Copying NTLDR - Access is Denied

Greetings,

I am running two SATA drives in Windows XP Pro, and recently when I boot I get NTLDR is missing, press CNTL+ALT+DELETE to restart.

I was hoping I could just boot with my Windows XP CD, Press R for Repair at the first screen, then copy the NTLDR file over. However, when I try to copy the file, it tells me "Access Is Denied" Does this have anything to do with not logging on as Administrator when the Crompt comes up? I vaguely remember having to log on as Admin with no password on my older pc.

Anyway, is there a way to get Access to copy these files over? If I am not able to, what are my other options? I can't boot up in any mode, it goes to this black screen everytime.

One other thing, when I type copy c:\i386\ntldr it says "Access is Denied" as well, but wouldn't that mean the file is already located in this directory and Windows isn't finding it?

Thank you for any and all help!

Brent Wayne

 

My guess is you've got a syntax error.

I believe Recovery Console only allows you to write files to C:\ and C:\WINDOWS(and its subdirectories).

So make sure you have your syntax correct.

Ie. copy X:\i386\NTLDR C:\NTLDR **where X is CDROM drive letter**

[I personally would rename C:\NTLDR C:\NTLDR.old before using the above command] if it exists.

***********************
A normal XP installation does not have a C:\i386 folder. i386 containing ntldr is found on the install disk.

 

Thank you for your help.

I copied both ntldr and ntldrdetect.com files to the c: drive but i'm still getting "NTLDR File Is Missing" when I boot.

What I did to cause this whole thing, I put in my ASUS motherboard disc and tired overclocking at 5% and then I rebooted and i've had this problem ever since. Like I said, I have to two SATA drives stripped.

Thanks.

Brent

 

I had a similar problem recently on my editing computer which has several hard drives (sata and ide). I tried lots of different things. The one that worked was resetting the bios to 'load optimized defaults'.
I don't know why, but this cured the problem.

Other things you could try.

Download the software to make a bootable floppy or CD from http://www.tinyempire.com/shortnotes/files/ntldr_missing.htm

Or boot the computer with a Windows XP installation CD. Select the repair console and type 'FIXMBR' at the prompt.

 

One other maybe way off thought is because you have two drives is that XP is looking for NTDLR in the root (main directory like D:\ or whichever letter) of your second HD. If 12quid's link doesn't help, try putting a copy of the two files in that directory as well and see if Windows finds them.

******
I had this be the case on one install. I may have been experimenting with changing the location of the paging file at install time. But six months later I had no other explanation on how my NTDLR and other system files were on the non-OS drive.

 

Windows doesn't allow standard access to any of it's system files. To bypass this behavior Logon as Administrator or equivalent and start a CMD session.
( ie: Start=>Run=> CMD )
At the prompt type: ( substituting the drive letter etc. as necessary)
attrib -s -r -h C:\NTLR
This resets the System, Read-only and Hidden flags enabling you to copy the file.

 

Ok, I know this is in regards to an old subject, but at the company i work for they are still using xp.

And our I.S. department is chock full of idiots

So I had to figure this out myself. I did the following as is mentioned elsewhere:

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 disk. In the below example 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.

I kept getting access is denied when trying to copy those files.

so then I tried to change the access rights etc.. thinking it was that..

cd\
attrib -s -r -h c:\ntlr
del ntldr

I kept getting path errors or no such file...

also tried the fixboot and fixmbr as well to no luck

Ok... after alot of troubleshooting...

The big reason I was getting an access denied was because I was mistaken in which drive my cd rom was actually in. When I used the computer previously windows was C: drive, and the dvd rom was D:
so I thought I should be using the d: for the copy command. Ya know what they say about assuming... it made an arse out of u(the computer) and me.

to know exactly which drive your cd is in at the c:\windows prompt

type "map" (without the quotes)
that will tell you which letter is assigned to what drive.
I kept thinking mine was the d drive, and trying to copy from that kept giving me - access is denied.
after correcting that mistake, it copied the files with no problem using the correct cd drive letter. (in my case it was the f: drive all weird things)

good luck!

 

Im a retard .. Mine still says access denied .. what am doing wrong guys

PS: Xp is installed on the E Drive and the USB is the D Drive