NTLDR is Missing

Below are the full error messages that may be seen when the computer is booting.

NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart

Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR
Please insert another disk

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source

Many times this error is caused when the computer is attempting to boot from a non-bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM. First verify that no floppy diskette or CD is in the computer, unless you are attempting to boot from a diskette.

Note: This error has also been known to occur when a memory card is in a card reader and the computer is attempting to boot from it. If you have any card reader or flash reader make sure that no memory stick is inside the computer. Additionally, disconnect all USB drives, cameras, ipods, iphones, etc. from the computer.

If you are attempting to boot from a floppy diskette and are receiving this error message it is likely that the diskette does not have all the necessary files or is corrupt.

If you are attempting to install Windows XP or Windows 2000 and are receiving this error message as the computer is booting verify that your computer BIOS has the proper boot settings. For example, if you are attempting to run the install from the CD-ROM make sure the CD-ROM is the first boot device, and not the hard drive.

Second, when the computer is booting you should receive the below prompt.

Press any key to boot from the CD

Important: When you see this message press any key such as the Enter key immediately, otherwise it will try booting from the hard drive and likely get the NTLDR error again.

Note: If you are not receiving the above message and your BIOS boot options are set properly it's also possible that your CD-ROM drive may not be booting from the CD-ROM properly. Verify the jumpers are set properly on the CD-ROM drive.

• Verifying the CD-ROM cables are correctly connected.

Computer hard drive is not properly setup in CMOS

Verify that your computer hard drive is properly setup in the CMOS setup. Improper settings can cause this error.

Corrupt NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM file

Windows 2000 users
Windows XP users

Windows 2000 users

If your computer is using Microsoft Windows 2000 and you are encountering the NTLDR error. Create the below boot.ini file on the floppy diskette drive.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect

Copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files from another computer using the same operating system. Both of these files are located in the root directory of the primary hard drive. For example, C:\NTLDR and C:\NTDETECT.COM should be the locations of these files on many computers.

• How do I view hidden files in Windows?

Once these files have been copied to a floppy diskette reboot the computer and copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files to the root directory of the primary hard drive. Below is an example of what commonly should be performed from the A:\> drive.

copy ntldr c:
copy ntdetect.com c:

After the above two files have been copied, remove the floppy diskette and reboot the computer.

Windows XP users

1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard drive. In the example below we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter, which in this case is "e." This letter may be different on your computer.
   
   copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
   copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file

Edit the boot.ini on the root directory of the hard drive and verify that it is pointing to the correct location of your Windows operating system and that the partitions are properly defined.

Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32

If you are getting this error message while you are attempting to upgrade to Windows 2000 or Windows XP from Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME running FAT32 try the below recommendations.

1. Boot the computer with a Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME bootable diskette.
2. At the A:\> prompt type:
   
   sys c: <press enter>
3. After pressing enter you should receive the "System Transferred" message. Once this has been completed remove the floppy diskette and reboot the computer.

New hard drive being added

If you are attempting to add a new hard drive to the computer make sure that drive is a blank drive. Adding a new hard drive to a computer that already has Windows installed on it may cause the NTLDR error to occur.

If you are unsure if the new drive is blank or not try booting from a bootable diskette and format the new hard drive.

Corrupt boot sector or master boot record

It's possible your computer's hard drive may have a corrupt boot sector or master boot record. These can be repaired through the Microsoft Windows Recovery console by running the fixboot and fixmbr commands.

Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP

If you have tried each of the above recommendations that apply to your situation and you continue to experience this issue there may be a serious corruption with Microsoft Windows. Therefore we would recommend reinstalling Microsoft Windows.

If you are encountering this issue during your setup you may want to completely erase your computer hard drive and all of its existing data and then install Microsoft Windows.

Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard drive cable

This issue has been known to be caused by a loose or fault IDE/EIDE cable. If the above recommendation does not resolve your issue and your computer hard drive is using an IDE or EIDE interface. Verify the computer hard drive cable is firmly connected by disconnected and reconnecting the cable.

If the issue continues it is also a possibility that the computer has a faulty cable, try replacing the hard drive cable with another cable or a new cable.

ESC

1. Short for escape, esc is a key located on the top-left of a computer keyboard that allows a user to cancel or abort operations.

• Computer keyboard help and support.

2. Escape is also shorthand for an escape character, an escape is a single backward slash ( \ ) in Linux, programming, and regular expressions that perform a special function or to have a character treated as plain text and not a function. Below are some examples of how an escape could be used.

\*

The above example would treat the asterisk as a plain text asterisk and not as a wild card or metacharacter.

\.

This next example is similar to the first example because the period is also a wild card, which represents any single character. So, if you need match a period and not every character you must escape it.

\" or \'

The above example would treat the quote character as a quote character and not a beginning or end container. For example, in programming languages such as Perl this is required if you're printing text to a file or the screen that contains a quote. In other words, the command print "This is a \" quote."; would print This is a " quote without escaping the quote in the middle you would receive an error.

