“Bootmgr Is Missing” Error Fix – Windows 7

The Bootmgr Is Missing Error is a problem that indicates your computer could not locate your Windows installation.  The problem appears on your screen due to the inability of the computer to enter Windows either because the Windows installation has been corrupted, or the device is trying to boot up from a hard disk that is not properly configured or not connected in the machine. The error message will appear on your screen after the Power On Self Test (POST) and Windows 7 has just started to appear on your screen.  You need to resolve this problem to be able to enter Windows. This tutorial will help you fix the devastating “Bootmgr Is Missing” error.

What Causes This Error?

The error is mainly caused by a problem with the “boot manager’ file located inside Windows that may either be accidentally deleted or has been corrupted. The boot sector of the hard disk can also be filled with bad sectors preventing Windows from loading and making the error message appear. The problem can also be caused by a recent upgrade of Windows, outdated BIOS, loose IDE cable that connects the hard drive into the motherboard, and problems with some settings in your system. You need to perform a series of steps in order to identify the source of the problem and then repair it using your Windows DVD installer – which can be easily performed by following the steps enumerated below:

How To Fix “Bootmgr Is Missing” Error

Step 1 – Perform “Start up Repair” Of Windows

The first thing that you need to do to resolve the missing boot manager is to perform a “Start up Repair” of your Windows 7.  You need to bring out your Windows 7 DVD installer and insert onto your optical drive and then restart your computer.  You need to configure your BIOS and set your DVD-Rom drive as your first boot device.

The installer will ask for language and also keyboard layout information, which you must provide:

When prompted, choose to repair your existing installation:

The System Recovery Options will appear and from there click “Start up Repair” which will automatically fix problems that are preventing your system from starting:

Step 2 – Rebuild The Boot Manager Script

You can resolve the error by rebuilding the boot management script.  You can use the “Bootrec.exe” tool included in the Windows Recovery Environment to do this. Follow the directions below to fix this error:

Insert your Windows 7 DVD installer onto your DVD drive and then restart your PC.

When prompted, press any key from your keyboard.

Choose a language, time, currency and keyboard or any other input method, and then click the “Next” button.

Click “Repair your computer” and select the operating system that you want to repair and then click the “Next” button.

When the System Recovery Options dialogue box appears, click Command Prompt.

In the Command Prompt window, type “bootrec / rebuildbcd” and then press ENTER.

If the above process has been successful, the installation path of the Windows directory will be presented to you.  Type “Yes” and press ENTER to add the entry to the BCD store.  There will be a confirmation message to let you know that the entry was successfully added.

If the Bootrec process did not locate any missing Windows installations, remove the BCD store and then re-create it, which you can do by typing the following commands in the proper order and pressing ENTER after each command:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

bootrec /rebuildbcd

Reboot your computer.

Step 3 – Clean Out The Registry

• Download This Registry Cleaner

Windows “registry” is a major component in your system, but can be a potential source of serious errors including the missing boot manager script error.  The registry is a large central database which stores options and settings of every file and program in your system.  Windows needs the registry to be able to remember how to load the required file or program.  Despite having a significant role in making your system work properly, it keeps on encountering errors as a result of the way in which Windows saves the different registry keys in the wrong way causing them to be damaged or corrupted.

Registry keys can easily become damaged because Windows loads and saves several hundreds of registry keys at the same time.  It will just be a matter of time for your computer to accumulate serious errors, which you need to resolve.  To fix the boot manager problem, you should clean out the registry using a ‘registry cleaner’ program, which can scan your system thoroughly and repair the errors inside the registry.  We suggest that you get this tool that has been found to consistently remove 99% of errors and correct faults in your system allowing you to have a healthy PC again.