ntldr missing error message Windows xp home

Anonymous
2012-04-05T21:57:18+00:00

Hey,

I turned my pc off the other night closed as normal but now I am getting the NTLDR missing error message, I do not have the Windows dics as it is a 6 year old pc.  The computer is a Pachard Bell but I have upgraded the system and I dont think it has any of their parts left, I have norton running on the system, any ideas how to fix this? I have looked at a lot of help pages but all of them talk about the windows cd, is it a major problem if I do not have this?

Any help would be great.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

55 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2012-04-20T17:12:22+00:00

    I'm sorry you are having these issues. Let's try this.

    1. Insert the Windows XP CD.
    2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
    3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
    4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
    5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
    6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. Most often this is the letter C.

    Note that x represents the drive letter of your cd/dvd rom. You will need to replace the x with the appropriate drive letter for your device.

    copy X:\i386\ntldr c:\

    copy x:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

    1. Once both of these files have been successfully copied type Exit and reboot the computer.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-04-06T20:01:20+00:00

    You can boot your machine by making a free Boot CD such as  UBCD4Win, Bart PE, or Hirens.  Hirens is the easiest to create since there are no building steps involved.

    The BCUpdate2.exe file can be obtained at this link.

     < http://www.proposedsolution.com/downloads/download-bcupdate2/>

    Note that if you have XP Service Pack 2 or later installed, this should not be your problem.

    HTH,

       JW

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-04-06T14:42:56+00:00

    Hi,

    I would suggest you to arrange for windows XP DVD or you may contact Microsoft Customer Support Services to obtain the Bcupdate2.exe utility. For more information about how to contact Microsoft Customer Support Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

    http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

    For more information, follow this link: Windows may not start and you may receive an "NTLDR is missing" error message if Windows is not up-to-date and there are too many files in the root folder

    Hope this information is helpful.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2012-04-06T10:47:49+00:00

    Thank you for those links, unfortunately I do not have the windows CD, the computer does not have a a floppy drive, any more ideas?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2012-04-06T03:45:36+00:00

    If you have an older machine that includes a floppy disk drive, then this could be caused by a non-bootable floppy installed in this drive.  Remove all floppy disks before booting.

    "Error: NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found when starting Windows"

      < http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555304 >

    Another possible cause is the following:

    "Windows may not start and you may receive an "NTLDR is missing" error message if Windows is not up-to-date and there are too many files in the root folder"

      <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320397>

    HTH,

      JW

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments