Member Avatar for friedom

Hello all. I recently had to re-partition a drive and used XP disk management to do so. Prior to that I backed up the system drive in another computer using the Windows Backup utility. I then removed all of the logical and primary partitions and created a single primary partition on the drive. I did a quick format and then proceeded to restore the backup to the newly partitioned drive. When I popped the drive back into the old computer it would not boot at all. I used the WinXP quick boot disk that is avail for download at download.com which has ; boot.ini , ntldr etc... and when I boot from the floppy I can boot right in to the previous system that was restored from the backup. My question is how can I prepare the drive to boot without the floppy boot disks assistance? I want to avoid having to reinstall Windows XP because of the amount of applications that were on the previous installation. Thanks for any advice or tips it will be very appreciated!

  • 3 Contributors
  • 4 Replies
  • 112 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

Dani AI

Generated

Short summary and focused next steps (so the machine will boot without the floppy)

The fact that the floppy lets the restored installation start means the Windows system files are probably intact on the drive. That narrows the problem to the disk-level boot pieces: the boot loader configuration and the disk boot code. As suggested, the Windows XP Recovery Console is the usual, supported way to repair those pieces, and as reminded, make sure the partition is the active one (you already confirmed that, ).

What to do next (practical, minimal risk)

  • Boot the PC from the original Windows XP installation CD and press R to enter the Recovery Console. After selecting the Windows installation and supplying the Administrator password, run the command that scans for Windows installations and rebuilds the boot configuration:
    bootcfg /rebuild

    This will recreate the boot configuration file entries so the loader points to the restored Windows copy. After that, use the Recovery Console options to restore the disk boot code (the option that rebuilds the Master Boot Record and the partition boot sector). These steps typically make the system bootable from the hard drive alone.

If you do not have the XP CD

  • Boot with the floppy so you can access the restored Windows installation, copy the small XP boot files from removable media to the root of the system partition, and correct the boot configuration file there (so it points at the right partition). If you cannot do that, a trusted boot/repair utility (BartPE/Hiren-style boot environment or another Windows PE USB) can perform the same actions and rewrite the MBR.

Quick checks and cautions

  • Confirm BIOS sees the drive as the first boot device and that the restored partition is marked active. Make a sector-level backup before rewriting MBR/boot sectors if the data is critical.

Recommended Answers

All 4 Replies

Member Avatar for caperjack

don't know what the quick boot has ,but you need to get to the winxp recovery consul command prompt or a command prompt on the quickboot and type in, FIXBOOT ,or FIXMBR

Member Avatar for Wil 0' Wisp

Did you check to make sure the new partition is active?

You can use a win98 boot disk to do this at the command prompt type FDISK and follow the on screen menus. It may warn you that the you have no active partitions you need to select the primary and set active remove the cd and reboot

Member Avatar for friedom

The partition is set to active. How do I access the XP recovery console? The quickboot floppy disk I have only has four basic files needed to boot. Can you access the recovery console one XP has loaded?

Member Avatar for caperjack

no recovery is either loaded separate or you need the winxp cd to rune it , I did see a link once to a download of just the recover ,maybe do a google for it

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.