» How to Manually Repair Windows 7 Boot Loader Problems

8/17/2019 » How to Manually Repair Windows 7 Boot Loader Problems

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Published on October 20th, 2010 | Written by: The Geek

If you’re having boot problems on your Windows PC, it’s often helpful to repairthe MBR (Master Boot Record) to restore the Windows 7 boot loader—andyou can do it easily from the Windows installation disc.

This is generally most useful if you’ve broken something and there’s a bootloader error, or if you have made the mistake of installing an older version of Windows on the same PC that already has Windows 7 which wipes out theboot loader.

Note: If your PC starts booting into Windows but fails, you should probablytry using Safe Mode instead.

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The first thing you’ll need to do is boot off the install disc, and then clickthrough until you see the “Repair your computer” link in the lower left-handcorner.

You’ll need to choose the correct installation of Windows and then click the


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Next button.

And then you’ll get to the System Recovery Options screen, where you canget to the Command Prompt.

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RReeccoorrddIf you want to restore the master boot record, you can simply type in thefollowing command:


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bootrec /fixmbr

You can also write a new boot sector onto the system partition with thiscommand (which is often more useful):

bootrec /fixboot

And of course, if you just use bootrec /? you’ll be able to see all the options.

This is the same way that we fixed the “BOOTMGR is missing” error when

trying to boot up Windows 7 or Vista.

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If you’ve managed to install XP on the same PC that you already hadWindows 7 on, you’ll noticed that you can’t boot into Windows 7 anymore. Youcan use this command to fix that and restore the Windows 7 bootloader:

bootsect /nt60 all

Depending on the partition that you’ve installed, you might need to substitutethe drive letter instead of “all”.


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Note: if you want to restore Windows XP back to the menu, you can open upa command prompt in Windows 7 and run this command:

bcdedit /create {ntldr} -d “Windows XP”

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Of course, all this command-line stuff is probably not necessary in mostcases. You can usually just use the Startup Repair option from the Recoverymenu…

It’ll check for problems and probably fix them. If not, then you can always usethe command prompt.


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Have you ever needed to restore your boot loader to get Windows workingagain?

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vistamike says:October 20, 2010 at 3:55 am

As has been suggested on the main forums, could this be a sticky?

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bassman22 says:October 20, 2010 at 5:06 am

Great article! This information is SO useful, this would’ve come in handyabout a year ago, when I encountered some trouble after I deleted anUbuntu partition. I eventually got to one of the solutions mentioned inthe article, but it did take a while of researching. Thanks!

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Penny says:October 20, 2010 at 9:53 am

I just had to restore the Win7 (dual-booting with Vista) boot-loader after

installing Ubuntu, and I took the automatic path. Now the start-up menuhas “(restored)” after the Windows 7 choice. Is there a way to get rid of that?

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MJ says:October 20, 2010 at 10:20 am

Great article, I deal from time to time with this problems and try tosolve them by myself, but it’s not easy for begginers, as I was one day.

Sometimes the auto-repair option fails.

@Penny You can use EasyBCD. It’s a great tool I use a lot, specially sincethey updated it to version 2.

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Enrique Indacochea says:October 20, 2010 at 3:21 pm

I would like to know how to proceed in the case of a netbook computerwith Windows 7 Starter Edition that has a pre-installed system thatdoesn´t come with an install disc. I wold appreciate any suggestion.Thanks in advance.

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henry chapman says:October 20, 2010 at 6:41 pm

Who has an install disc? Most of us have recovery discs.

I think the repair option is on a repair disc which can be created by mostusers.

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Sophia says:October 20, 2010 at 7:00 pm

I just started getting this newsletter yesterday and this sounds

impossible but this very article which was in my first newsletter wasexactly what I needed! I did something while doing a system restorebecause (unknown to me) my modem was going off and on. Apparentlyit had been doing it for hours while the computer was on but not beingused…..so I hope I do it correctly when I try to fix it. I just have twoquestions…. I am totally ignorant in such matters, and need all the help Ican get.. I turn it on while I push F8 to get to safe mode window.It gives me options (I tried them all) When I hit enter to continue it willflash the windows XP page and it shuts down every time. How do I get

it to stay on so I can correct it? There is one option that says start it soit won’t shut down everytime. When I do that I get a error messagesaying it can go no futher. Any help would be very much appreciated!The system is windows XP, should I do anything diffrent then what isrecommended for win7? Loved the informative article!

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Big Dan says:October 21, 2010 at 2:37 am

I use bootrec /fixmbr after I wipe my Ubuntu partition.

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MJ says:October 21, 2010 at 4:32 am

@Enrique You can install Windows 7 from a USB Flash Drive, just Googlefor it. From that USB drive you will be able to access recovery options

too.

