The laptop operating system was not found. Why the operating system is not found and the hard drive does not boot

Operating system not found - This error means that the computer cannot find Windows and your computer is unable to find and load the Windows installation because there is a hardware or software problem.

Laptops when they cannot find the operating system create additional complications compared to desktop computers because they have fewer emergency options and do not have hardware options to return if a problem arises.

Failure to Boot Record

The hard disk of the computer has a "Master Boot Record" integrated during the Windows installation, which, after the BIOS, controls the system boot process of the operating system.

Most laptops are equipped with a "recovery partition" most often configured on a hard drive, less often on a DVD.

When booting from partition recovery, you need to run the "Automatic recovery" option in the "System Restore" menu, Windows will be able to recover the MBR.

You can also fix the operating system by reinstalling Windows if the "automatic repair" fails to fix the MBR.

Bad BIOS configuration

- this is the first thing your computer turns to when it turns on, configures the hardware and prepares it to load the operating system.

Bad BIOS configuration can cause the computer to ignore the hard drive, resulting in an "OS not found" error.

You can enter the BIOS by pressing the "Setup" key, which is usually displayed on the boot screen - if the computer does not detect it, then press the F1, F2, F8, Esc, or Delete keys.

After entering the BIOS, select the "Restore Defaults" option and the laptop will recognize the hard drive again.

Some BIOS errors require you to reset the BIOS by removing the CMOS battery. This process can be much more difficult on laptops because it may require removing the keyboard and the entire case to access the battery.

The operating system is damaged

The laptop may show an "OS not found" error if the OS boot is corrupted. Malware, viruses, and hardware errors can crack the code needed to identify and boot Windows.

Installation corruption can be repaired by running the "automatic repair" tool or "" - this can be found in partition recovery or by booting from the Windows installation disc.

In the worst case, reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows from scratch can fix this problem.

Hard drive and motherboard failure

The laptop may not be able to boot Windows because the hard drive or motherboard is damaged.

Laptops present a more difficult test problem in this case because they only have one place to plug in the hard drive.

So if the motherboard port is out of order, it must be replaced. If the hard drive makes clicking sounds, it is most likely broken and needs to be replaced.

You can test the hard drive for health by removing it from your laptop and connecting it to another computer either internally or through an external enclosure.

If another computer cannot recognize the hard drive, then most likely its system is broken, but if the computer sees it, then the problem is most likely in the motherboard of your laptop - it will have to be repaired. Good luck.

Hello admin, an inscription appears on the monitor when the computer boots Operating System not foun d, the error appeared after trying to overclock the computer's processor. I tried to find an answer on various forums on the Internet, basically it is advised to reset the UEFI BIOS settings to default and boot from the "kolobok" and see if the operating system files are in place, it is also advised to plug the information cable connecting the hard drive to the motherboard.
Gingerbread man, I don't know what it is (this is a Live CD-note. Administrator), but the cable did not overplug it, but even changed it and tried to connect it to other SATA connectors on the motherboard, but it did not help. What else can you do?

Operating System not found

Hello, friends! Since I work in a regular service center, I often deal with this problem. And in this article I will just give real examples of this error and tell you how to deal with them. This error comes out Operating System not found(no operating system files found) or other (reboot and select the correct boot device or insert bootable media) for reasons that can be divided into two parts. Basically, this error is associated with "iron" problems: a SATA data cable, a faulty hard drive, an incorrect BIOS setting, and even a faulty power supply unit. But this error can also appear due to various violations in the boot sector of the hard disk and the boot files of the Windows operating system itself.

