How to repair corrupt start-up files in Windows XP using CMD

Windows refusing to start after boot up is a very common problem and is often caused by corrupt or missing start-up files. When that happens, an NTLDR error message usually appears. Other times you are left with a blank (usually black) screen.

Now fixing this issue is very easy especially when doing it in command line (CMD).

Prerequisites

You need to have some knowledge of the windows command line (CMD).

This is what you can do:

1. Boot from a Windows XP installation CD and press ‘R’ to load the recovery console;
2. Once you are in, change directory (cd..) to the root of the CD drive and then navigate to the i386 folder (cd i386);
3. When you are in this folder, copy NTLDR to your system drive (copy ntlder c:);
4. Then copy Ntdetect.com (copy ntdetect.com c:);
5. The next step is to repair and   rebuild the boot configuration. Do that by running this command (bootcfg /rebuild), and;
6. Remove the CD and reboot the computer. 

If this doesn’t work for you then your problem might be with the boot partition.

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Bernard Sinai

Bernard is a writer, martial art enthusiast and geek.

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