Recovering from a windows boot failure:

Symptom: When booted, the system responds only with "NTLDR not found. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart".

Solution:

1. Boot from a windows CD. Enter the recovery console by typing "r" on the first screen of the installer.
2. Check the root of the drive for the following files:
   • ntldr
   • ntdetect.com
   • boot.ini
3. If they do not exist, copy ntldr and ntdetect.com from the i386 directory of the CD to the root of the hard disk.
4. Run "bootcfg /rebuild" to rebuild the boot.ini file.
   • Bootcfg will ask some questions. Most are straightforward. The last one, "load options", should be answered "/fastdetect"
5. The system should now boot. If it is necessary, the boot.ini file can be edited by right-clicking on my computer and selecting "properties". The "advanced" tab has an item called "startup and recovery". This option allows the file to be edited.