NTLDR error on boot

Ok so I'm doing this for somebody else who has no clue about computers

So she wanted to get rid of some stuff, msn messenger etc... and when she rebooted she got this error: NTLDR missing file

She has really important stuff on the hard drive and I'm addressing myself to you, to know whats the best solution and what we can do to fix this.

If she doesn't reformat but reinstall windows XP will she lose her data?

Is it possible to get this missing file and put it on a disket or something on startup? Although I'm sure it's not the only file missing.

Thanx in advance

thanx for the posts guys/girls? 

DJ how can u do a system repair if she can't even go on her desktop? 

no it doesn't even go on desktop because this msg appears before

basically windows xp doesn't even load anyways i saw on the site what to do so hopefully that works for her

keep you posted

girlz pfff lol

 yes DJ that would be one solution but wouldn't this be safer...?

get an external hard drive with windows xp on it. Plug it in the laptop, go into the bios and tell the computer to boot with the external and not the internal laptop hdd.

Go into my computer and retrieve all the data

The big question is... can you install windows XP on an external HDD?

I'm affraid that this repair stuff will mess it all up

Thanx

Uranus and DJ's solutions are the best ones. The first thing you want to do when you get an ntdlr error is to try to repair the boot sector of the hard drive using the XP Recovery Console off of the XP CD.

Reinstallation is not required -yet-, but may be necessary if fixboot doesn't work. NTDLR Missing can be caused by a simple corrupted boot or it could be as bad as the entire drive is toast. More often than not when I see this error it's usually just a corrupted boot sector and is easily repaired. Follow the instructions on DJ's link and post back with your results.

If you reinstall, you'll want to backup the "documents and settings" directory to another location on the drive. A reinstall of XP (even without a format) can overwrite data in that directory which may result in her losing her profile. Still, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

-Byshop

 yes DJ that would be one solution but wouldn't this be safer...?

get an external hard drive with windows xp on it. Plug it in the laptop, go into the bios and tell the computer to boot with the external and not the internal laptop hdd.

Go into my computer and retrieve all the data

The big question is... can you install windows XP on an external HDD?

I'm affraid that this repair stuff will mess it all up

Thanx

Hatred_basic

That's getting into a trickier area. Better to start with the fixboot stuff first. Repairing the boot info from recovery console is a very safe and non-invasive repair. You don't need to worry about those utilities deleting data.

-Byshop

If you really want to make a backup of the important data before attempting a repair (which is not a bad idea at all) I would recommend taking the primary drive out of this computer and adding it to an existing computer as a secondary and backing the data up that way. If you are comfortable with that, it'll be -much- easier than installing a whole seperate copy of XP onto an external drive just to access your data.

-Byshop

hey bishop thanx for all the posts

okay for the first option they say:

1. "  1.  Press enterto start the Windows Setup.

    do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press  R", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press  R".  "

You told me though that i should go in the repair console. Is that just to try and change the bootini? and if  that doesn't work i do the repair?

Also for the second option the problem is that its a laptop so taking out the hdd is no solution

hey bishop thanx for all the posts

okay for the first option they say:

1. " 1. Press enterto start the Windows Setup.

   do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, pressR", (you Do Not want to load Recovery Console). I repeat, do not choose "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R". "

You told me though that i should go in the repair console. Is that just to try and change the bootini? and if that doesn't work i do the repair?

Also for the second option the problem is that its a laptop so taking out the hdd is no solution

Hatred_basic

My bad, I didn't read that link thoroughly enough. You absolutely want to use the recovery console like Howard indicated.

-Byshop

Possible Fix by reconfiguring boot.ini using Recovery Console.

 1.Boot with XP CD or 6 floppy boot disk set.

 2. Press R to load the Recovery Console. 

 3. Type bootcfg. 

 4. This should fix any boot.ini errors causing setup not to see the  XP OS
      install. 

 5. Try the repair install.

One more suggestion from MVP Alex Nichol

"Reboot, this time taking the immediate R option and if the CD letter is say K: give these commands

copy K:i386ntldr C:
copy K:i386ntdetect.com C:

last question , i hope ....

after the boot cfg it says step 5- try the repair install

i thought the repair install would be after the recovery console if it didnt work

is it possible to do the boot cfg command, if on reboot it still doesnt work then i put these commands:

copy K:i386ntldr C:
copy K:i386ntdetect.com C: