Not often, of course, but still sometimes, when the system boots, users receive a rather strange message on the monitor: Missing operating system (Windows 7). What to do to eliminate it, many simply do not know. Let's try to fill this gap.
Message Missing operating system: what is it?
So, consider the failure with the appearance of the line Missing operating system on the loading screen. What to do (Windows 7 on board)? First of all, do not panic. There is nothing particularly terrible here, of course, provided that the hard drive is operable and there is no physical damage to it.
To get started, you just need to translate the inscription. Roughly speaking, the line reports that the “OS” is lost or missing in the system partition from which it is launched. Naturally, there can be many reasons for the appearance of such situations. Consider the most likely. In fairness, we note right away that such a failure can be observed not only in the popular Seven, but also in any other system, and this, in general, does not depend on its modification.
Causes of a system boot failure
Speaking about what exactly could cause such a failure, you should pay attention to several of the most common reasons:
- The BIOS does not identify the hard drive as the main device with the operating system;
- The BIOS does not recognize the hard drive due to physical damage;
- The master boot record is corrupted
- the system partition of the hard drive is damaged;
- Windows installation media (disk or flash drive) is damaged.
Based on all of the above, we will seek a solution to resolve the problem for each specific case.
Problem: Missing operating system (Windows 7). What to do? The laptop does not boot. Simplest solution
No matter how trite this sounds, very often the situation is related to changing the BIOS settings, when as a priority device for starting a computer or laptop it is set not a Hard Drive, but another medium. Therefore, the message Missing operating system (Windows 7) is displayed. What to do?
Set the hard drive or logical partition that is the system (where Windows is installed) as the first boot device. The situation is simple: for example, if the DVD drive is the first, then the USB device, on which there are no system boot files, and there is no hard drive at all, the BIOS does not see where the Windows will be loaded from.
Another thing is when such a failure may appear as a result of physical damage to the hard disk. To check its status, again, you will need to enter the BIOS, then go to the Tools tab or something similar, where you will need to use the line for the Hard Drive Self Test hard drive self-test (of course, the names of partitions and commands may differ, but in in general, you need to look for something similar). If the test was successful, then the problem is not the hard drive, if on the contrary, it will have to be replaced or a special test will be performed with recovery, for example, using the HDD Regenerator package .
Missing operating system (Windows 7) error: what to do with boot record?
Quite often, the problem may be related to violation of the boot record, which is responsible for starting the system. Now it is in this perspective that we consider the failure of the Missing operating system. What to do (Windows 7 on a laptop or on a stationary terminal)? Restore boot record. But for this, you will need an installation disk or something like a Live CD to boot the initial interface, and then go to the command line through the recovery console. Note that a normal system restore from a checkpoint will not help here.
So, after entering the command line, you will first need to check the system partition, for which you need to register what is presented in the image below.
After verification, we add two commands to restore the boot record, as shown below.
Now you can try to reboot the system, after setting the system partition as a priority for boot, or simply remove the disk from the drive. If everything is fine, this can be done. But it also happens that this does not help, and the user again sees the line Missing operating system (Windows 7) on the screen. What to do in this case?
For the most correct correction of the situation, you will have to completely rewrite the boot record. We repeat all the steps to boot from disk and again we get to the command line. Add another command and make notes, as shown in the example below.
After this manipulation, the system should certainly boot without question.
Other problems
Finally, if we talk about other possible solutions to the issue, it is worth checking the system for viruses using bootable tools like Rescue Disk. Maybe the problem is a loose connection of the loops to the hard drive (especially if there are several of them). In general, the situation should be assessed. But in our case, the most frequent situations are affected, and, as we see, the methods for eliminating them are not so complicated.
However, if you give advice, of course, first of all, you should pay attention to the BIOS settings, as well as to possible wear or damage to the hard drive. As a rule, it is they who in most cases cause such failures. As for the issues related to boot recording, such situations are much less common, however, they should also be taken into account. It is possible that at some stage in the system itself a critical error occurred, for example, when the computer or laptop suddenly turned off due to power failure, power surges, etc.