Guide | How To How to fix "no bootable device – insert boot disk and press any key"

The associated guide may contain user-generated or external content.

Jack

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Thread author
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Jan 24, 2011
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If your computer won't boot,and you are seeing a no bootable device – insert boot disk and press any key notification, then you can follow the below guide to fix your computer.

How to fix a computer that won’t boot
Here are some common errors Windows 7 and Vista errors which this guide can fix:

  • no bootable device – insert boot disk and press any key
  • NTLDR is missing or corrupted
  • Ntoskrnl.exe is missing
  • Ntdetect.com is missing
  • BOOTMGR is missing or corrupted
  • NTFS.SYS is missing
  • Hal.dll is missing
------------------------------------------------------
Windows 7 only:
If you don't have a install DVD for Windows 7, you can download a legal copy from the below links:
Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River with 30 days free trial

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24208.iso > Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 x86 English
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24209.iso > Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 x64 English

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24280.iso > Windows 7 Professional SP1 x86 English
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24281.iso > Windows 7 Professional SP1 x64 English

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24394.iso > Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x86 English
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24395.iso > Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64 English
Make sure you get the same version you have installed: 32 or 64 bit; Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate.
------------------------------------------------------
How to fix a computer that won’t boot – Instructions
STEP 1 : Turn your computer on, booting from either your Windows 7 Installation DVD or Windows 7 System Recovery Disc. Remember, you may need to change the boot order inside your BIOS to have the your DVD drive boot first.

STEP 2: After the installation or recovery disc loads, if prompted, select your language settings and then continue. If you are using the installation DVD, when prompted by the following screen select Repair your computer.


STEP 3: The computer will take a moment now to scan itself for any Windows installations, after which you will likely be given a choice to select which installation you wish to repair. Select the appropriate Windows installation from the list and then continue. If by chance a problem is detected in one of your Windows installations at this initial stage, the system may also ask you if it can try to repair the problem automatically. It is up to you if you wish to let the system try to repair itself, but otherwise just select No.
STEP 4: Once you have reached the System Recovery Options screen, as shown below, you will be faced with a list of choices that can aid you in repairing a damaged Windows 7 operating system. If you wish to try the Startup Repair option first, it is often successful in automatically fixing many different start up issues, but in this article we will be using the Command Prompt option to resolve our problems manually. So, click Command Prompt to continue.


STEP5: Now sitting at the command prompt, enter the following command and then press enter:

bootrec.exe /FixMbr

If successful, you should be greeted with the message The operation completed successfully. That’s it! Your Master Boot Record has been repaired.

While the above command does fix the MBR, and sometimes that is enough, there still might be an error with the system partition’s boot sector and Boot Configuration Data (BCD). This might occur if you have tried to install another operating system alongside Windows 7, such as Windows XP. To write a new boot sector, try the following command:

bootrec.exe /FixBoot

If you are still faced with your Windows 7 installation not being detected during start up, or if you wish to include more than one operating system choice to your system’s boot list, you can try the following command to rebuild your BCD:

bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

The above command will scan all your disks for other operating systems compatible with Windows 7 and allow you to add them to your system’s boot list. If this fails, you may need to backup the old BCD folder* and create a new one in its place with the following commands:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
bootrec /RebuildBcd
*Some users also find simply deleting the boot folder and retrying the above steps effective at resolving boot issues, but it is not recommended.


How to change active partitions
Upon purposely changing the active partition on my system drive, I was faced with a BOOTMGR is missing error during my system’s start up that prevent Windows from starting. It is a common mistake to make when playing with partitions on a system drive and it can be a headache to solve if not prepared. To change your active partition back using the Windows 7 recovery disc or Installation DVD, follow the steps below.


STEP 1: Follow steps one to four in the above guide. This should take you to the Command Prompt in the Windows Recovery Environment.

STEP 2: Type DiskPart and then press Enter.

Step three: Type List Disk now and then press Enter. This command will list all disks attached to your computer and assign them a disk number.

STEP 3: Type Select Disk x, where x is the number for the disk containing the partition you wish to make active. Press Enter.

STEP 5: Type List Partition and then press Enter. You will now be shown a list of the partitions on the selected disk. Determine which partition you wish to make active.
You’ll see a list which will display your system partition.
(this is an example list)

Partition 1 OEM 39 MB
Partition 2 Primary 750 MB
Partition 3 Primary 297 GB < select the partition with Windows, which is probably the first one larger than 16 GB

STEP 6: Type Select Partition x, where x is the number of the partition you wish to make active.

STEP 7: Now, just type Active and then press Enter. That should be it – the selected partition is now active.


 

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Last edited:

Stigay

New Member
Oct 8, 2012
2
I was following your directions to remove file recovery virus and after running hitman pro I get the no bootable device error. I am using a netbook and have no startup disk (and no cd drive at all in fact). Any idea how I can fix this?
 

Jack

Administrator
Thread author
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 24, 2011
9,377
Stigay said:
I was following your directions to remove file recovery virus and after running hitman pro I get the no bootable device error. I am using a netbook and have no startup disk (and no cd drive at all in fact). Any idea how I can fix this?
Go ahead and follow this guide...It should work without any problems.
Good luck!
 

Overkill

Level 31
Verified
Honorary Member
Feb 15, 2012
2,128
NTLDR is missing or corrupted
Ntoskrnl.exe is missing
Hal.dll is missing

The 3 above i've seen before on my computers and normally i'd just re-install windows so thanks for this tut.
 

WinAndLinuxTutorials

Level 4
Verified
Honorary Member
Aug 23, 2011
2,291
Stigay said:
I was following your directions to remove file recovery virus and after running hitman pro I get the no bootable device error. I am using a netbook and have no startup disk (and no cd drive at all in fact). Any idea how I can fix this?

Do you have a Windows 7 ISO file? If yes, just use this tool to make it bootable from USB.
http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe

If you dont have ISO files, I dont know if I can post links to them. They are unactivated BTW.
 

Stigay

New Member
Oct 8, 2012
2
Thank you for trying to help, winandlinux tutorials. I went ahead and bought the windows 7 recovery cd as well as a CD-ROM drive, but when I boot with this disk, the only option is to reformat the hard drive and erase all my files, which I really would like to avoid if possible. I don't have a repair option that doesn't involve deleting my hard drive content. Any ideas?
 

dkelley45

New Member
Oct 17, 2012
1
STELLAR!!
Two days of trying non-working solutions and came across your post and followed steps and worked first time...I wish just about ready to call it quits and reinstall ..Thanks Much!
 

Littlebits

Retired Staff
May 3, 2011
3,893
Excellent guide, but in order for you to be able to boot from DVD you will have to make sure that your BIOS is setup where your first boot device is DVD/CD ROM.

A lot of the newer systems have their first boot device setup for USB Media as default in their BIOS and their second boot device for hard drive.

Thanks.:D
 
P

Plexx

Ok after having the Unmountable Boot Volume BSOD, no way I can use the repair console within windows. So I have boot from the DVD, and currently in command prompt.

Now this is where im stuck. I did a bootrec.exe /fixmbr and /fixboot but still no luck.

I will now attempt the chkdsk command but cant remember if this one is right: chkdsk /R C: or chkdsk / R C (i have 3 partitions, 1 OEM, 1 Recovery and One which is the OS. The only drive is C drive.

the path of the command prompt is x:

any ideas if that is the correct command?

Using my mobile since the other laptop has no battery and I still have a power cut...


Edit: C; points to Recovery... So i can assume it will be D the actual OS partition?
 

bitbizket

Level 3
Jul 26, 2011
250
Biozfear said:
Ok after having the Unmountable Boot Volume BSOD, no way I can use the repair console within windows. So I have boot from the DVD, and currently in command prompt.

Now this is where im stuck. I did a bootrec.exe /fixmbr and /fixboot but still no luck.

I will now attempt the chkdsk command but cant remember if this one is right: chkdsk /R C: or chkdsk / R C (i have 3 partitions, 1 OEM, 1 Recovery and One which is the OS. The only drive is C drive.

the path of the command prompt is x:

any ideas if that is the correct command?

Using my mobile since the other laptop has no battery and I still have a power cut...


Edit: C; points to Recovery... So i can assume it will be D the actual OS partition?

Fixed already?

I assume you are on Win7.

Should be D.

Chkdsk /R D:

Reboot for it to check/repair hd.

If still error.

Repeat process but this time try to fix the MBR with: bootrec /fixboot

You should be able to boot back into Windows.

:)
 
P

Plexx

chkdsk /r d: pointed to the os and got stuck on step 4...

staring again at the blue screen waiting for the window to access command prompt.

patience running low now :( temped to go for a full format and start from beginning of instalation.

if only i could schedule a chkdsk on boot i wouldnt need to go through this :(

Edit:

Was able to launch the repair console within windows, did a chkdsk /r d: and once again stuck on a %, but this time went further, so cancelled, did a fixboot and finally able to get back into windows to schedule a proper chkdsk on boot.
 

monstaslaya

New Member
Oct 26, 2012
3
When I get to step 4, nothing shows up in the box. From there, the command prompt and everything goes wrong.

Please help, I really need that computer. If nothing works, how can I find what model of harddrive should replace it?
 

Jack

Administrator
Thread author
Verified
Staff Member
Well-known
Jan 24, 2011
9,377
monstaslaya said:
Please help, I really need that computer. If nothing works, how can I find what model of harddrive should replace it?
Can you get at the Command Prompt?If yes,please follow the below instructions.
  1. At the System Recovery Options screen, make note of the drive letter assigned to your boot drive (normally C: ) and click Next.
  2. At the Chose a Recovery Tool window, click on Command Prompt. You will be sitting at X:\Sources directory
    Run SFC or chkdsk.
    • For sfc, type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows and press Enter (use the letter from above)
    • For chkdsk, type chkdsk c: /r and press Enter (use the letter from above).
  3. Let either run to completion undisturbed


Windows 7 only:
If you don't have a install DVD, you can download a legal copy here:Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River
Make sure you get the same version you have installed: 32 or 64 bit; Home Premium, Pro or Ultimate.
 

monstaslaya

New Member
Oct 26, 2012
3
Jack said:
monstaslaya said:
Please help, I really need that computer. If nothing works, how can I find what model of harddrive should replace it?
Can you get at the Command Prompt?If yes,please follow the below instructions.
  1. At the System Recovery Options screen, make note of the drive letter assigned to your boot drive (normally C: ) and click Next.
  2. At the Chose a Recovery Tool window, click on Command Prompt. You will be sitting at X:\Sources directory
    Run SFC or chkdsk.
    • For sfc, type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows and press Enter (use the letter from above)
    • For chkdsk, type chkdsk c: /r and press Enter (use the letter from above).
  3. Let either run to completion undisturbed

Nothing shows up at the system recovery optionsscreen, just a window saying there is an error and when I try to fix it, it results in an error.

Anyway I'm doing chkdsk now, so ill post again with what happens
 

monstaslaya

New Member
Oct 26, 2012
3
Tried it, nothing happened.

At step 4, the box is blank and a window offering repair pops up, but it fails and says there is a problem with the hard disk.


EDIT: I also tried reinstalling windows 7, to no luck. This is what it said:


img43011.jpg



And this is what is said when I tried to install it onto the two viable partitions:
img43021.jpg
 

Rolsen

New Member
Nov 25, 2012
1
Help I've followed the instructions above from the beginning and am currently looking at the System Recovery Options. I selected the top option buy do not get any operation system to show up. Any suggestions?
 

malbky

Level 1
Jun 23, 2011
1,011
You wont get a Operating system rolsen. What you get is black screen with some text and a cursor, it is called command prompt.
If nothing works try a sfc/ scannow from the command prompt.
 

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