How to restore the Windows XP bootloader? Step-by-step instruction. Programs for recovering the XP bootloader Recovering Windows xp boot files

What should an ordinary ordinary user of the Windows operating system do in the event of a so-called “bootloader crash”? How to restore it? Is it possible to fix this problem on my own? Let's consider this issue in detail.

Reason one. MBR corruption

A malfunction of the MBR manifests itself in the fact that when the PC starts, the monitor remains dark or displays several types of errors, such as:

1. Damage to partition tables;
2. Violation when loading the OS.

To fix these problems, you must:

Problem two. Boot sector damaged

Symptoms appear that are reminiscent of the previous problem, in which XP displays errors such as:

The solution to these problems is as follows:

Problem three. Error in the boot configuration of the boot.INI file

If there are no or errors in the boot configuration file, Windows XP NTLDR, even if it wants to, will not “find” the OS. This problem is characterized by the following messages issued by the system:

1. Suggestion for checking the boot disk;
2. An unsuccessful attempt to read data located on the boot disk;
3. Windows XP cannot boot due to configuration problems.

You can fix them as follows:

With the recovery console running, type “bootcfg /rebuild”. After this command, the disk partitions will be scanned for the versions of Windows XP installed on them. When the first OS is found, the “user” will be prompted to enter data into the configuration file.

Error four. System files are damaged

The so-called “blue screen of death”. To eliminate this “creepy” picture, perform boot recovery by finding similar damaged files using the Recovery Console.

Error five. Damage to the system registry

This problem occurs infrequently, but still. The system registry, which contains data about the launch of drivers, affects the start of the Windows XP operating system. If the SYSTEM partition becomes damaged, NTLDR pauses the computer and displays an error message. The files in the registry are unique. Therefore, restoring them by transferring them from another version of the operating system is an impossible task. The output is as follows:

1. When logging into Windows XP, type: rename c:windowssystem32configsystem system.old, ending with “Entering.” The damaged registry key will receive a different name, after which it can be replaced with another one.
2. After this do: copy c:windowsrepairsystem c:windowssystem32configsystem to restore the partition. The system should boot.

Many users believe that installing operating systems on a computer is the prerogative of specialists. But is this really so? We learn to install and reinstall Windows XP on our own.

It's no secret that communication between a person and a computer is carried out using the operating system installed on your PC. This is a primary and fundamental software component, without which it is impossible to imagine a modern computer. Unfortunately, like any other program, the operating system is imperfect, and over time, almost any user encounters a violation of its normal functionality. This can be expressed in a significant increase in the time it takes to boot the computer and open applications, freezes during operation, the occurrence of various types of errors when performing certain actions, or even a complete failure of the system. Such consequences can be caused by both incorrect actions of the user himself and the influence of various malicious programs that are available in abundance on the global Internet.

According to statistics, even if you operated your OS carefully enough and reliably protected it from virus infections, after 3-4 years 80% of users have significant reasons to reinstall the system. And if you still decide to do it yourself, without contacting all sorts of paid technical services, this article is for you. In it we will look at not just the complete installation of the WindowsXPSP3 operating system, but we will try to analyze all the main nuances that arise during the installation process. This approach will not only allow you to more flexibly configure the new OS at the reinstallation stage, but also avoid possible loss of important data.

Naturally, before starting the installation you need to have an installation disk with the system. Moreover, this disk must be bootable, i.e. the computer must be able to boot from it. As a rule, all original system disks or their images are bootable by default. In general, the installation of WindowsXP can be started in two ways - directly from an already installed system or by booting from disk. The second method is preferable, but if your old system does not boot or you are installing on a new computer, then it is the only possible one.

In order for the computer to start booting from the installation disk, you may need to make simple settings in the BIOS. The thing is that your optical drive should be first in the list of boot devices, which is not always configured that way. To check this, you need to insert the Windows CD into the drive and restart the computer. If during the boot process you see the message: “Press any key to boot,” then everything is in order and you can proceed with the installation. Otherwise, you need to go to the BIOS settings.

