NTLDR is compressed. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart

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Description

After switching on your computer or after restarting Windows XP you receive the error NTLDR is compressed on a black screen with white writing when trying to boot into Windows.

Common Symptoms

 

  • Error appears after performing a System Restore using the Destructive Option
  • You receive the following the following error message when starting or rebooting your computer:
NTLDR is compressed. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart.

 

 

Explanation

The above error is appearing due to a problem with the attributes of the Windows boot files.  Continue below for your solution.

Proposed Solutions Below….

Solution 1 – Attrib NTLDR

The NTLDR file must be altered in order to clear this error and correctly boot.

  1. Boot into the Recovery Console
  2. When the console asks you to choose a Windows install to work with, enter 1 and press Enter
  3. When prompted, enter your Administrator password
  4. At the command prompt, enter the following commands, pressing Enter after each:
cd \
attrib -c c:\ntldr
exit

Recommended Reading


4 Responses to “NTLDR is compressed. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart”


  • [...] Click here for the NTLDR is compressed troubleshooting guide Related Articles:Non-System Disk or Disk ErrorNTLDR is compressed. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restartNTLDR is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restartMissing Operating System or Operating System Not FoundInvalid Boot.ini or Missing Windows/System32/Hal.dll [...]

  • Comment from Me

    those commands one after another look confusing to the average person. It should be:
    at the C:\WINDOWS> prompt, type cd \
    then type attrib -c c:\ntldr

    if you just do attrib -c ntldr it won’t work.

  • Comment from Rosco

    Hi, Thanks for pointing that out. It was actually a problem with the formatting of the site since it was redesigned recently. I’ve updated the text now. I must check all my other posts! That could take a while :(

    Cheers

    Rosco

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    [...] Welcome to WindowsBBS Without an XP install CD you are in real trouble – see if you can borrow one and boot to the Recovery Console and try the fix outlined here …. NTLDR is compressed. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart [...]


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