Ntldr Is Missing

By Author: Susan King
Total Articles: 3698
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NTLDR stands for "New Technology Loader". It is the new loader for all Windows NT Operating Systems. It is the loader that actually loads the operating system from the Hard Drive. All versions of Windows up to Windows XP use this new type of loader to start the Operating System.

This message is actually common and there are a number of different reasons why a user would get this message.
Common Causes for "NTLDR is Missing"

* Computer is trying to boot from a non-bootable source.
* Corrupt Installation of the Operating System
* New Hard Drive has been added
* Hard Drive is not set up in BIOS
* Corrupted Boot Sectors

Depending on which of these errors your computer is experiencing, the solution will be different. Here are a list of the most common ways to fix most all of the problems with the loading system.

Make sure that your BIOS is set up to be booting from the correct type of source, (Hard Drive) and not a flash drive or a CD-ROM drive. This can be accomplished by restarting the computer and entering the BIOS setup and making sure the boot order ...
... contains the hard drive to boot from.

Make sure that the copy of the Operating System you are using is correct and full, and does not contain any corrupt files.

If you are adding a new hard drive to your system, please make sure that it is completely formatted and does not contain any files, because the computer can be attempting to pull the operating system from files on this other hard drive where the operating system is not installed.

If your boot sector or your master boot record has become corrupt you can get this error. In order to fix this you must insert your Windows Disk and use the Windows Recovery Console, and using the following two commands: fixboot and fixmbr.

Also, if you have just installed this hard drive and properly put the Operating System on, please ensure that the wiring is connected properly. Check all IDE, SATA cables and make sure that these wires are not faulty cables.