SETTING UP YOUR COMPUTER TO BOOT FROM CD

When you turn on the computer, as a rule, a short message appears indicating the key with which you can enter the BIOS settings menu. Be careful, as this inscription disappears from the screen quite quickly, especially on laptops. If you couldn’t see it the first time, immediately restart your computer using the Reset button and try again. When loading begins, a large graphic image may appear on the screen, obscuring the service inscriptions on the screen. To remove it, press the Esc key.

List of most commonly used keys:

• Desktops - Del (almost always), F1
• Laptops - F1, F2, F3, Del, Ctrl + Alt + Esc. In the case of laptops, keyboard shortcuts can be very diverse, depending on its model. You can find this information either online or by calling technical support.

Having found out the key responsible for calling up the BIOS settings menu, restart the computer again and at the very beginning of boot, press it several times (once is enough, but to accurately catch the right moment, pressing it multiple times will not hurt). If everything is done correctly, the settings window should open.

As a rule, the most common two types of BIOS are:

If your window looks like this, then you need to select a section here Advanced BIOS Features, and in it the paragraph First Boot Device assign the value CDROM. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.

American Megatrends BIOS

Or if your window has a gray background, like in this screenshot, then select the section at the top Boot and in the subsection BootDevicePriority in point 1stBootDevice Set the name of your optical drive. Then press the F10 key and select Yes in the dialog box that appears.

For mobile devices (laptops), BIOS programs can vary greatly, and it is not possible to list all possible options within the framework of this article. In any case, you should find an item in the settings window whose name is associated with boot (Boot) and in it set the optical drive (CDROM) as the first device.

STARTING INSTALLATION

After turning on/restarting the computer, if any Windows operating system is already installed on your computer at this moment, then after some time you will see the message “Press any key to boot from CD” on the screen. CD) which is what you should do.

Be careful as you will only have 5 seconds to enter the system installation. If the current operating system starts loading, it means that the opportunity to start the installation was missed and you should restart the computer again for the next attempt.

The Windows XP basic software installation screen will then appear, requiring your intervention only if you plan to install the system on a hard disk array (RAID) or high-end SCSI drive.

This is where you should press the key to install additional drivers for these devices, following the messages on the bottom line of the screen. In most cases, such intervention is not required and you should simply wait for the welcome screen.

On the welcome screen you will be asked to:

• Install Windows XP. Should be selected by pressing ENTER in case of a new installation or restoring a previous copy of Windows using the GUI.
• Recovering Windows using the Recovery Console. Should be chosen by experienced users to restore the system using DOS commands run from the command line. Allows you to eliminate minor system errors without going through the full installation procedure. Most commonly used to repair a file system's boot sector and master boot record (MBR); spot copying, renaming or deleting operating system folders and files; creating and formatting partitions on disks. The Recovery Console is called up with the R key.
• Exit. If you refuse to install, press the F3 key.

Select the first item “Proceed to install Windows XP” (even if you are going to reinstall the system) by pressing ENTER, after which a window with a license agreement will appear, which you must accept in order to continue the installation by pressing F8.

If any are found, you will see a screen with a list of these systems and a menu that will offer:

• Restore the found copy of Windows by pressing the R key. By selecting this item, you will have to go through the full system installation procedure, during which all system files of the old copy will be replaced with new ones from the CD. All your data, settings and installed programs will be saved. Recovery helps in case of damage, deletion or replacement of infected files or Windows system files.
• Install a new copy of Windows by pressing the ESC key.

You will not see a window with a list of installed systems if you are installing the system on a new computer/hard drive, or if the previous copy of Windows has a different edition or service pack.

The next step in the installation is to allocate disk space for the operating system. This is a very important point and should be treated carefully, and all actions should be performed very carefully.

