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NTLDR – NT Loader

Webopedia Staff
Last Updated May 24, 2021 7:50 am

Short for NT Loader, a program loaded from the hard drive boot sector that displays the Microsoft Windows NTstartup menu and helps Windows NT load.

Often a user will see the message “NTLDR is Missing” after attempting to install Windows 2000 or Windows XP, or upgrade a Windows 95-based or Windows 98-based computer to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. The message appears after the first reboot. This occurs only if Windows 95 or 98 has been installed on a drive with the FAT32file system.

To correct the problem, the user must boot the computer with a Windows 95 or 98 Startup diskette or another bootable diskette with sys.com on it. Then, at the “A:>” prompt, type “sys c:” and press “enter.” A “System Transferred” prompt should appear and then the user must reboot the computer without the diskette.