Utility for launching Windows 7. Automatic recovery using a USB drive

Hello friends! In today's article, we will recreate the Windows 7 bootloader. In what cases can this be useful?For example, Windows 7 does not boot and displays errors associated with a faulty bootloader, for example: “An operating system was not found”, BOOTMGR is missing. Press ctrl+alt+del, NTLDR is missing when loading Windows 7. Or maybe you transferred Windows 7 from a hard drive to a solid-state drive, but the system does not start from the SSD and displays an error or shows a black screen.You are trying to restore the operating system boot, but you are unable to do so.In such cases, you need to delete and then create again hidden section - System Reserved (Reserved by the system, volume 100 MB), this partition contains the Windows 7 download files.

When installing Windows 7 on a laptop or computer with a regular BIOS (MBR hard drive), a hidden System Reserved partition (100 MB capacity) is automatically created, the purpose of which is to store and protect operating system boot files.This partition always has the following attributes: (Active, System, Primary partition), and the operating system installed on your computer starts from it.

If you assign a drive letter to this partition and in the folder options (view) set the "Show hidden files" options and uncheck the "Hide" optionprotected system files", then inside you will see the "Boot" folder (containing the boot configuration store file - BCD), and the boot manager file "bootmgr".

For the success of our business, let’s remember the Windows 7 boot mechanism and the program will help us BOOTICE.

First of all, after turning on the computer, control is received by the BIOS subroutine, which checks the functionality of all components of the system unit, then the BIOS looks in its settings for the priority device for booting (hard drive, flash drive, DVD drive) and, having found one (for example, a hard drive) disk) reads the MBR boot record from it (Windows 7 is usually installed on an MBR partitioned disk). The MBR is located in the first sector of the boot disk, has a size of 512 bytes, and contains NT 6.x program code,

Which searches for the active partition from which the operating system can be loaded, this active partition

The operating system (in our case, Windows 7) is a program, and in order for it to work (start loading), you need to run the OS executable file:winload.exe or winload.efi. ZThe bootloader releases these files. ZLoader is a small program. Filewinload.exe starts MBR- the loader, and the filewinload.efi starts the EFI boot loader. Windows 7 in most cases is installed on a disk with an MBR boot loader.

Windows 7 boots in the following order:download manager"bootmgr" file processes the available information in the boot store (BCD file), and this is the menu, display time, list of operating systems (if there are several), and so on, if the data is correct, then the operating system is loaded. But! If at least one of the files I mentioned (bootmgr or BCD) turns out to be incorrect or missing altogether, then we are guaranteed to have problems booting the system.It often happens that the integrity of these files is violated due to some reason (careless user actions, installation of third-party boot managers, viruses, etc.), in this case standard actions to restore the bootloader may not help and then it is best to delete this partition completely, then format and create the download files again. How can this be done?

We delete the hidden System Reserved partition (Reserved by the system, volume 100 MB) and create it again using the built-in systemdiskpart command line utilities

We boot from the Windows 7 installation flash drive. If you don’t find the ISO image of the seven, you can use the download. USB flash drive Windows 8.1 or Win 10.

In the initial system installation window, open the command line using the keyboard shortcut Shift+F10.

Enter the commands sequentially:

diskpart

lis vol (this command displays letters, numbers, labels, size and file system. BUkva partition 100 MB (C:). Volume 1. BThe partition name with Windows 7 installed is (D:).

sel vol 1 ( selecting the volume with which we will work - 100 MB (C:). Volume 1)

del vol ( delete the 100 MB volume).

After deleting a volume, an unallocated area of ​​100 MB appeared on the disk.

creat par prim ( create the main partition in this unallocated area)

format fs=ntfs ( create an NTFS file system on the partition)

assign letter C ( assign the letter C to the created partition)

activ ( make the section active)

exit (exit diskpart)

bootsect /nt60 C: /mbr (this command writes the necessary PBR codes to the hard disk ( Bootmgr) and MBR (NT 6.x))

bcdboot D:\windows /s C: ( create a bootloader for Windows 7 located on (D:),bootloader location (C:))

The download files have been successfully created.

