Error: BOOTMGR is missing. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart after restoring a Windows 7 | Windows 2008 R2 system

Article: 100022846
Last Published: 2015-09-03
Ratings: 1 1
Product(s): System Recovery

Problem

After restoring a system, the following error occurs on reboot:

BOOTMGR is missing
Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart

Cause

The files necessary to boot Windows were not found on system after a restore. These files include the bootmgr file and the \Boot folder (which contains the BCD file). This error will occur if the System Reserved partition was not restored, the image was restore improperly, the image(s) was from a system with unconventional driver lettering, etc. 
 
Please refer to www.symantec.com/docs/TECH129112 for more information on how to perform a Windows Vista/7/2008 restore from the Symantec Recovery Disk (SRD).

Solution

If the System Reserved partition existed on the original (source) system but is no longer available or has become corrupted, the following steps can be followed:

  1. Verify that the operating system partition has been restored and set to active.
    > Boot to the Veritas SRD. Click analyze, and open a command prompt.
    > Type diskpart
    > DISKPART will start and you will be at the "DISKPART>" prompt.
    > List the drives by typing list disk
    > The installed drives will be listed, starting with Disk 0. In most cases, Disk 0 is the booting drive. You need to select the drive that contains the operating system you restored. In this example, that is Disk 0. Select the appropriate drive by typing the following command: select disk 0
    > Type list partition to see the partitions on this disk. If the partition is 100Mb, this is likely the system reserved partition.
    > Select the partition to be set active by typing: select partition 1 (where 1 is the operating system partition)
    > Set the selected partition active by typing:  active
    > Exit DISKPART: by typing exit
  2. Insert the Windows installation disc into the CD/DVD drive and reboot the computer. Note: If the computer is not configured to boot the CD/DVD drive before the hard drive, you may need to change the boot order in the BIOS.
  3. Press any key when the message Press any key to boot from CD or DVD... appears.
  4. Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left corner of the window.
  5. Choose the correct installation of Windows and then click the Next button. If no Windows installations are detected, ensure that the Windows operating system was in fact restored to this system.
  6. You’ll see to the System Recovery Options screen, where you can get to the Command Prompt.
  7. Select the Startup Repair option.
  8. Startup Repair will now scan the computer to attempt to find and fix any startup problems. Note: Startup Repair may prompt you to make choices as it tries to fix the problem, and if necessary, it might restart your computer as it makes repairs. If repairs are not successful, you'll see a summary of the problem and links to contact information for support. Your computer manufacturer might include additional assistance information.
  9. If problems cannot be found, then click on Next.  Note: You can click on the View diagnostic and repair details link to see a detailed summary of what Startup Repair has done.
  10. Click on the Restart button to return to the Windows 7 logon screen. Sometimes it may take running a startup repair a few (3) times before it fully fixes the startup issue.
  11. Remove the Windows installation media and reboot the computer.

If Windows still fails to boot, attempt to manually repair the master boot record and bootloader by doing the following:

  1. Insert the Windows installation disc into the CD/DVD drive and reboot the computer. Note: If the computer is not configured to boot the CD/DVD drive before the hard drive, you may need to change the boot order in the BIOS.
  2. Press any key when the message Press any key to boot from CD or DVD... appears.
  3. Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left corner of the window.
  4. Click on Command Prompt.
  5. Type the following: bootrec /fixmbr, and press Enter.
  6. Type the following: bootrec /fixboot, and press Enter.
  7. Remove the Windows installation media and reboot the system.

If the system still fails to boot, allow Windows setup to create a new system reserved partition. Perform the following steps using the Windows Installation disk that contains the operating system identical to the operating system you are attempting to restore:

  1. Insert the Windows installation disc into the CD/DVD drive and reboot the computer. Note: If the computer is not configured to boot the CD/DVD drive before the hard drive, you may need to change the boot order in the BIOS.
  2. Press any key when the message Press any key to boot from CD or DVD... appears.
  3. Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left corner of the window.
  4. Click on Command Prompt.
  5. Type diskpart and press Enter.
  6. Type list disk and press Enter.
  7. Type select disk # and press Enter, where # is the disk number of the drive you are restoring the operating system to. (E.g. select disk 0)
    ***Warning: The next step will complete erase all data off of the disk # you selected. If you are unsure of what resides on each disk, boot to the Veritas Recovery Disk and use the Windows Explorer tool to browse the contents of each disk.
  8. Type clean and press Enter. The disk is now unallocated space.
  9. Type exit to leave diskpart, and exit again to close the command prompt.
  10. Reboot the system to the Windows installation disk. Install the operating system onto the disk cleaned in step 8.
    **During this installation, Windows setup will create a system reserved partition and a Windows installation partition.
  11. After Windows is installed, shut down the system.
  12. Boot the system to the Veritas System Recovery disk (SRD).
  13. From the SRD, restore the operating system image file into the partition Windows installation partition. **Do not make any changes to the system reserved partition, as this includes the bootmgr.

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