Firstly, the Operating System not found error may appear due to the fact that the BIOS has incorrectly set the boot priority of the computer, that is, the boot is not set from the hard disk on which the operating system is installed, but from DVD-ROM or even from FDD (floppy -disk drive), remember what the last actions you performed with your computer, maybe yesterday you changed the priority of the boot device in the BIOS and booted your laptop from a USB flash drive, then forgot to set the boot from the hard drive, as a result, the next time you boot the computer or laptop, it may exit Operating System not found error. and set the priority to boot from the hard disk. Secondly, pay attention to whether a flash drive is connected to your computer or laptop, it is quite possible that the computer wants to boot from it, but it is not bootable at all. Thirdly, maybe you recently disconnected your hard drive and went with it to your friends to exchange files, check with the computer turned off if your hard drive is securely connected with a SATA data cable to the connector on the motherboard, if there is another SATA cable, try using it or simply plug the hard drive into another SATA port on the motherboard.

Fourthly, immediately after installing the operating system, many users without the appropriate knowledge begin to experiment with BIOS, who wants to overclock the processor, and who just "study" the new BIOS UEFI, and who needs to set the computer to boot from a disk or flash drive. As a result, users very much change the initial and workable BIOS settings, but not everyone knows how to return them to their original position.

A simple example related to our mistake: in almost any BIOS, including the most modern UEFI, there is an option responsible for the operation of the hard disk controller, in most cases it is called "SATA Configuration" or SATA Configuration, this option can be in the AHCI or IDE position. So, AHCI is a modern technology for operating hard drives and solid-state drives SSD of the SATA II and SATA III interface. On all modern UEFI BIOS, the SATA Configuration option is set to AHCI by default and it turns out that when you install the Windows operating system on a new computer or laptop, AHCI is enabled. After installing the operating system, some users accidentally or intentionally turn off AHCI in the SATA Configuration parameters and turn on the IDE, as a result, when the computer or laptop boots up, a blue screen or an Operating System not found error appears. To solve the problem, reset the UEFI BIOS settings to default and try to boot the operating system.

Sixth, your hard drive may simply be faulty. Note. Is your hard drive detected in BIOS. If not, then you need to look for the reason for this misunderstanding. In this case, pay attention to the solutions already described in paragraph 4 of this article, reset the BIOS to default settings, reconnect the SATA data cables or connect the hard drive to another connector on the motherboard, if this does not help, you can try to connect the hard drive to another computer and see if your hard drive is detected in the BIOS of another computer, if not either, the hard drive is probably faulty, contact the service center to solve the problem.

Of course, I understand that on a laptop it will be difficult for an ordinary user to remove the hard drive, in this case you just need to limit yourself, if after that the hard drive is also not detected in the BIOS and the laptop will display the Operating System not found error when booting, do not do anything else and contact the service center. If the hard drive is detected in the BIOS, then you should try to restore Windows boot (as written in paragraph 5), if nothing works, then you need to boot the laptop from any Live CD and copy all important files from the hard drive to a portable USB hard drive, then ...

Once in my practice, I had to deal with this error and imagine, the whole thing was decided by replacing the power supply. Due to a faulty power supply, the hard drive was no longer detected in the system and this Operating System not found error began to appear during boot, after replacing the power supply, everything returned to normal, I described this and many more problems in the article.

It is unlikely that anyone needs to explain how unpleasant this situation is. Just imagine, you turn on your laptop or computer and suddenly find that the system on the screen instead of the usual start gives the error message Operating System not found.

This situation can shock many users. Why? After all, everything worked fine yesterday ... What could have caused the problem and how can the situation be corrected? Let's try to understand this issue.

What does the Operating System not found error mean?

If we consider the message itself, then it can be translated as "operating system not found." However, the user is absolutely sure that it is there. But the computer doesn't share that kind of user confidence. It does not find the components that are responsible for booting the system. Such situations most often occur in cases where users change the hard drive on a computer. Perhaps the hard drive is simply out of order. Here are the most popular causes of this problem.

Possible reasons

If the system began to display the message Operating System not found, do not panic. First of all, check if a flash drive is inserted into a laptop or computer. This problem often occurs when the USB device is prioritized in the BIOS settings. If you removed the hard drive or changed it to a new one, it is possible that when reconnecting, you incorrectly or did not fully connect the corresponding cables. Let's see what can be done in a similar situation.

