Microsoft Windows is the most widely used and a reliable operating system in terms of usability, performance, security features, improved memory use and several other factors. The interactive user interface and multitasking capability features are incorporated to give users a better Windows experience. However, Windows users have encountered several problems over time while working with Windows. Due to various reasons, such as virus infections, software application malfunctions, file system damage, boot sector corruption etc., the Windows may crash unexpectedly. As a consequence, the system becomes unbootable, making all the valuable data stored therein inaccessible. To overcome this problem, you need to go for Windows recovery through a reliable third-party utility.

For instance, when you try to start your Windows XP-based computer, you may come across anyone of the following error messages:

“Operating system not found.”

OR

“Missing Operating System”

When you try to repair your Windows using the Recovery Console, you may receive another message:

“Setup did not find any hard drives installed on your computer”

Cause:

The following causes may be responsible for the above error messages-

• Incorrect BIOS configuration. As a result, the BIOS is not able to detect the primary hard disk.

• Damaged or corrupt hard disk

• MBR (Master Boot Record) is corrupt.

• No partition is marked as active.

In such scenario, you will not be able to access the precious data stored in your system. Here, you may use a backup to recover Windows files. If the backup is not there, you should follow the below given resolution steps.

Resolution:

These steps may help you resolve the problem-

• Verify the BIOS settings to make sure it recognizes the hard disk.

• Repair the damaged MBR by running the ‘fixmbr’ command through the Windows Recovery Console.

If the problem still persists, you should format your system hard disk and then use an efficient Windows data recovery software to recover the lost, formatted data. These software are capable of recovering all types of documents, files, photos, videos, databases, emails etc. from your computer in any case of data loss or inaccessibility. They can also perform a raw Windows partition recovery to recover every bit of data from the hard drive.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a competent tool that recovers data from lost, formatted FAT, NTFS, and exFAT file systems. It allows selective recovery of files based on their signatures and has an ‘Update Wizard’ to install the latest software updates via Internet. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4(SP6).