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Monday, 07 December 2009 10:08 |
Over the weekend I installed Windows 7 professional, migrated from my Windows 7 RC install and enabled a RAID 1 mirrored array. Well everything went fine until i decided to enable the RAID. On my old computer you could enable an array claim a master and slave drive and 1 would copy to the other on initialization. This new computer did not have the feature so i would have to delete all the partitions on both drives. Well no biggie pull out acronis backup and make a image of the partition, enable, then copy the image back. Well in doing this it somehow did not bring over the C:\boot\ folder so upon bootup it says "Bootmgr is mssing. press ctrl alt delete to restart." I searched on google and found a few websites to help me out. 3 hours later and it now boots up just fine. You may not have such a hard time. My whole boot folder was gone, some of you may just have a missing file. In Vista and 7 the boot manager is a lot different a bit more complicated. Instead of the old boot.ini file there is now a BCD file that acts as a database with all of your boot information contained within. There are 3 methods that i used to rectify my problem. The thing was that between the 3 method it was method number 3 that finally worked sort of. Also i tried chkdsk /r and had to resolve a mirror conflict between the 2 drives int he RAID array so that was almost an hour and a half right there. Here are the 4 methods to try if you get stuck with any bootmgr or general booting problems.
Option 1: Booting from the Windows Vista DVD
Put your Windows Vista DVD in the drive and restart your PC. Configure your startup devices so the DVD drive boots first and press any key when it tells you on the screen.
after the windows install loads at the bottom Select "Repair your computer" to continue. Don't press the Install button. The next screen gives you a list of options, take a mental note of all these options it may save you in a jam in the future. Vista and 7 provide a lot of simple tools to use unlike xp where the system recovery was either reinstall over top or command line only.
Select startup repair and once its done reboot. If that works it will boot up just fine and you will be on your way. If not proceed to step 2.
Option 2: Manually Repairing the Vista Bootloader
Restart and got back to the list that displays all of the recovery options as mentioned above. Select Command prompt and things get a little tricky. Now if you just think it through and follow the cues below the average computer user just might get through this storm. Remember that your files are still intact, so worst case scenario is that you'll have to do an upgrade of windows over top your previous install. you won't loose your documents just your settings and your installed programs.
We have to make sure that the partition where windows is located is the primary and active partition.
Using diskpart you must select the right partition and then make it active. You can use list to display all the active disks or partitions. This will help you select the right parts. This was what i typed but the your numbers and letters may be slightly different
diskpart (opens diskpart program)
select disk 1 (selects drive 1)
select partition 1 (selects partition 1
active partition 1 (makes partition 1 the active partition)
We have to first get rid of the any remanents of the old BCD Registry. D is the cd drive
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
d:\boot\bootsext.exe /nt60 all /force
Now we have to get rid of the old BCD registry and create a new one. C is the drive where windows is located
del C:\boot\bcd
bcdedit /createstore c:\boot\bcd.temp
bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd.temp /create {bootmgr} /d "Windows Boot Manager"
bcdedit /import c:\boot\bcd.temp
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:
bcdedit /timeout 10
del c:\boot\bcd.temp
now that we have a new BCD registry we have to add an entry to it
bcdedit /create /d "Windows 7" /application osloader
When you enter this you should get a GUID for the new entry. Use that entry below between the {}.
bcdedit /set {GUID} device partition=c:
bcdedit /set {GUID} osdevice partition=c:
bcdedit /set {GUID} path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
bcdedit /set {GUID} systemroot \Windows
bcdedit /displayorder {GUID}
bcdedit /default {GUID}
Option 3: Using EasyBCD to repair your BCD registryEasyBCD from neosmart easily interacts with the BCD registry providing every possible. This tool helped me out and I highly recommend it. 
From the neosmart website:
EasyBCD
is NeoSmart Technologies' multiple award-winning answer to tweaking the
new Windows Vista bootloader. With EasyBCD, almost anything is
possible. Setting up and configuring Windows boot entries is simple,
and there is no easier way to quickly boot right into Linux, Mac OS X,
or BSD straight from the Windows Vista bootloader - on the fly, no
expert knowledge needed!
EasyBCD is geared for users of all kinds. Whether you just want to
add an entry to your old XP partition or want to create a duplicate for
testing purposes; if you're interested in debugging the Windows Kernel
or septuple-booting your seven test operating systems, EasyBCD is the
key.
Here is the manual on how to use the tool
Here is a spot to download it
here is another site that helped me out. It didn't really solve the problem for me but it might help you out.
How to use the Bootrec.exe
Restore boot manager when it is missing or compressed
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