I compared these to the bad VM, and worked through the differences one by one, until I found this magic byte. To verify, I did the whole process again, from the original image, and also again verified that fixmbr and fixboot made the problem worse, and were not necessary for the fix. I have NTLDR is missing – press ctrl alt del to restart error of nightmare. This type of error can sometimes be resolved by rebooting the system. If that doesn’t work, then the drive will need to be assessed by a professional.
- We have compiled a list of all viable solutions to this problem.
- Continue reading to find the steps necessary to restore your computer.
- When throws a file missing or corrupted error, it’s likely because one of the system files is corrupted or missing.
Once you are in BIOS setup, select the Boot tab from the list of options. Corrupt or incorrectly configured boot configuration data must be rebuilt. You can also arrange them in folders to make the desktop cleaner and free up RAM.
How to Protect Your Hard Drive From Corruption
For Windows 10/11, you can also use DISM command line utility to repair Windows 10/11 image. If Windows 10 is still in an automatic repair loop , you may read more need to consider more drastic repair methods, such as wiping and reinstalling Windows. This may lose your local saved files, so be sure to back up your hard drive before you begin. The tool is completely free to use and doesn’t require any installation. It comes as a zip file, and you can even run it from a USB drive. One thing I would like to mention is to check the Quick Fixes section of the Additional Fixes category.
If the Hard drive cables are loose or defective, a disk read error may occur. As a preventive measure check if each cable is intact on each end or if the cables are faulty replace them immediately. Some users reported that they were facing this issue due to external USB or DVD drive. There are chances that your system is trying to boot from one of these connected drives due to any modification in boot priority. If you also have plugged in any removable flash drives, unplug them and then try to restart your Windows 10. Once removed all these devices, check for the error howitstart
There are also great third-party software that can help you repair easily the majority of Windows 10/11 problems you may encounter, check out this guide and learn more. The built-in system restoration tool will revert your Windows to a previous version, therefore you can lose some precious data that was saved after the restoration point was made. You can always return your system to its pre-repair condition. To scan protected system files you’ll have to run an SFC scan before Windows 10 starts as shown above in this solution.
Method 1: Set Correct Boot Disk Priority
This guide is focused on devices running Windows 10, but Check Disk has been available for a long time, and the steps outlined here should also work on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. The Crystal Disk Info interface is barebones, but it’s simple to use and completely free to download. If you’re looking for a lightweight, budget application to track the health of your drive, this one is worth consideration. Reboot your PC, and after it’s switched off and on again repeatedly, pressing Delete, F2, F12, or whichever button the boot screen tells you, will take you to your BIOS.
Checking the hard drive in running Windows
Remove all storage devices connected to your system including DVD drive, USB stick, or an external hard disk. It’s possible that your system is trying to boot from one of the connected devices due to modification in boot priority. Alternatively, you can enter BIOS and change boot priority order and set it to internal hard drive. Another data recovery software, MiniTool Power Data Recovery, is also helpful for retrieving data from a corrupted hard drive.
