Hello,

Recently I noticed some problems with my internet connection so I made the classic blunder of reinstalling my Win 2000 Professional Edition OS without backing up my hard drive. I have a P4 notebook, and some important files in it that I can't lose.

The reinstallation appeared to go smoothly in the Windows environment, until the computer rebooted in DOS. Suddenly I got the message unable to copy the files NTDLR and NTDETECT and a couple others. I was forced to skip these files. The reinstall process completed, and the computer rebooted again.

However, on the reboot, it says cannot locate the file NTDLR, Press Ctrl Alt Del to restart. That's where I got stuck. I reinstalled again and again. I used the Startup and Emergency Repair disks, but it still failed to copy the NTDLR and the other 3 files.

I did one last attempt - to make a clean installation on a new folder that I called c:\winnt_b hoping to keep the old data. However, many files could not be copied, such as driver.cab and many others. As a result, it was another failed install.

I also noticed that when I was at the DOS prompt, I could only access the C:\Winnt folder. I had other folders (eg, My Documents, Temp, etc) but it says I cannot access these folders. BTW, how do you type My Documents in DOS mode, is it limited to 8-characters? Is it My_Docu~ ?

I'm driven to desperation, will appreciate any help on this :(

Thanks a lot!!

Some additional information:

I have Win 2000 on my computer, and I reinstalled Win 2000 using the CD, which caused all the problems described above. I read a suggestion at Microsoft's website but that only relates to upgrades from Win 95/98/Me, and not a reinstall from Win 2k to Win 2k.

Also, I could not start on a startup disk. It straight away checks my CD-ROM, asks me to press any key to access the CD, and if I ignore that, it checks my hard drive and gave me the NTDLR error. I never got a chance to do anything with my A drive. I tried to change my BIOS settings so that it checks my A drive first... pressing either ESC, SHIFT, Ctrl, F8 but none of those worked.

And yes, during the Repair Installation, it asked me for my ERD, but that didn't work. Halfway through the repair it wasn't able to copy the NTDLR file and had to skip 3-4 files. Then the same situation repeated...

Thanks again!!

If you want to boot off the floppy drive first, you will have to set that in the BIOS.

Press [delete] when you turn the computer on and look for your boot options.

Let me know if you need any more help.

Craig

Yes, I did pressed Delete but it never gave me the option for booting. It just kept doing its stuff until it tells me to press any key to boot from CD. If I hit a key, then I'll go into Win 2000 installation. If I ignore it, then it says NTDLR not found, hit Ctrl Alt Del.

I tried Delete, F8, Shift, Ctrl... the usual ones but none of them worked.

But even if it does, how would it help solve my problem to start from a floppy disk?

I've read that some people experienced the same problem, it had something to do with FAT32(?) and upgrading from Win95/98 but mine is a reinstall of Win 2000.

Thanks,

If [delete] is not working try F2, there is a key or a key combo that should allow you to access the BIOS. Right now it is configured to boot from CD and then the hard drive. You need to tell it to check the floppy drive first if you want to boot off of the floppy.

Keep me posted.

Craig

In fact it should tell you on the POST screen....

Hit ??? to enter setup.

F2 didn't work too...

When I start the computer, it rapidly went through with information like
Pentium III...
...
NVRAM...
...
and other information about my harddrive that was too quick for my eyes to follow.

There was no prompt (if there was, it must be there for less than 1 sec) giving me the option to enter Setup.

Ok then. When you boot of of the CD how are you trying to copy the files to the HD?

When I boot from the Win 2000 CD, it asks whether I want to do a new installation, repair an installation, or exit.

New Installation:
If I choose new installation, it asks which drive/partition to install it on. I only had one drive available. It says it detects an existing OS in that drive, and warns me that I'd lose all previous information I have (I want to avoid that scenario). So I chose the option of installing it in a new folder, which I named C:\Winnt_b
Well, there were possibly 50-100 files that failed to be installed and I had to skip them. When the installation finished, the computer rebooted and I got the same NTDLR error again.

