Bootmgr location?

Question

Though I fixed my problem yesterday with the error "Bootmgr is missing... Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart", I'm confused as to how it was fixed.

The problem occurred on my Dell Precision M6800 laptop.  The primary HDD (SDD) has the factory configured partitions of a 40MB "OEM Partition" (I think BIOS accessible diagnostics), a 13.62GB NTFS "Recovery" partition (BIOS restoration to factory installation) and the rest is "C:".

These are the attempts to fix the problem:

1. Restore from my Acronis backup the C: partition, but it did not fix the problem.
2. Tried Windows 7 Pro boot disc to "Repair your computer/Startup Repair", but it "could not detect a problem"
3. From BIOS, boot into CMD and run Bootrec /RebuildBcd, but it did not fix the problem.
4. Reinstalled Windows 7 Pro from boot disc from scratch, then restored from my Acronis backup to the C: partition (over the just installed Windows 7).  This worked.

How is it that #1 restoration didn't work but the #4 restoration from my Acronis backup did work?

Where is Bootmgr?  I thought it was on the C: drive.  It appears that it's in a hidden area.  Is it related to the MBR?

Answer 1

There may have been corruptions with your Acronis backup, which explains why the restoration was not successful. Since you used a Windows 7 installation disc, it contains only the files from a fresh operating system installation. You can check if the Acronis backup will successfully install on another drive to determine if it is faulty.

Regards.

Answer 2

Hi,

There can be several reasons why reinstalling Windows 7 using the boot disc worked. One reason may be because the existing operating system you had in Step 1 had some problems that we may not be able to determine. With an installation disk you can reinstall your operating system from scratch on to an empty replacement hard drive and triggered your Acronis backup to work.

Let us know if you will need further assistance.

Answer 3

However, when I reinstalled Windows 7, I installed it into that old C: partition.  The other two Dell partitions were still intact.  That is, it wasn't onto an "empty" replacement hard drive.

So if my Acronis source from restoration #1 was a problem, why didn't it show up when I restored that same backup source during #4?  It's as if the Windows 7 installation disc did something outside of the C: partition.