\

When a filename or directory needs a space in Linux you can use a backward slash followed by a space, to escape the space in a name. If this isn't done, Linux will treat anything after the space as an option or additional command.

\n

Finally, escape characters are also used in escape sequences, to create a function or command. For example, the above \n would create a newline character to the file or screen. See our escape sequence definition for additional examples.

3. Short for escalation, esc is used to describe or refer to an escalation number dealing with an important customer related issue.

What are the F1 through F12 keys?

Commonly known as function keys, F1 through F12 may have a variety of different uses or no use at all. The operating system installed on the computer and the software program currently open can change how each of these keys operate. A program is capable of not only using each of the function keys, but also combining the function keys with the ALT or CTRL key. For example, Microsoft Windows users can press ALT + F4 to close the program currently active.

Note: Some keyboards include additional functions on the function keys, which can be activated by pressing the FN key, usually located near the CTRL key, and the appropriate function key. The additional functions available with the use of the FN key will differ depending on the type and brand of keyboard being used.

If your keyboard does not have a row of function keys, they are probably set up as secondary functions on other keys. Some laptop keyboards are set up this way to save space. They can be activated by pressing another key plus the key with the secondary F key functionality.
Below is a short-listing of some of the common functions of the functions keys. As mentioned above not all programs support function keys and may perform different tasks then those mentioned below. If you are looking for more specific shortcut keys and function key examples, we suggest seeing our shortcut key page.

F1

• Almost always used as the help key, almost every program opens a help screen when this key is pressed.
• Enter CMOS Setup.
• Windows Key + F1 would open the Microsoft Windows help and support center.
• Open the Task Pane.

F2

• In Windows renames a highlighted icon, file, or folder in all versions of Windows.
• Alt + Ctrl + F2 opens document window in Microsoft Word.
• Ctrl + F2 displays the print preview window in Microsoft Word.
• Quickly rename a selected file or folder.
• Enter CMOS Setup.

F3

• Often opens a search feature for many programs including Microsoft Windows when at the Windows Desktop..
• In MS-DOS or Windows command line F3 will repeat the last command.
• Shift + F3 will change the text in Microsoft Word from upper to lower case or a capital letter at the beginning of every word.
• Windows Key + F3 opens the Advanced find window in Microsoft Outlook.
• Open Mission Control on an Apple computer running Mac OS X.

F4

• Open find window in Windows 95 to XP.
• Open the address bar in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.
• Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
• Alt + F4 closes the program window currently active in Microsoft Windows.
• Ctrl + F4 closes the open window within the current active window in Microsoft Windows.

F5

• In all modern Internet browsers, pressing F5 will refresh or reload the page or document window.
• Open the find, replace, and go to window in Microsoft Word.
• Starts a slideshow in PowerPoint.

F6

• Move the cursor to the Address bar in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and most other Internet browsers.
• Ctrl + Shift + F6 opens to another open Microsoft Word document.

F7

• Commonly used to spell check and grammar check a document in Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, etc.
• Shift + F7 runs a Thesaurus check on the word highlighted.
• Turns on Caret browsing in Mozilla Firefox.

F8

• Function key used to enter the Windows startup menu, commonly used to access Windows Safe Mode.
• Used by some computers to access the Windows Recovery system, but may require a Windows installation CD
• Displays a thumbnail image for all workspaces in Mac OS

F9

• Refresh document in Microsoft Word.
• Send and receive e-mail in Microsoft Outlook.
• Opens the Measurements toolbar in Quark 5.0.
• With Mac OS 10.3 or later, displays a thumbnail for each window in a single workspace.
• Using the Fn key and F9 at the same time opens Mission Control on an Apple computer running Mac OS X.

F10

• In Microsoft Windows activates the menu bar of an open application.
• Shift + F10 is the same as right-clicking on a highlighted icon, file, or Internet link.
• Access the hidden recovery partition on HP and Sony computers.
• Enter CMOS Setup.
• With Mac OS 10.3 or later, shows all open Windows for the active program.

F11

• Enter and exit full screen mode in all modern Internet browsers.
• Ctrl + F11 as computer is starting to access the hidden recovery partition on many Dell computers.
• Access the hidden recovery partition on eMachines, Gateway, and Lenovo computers.
• With Mac OS 10.4 or later, hides all open windows and shows the Desktop.

F12

• Open the Save as window in Microsoft Word.
• Ctrl + F12 opens a document In Word.
• Shift + F12 saves the Microsoft Word document (like Ctrl + S).
• Ctrl + Shift + F12 prints a document in Microsoft Word.
• Preview a page in Microsoft Expression Web.
• Open Firebug or browser debug tool.
• With an Apple running Mac OS 10.4 or later, F12 shows or hides the Dashboard.
• Access the list of bootable devices on a computer at startup, allowing you to select a different device to boot from (Hard drive, CD or DVD drive, Floppy drive, USB drive, Network)

F13 - F24

Early IBM computers also had keyboards with F13 through F24 keys. However, because these keyboards are no longer used, they are not listed on this page.