Repair:
It asks whether I want to do it via the Console or via the ERD. The console brings me to a DOS Command Prompt. I can't seem to do anything there.

In the ERD option, it attempts to install some files, but again it fails to install NTDLR, NTDETECT and a couple other files. On reboot, I face the same NTDLR error problem.

Suggest you find the motherboard cmos(bios) jumper and "Reset" the bios cmos (With the power OFF). Normally you just remove the jumper between pin 1 & 2, put on pin 2 & 3, wait ten seconds (don't start the machine) then return the jumper to pin 1 & 2. This should repair your bios, reboot and select whatever gets you system into bios. If all else fails read the motherboard manual or the pdf file on the motherboard's web site.

You need to expand NTDLR, NTDETECT and the other files to your hard drive from the CD.

The installation process failed to copy NTDLR, NTDETECT, etc into my hard drive, so I assume you meant manually copying those files from the CD to my C-drive? I'm not too sure how to do that. Perhaps at the console (the DOS Command Prompt) I type something like
copy d:\...\ntdlr c:\ntdlr ?
Is that how I do it? How do I find out where are the NTDLR files located?
Also, I find that from C:\>, I can only access the WINNT and WINNT_B folders. Apparently I don't have access to other folders.

Regarding the suggestion to change the pins, I don't know how to do that on a notebook? Will that mean sending the unit back to the manufacturer?

Actually I just noticed I made a typo... it was NTLDR, not NTDLR. I don't know if that makes a difference but it seems to be two different things there.

In any case, I went into the Win 2000 Setup Recovery Console again (which is sort of DOS Command Prompt). I tried this:
copy d:\I386\ntldr c:\
But it says Access Denied. However, I managed to copy this into C:\WINNT

I did the same with NTDETECT.com

I can't copy into C:\, but I can copy into C:\WINNT
But when I restarted, it still says NTLDR is missing.

i think your best solution to this problem would be to copy all your important files that u had on a disk. reformat your hard drive and get a new installation cd because the one you are using is either currupted or you are using a backup copy that has been used too many times.there should be no errors during the install due to files being "not found" you are talking about the blue screen right? with the yellow progress bar on the bottom?this is usually due to a bad cd. i have seen the same problem when trying to install from a backup cd that has been used to install a few times. (quality)
good luck

forgot one thing, sometimes on some bios's if you take out your keyboard plug and start up your comp it will give you a keyboard error and say "press ? to enter setup" this will tell you what key or keys to push to enter startup try it it might work.

That was a backup from home, I'm thinking of using the original to try. I'm afraid I cannot copy the files, because the only folder I have access to are:
c:\winnt
c:\winnt_b

All other folders - eg My Documents, temp, etc could not be accessed when I typed
C:\> cd temp or
C:\> cd My documents

and my stuff are all in there.

How do I allow access to myself there? I logged in as administrator when W2000 Setup gave me the option of Recovery Console (which looks like DOS Command Prompt environment)

Thanks,

You need to locate the missing files on your CD and then expand them to your HD with the expand command.

i.e Navigate to the \i386 directory of your CD and type expand ntdetect.co_ c:\ntdetect.com

I am not sure of the correct path to this file, but I will check when I get home from work.

Good luck!

Craig

NTLDR is your boot loader and your machine will not boot without it. You perhaps deleted it unintentionally and your only recourse if you don't have an image to restore is to do just like Paul said in #14. I did the same thing when I installed, tried everything (nothing worked) so just started from scratch, then got it right. HTH

I can't pull the keyboard plug out since my computer is a notebook...

I found the two files NTLDR and NTDETECT on the CD in the I386 folder as you said. At the prompt, I did what you suggested, but got the following responses:
D:\I386> copy ntdetect.com c:\ntdetect.com
Access is denied.
D:\I386> expand ntdetect.com c:\ntdetect.com
The file could not be expanded.

