Hey guys, really annoying problem I have. I have to HDs, both Western Digital, one is 500gb, the other 120gb. They are both in SATA, and when they are both plugged into the mobo, everything works fine (I boot into the 500gb HD). However, if I take the 120gb HD out, when I try to boot I get a "bootmngr file is missing, press ctrl+alt+del to restart". If I reconnect the old HD, everything works fine. How do I get the 500gb HD to work on it's own? Any help appreciated!
Bootmngr is missing...
- Thread starter Scionix
- Start date
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
windows is stupid and only puts a boot manager on the primary drive at the time of the installation, and doesn't put anything on the drive unto which it is actually installed.
reinstalling windows will fix this, but there is probably a simpler method... I just don't know it because I don't make this mistake when installing windows to begin with. (aka, ensure the drive you install it to is the primary boot device, or ideally, the ONLY drive plugged in)
reinstalling windows will fix this, but there is probably a simpler method... I just don't know it because I don't make this mistake when installing windows to begin with. (aka, ensure the drive you install it to is the primary boot device, or ideally, the ONLY drive plugged in)
So wait, just take the other HD out, install via disk while the 500gb is the only drive plugged in?
I can handle that
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
Originally posted by: Scionix
So wait, just take the other HD out, install via disk while the 500gb is the only drive plugged in?
I can handle that
yea, that will work... but you will have to reinstall all your programs. also, don't format it if you have important data on it because it will be gone (sorry, I don't know how experienced you are and I better assume the worst when giving generic advice)...
but if you are up to it. installing to the 500GB drive while its the only drive plugged in will make windows place the boot manager on it directly.
If, in the future, you add a second drive and it says that again, go into bios and change the boot order to make the BIOS attempt to boot the 500GB drive first, since it is the one containing windows and the boot manager (as long as it was the only drive in the system when you installed windows that is).
PS. but i REALLY think there should be a simpler way of doing it that doesn't require a reinstall... maybe wait another day to see if someone else in the forums can specify it.
brblx
Diamond Member
- Mar 23, 2009
- 5,499
- 2
- 0
Originally posted by: Scionix
How does one do this? >.>
Sorry for being a nub
i don't know the specific files, for me it's usually just everything outside my main folders, which is boot.ini, ntldr, and some other associated files on an xp machine. copying those over to the drive that's being booted from (with a boot.ini that points to a valid windows installation) should fix your problem. i know nothing of vista, though, if that's what you're using, though i'd imagine the process is similar and someone here should probably know what files you need to move (or try and google it).
Originally posted by: taltamir
Originally posted by: Scionix
So wait, just take the other HD out, install via disk while the 500gb is the only drive plugged in?
I can handle that
yea, that will work... but you will have to reinstall all your programs. also, don't format it if you have important data on it because it will be gone (sorry, I don't know how experienced you are and I better assume the worst when giving generic advice)...
but if you are up to it. installing to the 500GB drive while its the only drive plugged in will make windows place the boot manager on it directly.
If, in the future, you add a second drive and it says that again, go into bios and change the boot order to make the BIOS attempt to boot the 500GB drive first, since it is the one containing windows and the boot manager (as long as it was the only drive in the system when you installed windows that is).
PS. but i REALLY think there should be a simpler way of doing it that doesn't require a reinstall... maybe wait another day to see if someone else in the forums can specify it.
Thanks! I had just re-formatted anyway, so all I had to do was re-do my drivers. I wanted to try Windows 7 anyway!
Win7 looking good so far, let's see if I can get all my drivers straight
Originally posted by: brblx
Originally posted by: Scionix
How does one do this? >.>
Sorry for being a nub
i don't know the specific files, for me it's usually just everything outside my main folders, which is boot.ini, ntldr, and some other associated files on an xp machine. copying those over to the drive that's being booted from (with a boot.ini that points to a valid windows installation) should fix your problem. i know nothing of vista, though, if that's what you're using, though i'd imagine the process is similar and someone here should probably know what files you need to move (or try and google it).
I see he's solved his problem already... but just for reference the "boot.ini, ntildr,... etc. is not the only thing you need. What you really need is the "MBR", or Master Boot Record, which is not visible and must be recreated using a drive utility. Specifically information is written to the MBR that indicates it is your primary active partition. And by far, the easiest way to get this right is to reinstall, or repair, your system with the OS disk.
Incidentally, some motherboards will shuffle the HDD boot sequence almost randomly. Like when you insert a USB drive. So if you get this message on a system that has had no changes to it's drives, the first thing you should check is the boot order. This same message will also occur if the primary drive fails, but then a trip into BIOS will indicate that the drive does not appear to be present.