This method is also suitable for those who have several hard drives, and they have an OS with a bootloader installed.

On these diskswe don't usebootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot toolsto update MBR and PBR codes. These commands only work on hard drive 0.

The bootsect command works with the disk that we specify. T The same applies to bcdboot.Without the /s parameter, bcdboot works with the active partition on hard disk 0. ANDThe /s parameter we use indicates the active partition of the desired hard drive.

Quite often, personal computer users encounter problems loading Windows. When starting a computer running the Windows 7 operating system, the following message appears on a black screen:

This problem is related to MBR boot record, which is located on your hard drive. At startup the system can't find MBR boot record, which is why this message is displayed. You may ask, where could this boot record have gone? There are several possible answers to this question. The most likely of them is virus attack, in which your bootloader crashed, or was even completely erased. The second reason could be system failure. For example, the power supply was turned off while the computer was running. In this case, files stored on the HDD or SDD, which are responsible for loading the operating system, may be damaged.

Restoring the Windows 7 bootloader using an installation disk or flash drive

At the very beginning, we will need a DVD with a licensed version of Windows 7. This disc contains all the necessary tools that will help us restore the Windows 7 bootloader. What to do if your PC does not have an optical disc reader. In this case, a bootable flash drive with Windows 7 will help you. Microsoft has released a proprietary program “ Windows USB/DVD Download Tool", with which you can create an installation flash drive. To create a bootable USB flash drive, you will need an ISO image of a licensed Windows 7 and a 4 GB flash drive.

If you have prepared a bootable USB flash drive or installation disk, you can begin restoring the bootloader. In our version, the bootable media is a flash drive. The computer used for bootloader recovery includes an MSI A55M-E33 motherboard that has UEFI BIOS support. To boot from a flash drive, you must press the F11 key when the system starts. After pressing the key, the boot menu will open, in which you need to select a bootable USB flash drive. You can do the same if you are booting from a DVD drive.

After booting from the flash drive, after a while the initial installation window will appear.

In this window we should select the item “ System Restore", after which we will be taken to the "" menu.

Next, we’ll use the simplest system recovery option and select “ Startup recovery" After that, troubleshooting and restoration of the Windows 7 bootloader will begin. If the boot record is successfully restored, you will see the bootloader window, which will contain your restored OS, as in the figure below.

By pressing the Enter button, the OS will boot as before.

The method described above does not always work. For those who were unable to restore the bootloader using the method described above, you should use the command line. To do this, in the menu " System Recovery Options» select the item « Command line».

Now you should run this command: bootrec /fixmbr at the command prompt.

After executing this command, it will happen rewriting the MBR boot sector. But There are times when malware can completely overwrite the bootloader and the rewrite command will not help. If this is your case, then use the bootrec /fixboot command on the command line, which will register a new bootloader on your system.

To see all the commands you can do with the bootloader, you should type bootrec at the command line.

As you can see, if the MBR record has been lost, then restoring the Windows 7 bootloader is a fairly simple task that most PC users can handle.

Preventing MBR boot record from being overwritten

Having successfully restored your bootloader, the next step is to ensure its safety so that overwriting situations do not arise again.

Most often, the main culprit for erasing bootloader files is viruses and various malware. Therefore, you should install antivirus software.

The best comprehensive antivirus products are the following antiviruses:

• Bitdefender Internet Security;
• Kaspersky Internet Security;
• ESET Smart Security;
• AVG Internet Security;
• Outpost Security Suite Pro.

Comprehensive antivirus products, thanks to their modular structure, are superior to conventional antivirus. Judge for yourself, by installing a comprehensive anti-virus package, you will receive:

• Antivirus;
• Firewall;
• Proactive protection.

The main purpose of an antivirus is to search for and neutralize malware. At this time Firewall and projective protection have the main task of protecting against network intrusions and new types of threats. That is, simply put, a firewall and proactive protection prevent malware from getting onto your computer.

