You may receive a "NTLDR is missing press any key to restart" error message when you upgrade a Windows 98-based computer to Windows 2000 Professional (886215)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional

SYMPTOMS

When you upgrade a Microsoft Windows 98-based computer to Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, the upgrade process may not complete and you may receive the following error message when the computer restarts for the first time during the upgrade process:
NTLDR is missing
press any key to restart

CAUSE

This issue may occur if the Windows 98-based computer is running certain antivirus software.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
  1. Restart your computer by using the Windows 98 startup floppy disk.
  2. At the A: prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER:

    sys c:

  3. At the A: prompt, type exit, and then press ENTER to restart your computer.
  4. Log on to Windows 98, and then remove the antivirus software.
  5. Restart your computer, and then run the Windows 2000 Professional Setup program to start the upgrade process.
For additional information about how to restore Windows 98, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

250456 How to manually remove Windows 2000 and restore Windows 95 or Windows 98

MORE INFORMATION

You must remove or disable any antivirus software that is running before you start the upgrade process. Sometimes, the Windows 2000 Setup program disables antivirus software during the upgrade process. But in other cases, you must disable the software first. Most antivirus software must be updated to work correctly with Windows 2000.

You must also disable any hardware antivirus features that are running. For example, the BIOS in some computers contains antivirus functionality.

For additional information about about how to upgrade a Windows 98-based computer to Windows 2000 Professional, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

250297 How to prepare to upgrade Windows 95 or Windows 98 to Windows 2000

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:10/6/2004
Keywords:kbprb kbtshoot KB886215 kbAudITPRO
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