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
Originally posted by: Cannyone
Originally posted by: brblx
Originally posted by: Scionix
How does one do this? >.>
Sorry for being a nub
i don't know the specific files, for me it's usually just everything outside my main folders, which is boot.ini, ntldr, and some other associated files on an xp machine. copying those over to the drive that's being booted from (with a boot.ini that points to a valid windows installation) should fix your problem. i know nothing of vista, though, if that's what you're using, though i'd imagine the process is similar and someone here should probably know what files you need to move (or try and google it).
I see he's solved his problem already... but just for reference the "boot.ini, ntildr,... etc. is not the only thing you need. What you really need is the "MBR", or Master Boot Record, which is not visible and must be recreated using a drive utility. Specifically information is written to the MBR that indicates it is your primary active partition. And by far, the easiest way to get this right is to reinstall, or repair, your system with the OS disk.
Incidentally, some motherboards will shuffle the HDD boot sequence almost randomly. Like when you insert a USB drive. So if you get this message on a system that has had no changes to it's drives, the first thing you should check is the boot order. This same message will also occur if the primary drive fails, but then a trip into BIOS will indicate that the drive does not appear to be present.
which is why it is important to make sure the active drive is the one holding the OS... which is easiest to do by unplugging all drives except one when installing windows.
brblx
Diamond Member
- Mar 23, 2009
- 5,499
- 2
- 0
Originally posted by: Cannyone
Originally posted by: brblx
Originally posted by: Scionix
How does one do this? >.>
Sorry for being a nub
i don't know the specific files, for me it's usually just everything outside my main folders, which is boot.ini, ntldr, and some other associated files on an xp machine. copying those over to the drive that's being booted from (with a boot.ini that points to a valid windows installation) should fix your problem. i know nothing of vista, though, if that's what you're using, though i'd imagine the process is similar and someone here should probably know what files you need to move (or try and google it).
I see he's solved his problem already... but just for reference the "boot.ini, ntildr,... etc. is not the only thing you need. What you really need is the "MBR", or Master Boot Record, which is not visible and must be recreated using a drive utility. Specifically information is written to the MBR that indicates it is your primary active partition. And by far, the easiest way to get this right is to reinstall, or repair, your system with the OS disk.
Incidentally, some motherboards will shuffle the HDD boot sequence almost randomly. Like when you insert a USB drive. So if you get this message on a system that has had no changes to it's drives, the first thing you should check is the boot order. This same message will also occur if the primary drive fails, but then a trip into BIOS will indicate that the drive does not appear to be present.
this has not been my experience, and i've done a LOT of drive and partition shuffling. as long as the boot drive is a primary partition and boot.ini is present in the root dir, i get a working bootloader. i don't see why the OP would have to do anything to the MBR on his windows drive, as nothing is changing, it just lost the drive with his boot files...
taltamir
Lifer
- Mar 21, 2004
- 13,576
- 6
- 76
Originally posted by: brblx
Originally posted by: Cannyone
Originally posted by: brblx
Originally posted by: Scionix
How does one do this? >.>
Sorry for being a nub
i don't know the specific files, for me it's usually just everything outside my main folders, which is boot.ini, ntldr, and some other associated files on an xp machine. copying those over to the drive that's being booted from (with a boot.ini that points to a valid windows installation) should fix your problem. i know nothing of vista, though, if that's what you're using, though i'd imagine the process is similar and someone here should probably know what files you need to move (or try and google it).
I see he's solved his problem already... but just for reference the "boot.ini, ntildr,... etc. is not the only thing you need. What you really need is the "MBR", or Master Boot Record, which is not visible and must be recreated using a drive utility. Specifically information is written to the MBR that indicates it is your primary active partition. And by far, the easiest way to get this right is to reinstall, or repair, your system with the OS disk.
Incidentally, some motherboards will shuffle the HDD boot sequence almost randomly. Like when you insert a USB drive. So if you get this message on a system that has had no changes to it's drives, the first thing you should check is the boot order. This same message will also occur if the primary drive fails, but then a trip into BIOS will indicate that the drive does not appear to be present.
this has not been my experience, and i've done a LOT of drive and partition shuffling. as long as the boot drive is a primary partition and boot.ini is present in the root dir, i get a working bootloader. i don't see why the OP would have to do anything to the MBR on his windows drive, as nothing is changing, it just lost the drive with his boot files...
I would think that he WOULD have to modify the MBR. because the MBR is what directs the OS at the specific boot.ini and bootloader files.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 23K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 18K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter