bootmgr is missing

[ruirib]

Thanks ruirib, I suspect yoiu are correct.

I am sorry if it turns out to be like that. Personally I think I wouldn't really risk to save my data to a disk that behaves as you have been describing, even if you get past those initial hurdles.
One other aspect to consider, is your time. Quite certainly, the whole episode has cost you more in time and effort than it would cost your friend to buy a new hard drive and the worst part of it is that it doesn't seem to have got your closer to a working solution .

[Just Plain Fred]

wcdubios,
Hello.... This is a really "Out there" ...but i would try it if was all i had .

1. On another PC Download and Install Macrium Reflect (Free)

2. Burn the WinPE ( WAIK) CD

3. On your problem PC Make sure that it's set to boot from a CD ( 1st in boot order) Load WinPE Disk on problem PC

4. Image the Recovery partition, and store it on an "External"

5. Using a 3rd party Disk manager ..( like G parted Free) wipe the whole disk , format NTSF.

6. Load WinPE Disk and try to Recover the Image from the external to the Clean Disk...

If the recovery partition is intact it might work... Good luck Regards Fred

[wcdubois]

If nothing else, that would enable me to put the recovery partition onto a "new" disk.
Seems like that is where I am headed.

[rainhard]

Reason why "BOOTMGR is Missing" error occurs is outlined here:
http://www.prime-expert.com/articles...is-missing.php
Article linked above also explains in detail how to fix it using Emergency Boot CD.
This tool can fix various boot problems related to boot records, BCD and mount points in registry.

[Johns34]

Hi
I got your problem, you lost your windows partition. Don't worry, you can recover them. Instead of scratching your with all those boot manager and all, just use the recovery software which can help you to recover your data. There is one such software called Windows Partition Recovery Software, that can easily recover missing partition vista, even Windows XP, Windows 7, all versions of Windows.It can even recover data from crashed hard drives and allows you to save the recovered files on External drives including CDs / DVDs. You can even evaluate the ability of this software using the trial version and them you can purchase the tool.

All the Best,

[F.U.N. downtown]

I would also try F10, F12, Ctrl F10, Ctrl F11 and Ctrl F12. Different manufacturers often use different keys or key combinations but usually its one of those six.
Also with XP, I've always had great luck using a GParted (partition manager) from a Parted Magic boot disc to set the boot flag to the recovery partition, exit and reboot and the system automatically boots into the recovery partition and initiates recovery without any key combo. I don't know if that works with Vista though (never tried it).

A third option may also be possible and is as follows, excerpted from a post on another forum:

And all thanks to Kubuntu.
This is what I did:

Got me favorite Kubuntu 7.04 CD, started de laptop, then, at the Kubuntu Intsalation screen, hit F6 to add one more command at the end of the command line -- noapic
When Kubuntu started, I installed it with minimal space:

Left all this huge NTFS space free (hda0) -- Got a 3GB partition for root here ("/", ext3 format) (hda2) -- Got a 900MB partition for SWAP here (hda3) -- Left this 6GB Vista Recovery partition here (hda1)

After less than 10 minutes, Kubuntu was installed, and as soon as GRUB screen appeared, it showed something like this:

- Kubuntu
- Kubuntu Recovery Mode
- Windos XP
- Vista Recovery

Select Vista Recovery to start, then you will get to the Recovery mode, and select the recovery option that formats the laptop just as it was from the factory.
Then, you have your laptop back with Vista.

If none of that works, it would perhaps be time to admit defeat.