Fixing a Vista Boot Problem

Error: Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

I restored a partimage backup of Windows Vista. The backup was originally made from the partition /dev/sda2, but I deleted /dev/sda1 and created a new partition at /dev/sda1 with the same size as the backed-up partition. Then I restored the backup on /dev/sda1.

Upon reboot, Windows Vista couldn't start. Instead I received an error:

A disk error occurred.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

After many attempts, I finally fixed the problem. Here I show how I did it:

1. Put your Vista installation DVD into your DVD drive and restart your computer. When you see the message "Press a key to boot from DVD", press any key.
   
2. When the Install Windows screen appears, click Repair your computer.
   
3. You may see Vista automatically trying to detect a boot problem and fix it. When a boot problem is detected, you'll get a dialog with a choice to fix the problem or ignore it. Just cancel and close the dialog.
   
4. You'll be shown a window with many repair options. Open a command prompt.
   
5. Type the following commands. It is assumed that Windows is installed in C: Replace C: with the correct letter if it's different:
   

   chkdsk C: /f
   C:
   bootrec /FixMBR
   bootrec /FixBoot
   bootrec /ScanOs
   attrib -r -s -h c:\boot\bcd
   del c:\boot\bcd
   bootrec /rebuildbcd

   
   
6. Restart your computer and see if Vista can start.
   

Error: Winload.exe is missing or corrupt

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Install your WIndows installation disk and reboot.
2. Choose your language settings, click Next
3. Choose "Repair your computer"

File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000225
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupted

This problem occurs when the UUID of the NTFS partition is changed after resizing or moving the Windows partition with GParted or Acronis Disk Director. This problem can be easily fixed if you have a Windows install DVD. Put the Windows install DVD in your CD-ROM and Reboot your computer. Select “Repair your computer” and cancel Automatic Repair. Open a Command Prompt and type the following commands:

C:
bcdedit /enum /store C:\Boot\BCD
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {default} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {default} osdevice partition=C: