How to Repair a Missing NTLDR for Windows XP Without the CD
- 1). Insert the boot disk into the drive and reboot the machine. This will allow you to boot into Windows normally.
- 2). Click the Windows "Start" button and select "Run." In the text box displayed, enter "D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons" and click "OK." Replace "D" with the drive letter for your Windows installation. This installs the recovery console, so you can use it when you boot the machine.
- 3). Remove the boot disk and reboot the machine. Select "Recovery Console" at the opening screen. This brings you to a Windows command prompt.
- 4). Enter the administrator password into the command prompt. Now you are given a command prompt with access to the Windows files installed on the machine.
- 5). Type "xcopy d:\i386\ntldr c:." Replace "d" with the drive letter where Windows is installed. Replace "c" with the location for the missing NTLDR file. The "xcopy" function copies the NTLDR file from the Windows i386 folder to the root of the drive.
- 6). Reboot the machine. The Windows operating system is now able to boot without the NTLDR error.
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