RULES FOR HARD DISK DISTRIBUTION

At this point I would like to make a small digression and provide some useful recommendations for partitioning a hard drive:

• Don't allocate all of your hard drive space to one single partition. This is considered bad manners and can cause you a lot of trouble in the future.
• Modern hard drives have quite large capacities for storing data and therefore it is advisable to divide them into several thematic sections.
• It is recommended to set aside a separate section for installing the operating system and necessary software and not fill it with your personal data.
• You should choose the size of the system partition with a margin, taking into account that for Windows to work correctly, 15% of the space of this partition must remain free.
• Don't create too many sections. This will make navigation difficult and reduce the efficiency of distributing large files and folders.

DEFINITION OF SYSTEM PARTITION

Now, let's get back to the installation. From this point on, the installation can proceed in two ways:

Option 1: You have a new computer and the hard drive has never been allocated. In this case, the following window will appear in front of you:

The size of the unallocated area is the volume of your hard drive and, of course, it absolutely should not coincide with that indicated in the screenshot. To continue the installation, you must create a partition on the disk (system partition) into which the OS will be installed in the future, and specify its size. As a rule, for Windows XP and related software, 40 - 60 GB is enough, but not less than 20 GB. By pressing the C key in the window that appears, enter the required size of the partition to be created.

The size must be specified in megabytes. Calculate it based on the fact that 1 GB = 1024 MB. Thus, if you want to allocate 60 GB for the system partition, you must enter the number 61440 in the size field.

By pressing the ENTER key you will return to the hard disk partition window, where the created partition will be highlighted in a separate line indicating the assigned letter from the Latin alphabet (usually “C”), the file system - in our case “new (unformatted)” and its size. Below there will be a line with the remaining unallocated area, which you can divide in exactly the same way into the number of sections you need. True, it is not at all necessary to do this here, since after installation it can be done using Windows tools.

Once you have created the system partition, select it using the arrow keys on your keyboard and press ENTER, after which you will see a final dialog box asking you to format it.

Feel free to select the quick formatting option by pressing ENTER, since in the second case the physical surface of the disk is checked, which takes quite a long time, especially if the partition is large.

After selecting the file system, Windows installation will begin.

Option 2 - If the system was installed on your computer. Then your hard drive has already been distributed into logical areas, and you will see a window listing all found partitions.

Attention! All further manipulations with the found partitions may lead to the loss of your data, so be very careful in your actions. If you are not satisfied with the current partitioning of your hard drive, you can delete existing partitions in whole or in part by pressing the D key. Select the desired section using the up and down arrow keys. After deleting a partition, the area it occupied becomes unallocated, and all data located on this logical disk is deleted. When you delete several sections, they turn into a single unallocated area, which you can later distribute as you wish. The principle of distributing the unallocated area of ​​the hard drive is described above.

After all the redistributions or if the existing hard drive structure suits you, all you have to do is select the desired partition in which you plan to install the system and press ENTER.

If you chose a pre-existing hard drive partition with data existing on it to install the OS, you will be given several options to choose from on what to do next. Be careful, formatting a partition in any file system will lead to the loss of the data contained in it! The FAT system is outdated and it makes sense to format only in NTFS (fast is preferable). Once you have made your selection, press ENTER to begin formatting and copying system files.

If for some reason you still want to save the information located in the partition you have chosen, then you should select the “Leave the current file system without changes” option. In this case, all data located on it will not be touched. Moreover, if it was in this partition that the previous copy of Windows was installed (the most likely option), then the installer will warn you that the “Windows” folder already exists, suggesting that you either erase the existing copy by clicking, or select a new folder for installations. Here, definitely click, since anyway the old folder with the system will be renamed automatically and saved.

It should be noted that after such an installation, it is strongly recommended to manually clean your system partition, namely, remove a large number of duplicate files. The fact is that the Windows installer will not only save the old copy of the system, but also all the files of the accounts that existed in it. Of all this goodness, the “My Documents”, “Favorites” and “Desktop” folders may be useful for you. Everything else will turn out to be useless garbage, taking up gigabytes of hard drive space. That is why it is preferable to take care of saving your data in advance, and install the new system on a clean partition, pre-formatted.

This is where the installer branches end, and further installation proceeds linearly. After selecting a hard drive partition to install a new operating system, the copying of the main Windows system files begins.

Upon completion of the copying, the computer will restart, where you do not need to do anything, but just wait for the installer screen to appear with a graphical shell.

DETERMINING INITIAL WINDOWS PARAMETERS

In this window you can change regional settings and input language. By default, the location is already set to Russia and the Russian language. So you don’t need to change anything unnecessarily, click “Next”.

In the next window, you must enter your username (your name) and organization (optional). Click “Next”.

To continue the installation in the key entry window, you must enter the Windows serial number and license sticker.

In the window for setting the time and date, most likely you won’t have to change anything either, since the correct data will be entered automatically, and all you have to do is click on the “Next” button.

You will see the next two windows only if the WindowsXP distribution contains a driver for your network card.

You should not change anything here, leaving the “Normal settings” option selected, however, just like in the next one, where it is more advisable to select the name of the workgroup/domain after installation.

After clicking the “Next” button, the final installation phase will begin, and all you have to do is wait for it to finish. After a few minutes, the computer will automatically reboot, after which the first launch of the new operating system will begin.

COMPLETING THE INSTALLATION

When you initially start Windows, you will see several more dialog boxes. The first one will be “Display Options”, where you just need to click “OK”.

After automatically adjusting the screen resolution, Windows will ask you to confirm them, which you should do by clicking “OK”:

There is nothing to configure on the welcome screen, so just click “Next”:

The next step will be the ability to select parameters for automatic Windows updates, designed to regularly check via the Internet for the availability of all kinds of system security patches, critical updates and service packs on the official technical support website. Enabling automatic updates is desirable, but not required at this stage, since you can configure this setting more flexibly after installation from the control panel.

If network card drivers were installed during installation, then you will see two more windows: the first is checking and setting up your Internet connection, which should be skipped, and the second is registering the system, which is also better left for later.

The last parameter you will have to enter to finally boot Windows will be the name of the user account under which you will work in the system.

Finally, you will see a window informing you that the installation of the operating system is complete.

A complete installation of Windows XP can take from 15 to 35 minutes and depends on the power of your computer. Immediately after its completion, you should install all the necessary drivers for the installed devices, after which you can begin installing the software.

Reinstalling your operating system often means that you need to reset your computer. Nevertheless, due to viruses and hardware failures, the process of restoring the Windows XP boot loader may be required at any time. You can reinstall the system bootloader without losing any files. Some of the main reasons for its failure are viruses, hardware failure or errors while running XP. Is a faulty bootloader your only problem? Below are instructions on how to restore the Windows XP bootloader without reinstalling the entire operating system.

This bootloader is called the master boot record, also called the MBR. It controls the startup of the hard drive and allows the computer to turn on its OS. The downloader offers many useful features and improvements. It also has a powerful system for managing the device. Unfortunately, some changes to your computer or a virus may damage, change, or delete it. This may affect the functioning of your PC. As a result, it will either be unable to boot at all, or will start with problems loading some parts of the OS. The Windows XP boot loader recovery process can be done using the operating system installation CD or a recovery disk.

You can restore the Windows XP bootloader by performing the following steps:

Turn on your computer and install to run from the installation disc.

Launch the recovery console.

First of all, you should insert the Windows XP installation disk or disk into the optical drive and restart the computer. Now to boot the installed version of Windows, the PC will start from the CD. You must press the required key when prompted, and then you must wait for the program to configure itself to load.

