In Microsoft Windows XP, there may be some conditions which shows the operating system is missing. Here , the system does not boot up and this makes the data stored on hard drive inaccessible. This behavior leads to serious data loss situations and thus you need to opt for windows data recoveryusing appropriate tools.

When we try to boot our system, you might come across any of the below error messages:

Missing Operating System

Operating system not found.

If you go to Recovery Console by booting the system using Windows XP installation disk to recovery its functionality, you may get below error message:

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

This behavior of Microsoft Windows XP renders all your valuable data inaccessible and lead to data loss. In order to gain access of your business-critical data, you need to find out the cause of this problem and then carry out windows recovery by sorting it out.

Root of the issue

Here are the reasons of this type of behaviour

Damaged or missing command.com or other Windows boot files.

Damaged MBR (Master Boot Record)

Virus infection

File system corruption

Inactive boot partition or incompatible partition is set as active

BIOS doesn't detect hard drive

Logical damage to hard drive or operating system malfunction

Resolution

Try these methods to solve it :

Check BIOS settings: Make sure that your system BIOS recognizes your hard drive. If the system detects your hard drive, then the problem could be with logical part.

Use Windows Recovery Console: Repair the MBR using Fixmbr command in Windows Recovery Console.

First backup all your data and apply Fixmbr command. This command may cause data loss if the drive is virus infected or there is a physical damage. In such cases, windows data recovery software come for your help to get your data recovered.

The applications have interactive user interface and thus let you carry out windows data recovery on your own. They perform absolute recovery using advanced and powerful scanning algorithms.