How to fix: "Bootmgr is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot"
After restoring a partition backup of my Windows 7 system drive (it stopped working just two days after I setup the backup!!) I got the ominous error:
"Bootmgr is missing, Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot"
Apparantly this happens rather often. I first tried the bootrec.exe command line switches to now avail. I then decided to start over, restore the backup again, and then I used my Windows Repair Disc (you need to create this while your Windows is still working) to fix this issue. Apparently you can also download the Windows 7 repair disc.
I suppose the Windows 7 installation disk offers the same features but I haven't tried it, so I can't confirm if it offers the same repair options.
So here's what I did:
- Make sure you have only the target & backup drives attached. This makes the process less confusing. Also double-check in the BIOS that your system actually will boot from the system and not the backup disc (in case the backup disc is marked as active from a previous OS installation it might cause the same error).
- Restore backup with default options (restoring Windows and System Reserve partitions). PS: I did resize the System Reserve partition on this occasion, it worked for me. It also wasn't an issue that the System Reserve partition is now located after the Windows partition, and not before as it used to be. I was worried that this might affect booting Windows, but it doesn't.
- Boot into Windows Repair Disc
- It will tell you that it fixed some errors and wants to reboot. This does NOT fix the missing Bootmgr issue!
- Boot into Windows Repair Disc again
- It should now show the Windows installation and give you two choices, use the default (repair tools or something to that effect, it's the first option)
- Do NOT choose command line. Instead, choose the first option "Startup Repair".
- Startup Repair will do its job. When done, click on the "show details" hyperlink and scroll down. Somewhere in this log it should say something like "Bootmgr corrupt, file issue, repaired"
- Reboot computer, Windows should boot again
- If not, maybe this would be a good time to boot into the repair disc again, choose command prompt and issue the bootrec commands as described here.
I hope that helps! It was a big bummer for me but I'm happy I could resolve this issue and saved myself 4-5 days re-installing the system. After I did that just two months earlier it would have been a real pain.
When you restored the System Reserved partition was it restored as Active? The bootmgr file should have been on this partition.
No, I think the restore defaulted to make the Windows partition active, the System Reserved partition's "active" checkbox was unchecked. On my first try, I checked this box, so I figured that can't be the cause and I decided to trust the defaults for once.
If you look in Disk Management, which partition is listed as System? Which as Boot? In systems with the System Reserved partition, it is normally both.
The Windows partition is active, the System Reserve partition isn't. Didn't have any issues so far.
What version of TI did you use?
Good question. 2011 I guess, I just installed it 1-2 months ago. To restore I was using the version that was up to date until 2-3 days ago. There was an auto-update that I installed after the system was restored.
Did you restore both partitions in one restore procedure or were they restored separately?
I restored windows and system reserve partitions in one go.
Are you going anywhere with these questions? :)
The point is that I think you've actually ended up with the booting files on the Windows partition instead of the System Reserved partition.
The Windows Boot Repair won't change the Active partition. As a result, the "fix" added the files to the Windows partition. The System Reserved partition is now not being used. You can verify this by looking in Disk Management and seeing if System, Boot, and Active are shown for the Windows partition.
Our only picture of your system is your description.
If you change the System Reserved partition to "active", this would make most Win7 system bootable under normal conditions.
Click to enlarge viewing. Normal factory installed systems.
My Windows partition is active, the System Reserve partition isn't. So I guess it's not being used. Makes me wonder - why do I need it in the first place? I'm guessing system recovery due to a failure on the windows partition?
Are there any negative effects of booting directly from the windows partition? I mean all the Windows' before Windows 7 didn't need that extra partition, and I bought True Image in the first place because the Windows backup itself wouldn't work because of the System Reserve partition (apparently it's too small/not enough free space for Windows Backup to back it up, go figure!).
Can't say I miss the System Reserve partition. :)
If you're not using BitLocker, you should be fine without the System Reserved partition.
I received the same error message "Bootmgr is missing" after doing a restore to my wife's Thinkpad. I then received the same error message after a restore, two months later, to a new Dell Vostro. After reading this forum, here is what is going on:
The ThinkPad and the Vostro both shipped with the laptop hard drive partitioned with a large OS (Win XP Pro on the ThinkPad, and Win 7 business on the Dell) plus an OEM recover partition. Unknown to me, the recovery partition was designated a Primary (which apparently means it supports an OS) and Active (which means it is the first partition to boot and contains the necessary boot files including Bootmgr).
Not realizing the importance of the recovery partition, I was only backing up with True Image the OS partition. When I had to do a restore, I restored the OS partition. And then I made a second mistake; this is the one that really caused the error message: In selecting the Restore options, on the screen "Choose the Restored Partition Type", there were three options - Active, Primary, and Logical. The recommended option (generated based on the backup image) we the second one, Primary. However, the descriptions supplied by Acronis made me believe I should override this and select Active. So I did.
After the restore completed, I received the error message "Bootmgr is missing". I then spent 10+ hours rebuilding the first computer from scratch and several hours on the second.
What happened is that the actual track 0 MBR contains a list of the partitions (or it did under Win XP) and a pointer to the "Active" partition. Unknown to me, the pointer in the MBR still aimed at the OEM recovery partition. But, that partition was no longer flagged Active, since I had instructed True Image to mark the OS partition as Active (and only one partition may be active at a time). And the OS partition was missing the Bootmgr file. So Windows would not boot.
