windows 7 bootmgr is missing-- resolved using WinRE

Question

original title: windows 7 bootmgr is missing HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have a sony vaio laptop with no partitions no nothing just a hard disk with pre-installed windows 7 64 bit home premium. Yesterday i has installing some widgets to my desktop and after i have restarted the laptop windows coudn't start....it says bootmgr is missing. I tryied to use the recovery tools of vaio but the only option is toformat everything and install again windows 7 but i dont want this option. I have tried almost everything finding on net many answers about this problem but none of them it worked to me. I downloaded a bootable disk to repair the windows i tryied to do it manually from the prompt command but nothing....Its very strange though when i open the vaio recovery tools i can save all my files to an external drive but it appears a partition d: which before didnt exist

and have one folder called boot and inside contains a file called bootmgr. I would like if somebody have any idea what to do cause i have this laptop 1 month it it drives me crazy when i am thinking that i need to format everything

thanks

Answer 1

Hi darofossss,

Perform the following methods to resolve the issue: 

Method 1: Startup Repair from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

============================================

1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer. 
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next. 
6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on Repair your computer.
7. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
8. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Startup Repair.

Refer the following link for more information:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-are-the-system-recovery-options-in-Windows-7

To know more about “Startup Repair” visit the following link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Startup-Repair-frequently-asked-questions

Method 2: Rebuild BCD using the Bootrec.exe tool

============================================

To run the Bootrec.exe tool, you must start Windows RE. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Put the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when you are prompted. Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next.
3. Click Repair your computer.
4. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
6. Type Bootrec.exe, and then press ENTER.

Refer the following link for more information:

How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Method 3: Use the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to run System Restore

============================================

1. Insert the Windows 7 installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer. 
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next. 
4. Click Repair your computer. 
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next
6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on System Restore.
7. Follow the System Restore Wizard instruction as usual and choose the appropriate restore point.
8. Click Finish to restore the system.

To know more about “System Restore” visit the following link:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/System-Restore-frequently-asked-questions

If the above methods do not help, you may try to follow the methods mentioned in this article:

Error message when you start Windows Vista: "The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927391

Note: This article also applies to Windows 7 Operating system as well.

Regards,

Divya R – Microsoft Support.

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Answer 2

Could i boot from an XP USB or Linux and add the Boot MGR to it's place manually?

Answer 3

mate but what can one do if he cant even boot the cd and there is no OS installed in the machine?

(sony vaio vgn-cr260f).

i am trying to boot the dvd and i get this message: "bootmgr is missing..."

it happend after i tried to install windows 7 (64 bit) and in the middle of installation i got an error saying i cant install this version of windows.

so i tried the 32 bit version and then i got the bootmgr missing message.

now no matter what CD or DVD i insert and trying to boot (i got several installation dvd's windows 7 and vista) i cant get passed this damn message.

any idea what can i do?

thanks in advance

Answer 4

hi,

this was happened to my friend yesterday, accidentally he changed his active partition to another partition. i tried windows 7 installation disk and other things but i couldn't fix it.

then i booted his laptop with a Hiren 12 mini xp cd. and there i changed active partition to windows 7 installation partition.

Now He is happy like me :).

hope this can help you too.

Regards,

Abrar Ahmed

Answer 5

Hi,

 I have a Dell laptop M1330 running Win7.  I have gone thru most of the recommendations with no success.  The Dell guy tells me that the OS is gone and that I will have to reinstall -- which means losing everything.  So, this is one more try with you guys to see if there is any hope.  The key problem is that on reboot I get the Dell logo, but it then goes to a black screen with nothing.  The F8 and F5 keys do not work.  I worked with a windows setup disk which did nothing.  I could get to a command prompt where I could see a Windows directory.  But couldn't do anything more.  Thanks for any help you can give.