We've sorted out anti-virus protection, now let's deal with preventing file corruption bootloader during a sudden power outage. To prevent the computer from turning off when the lights go out, it must be connected to uninterruptible power supply. All uninterruptible power supplies have a battery that keeps the computer running after a power outage. The highest quality uninterruptible power supplies are models from the following companies:

• LogicPower;
• Powercom;
• PrologiX.

By choosing high-quality uninterruptible power supplies, you will protect the Windows 7 bootloader from overwriting, and also extend the life cycle of HDD and SDD drives.

In conclusion, I would like to say that if your PC has a high-quality new hard drive installed, a good antivirus, and the computer is powered through a high-quality UPS, then you will not have a problem with the bootloader.

Video on the topic

Need good advice on how to produce Windows 7 Boot Loader Recovery, if restoring the startup using the 7 installation disk did not help. I’ll briefly explain what’s going on: Windows 7 was first installed on the computer, then the second system needed Windows XP, after installation it naturally started alone, to boot two operating systems I used the EasyBCD program. Later, XP was no longer needed and I formatted the partition on which it was located from Windows 7. Now, when loading, there is nothing except a black screen. What can be done in this case? More details if possible. Sergey.

Restoring the Windows 7 bootloader

Hello friends! The most important thing is not to worry, your problem is not complicated and, in principle, the simple “Windows 7 Startup Recovery” tool described in our article should help, but! If this article does not help you, then two others should help:

These articles describe several more good ways to restore the boot of your operating system, besides them there is one more, so try it and don’t just give up.

Let me remind you that you cannot install an older operating system after a younger one; Windows 7 will under no circumstances boot after installing Windows XP on a computer, since the latter overwrites the master boot record (MBR) during installation. Therefore, you installed an additional boot manager, which is used to configure the boot of several operating systems and, in turn, has its own bootloader.

1. I also want to say that file system errors are often to blame for unsuccessful loading of Windows 7; they can be corrected even if the operating system does not boot; all the details are in our other article." "
2. Friends, in this article we will work with the Windows 7 recovery environment, or more precisely, with the recovery environment command line. I will give you the necessary commands, but if it is difficult for you to remember them, you can. This will make your work much easier.

• The master boot record (MBR) is the first sector on the hard drive, which contains a partition table and a small bootloader program that reads from this table the data from which partition of the hard drive to boot the OS, and then the information is transferred to the partition with the installed operating system, to download it. If the master boot record contains incorrect information about the location of the system, then we will receive various errors during boot, here is one of them “BOOTMGR is missing press CTR-Alt-Del for restart” or we will see a black screen. The problem is being fixed restoring the Windows 7 boot loader.

When you uninstalled old XP along with EasyBCD, you left your computer to the mercy of fate with an incomprehensible boot record, and it gives you a black screen as a sign of gratitude. To rectify the situation, we will carry out boot recovery Windows 7, namely, we will overwrite the master boot record using the Bootrec.exe utility located on the recovery disk or on the Windows 7 installation disk (friends, if you have a netbook and you want to use the recovery environment located on a flash drive, then read the comments first). We will also use this utility to record a new boot sector, understandable to Windows 7.

Recovering Windows 7 bootloader automatically

We boot from a recovery disk or installation disk with Windows 7, in the initial phase of booting the computer, when prompted to boot from the disk “Press any key to boot from CD...”, press any key on the keyboard for 5 seconds, otherwise you will not boot from the disk

There is a short search for installed Windows systems and analysis of problems that prevent them from loading

Usually problems are quickly found and the recovery environment offers to fix them automatically. Click on the "Fix and restart" button, after which the computer will restart and boot Windows 7 will be restored.

If problems with loading the system continue or you are not prompted to fix the problems automatically, then in this window you need to select the operating system that you need to restore, you most likely have one and Next.