The solution was as recommended in the first message in this tread: using the Windows recovery disk, I selected the system will not boot (or something similar - I did not write down the exact phrase). The first iteration of using the Windows recovery disk fixed the MBR on track 0. But the computer still would not boot because the OS partition was missing the bootmgr file. The second iteration of using the Windows recovery disk, selecting the essentially the same option (but on a screen later in the recovery process - suggesting the disk is designed to only fix one problem at a time and then force a reboot before moving on to the next problem), then installed the bootmgr file.
And my computer now boots.
My conclusions: first, I should have backed up the recovery partition, and then had it available for the restore, too. Second, I should have accepted the default, recommended option for the "Choose Restore Partition Type". And third, Acronis should at least improve their documentation and, perhaps better, offer tools to address this apparently common problem.
I received the same error message "Bootmgr is missing" after doing a restore to my wife's Thinkpad. I then received the same error message after a restore, two months later, to a new Dell Vostro. After reading this forum, here is what is going on:
The ThinkPad and the Vostro both shipped with the laptop hard drive partitioned with a large OS (Win XP Pro on the ThinkPad, and Win 7 business on the Dell) plus an OEM recover partition. Unknown to me, the recovery partition was designated a Primary (which apparently means it supports an OS) and Active (which means it is the first partition to boot and contains the necessary boot files including Bootmgr).
Not realizing the importance of the recovery partition, I was only backing up with True Image the OS partition. When I had to do a restore, I restored the OS partition. And then I made a second mistake; this is the one that really caused the error message: In selecting the Restore options, on the screen "Choose the Restored Partition Type", there were three options - Active, Primary, and Logical. The recommended option (generated based on the backup image) we the second one, Primary. However, the descriptions supplied by Acronis made me believe I should override this and select Active. So I did.
After the restore completed, I received the error message "Bootmgr is missing". After hours of trouble shooting, I then spent 10+ hours rebuilding the first computer from scratch. On the second computer, I spent at least two hours before figuring out what had happened.
What happened is that when a computer boots, it reads the MBR (master boot record) on track 0 and determines which partition to load). On my two computers, the actual track 0 MBR contains a list of the partitions (or it did under Win XP) and a pointer to the "Active" partition. Unknown to me, the pointer in the MBR was still aimed at the OEM recovery partition. But, that partition was no longer flagged Active, since I had instructed True Image to mark the OS partition as Active (and only one partition may be active at a time). And the OS partition was missing the Bootmgr file. So Windows would not boot.
The solution was as recommended in the first message in this tread: using the Windows recovery disk, I selected the system will not boot (or something similar - I did not write down the exact phrase). The first iteration of using the Windows recovery disk fixed the MBR on track 0. But the computer still would not boot because the OS partition was missing the bootmgr file. The second iteration of using the Windows recovery disk, selecting essentially the same option (but on a screen later in the recovery process - suggesting the disk is designed to only fix one problem at a time and then force a reboot before moving on to the next problem), then installed the bootmgr file.
And my computer now boots.
My conclusions: first, I should have backed up the recovery partition, and then had it available for the restore, too. Second, I should have accepted the default, recommended option for the "Choose Restore Partition Type". And third, Acronis should improve their documentation and, perhaps better, offer tools to address this apparently common problem.
I have a similar problem and cannot figure it out. I have my main drive connected to sata 1 and my backup drive connected to sata 2. When i did the recovery from my backup drive image everything worked fine until I unplugged my backup drive. Without my backup drive connected to sata 2 my main drive won't boot. I get the Bootmgr is missing. When I plug my backup drive in I can boot with no problem. Why is this?
Bruce Myers,
Check the BIOS and make sure the correct internal drive is set as the booting drive. It's possible the wrong drive is trying to boot.
Does the bootmgr file exist on the main drive?
Are there multiple partitions on the drive? Is the correct partition (the booting one) set Active?
I checked the Bios and it is set to the only Sata drive I had connected at the time so that was right. Where would I go o see if the bootmgr exist on that drive? There is only one partition on that drive. That partition is active.
bootmgr is a hidden *system* file. You can see it if you have the right options in Windows Explorer "Folder and Search Options". Try to find it on one of your drives. It has to be in the root of one of the partitions for your system to boot...
I tried an experiment, I did another recovery to another drive and I saw an option I don't remember before. not only did give me a choice of what partitions but also to add MBR + track 0 . I don't remember that last time. After the recovery I tested and booted to the new recovery HD without no problems. I checked the other drive that won't boot without the backup drive and I did find the bootmgr in the root. I guess I can do a Fixmbr, Fixboot and rebuildbcd from my windows 7 dvd and that should take care of the problem. Maybe the boot sector is bad. Now that I have another drive with the system running I can expierment and not worry. At least I know this works. I must also say I have been running on this recovery image for a year and I thank Acronis for this after I had a brand new HD failed after a month. Thanks for your time.
Yes, if you use the repair option of your Win 7 DVD, that should fix this issue.
hello,
i am stuck at the bootmgr-situation, too after restoring a whole system-disk with TI (actual version). if you use the recovery disk, do you see the windows-installation? in my case there is no visible windows, and nothing happens during the "repair-process"...
do you have any ideas for me?
thx
thomas
Thomas,
When you use your windows installation CD, using DISKPART, can you verify that the partition where you have your restored OS is "Active"?
DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK 0 (confirm from list this is Windows 7 HD #)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION # (replace # with Windows 7 part #)
ACTIVE
EXIT
Try to use the win installation repair again. You might have to use it up to 3 times.