Launching the Recovery Console

A message should appear on the screen that the installer welcomes you. Press "R" KEY. This will launch you to try to reinstall Windows XP on your computer. If an administrator password is required in Windows XP settings, you must enter it. Then select Then wait for the command prompt to appear and enter the Fixmbr command. Press the "Y" key when prompted that the "FixMbr" utility intends to overwrite the corrupted bootloader with a new copy. After this, the Windows XP boot loader recovery procedure will be completed.

Tips for completing the process

Remove the boot disk from the drive and select Exit from the command line. This command may cause your PC to reboot. This will allow the computer to load the new boot loader file, and you can then continue to start Windows XP as normal. It is also recommended to install anti-virus software to remove viruses and protect bootloader files so that the Windows XP bootloader repair procedure will not be needed in the near future.

operating system usually stored in the computer's external memory - on disk. When you turn on the computer, it is read from disk memory and placed in RAM. This process is called loading the operating system .

The disk on which the OS files are located and from which it is loaded is called systemic.
Programs can only run if they are in RAM, so OS files need to be loaded into RAM.
After turning on the computer, the OS is loaded from the system disk into RAM. The boot must be performed in accordance with the boot program - the OS loader.
The loading of the OS can be represented step by step as follows:
The computer contains a ROM containing programs for testing the computer and the first stage of loading the OS, which are called BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). Once the computer is turned on, these programs begin to run. Moreover, information about the progress of this process is displayed on the display screen. First, the hardware is tested and configured, then the OS starts loading. At this stage, the processor accesses the disk and looks for the presence of a small bootloader program in sector 1 of the disk. MasterBoot.

Master Boot looks for the main bootloader on the disk BootSector, loads it into memory and transfers control to it. Bootsector(boot sector) – part of the disk reserved for the OS boot program. This sector typically contains a short machine language program that loads the OS.
Next, the main boot loader searches for the remaining operating system modules and loads them into RAM.
After the OS has finished loading, control is transferred to the command processor. If you use the command line interface, a system prompt appears on the screen, otherwise the graphical interface loads.
Depending on the type of OS, the process of loading it will differ. The OS necessarily includes files responsible for the boot process. Let's consider the “work” of files in the process Windows XP downloads.

1. Initial loading phase.
2. System selection.
3. Definition of "hardware".
4. Configuration selection.

In the initial phase, NTLDR switches the processor to protected mode. It then loads the appropriate file system driver to work with files from any file system supported by XP (FAT-16, FAT-32, and NTFS).

If there is a BOOT.INI in the root directory, then its contents are loaded into memory. If it has entries for more than one operating system, NTLDR stops running - displays a menu of choices and waits for user input for a specified period of time.

If there is no such file, then NTLDR continues loading from the first partition, the first drive, usually C:\.
If during the selection process the user selected Windows NT, 2000 or XP, then press F8 and display the corresponding menu with boot options.
After each successful boot, XP creates a copy of the current combination of drivers and system settings known as the Last Known Good Configuration. This collection can be used for booting if some new device disrupts the operation of the operating system.

If the selected operating system is XP, then NTLDR finds and loads the DOS program NTDETECT.COM to determine the hardware installed in the computer. NTDETECT.COM builds a list of components, which is then used in the HARDWARE key of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry branch.

If the computer has more than one hardware profile, the program stops with a configuration selection menu. Once the configuration is selected, NTLDR begins loading the XP kernel (NTOSKRNL.EXE). During the kernel boot process (but before initialization), NTLDR remains central to computer control. The screen clears and an animation of white rectangles is shown at the bottom. In addition to the kernel, the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL.DLL) is also loaded so that the kernel can abstract itself from the hardware. Both files are located in the System32 directory.

NTLDR loads device drivers marked as bootable. Having downloaded them, NTLDR transfers control of the computer further. Each driver has a key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Services. If the Start value is equal to SERVICE_BOOT_START, then the device is considered bootable. For each such device, a dot is printed on the screen.

NTOSKRNL goes through two phases during the boot process - the so-called phase 0 and phase 1. The first phase initializes only that part of the microkernel and executive subsystems that is required for the operation of basic services and continued boot. Phase 1 begins when HAL prepares the system to handle device interrupts. If there is more than one processor installed on the computer, they are initialized. All executive subsystems are reinitialized in the following order: Object Manager, Executive, Microkernel, Security Reference Monitor, Memory Manager, Cache Manager, LPCS, I/O Manager, Process Manager.

Initializing the I/O Manager begins the process of loading all system drivers. From the moment where NTLDR stopped, drivers are loaded by priority. A failure to load the driver may cause XP to reboot and attempt to restore the Last Known Good Configuration. The last task of phase 1 of kernel initialization is to launch the Session Manager Subsystem (SMSS). The subsystem is responsible for creating the user environment that provides the NT interface. SMSS runs in user mode, but unlike other applications, SMSS is considered a trusted part of the operating system and a “native” application (uses only executive functions), which allows it to run the graphics subsystem and login. SMSS loads win32k.sys - the graphics subsystem. The driver switches the computer to graphical mode, SMSS starts all services that should start automatically at startup. If all devices and services started successfully, the boot process is considered successful and a Last Known Good Configuration is created.

The download process is not considered complete until the user has logged into the system. The process is initialized by WINLOGON.EXE, which runs as a service and is supported by the Local Security Authority (LSASS.EXE), which displays the login dialog. This dialog box appears around the time Services Subsystem starts the network service.

In some completely incomprehensible cases, the logical area of ​​the hard drive breaks down. The breakdown is most often logical in nature and, as it turns out, is easily fixable. In order to repair and return everything to its place, you can use some homemade LiveCD with Windows, but this is not a good way.

The best thing is to use the absolutely legal method that Microsoft offers us.

How to recognize a broken Windows XP boot area

You don’t have to do much with this, since it’s all done on an intuitive level, that is, you just turn on your computer, and it doesn’t go further than loading the BIOS. At best, it will show an error on the screen that the MBR area is damaged.

Recently, viruses have appeared that deliberately change this area and instruct this area to load itself instead of loading the operating system. The next time they load, they demand money from the poor user. As it turns out, this MBRL ock virus can be treated using the method described below.

This virus, by the way, can ruin all website promotion, since the optimizer will not be able to physically produce it, since the computer will be blocked.

Restoring the boot area of ​​Windows XP

To do this, we will need the installation disk that you used when installing the operating system. If you don’t have it, and you didn’t install the operating system, then you should bother looking for it, since every user of this operating system should have an installation disk with Windows XP on their household. Without it, you won't be able to get maximum performance from Windows at all.

It is best to use the original disk, since the use of all sorts of animals and game editions can bring other animals to your OS.

If you are a netbook user and you don’t have a place where you can put this disk, then you can mess up the boot one. You can also use it to restore.

1. Booting from the Windows XP installation disk
   Everything is exactly the same as when installing Windows.
2. In the very first window you need to click R. To make it clearer, this is that useless window when installing Windows XP, where you just need to click Enter.
3. We are waiting for Windows recovery mode to load. During boot, the startup wizard will ask you to specify your operating system (you will need to select the OS using a number) and, if you have an administrator password, enter it. After this, the Windows XP Recovery Console will appear.
4. In this console you will need to execute 2 commands in turn:

   fixboot
   fixmbr

   During the execution of each command, you will need to confirm these actions by pressing a key Y And Enter.

5. Next, restart the computer by typing accordingly exit, and have time to rejoice at the completely restored boot area.

Since Windows XP is more like a tank than a flexible operating system, after restoring the boot area you will get Windows XP booting without any choice, that is, if you had Windows 7 or some Linux installed, it will boot under it You won't succeed. There will simply be no launch paths.

P.S. I am more and more surprised at how convenient it is for writing articles. Previously, I used bare HTML because I didn’t see a sane alternative. Now I have discovered this marking method.