Linux and Windows XP on one computer; when you remove GRUB, you will leave your computer alone with an incomprehensible boot record and without hesitation it will show you Bootmgr is missing.

Here's what we're going to do

In this case, we will correct the situation in the Windows XP recovery console, first we will enter the FIXMBR command and rewrite the master boot record, and with the second FIXBOOT command we will write a new boot sector.

But that’s not all, after correcting the boot record, as well as recording a new boot sector in the console, the situation with the error output may remain unchanged and there may be other errors, for example: NTLDR is missing. In this case, you need to once again make sure that there are boot sector files directly involved in loading Windows XP: boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, ntldr, in the root directory of the disk (C:), in principle, three of these files are enough to boot Windows XP .

The easiest way is to use a Live CD, boot from it, then go to the root directory of drive C and make sure that these files are present; if they are not there, then you need to copy them from any working XP and upload them to yourself, having previously checked and, if necessary, edited boot.ini file, a simple text file containing the path to system files Windows XP, you must do this, otherwise you will get another error, you can read Editing BOOT.INI.

But there is an easier way: restoring the Windows XP bootloader using the recovery console. If you have an XP distribution, let's use it and copy our three files boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR to the root directory of drive C.

How to restore Windows XP bootloader?

We boot from the Windows XP installation disk, select restore R. If we have one operating system, set the number 1.

If there was a password, enter it; if not, press Enter.

Enter the FIXMBR command, this command restores a damaged hard disk partition table, it will overwrite the master boot record.

Confirm the recording of the new MBR, set Y

Enter the FIXBOOT command and agree to write a new boot sector.

Copy the files ntldr, NTDETECT.COM, boot.ini from the distribution to the root of the system drive C. Enter the MAP command and look at the letter of our drive, in my case (D:)

Enter D: (drive letter) and press Enter.

Go to the i386 folder, which is located on the installation Windows disk XP, from it we copy our NTLDR file to the root of drive C. Enter the command cd i386 and Enter

We copy the NTLDR file to the root of our system disk with the operating system using the copy NTLDR C command.