First of all, choose a productStartup recovery, it can also solve Windows 7 boot problems

Restoring the Windows 7 bootloader manually

If this remedy does not help, choose a remedy Command line

Enter the commands:

diskpart

lis vol (we display a list of hard drive partitions and see that “Volume 1” is a hidden System Reserved partition, volume 100 MB, it should contain Windows 7 boot files and it is this that needs to be made active). We also see a partition with Windows 7 installed, it has the letter D:, the volume is 60 GB.

sel vol 1 (select Volume 1)

activ (make it active)

exit (exit diskpart)

bcdboot D:\Windows (where D: the partition with Windows 7 installed), this command restores the Windows 7 boot files (bootmgr file and boot storage configuration files (BCD))!

"Download files created successfully"

Restoring the Windows 7 bootloader manually (method No. 2)

In the command line window, enter the command Bootrec and Enter

full information about the capabilities of the utility is displayed. Select the master boot record entry Bootrec.exe /FixMbr.

The operation was completed successfully. A new boot record is written to the first sector of the boot partition.
The second command, Bootrec.exe /FixBoot, writes a new boot sector.

The operation was completed successfully. Exit. Next, we try to load our Windows 7.

Friends, if the Bootrec.exe /FixMbr and Bootrec.exe /Fixboot commands do not help you, do not despair, there is another remedy.

Method No. 3

Enter the command Bootrec/ScanOs, it will scan all your hard drives and partitions for the presence of operating systems and if any are found, an appropriate warning will be issued. Then you need to enter the command Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd, this utility will offer to add the found Windows to the boot menu, we agree and enter Y and press Enter, all the found Windows are added to the boot menu.

In my case, two operating systems were found. Everything can be seen on the screenshot.

In addition to the above method, there is another one, enter bootsect /NT60 SYS on the command line, the main boot code, it will also be updated.

Exit

So, the error is that on both hard drives the first hidden System Reserved partitions should be marked with a red flag. On Windows 7, the volume of such a partition is 100 MB, and on Windows 8, 350 MB, these partitions have the following attributes: System. Active and it is on these partitions that the boot store configuration files (BCD) and the system boot manager file (bootmgr file) are located. And it turns out that these attributes are carried by other sections. Because of this, Windows 7 and Windows 8 will not boot.

Select the first hard disk 1, right-click on the first System Reserved partition and select "Mark as active"

The System Reserved volume will be marked as active. Click OK.

We do the same with Disk 2. Acronis Disk Director works in pending operation mode; for the changes to take effect, click the “Apply pending operations” button

Continue.

As you can see, after our changes, those sections that were needed became active.

We exit the program and reboot. The result of the work is positive - both operating systems are loaded one by one.

The Windows 7 boot loader stops working for many reasons - if boot.ini is damaged or you try to install XP along with the “Seven”, after which the latter does not want to boot. This is due to the fact that XP rewrites the Windows 7 MBR boot record. Typically, restoring the Windows 7 boot loader is carried out using standard system tools. You can use another tool, for example, Bootice.

The easiest way to restore the bootloader

If pressing F8 does not open additional startup methods and a troubleshooter, you will need to use a Windows 7 recovery disk or flash drive. From this drive, you will need to boot your computer into the recovery environment by clicking on the system recovery link at the bottom of the OS installation window.

1. The computer will automatically try to find a solution to the problem, which will notify you in the window that opens.
2. If the recovery utility copes with the task, all that remains is to reboot.

If it was not possible to restore the Windows 7 bootloader after XP, use the startup recovery tool, which, along with others, is part of the installation disk or flash drive. Usually these simple methods can handle simple MBR startup problems.

Editing boot.ini

Boot.ini is responsible for starting the system by default. If one of the operating systems is installed incorrectly or uninstalled, its non-working entry will be stored in the same boot.ini. It is located at the root of the system partition, so to edit it you need to configure your computer to show hidden files.

Sometimes boot.ini can be corrupted by a virus or some program could have caused it, after which the OS does not start on its own.

The fix is ​​simple - boot from the LiveCD and edit boot.ini using regular notepad. There are only two sections - boot loader, which controls the boot, and operating systems. There are several parameters to remember:

• timeout=10 - time in seconds during which the user can select the OS to start;
• multi(0) and disk(0) are parameters that must have zero values;
• rdisk(0) - number of the disk with the system partition (counting from zero).

In general, boot.ini with one OS should look like in the picture.

Using the command line to restore the MBR sector

You can get into command line mode from the same boot disk or flash drive by opening the system recovery tool and selecting the very last item “Command Prompt”.

1. Type the command Bootrec and then press Enter, a full list of options will appear
2. Write down the MBR sector, for which there is the command Bootrec.exe /FixMbr;
3. After pressing Enter, the computer will notify the user about the successful completion of the operation in the next line;
4. Next, carry out the procedure for writing a new boot sector by entering Bootrec.exe /FixBoot;
5. All that remains is to enter Exit and try to restart the computer.

1. Log in to the command line from the installation disk or flash drive;
2. Enter Bootrec /ScanOs, after which the utility will scan the computer for the presence of an operating system;
3. Write the command Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd in the next line, the program will prompt you to add all found versions of Windows, including XP, etc., to the start menu;
4. All you have to do is agree with this by pressing Y and Enter in sequence, after which when loading the system you will have a choice of which OS to load - XP or Seven.

You can also fix the problem with the MBR with one more command. To do this, enter bootsect /NT60 SYS at the command line, then Enter. Enter Exit to exit. This will update the main boot code and your systems will appear in the list at boot time.

In case of serious problems, it may not be possible to restore the MBR using the described methods, so it is worth trying to overwrite the files located in the download storage.

BOOTMGR is missing

The computer usually displays this message on a black screen when the MBR sector is damaged or deleted. The reason may not be related to the MBR, for example, if the BIOS settings on the Boot tab have been reset and the system is trying to boot from the wrong disk. But more often than not, it is the bootloader that is to blame, so we will describe how to restore Windows 7 boot.

The Windows 7 disk always has a small 100-megabyte reserved hidden partition for recording OS boot files, including the damaged BOOTMGR. You can simply copy BOOTMGR from the installation media and write it to this partition. To do this:

1. Open a command prompt from your recovery drive.
2. Enter the diskpart and list volume commands sequentially, after which a list of your disks and the letters that the system has assigned to each of them will appear on the screen. We are interested in the 100 MB reserved partition and the optical drive - drives C and F, respectively, as in the picture.
3. To exit, type Exit and press Enter.

Enter the installation drive letter followed by a colon and the command to copy the bootmrg boot loader to the reserved partition. It will look like this:

• F: and then Enter;
• copy bootmgr C:\ and press Enter;
• Exit, the utility will exit.

If copying to a hidden partition fails, the boot store can be completely overwritten. Restoring the Windows 7 boot loader is performed with the command bcdboot.exe N:\Windows, where N is the drive letter of the OS. After you are informed that the files were created successfully, you can exit the tool with the Exit command and restart your computer.

• write down the line diskpart in the command line, which calls the utility;
• to display all available physical disks, write list disk;
• select the desired disk with the command sel disk 0, where 0 is the number of the only installed HDD;
• to display all hard drive partitions, enter list partition;
• to select a reserved partition, write the command sel part 1, where 1 is the partition number;
• make it active by typing active;
• exit the application by typing exit.

As a last resort, you can completely manually delete and format the system partition by starting from some LiveCD, and then use the bcdboot.exe command to create the sector again.

Using Bootice

If Windows XP was installed after "Seven", due to the overwritten MBR sector, only XP starts and you do not have the ability to select a system after you turn on the computer. At the same time, both systems are fully functional, and you can return the startup menu very easily, for which you use the Bootice utility:

In the new Bootice window on the left you will see the OS boot list, to which you will need to add the missing “Seven” to Windows XP:

• click "Add";
• in the list that opens, select the line for the new Windows 7 entry;
• on the right side in the upper input field, select the hard drive;
• in the field below, indicate the section with “Seven”;
• click on save basic settings.

The program will notify you that this element has been successfully changed in Boot and you can exit Bootice. The next time you turn on your computer, you can already choose which OS to boot from your hard drive - Windows 7 or XP.

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