The same result with ntldr

Now why I cannot copy the file to C:\?
I was successful in copying the NTLDR and NTDETECT files to C:\WINNT but not to the root directory directly. It said Access is denied, although I accessed as administrator (earlier it asked me to type my password, which I did)

I figure my main obstacle is the NTLDR... IF only I could copy that file from the CD into the C-drive! Is there a way to unlock it so that I can copy the file onto it?

Also, if I could unlock it, I guess I can also rename the folder My Documents which has the things I wanted to keep, so when I do a full reinstall, it won't delete the contents inside.

Okay, installing win2k on fat32 isn't recommended, after it is installed and you convert to fat32 sure, no problem.

Next thing, for the bad copy fellow, try simply replacing your IDE cables, or check to see if that cd rom is scratched up really bad. It's probably just a cable, I have had the same trouble many times with bad installes, just replace the IDE cable and your good to go. Oh ya, and then sometimes it could be RAM causing problems.

Hey Misty;

I just joined the club with this problem. I myself have a laptop and am furiously trying to regain control of it. I've experienced the same problems that you have had. In response to your post on January 08, you can't copy any file to any directory other than your C:\WINNT due to security restrictions built into WIN2KPRO.

Although Pauls suggestion of copying your files to disk is great, access will always be denied if your files exist outside of your root system folders (sorry).

The problem exists with the MBR. FIXBOOT, FIXMBR and recovery attempt fail to recover the disk, which confuses me thouroughly. The only other thing I can think of is that the BOIS incorrectly reports the number of heads that the HD has. Only problem is that on a prebuilt laptop, you can't specify values for your hard disk.

Right now I'm trying to get my hands on a WIN ME boot disk over the internet to read my NTFS partition and copy the system files as (microsoft suggests) and attempt to trick the computer into thinking that there is another system installed. Reinstall (update) WIN2KPRO and cross my fingers.

If that doesn't work, get your hands on LINUX boot disks (they don't care what security restrictions WIN2K has) and mine/hack the files from your hard drive to an external source.

If THAT doesn't work I'm going to put my laptop to sleep with the polluted fishes in lake ontario!

I'll try to update you with any progress I've made.

Regards;
Alex

This is long and odd, but I would appreciate any feedback on the subject.
I am also having a situation involving NTLDR. I recently upgraded my computer (new mboard, ram, cpu), as I have done with many other computers. This time, however, after I had plugged everything in correctly and fixed the BIOS settings, when I try to start my computer it does one of two things:
1.) If my HD with WIN2k is plugged in to the motherboard, I get a NTLDR missing error right after the startup, before it even tries to locate an operating system.
2.) On another HD, I have a non-working version of Win98. When I hook both HDs up and set the BIOS to boot from the win98 HD first, it begins to boot like normal. Of course, the win98 is totally messed up anyway and it only makes it to the cloud screen (win98 loading) and sits there.
When I tried to install a fresh copy of Win2k on the win98 HD, it begins fine, but a few minutes into the setup it has to reboot like normal. When it reboots, it immediately starts to load win98 instead of asking whether or not I want to boot from cd or hard drive to continue the win2k install.

Before the upgrade, the same two hard drives were used in the same system. It was dual booting win2k and win98, but win 98 got corrupted and stopped working, but it was not deleted before the upgrade to the new motherboard. Win2k booted perfectly though and there were no problems.

Now, I have one hard drive that won't let me install an operating system, and one hard drive that gives me an NTLDR error before it boots. I have considered buying a new hard drive and installing it as the primary boot hard drive, with the win98 hard drive secondary, then installing a new copy of win2k on the new hard drive. If that works, I would delete win98 completely, then install the original win2k HD and fix it's boot file and make sure it works. I think this might work, but is there any other way (one that is shorter and less expensive)?