BIOS settings

The easiest way to change BIOS settings is to reset all settings to the factory defaults, which are set to Default. This setting must be present in all BIOS versions. As a last resort, you can try changing the boot priority in the Boot Device Priority or Boot Sequence section. You can install a hard drive as the first main boot device. However, there are situations when the hard drive is detected in the BIOS, but it is not booted from it. The system keeps showing the Operating System not found error over and over again. How to be in this case? First, check if there is an exclamation mark next to the hard disk model.

This can signal that the device is present in the system, but is not involved or is disabled. Most BIOS versions usually have a Specific Item Help. It contains a keyboard shortcut with which you can enable or disable any component. Most often, Shift + 1 is used as such a combination. Here everything will depend on the manufacturer - the combinations may be different.

Switching modes in BIOS UEFI

If the Operating System not found warning appears on a laptop with the hard drive removed, it does not bode well. It is worth paying special attention to the settings for the operating modes of the hard disk. As an example, consider the settings of the latest UEFI system, although they can be used without problems in other versions. In a SATA configuration, there are generally two main modes, IDE and AHCI. During the initial installation of the operating system, AHCI mode is enabled by default.

You can try as long as you like, but installing Windows on your hard drive is unlikely to work. The same applies to those moments when, at the end of the installation process, users accidentally turn on IDE mode. In this case, the system gives the error Operating System not found. If you put another fully functional screw at the moment without changing the SATA settings to the initial ones, it will not work. It is worth immediately advising users to change these settings only as a last resort, when it is really necessary.

Repairing the Windows bootloader

It is not uncommon for the Operating System not found error to appear when the Windows bootloader is damaged. This may be due not only to hard disk errors in the event of an improper shutdown. It is clear that in this case the whole system can "fly off". In this situation, you can try to repair the bootloader, as well as check the system partition or disk for errors. To do this, it is advisable to have an original installation disc or a system recovery disc on hand.

Then you will need to set the optical drive as the priority device for loading in the BIOS, and then use the recovery console. It is worth noting that in this option there is no question of restoring Windows from a checkpoint. This will not help in any way, and the message Operating System not found will appear over and over again. Then you will need to use the command line or boot recovery mode. At the command line, you must enter two commands in sequence - bootrec.exe / FixMbr and bootrec.exe / FixBoot.

After entering each command, you must press "Enter". If this sequence of actions does not work, you can also use the bootrec.exe / RebuildBcd command. It is recommended that you check the disk for errors with automatic repair options before doing this. You can also try using the chkntfs / x c: checker if you have NTFS on your system partition (drive C).

What to do if the measures described above are ineffective? In this case, you will definitely need hard drive diagnostics. But if it is not a problem to remove the hard drive on an ordinary stationary computer, then if we are talking about a laptop, the user will have to contact a service center or workshop. It is best not to attempt to remove it yourself. If the hard drive is faulty, there are no other options, you will have to change it and re-install the operating system. You can try the HDD Regenerator utility, but it cannot guarantee 100% success in the hard drive recovery process.

One of the most terrible user errors is the one that appears when the computer is turned on and tells us on a black BIOS screen that "". When this message appears, our system will not boot, and the only way out is to restart the computer by pressing "ctrl + alt + del", and you will most likely see this message again.

The problem of the error is that the operating system is not displayed and therefore the BIOS cannot boot the Windows system. The reasons for this error are very varied, from a simple configuration error in the BIOS to a more serious problem that in the worst case forces us to completely format the computer. Therefore, we will analyze the main reasons and their solutions to eliminate the error "" ( An operating system wasn "t found).

Disconnecting external USB devices from the computer

If your computer has multiple internal hard drives, external drives, and USB sticks connected, it is likely that BIOS is trying to find the operating system in the wrong place... Therefore, not detecting the Windows system, it gives the error "Operating system not found".

• To fix this problem, you need to disconnect any external storage devices connected to USB ports and try again. We can also check our optical drive to make sure it is not trying to load the wrong DVD.

If after doing this the problem is still not resolved, the next step is to go to BIOS settings.

