Windows 7 boot problem - "bootmgr is missing"

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SantiClaws

Senior member
Sep 2, 2000
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I originally dual booted Vista and Win7. Win7 was installed on a separate physical drive and now I want to get rid of the drive that originally had Vista installed. The problem is, apparently the boot table is on that drive and I can't get the machine to recognize the Win7 install and can't get the necessary boot files on the new drive. If I disconnect the old drive that had Vista on it, this is the message I get. I tried using a bootable flash drive, but if the old drive is not connected, it does not see the windows 7 installation in the repair options screen. The automatic repair does not work.

I thought I could possibly manually copy and edit the right file, but the strange thing is I can't find the boot files on the old drive. I have the option to show all system and hidden files selected, but I can's see any files on the old drive at all in explorer, although I can if I use the c: prompt. One other thing, in Disk management, the correct partition containing Win7 is shown as "boot."

EDIT: I've now managed to copy "bootmgr" to the correct drive. Is there something I need to do with it? And where does it need to go?

Thoughts? Ideas? Feelings?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
corkyg

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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Boot with the Win 7 DVD and do a repair install.
 
S

SantiClaws

Senior member
Sep 2, 2000
439
1
81
corkyg said:
Boot with the Win 7 DVD and do a repair install.
Click to expand...
First thing I tried, but the problem is that you can only do it from inside windows. I even tried unplugging the HDD in the middle of the install, but got an error message. The repair install did not actually fix anything, because Windows doesn't know that there's a problem.

bruceb said:
See link here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/67884-can-i-move-mbr-different-hard-drive.html
Click to expand...

Tried this, as well. Automatic repair doesn't do anything, because the OS is not detected. The only manual command that works with bootrec.exe is /fixmbr, which reports being successfully executed, but doesn't fix the problem. All of the other manual commands return error message - "element is missing."
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
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Did you do this first ? ?

First mark Windows 7 active in XP Disk Management, or using free Partition Wizard bootable CD.

Next unplug XP HD, boot into Windows 7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the MBR to Windows 7.

If all else fails, just put the Win 7 drive as the primary, insert the Win 7 DVD and either do a full repair install or a clean installation.
 
S

SantiClaws

Senior member
Sep 2, 2000
439
1
81
bruceb said:
Did you do this first ? ?

First mark Windows 7 active in XP Disk Management, or using free Partition Wizard bootable CD.

Next unplug XP HD, boot into Windows 7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write the MBR to Windows 7.
.
Click to expand...
Yep, it is marked active. Which start-up repair are we talking about? The automatic one I've tried a bunch of times, doesn't do anything. The repair install doesn't do anything either, because windows doesn't know there's a problem if the old HD is plugged in, and it crashes if I unplug it when it reboots. A clean install is exactly what I'm trying to avoid doing.
 
S

SantiClaws

Senior member
Sep 2, 2000
439
1
81
Found the solution on another forum. Had to disconnect everything - including an unrelated HDD used just for storage. That did the trick - booted from the CD and the boot problem was detected and repaired just like that. Thanks for all the input, folks.
 
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