subject: Windows Server 2003 Computer Doesn't Boot In Dual-boot With Windows Xp [print this page] Microsoft Windows operating system enables you to use its various versions in dual-boot configuration. You can run different versions of Windows operating system on a single machine. A combination of Microsoft Windows 2003 Server and Microsoft Windows XP in dual-boot configuration, is very popular and quite common, which is used. However, in some situations, you can not boot your computer with Microsoft Windows 2003 Server computer. This renders Windows 2003 partitions inaccessible and causes severe partition loss situations. At this point, you need to go for Partition Recovery Software to retrieve lost Windows partitions.
In a practical scenario, you may come across the below error message when you attempt to start Microsoft Windows 2003 Server in dual-boot configuration with Windows XP:
Windows Server 2003 could not start because the following files were missing or corrupted:
WindowsSystem32ConfigSystem Ntldr MISSING
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows setup from original floppies or boot from CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at first screen to repair
The boot process gets halted after the above error.
Cause
You may experience this problem if any of the below conditions are true:
You have configured your system as dual-boot with Microsoft Windows 2003 Server and Windows XP, and you installed MS Windows XP after installing Windows 2003.
You're dual booting Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 after reinstalling Windows XP.
Microsoft Windows XP doesn't detect extra startup features of Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. After that, Microsoft Windows XP replaces all the shared boot files of Windows (Ntdetect.com and Ntldr).
Solution
In order to sort out this issue, you need to replace the Ntdetect.com and Ntldr files of Microsoft Windows Server 2003. To do so, you need to boot your computer in Windows Recovery Console and use fixboot command. You can copy the boot files from I386 from Microsoft Windows 2003 Server boot CD.
If the above process fails and you can not replace Windows boot files, the problem can not be fixed. In such cases, you need to format the hard drive and reinstall operating system. But, this process causes serious partition loss and needs Partition Recovery.
You can Recover Partition using commercial Windows Partition Recovery applications. The applications use high-end scanning techniques to methodically scan whole hard drive and extract all lost, missing, detected, or corrupted Windows partitions.
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a safe and easy to use application that ensures absolute recovery of lost partitions. The software recovers NTFS5, NTFS, FAT32, VFAT, FAT16, and FAT12 file system partitions. It is designed for Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.
