Missing operating system (Windows 7): what to do to fix the situation?

Not often, of course, but still sometimes users at boot up get 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.

Missing operating system: what is this?

So, consider the failure with the appearance of the Missing operating system on the loading screen. What should I do (Windows 7 on board)? First of all, do not panic. There is nothing particularly scary here, of course, provided the hard drive is working and there is no physical damage to it.

To begin with, you just need to translate the inscription. Roughly speaking, the line informs that the "OS" is lost or missing in the system partition, from which it is launched. Naturally, there can be a lot of reasons for the emergence of such situations. Let's consider the most probable. For the sake of justice, we note at once that such a malfunction can be observed not only in the popular "seven", but also in any other system, and, in general, it does not depend on its modification.

Causes of system startup failure

Speaking about what exactly could cause such a failure, you should pay attention to a few of the most common reasons:

• The BIOS does not define the hard disk as the primary device with the operating system;
• The BIOS does not recognize the hard disk due to physical damage;
• The master boot record has been corrupted;
• The system partition of the hard disk is corrupted;
• The Windows installation media (disk or USB flash drive) is corrupted.

Based on all of the above, we will look for a solution to solve the problem for each specific case.

Problem: Missing operating system (Windows 7). What to do? The laptop does not boot. The simplest solution

No matter how trite it sounds, very often the situation is connected with changing the BIOS settings, when the hard drive is set as the priority device for starting a computer or a laptop, but another medium. Therefore, the message Missing operating system (Windows 7) is issued. What to do?

To expose a hard disk or logical partition, which is a system partition (where Windows is installed), as the first device to boot. The situation is simple: for example, if the first one is a DVD drive, then the USB device, on which there are no system boot files, and there is no hard drive at all, BIOS and does not see where the "Windows" will be loaded.

Another thing is when such a malfunction may appear as a result of physical damage to the hard drive. To check its status, again, you need to enter the BIOS, then go to the Tools tab or something like this, where you will need to use a string to test the Hard Drive Self Test hard drive (of course, the names of the partitions and commands may differ, but in General you need to look for something similar). If the testing was successful, then the problem is not in the hard drive, if on the contrary, it will have to be replaced or a special test with recovery, for example, using the HDD Regenerator package .

Error Missing operating system (Windows 7): what to do with the boot record?

Quite often the problem can be connected with the violation of the boot record, which is responsible for the start of the system. Now, in this perspective, consider the failure of the Missing operating system. What should I do (Windows 7 on a laptop or on a fixed terminal)? Restore the boot record. But this requires an installation disk or something like a Live CD to load the initial interface, and then go to the command line via the Recovery Console. Note, the usual system restore from the checkpoint here will not help.

So, after entering the command line, you first need to check the system partition, for which you need to register what is shown in the image below.

After the test, add two commands to restore the boot record, as shown below.

Now you can try rebooting the system by first putting the system partition as a priority for the boot or simply removing the disk from the drive. If everything is fine, you can end this. But it also happens that this does not help, and the user again sees the Missing operating system (Windows 7) line 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. Repeat all the actions to boot from the disk and again reach the command line. We add one more command and make records, 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 options for resolving the issue, it is worth checking the system for viruses using self-loading tools like Rescue Disk. Maybe the problem is the loose connection of loops to the hard drive (especially if there are several of them). In general, we should assess the situation. 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, the first thing to pay attention to BIOS settings, as well as possible wear and damage to the hard drive. As a rule, they cause such failures in most cases. As for issues related to the boot record, such situations are much less common, nevertheless, they should also be taken into account. Perhaps at some point in the system itself a critical error occurred, for example, when the computer or laptop suddenly turns off due to power failure, power surges, etc.