Knoppix and missing NTLDR file?

[Rey Flores]

I have a pc with Windows XP Pro SP2. I got the following message upon rebooting "The windows\system32\config file is missing or corrputed." I have two copies of Knoppix and older 3.* and 4.* version. I loaded the the 3.* version and was able to boot into Knoppix without a problem. I loaded the 4.* version and I heard the DVD drive spin loudly and then got a missing NTLDR file message. I tried rebooting a few more times from the 4.* version but was unable to boot into Knoppix 4.

I took the same disk onto another machine with Windows Vista Beta 1 as the OS and viola it booted into Knoppix 4 without issue. Also the Knoppix 4.* disk had previously booted up from my Windows XP Pro PC when it was operational.

My question is why would I get a NTLDR file is missing when I attempted to boot from Knoppix 4.* ?

[Harry Kuhman]

I have a pc with Windows XP Pro SP2. I got the following message upon rebooting "The windows\system32\config file is missing or corrputed." I have two copies of Knoppix and older 3.* and 4.* version. I loaded the the 3.* version and was able to boot into Knoppix without a problem. I loaded the 4.* version and I heard the DVD drive spin loudly and then got a missing NTLDR file message. I tried rebooting a few more times from the 4.* version but was unable to boot into Knoppix 4.

I took the same disk onto another machine with Windows Vista Beta 1 as the OS and viola it booted into Knoppix 4 without issue. Also the Knoppix 4.* disk had previously booted up from my Windows XP Pro PC when it was operational.

My question is why would I get a NTLDR file is missing when I attempted to boot from Knoppix 4.* ?

You're not giving us good detals, but my hunch based on what you did say is that your 4.* version (why in the world hide these version numbers from us, it may matter if your 3.* disc is 3.1 or 3.9) is actually a DVD rather than a CD and that particular computer may have problems booting a DVD. Of my 2 systems with DVD drives, one boots that DVD fine just as it does with a CD; the other spins the DVD then goes on to boot Windows. I need to use Smart Boot Manager on that system to boot the Knoppix DVD.

Perhaps your delay in getting a response is also due to expecting others to do the basic homework on this. For example, it turns out that NTLDT is the boot loader for Win NT (http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/n/ntldr.htm). Sure, I could find this with a bit of searching with Google (http://www.google.com), but I shouldn't have to. Rather than expect everyone reading this post to track down such terms for themselves, you should have done the simple Google search on this tern, and if you already did you should have posted what NTLDR was in the same line where you introduced the term. The fact that you're seeing mention of this when booting Knoppix makes it obvious that the computer isn't trying to boot the disc once you know what NTLDR means, but it's not unreasonable for others to have seen this term, think to themselves "I never saw that term in Linux" and move on.

This also points out the clear benefit of booting Knopppix on a system before you have a problem with it, not afterwards when you may be in a bit more of a panic and when there may be some hardware problem that you don't know about (although in this case I expect this is just a perfectly normal and typical case of Windows suddenly stopping booting for totally bad software reasons). If you had tried to boot the new disc on this system before the problem you would be aware that that system needs special attention to boot the disc. When using Knoppix as a rescue disc that can't always be avoided, but it does seem like this is your own system and you are not a new Knoppix user.

I'm not clear on what you feel the main problem is. If you are concerned, as most users would be, of recovering something from your Windows box before you let the recovery disk have it's way with the system system and potentially desstroy important data, then why not use the Knoppix disc that does boot?

[Rey Flores]

Thank you for your reply although if you read my post I believe I did address the issue of using Knoppix before I had a problem with my system. Also, the reason for the * was that I didn't not remember the specific version while writing the post so there was no nefarious reason for "hiding" the version numbers.


I am not familiar with Knoppix or Linux in general and have only used it sparingly. I don't expect anyone to do any Windows homework for me. My expectations were that someone might be able to answer a Linux/Knoppix question or ask me for more details.

The Knoppix version 4.0.1 2005-08-16 is a DVD and had as I stated successfully booted up on my pc when my Windows XP OS was operational. When I got the registry corruption error, I attempted to boot from the Knoppix DVD to do some troubleshooting. I was surprised that it wouldn't boot up and that I received a NTLDR file missing message. I realize that the NTLDR is a windows message but knowing that the Knoppix DVD had previously booted up I was at a loss to why it no longer worked.

[Harry Kuhman]

The Knoppix version 4.0.1 2005-08-16 is a DVD and had as I stated successfully booted up on my pc when my Windows XP OS was operational. When I got the registry corruption error, I attempted to boot from the Knoppix DVD to do some troubleshooting. I was surprised that it wouldn't boot up and that I received a NTLDR file missing message. I realize that the NTLDR is a windows message but knowing that the Knoppix DVD had previously booted up I was at a loss to why it no longer worked.

Sorry I didn't track that you had alread booted the disc ok on this system. But it certainly isn't booting now, and Knoppix could care less what the state of your XP files are, so I am hard pressed to understand what is happening here. It sure sounds like a typical failure of a computer to boot a DVD.