Bootmgr is missing...can I join the club?

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Level 1

4 points

Bootmgr is missing...can I join the club?

I have a mid-2011 iMac27 with Bootcamp and Windows 7 Professional. It has the original 1TB HD setup as an internal TimeMachine backup, and a 500GB SSD that I added later. Both OSX 10.12.2 and Windows 7 Professional are installed on the SSD via Bootcamp. I use Windows infrequently, but I've been using it in this configuration for 2-3 years. I upgraded to 10.12.2 a while ago and just tried to boot into Windows a few days ago. This is when the problem arose...

Windows booted correctly, I logged in, and it immediately wanted to install updates. I said ok, and it began trying to download updates but I had recently changed my wifi router password so I canceled the operator to setup the new wifi config. I fixed the wifi connection and verified that it was working by opening a website and then relaunched windows update. As it was "checking for updates" the machine locked up...completely up. I had to do a hard reboot by holding down the power button. As it was booting, I held down alt/option key and selected Windows Bootcamp as usual. The Windows logo appeared and then it went to the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, and then rebooted, and then back to BSOD, and then reboot, back to BSOD, etc. I googled solutions and worked through numerous bootrec sequences, sfc /scannow, chkdsk, and even some fdisk terminal commands. Nothing worked, and then finally a reboot following a failed bootrec /rebuildbcd attempt brought up the "Bootmgr is missing" error which brings us to today...

The current situation is as follows:

-Holding Alt/Option while powering on shows both my MacOS and Bootcamp partitions.

-OSX is completely fine.

-I can select either MacOS or Bootcamp in Sys.Pref->Startup Disc and the machine will boot accordingly

-The Bootcamp partition mounts and its contents are completely visible inside OSX

-I have both the original Win7 DVD and a Win7 Repair Disc that I made on a different machine (have an identical setup in the office)

-Booting from either disc allows me to get to the Recovery tools screen (where I can access the CMD prompt) but none of the startup repair or restore/recovery options will work.

-My Win7 operating system is visible in the dialogue box following the language screen, but as stated before it will not repair.

I assumed that this was an Windows thing so I've been scanning those forums for solutions, but then I found several similar circumstances here that were addressed in detail by Loner T. Following those instructions, I've included several pieces of information that he requested before.

Thanks in advance to anyone who helps me out!

iMac

Posted on Jan 6, 2017 11:54 AM

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Answer 1

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 6:45 PM in response to Loner T

A windows installation was detected this time. 'Chkdsk /f' completed successfully and no problems were noted. 'bootrec /fixmbr' and 'bootrec /fixboot' both completed successfully. Reboot went straight to "Bootmgr is missing..." again. 😟

I had this procedure bookmarked, but I have NOT done this yet...ever. "Attempt 3: Nuclear Holocaust" is starting to sound appropriate! It's really just another variant of the rebuildbcd, but goes even further.

https://neosmart.net/wiki/recovering-windows-bootloader/

Try it? Do you think we're barking up the wrong tree?

And btw...THANK YOU for all of the help today! I can't believe you're still with me nearly 9 hours later now?!?

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Answer 2

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 7:47 PM in response to Loner T

Following the 'Attempt 3: Nuclear Holocaust' instructions solved the "Bootmgr is missing..." problem! The system now boots and takes me back into the BSOD boot-loop that started this whole fiasco. 😁

Loner T, I can't thank you enough for your help. I think at this point I should probably end this discussion thread and start a new one that's more specific to that issue though, don't you?

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Answer 3

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 12:38 PM in response to Loner T

The command prompt said C:\Boot\ when I typed "bootrec /rebuildbcd" and hit enter. I cannot remember what the fail message was, but I remember that it said windows installations found = 0 or something to that effect. It was the reboot after that when things failed. I have not used bcdedit.

I forgot to add that I'm resistant to do a clean install because I've got a copy of SolidWorks installed on it that has a license key attached to it. I really need to get one clean boot so that I can deactivate that license prior to doing a clean install.

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Answer 4

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 3:37 PM in response to Loner T

The bcdedit contents are still identical. I ran 'sfc /scannow' again and the resulting "system repair pending..." message shown above was displayed again. Rebooting takes me to the "bootmgr is missing" screen.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Jan 6, 2017 3:53 PM in response to spinsession

Can you diskpart and check which disk/volume has C: assigned to it?

From the OS X side, check if bootmgr actually exists. Here is an example.

ls -lgh /Volumes/BOOTCAMP/

total 10600184

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 0B Aug 8 02:07 $Recycle.Bin

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 4.0K Jan 6 07:53 $WINDOWS.~BT

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 0B Jul 30 2015 $Windows.~WS

-rwxr-xr-x 2 staff 116B Sep 9 20:42 AppleBcInstaller.log

srwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 0B Oct 30 2015 BOOTNXT

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 8.0K Aug 8 02:57 BOOTSECT.BAK

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 8.0K Aug 8 02:57 Boot

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 0B Jan 5 23:03 Config.Msi

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 0B Aug 22 2013 Documents and Settings

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 0B Aug 19 2014 Intel

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 48K Apr 27 2016 Logs

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 0B Oct 30 2015 PerfLogs

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 8.0K Jan 6 07:59 Program Files

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 4.0K Jan 6 07:59 Program Files (x86)

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 4.0K Dec 18 13:20 ProgramData

-rwxr-xr-x 1 staff 2.0K Aug 19 2014 RHDSetup.log

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 0B Aug 8 01:59 Recovery

drwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 4.0K Aug 7 19:25 System Volume Information

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 4.0K Aug 7 19:10 Users

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 24K Jan 6 07:59 Windows

drwxr-xr-x 1 staff 4.0K Aug 7 19:26 Windows.old

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 391K Oct 30 2015 bootmgr

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 3.2G Jan 5 22:58 hiberfil.sys

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 1.9G Jan 5 22:58 pagefile.sys

-rwxr-xr-x@ 1 staff 16M Jan 5 22:58 swapfile.sys

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Answer 6

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 5:20 PM in response to Loner T

While trying to solve the BSOD-loop problem on my own, I've followed this procedure to rebuild the bcd store from scratch:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-rebuild-the-bcd-in-windows-2624508

Had it fixed my problem, I obviously wouldn't be here but I do recall that it had an affect on the way that windows booted while I was working through several trial & error iterations. Is this something that I should try again?

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Answer 7

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 12:30 PM in response to spinsession

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Answer 8

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 3:06 PM in response to Loner T

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Answer 9

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 4:19 PM in response to Loner T

Bootmgr appears to be there, but 2010???

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Jan 6, 2017 12:14 PM in response to spinsession

Did you rebuildBCD on C: or X: ? Does bcdedit show the correct Bootmanager and Bootloader? What is the path which is shown when you get this error?

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Jan 6, 2017 12:36 PM in response to spinsession

Boot into Command Prompt on the Windows side and run bcdedit. Post a screen/photo of the output. Are there any entries for device or osdevice which are unknown?

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Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Jan 6, 2017 12:45 PM in response to spinsession

If you run bootrec it must be run on C: not X: (which is the external boot media). /scanOS should also be run on C:.

We have not reached a clean re-install point yet.

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Answer 13

spinsession Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 6, 2017 12:50 PM in response to Loner T

Should 'bcdedit' be entered at the C: or the X: prompt? Sorry...I can (probably) follow directions, but all of this is beyond my level of understanding.

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