Troubleshooting NTLDR Missing in XP

Boot Loader or NT Loader or NTLDR is a program necessary for XP, Win 2003 Server, Win 200, and Win NT 4.0 to boot up or make boot selections. These NT based operating systems requires two files for booting up, namely NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM. If or either NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM is or are missing or corrupted, the operating system reports after POST a text string indicating that your Operating System can't be loaded.

Corrupted or missing NTLDR or and NTDETECT.COM is caused by either hardware or software problem. IF hardware related, the power supply or the hard drive should the most probable cause of the problem. And in some instances, a virus attack could have done the fault.

In order to fix "NTLDR Missing", we will make the process easy by using a utility called Hiren. Hiren is a bootable CD that contains many useful utilities including Mini XP. We will be using Mini Cp in this tutorial thru using Hiren's CD. You must also have your original Win XP installer.

Steps to fix "NTLDR Missing" in Xp

1. Change the boot sequence in your BIOS by pressing DEL or F2 after turning on the computer. Go to the Boot options and make your DVD ROM or CD ROM the first boot priority. Load the Hiren CD into your optical drive and press F10 to save and exit.

2. As the computer boots up it will show you a splash screen with options, choose boot from Mini Xp. Upon booting from Mini Xp, you will actually be using your RAM as the main drive. Wait until Mini XP fully boots up and be functional.

3. In the Mini XP environment you will see that it is not so different with the normal XP. Now go to "My Computer" and locate the drive which you have installed XP which is usually at drive C: by default. Try to browse the files and find both NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM, we will be replacing these files in the next step below.

4. Eject Hiren's CD from the drive and replace it with you Win XP CD. Go to "My Computer" and explore the contents of your Win Xp cd. Got to the I386 folder then find and copy NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM and paste it in your Drive C:. You should replace the existing NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files of your Local Drive C: from the two files we copied from your Win Xp installer.

5. Eject the Win Xp installer. Restart your computer. You should be able to fix "NTLDR Missing" after.

6. If it doesn't work, please comment so we can trace which part you did miss.