Changing BIOS Boot Priority

Go to BIOS configuration by pressing F2, F12 or Delete. After that go to the configuration section Boot and put on the first place in the column Priority hard drive on which the working and main operating system is Windows. In different versions of BIOS, it is called differently, but you are looking for a word with a combination of Priority, which means "priority loading". Here are some names from different BIOSes: Hard Disk Priority, Boot Device Priority, Hard Disk Boot Priority.

After you have set the priority for booting from the hard disk on which your system is located, do not forget to save the settings with the F10 button and restart the computer to make sure "the system was found when you turn on the computer."

Enable or disable Secure Boot

If you are using a modern computer with an operating system such as Windows 8 or Windows 10, then perhaps the reason our Windows won't start is in the wrong UEFI secure boot setting.

Go back to BIOS, find the configuration section Secure Boot(Secure Boot) and deactivate it, or reactivate it if disabled, to check if the "Operating system not found at computer startup" error is gone.

In different versions of the BIOS or UEFI, the location of the settings looks different, but in any version of the BIOS you are looking for the column Secure Boot, try to disable or enable.

Reset BIOS to factory settings

At the bottom of the BIOS menu, you will see a key for default settings or reset BIOS... On my car this F9... Confirm your decision when prompted and restart your computer.

If you did not find an approximate button, like F9 for resetting to factory settings, then look for the line Load Setup Default and reset the BIOS.

If your hard drive with the operating system is placed first, but the computer still won't boot, it is possible that some of the initial sectors of the drive have been damaged, such as master boot record(MBR), DOS boot record(DBR), or Boot configuration database(BCD).

Repairing these sectors is fairly straightforward. All we need is to create a Windows installation USB flash drive and enter additional boot options through it.

Enter the following commands in CMD in order by pressing enter. Each command may take time to complete.

• bootrec.exe / fixmbr
• bootrec.exe / fixboot
• bootrec.exe / rebuildbcd

Activate the Windows partition

It is possible that the partition on which Windows is installed is disabled. You can fix this using Windows' native diskpart tool. To complete the following steps, you will need a USB media to install Windows again. Run the command line, as described above, through the recovery disk or the Windows installation flash drive and type the following commands in the command line:

• diskpart- Launching the tool.
• list disk- List of connected drives to the computer.
• select disk 0- Selecting a hard drive on which to activate the partition. In my case, the primary hard drive is 0.
• list volume- Shows partitions on the selected hard drive.
• select volume 2- Select a local drive for activation. Choose the one where the widows system itself is installed.
• active- Activate the section.

Restart your computer and check if the error is gone when turning on the computer An operating system wasn "t found. Ttry disconnecting any drives that don" t contain an operating system. Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart which means operating system not found, press ctrl + alt + del to restart.

Sometimes Windows Update fails and the operating system stops loading. It can also happen when more than one version of Windows is being installed on the same computer. We offer one of the options for solving the problem with the system loading.

To complete the computer recovery procedure, you need a Windows installation CD or a Windows Recovery CD.

1. Insert the Windows disc into the drive
2. Reboot your PC
3. Enter BIOS
4. Change boot order - priority for booting from CD / DVD
5. Save and restart your computer
6. Select your language and then click "Next"
7. Click on the System Restore button
8. Select the operating system, most likely there will be only one system in the list, then click the "Next" button again
9. Select "Use recovery tools" that can help fix problems with Windows and click "Next"
10. Click "Start Repair"

Your computer will restart again. Take the disk and change the boot order in the BIOS back, the first one is the hard disk. Windows should boot up.

At this point, try running Windows Updates again and see what is needed to install them. If the problem persists, try repeating the first 8 steps above. After selecting the operating system, click the Next button.

1. Click Open Command Prompt.
2. Enter " FIXMBR"(on Windows XP) or" Bootrec.exe / FIXMBR"(on Windows 7).
3. Hit Enter.

Restart your computer and check which of the recovery options worked.

Please note that if, when choosing a system, your operating system does not appear, then most likely your hard drive is faulty. There is only one way out - replacing the hard drive with a serviceable HDD.