Recover damage Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation

In most case, normal Windows users seldom face unbootable windows installation as most user usually install windows in a single partition utilize all available hard drive spaces.

For user who play with multi boot loader like GRUB or partition the hard drive into few and install more than one Windows in each partition, they may face the problem if mistake make during installation or configuration.

Some common errors are:

1. When booting a windows instance, system prompt:
   
   BOOTMGR is missing
   Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart
   
2. When booting a windows instance, system prompt:

   File: \Boot\BCD
   Status: 0xc0000034
   Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information
   

3. When booting a windows, the window start-up screen shown but never complete the booting

The cause of the problems might be:

1. File BOOTMGR does not exist in root drive (e.g: C:\)
2. \Boot\BCD is corrupted or missing due to improper configuration during multi boot setup.
3. MBR has corrupted or invalid.

The most common solution is using Windows Recovery Environment to solve the problem.

Solution 1: Using Windows Recovery Environment with Windows DVD

1. Put the Windows installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when you are prompted: “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…”.  Windows installation service will start booting
3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
   
   
   
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt
   
    
7. In command prompt, type:
   
   X:\Sources> bootrec /fixmbr
   X:\Sources> bootrec /fixboot
   X:\Sources> bootrec /rebuildbcd
   
8. Remove the Windows Installation disc and Restart the computer.
9. Cross your finger and hope your Windows instance is back to normal.

Solution 2: Using Windows Recovery Environment in PXE environment

1. Boot your computer into PXE service
2. use “NET USE” to mount correct version of Windows installation share same as your damage Windows instance:
   
   e.g: net use k: \\server\windows.vista.share\
   
3. Prepare to re-start your computer as Windows installation service
   1. copy k:\bootmgr c:\
   2. xcopy /s /e k:\boot c:\
   3. mkdir c:\sources
   4. copy k:\sources\boot.wim c:\sources
   5. k:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 c:
4. Restart your computer
5. Refer to step 3 of Solution 1 to continue the Windows Recovery Environment.
6. If you able to recover the windows instance, you may do the following clean up task:
   1. Delete sources folder
   2. Start CMD in administrator mode and type
      
      attrib +s +h +r c:\bootmgr
      attrib +s +h –a c:\boot

Reference:

1. Microsoft knowledgebase: Error message when you start Windows Vista: "The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information"; URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927391
2. How to Install Windows 7 or Windows Vista on Physical Machine Without DVD Media; URL: http://keznews.com/5185_How_to_Install_Windows_7_or_Windows_Vista_on_Physical_Machine_Without_DVD_Media