If you don’t have an install disk but just want to access recovery options,you can try to download Windows PE (the operating system that youuse to install Windows) and add it to the USB drive.

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MAtt says:October 21, 2010 at 10:16 am

I NEEDED THIS LAST WEEK@!!!!

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Brian Carr says:October 21, 2010 at 12:50 pm

CREATE A WINDOWS SYSTEM REPAIR DISK

Windows 7 and Vista

From the Start menu, select Control Panel.

Click Backup and Restore, and then on the left, choose Create a systemrepair disc.

Select a drive, and then click Create disc.

Windows XP

From the Start menu, select Programs or All Programs, thenAccessories, then System Tools, and finally Backup.

On the welcome screen, click Advanced Mode.

On the next screen, choose Automated System Recovery Wizard.

Click Next, and then make sure you have a blank floppy disk in thefloppy drive. Confirm that the path shown under “Backup media:” or “file

name:” points to the blank floppy disk. If not, click Browse… andnavigate to the blank floppy. Click OK.

Click Next, and then click Finish.

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thorgred says:October 21, 2010 at 3:32 pm

i used that trick after putting my windows 7 acronis image back on anew harddisk (same size harddisk)it was very usefullall what was needed was my windows 7 dvd

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TOM says:October 22, 2010 at 4:04 pm

My window 7 came with the computer so I do not have a widows 7 disk.I my computer sets for an hour or so it will not start again. I have to

shut down the tower and start from scratch. Once up and running it isgreat. :-)

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ProstheticHead says:October 23, 2010 at 8:22 pm

@Tom, it sounds like you have a problem there. Why not post it with asmuch information as you can provide over on the main HTG forums?

http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/

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sxnin says:December 1, 2010 at 2:52 am

HI,please help me, what exactly of theese solution will help to me, I havewin7 but when I instal win8Xtream for just to see it, an i decide to

remove it , I make new clean instalation of win7 7600, an formatpartition before instalation, same as format partition where I havewin8Xtream, but, noe when my win boot from HDD I have solution-option for dual boot for win7, one is from HDD and one is from dvddrive???, I put back all settings on default in bios, but have thismasage??So I run on to this article, what from this orders will solve my problem??

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sxnin says:December 1, 2010 at 3:19 am

Uff i don’t have option “repair” in that window whn I put instalation DVDfor instaling…WHY??

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hardik says:December 28, 2010 at 8:58 am

I have sony vaio laptop.It has error of bootmgr is missing.I want torepair without format.Because i want to same my data.I try early torepair but it format whole internal hardisk.

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hardik says:December 28, 2010 at 9:01 am

thanks , it’s done.

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hello says:19.


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December 31, 2010 at 9:44 am

Hi Thanks for the advice I seem to be having a problem with it thoughwhen I click repair the computer the next step does not load. Is thereany other way I can fix it.

Thanks

daveisnotme says: January 1, 2011 at 3:18 pm

Brian Carr

Not many new computers have a floppy drive. None of mine do and Icant remember the last time I used one. Can you do this with aflashdrive instead?

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Mattie says: January 22, 2011 at 9:09 am

Thanks for this article, it saved me today!

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amrish says:February 8, 2011 at 9:56 am

thanks

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Gopal says:March 3, 2011 at 1:46 am

not working

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kms says:March 7, 2011 at 1:52 pm

Thanks alot I use ur guide and it worked on my pc. It got me depressedtoday… .

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Nancy says:March 9, 2011 at 11:27 am

This is helpful, thank you!

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kutta says:March 9, 2011 at 7:23 pm

i tried to boot from the repair disk that i put on a usb flash but mysystem is not listed when it gives the option for recovery system. it nowsays that i need to load drivers and i dont know what ones i need toload or if i have them. im working with a hp mini netbook so i had to

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use a flash hd. if anyone knows what dirvers i need or what to do plzhelp. thx

danb says:April 13, 2011 at 6:14 pm

i don’t have a Windows installation disc the laptop didn’t come with cd’ssoftware please help ive done almost everything and nothing workwhere i find a windows 7 installation image cd for download my laptopdidn’t came with one and now i need it

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Rajan says:April 16, 2011 at 2:31 am

on my PC i have windows 7, but it does not boot completly to desktop, itstops booting at my documents folder. then i go to windows folder andrun explorer.exe file then windows boot to desktop

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jake says:April 18, 2011 at 11:22 pm

When i try to boot up my computer with the disc in (my bios has been

changed so my computer boots from the cd) it totally ignores the cd andgoes straight onto trying to load windows, the loading bar doesntappear, then i get another loading bar saying *loading windows files* (imguessing this part its switching to the vista loading screen. and sureenough the vista loading screen pops up and its trying to load vista, butsince i dont have vista on my computer, it goes to a black screen andstays like that til i turn it off. how do i fix this. please

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Geoff says:May 4, 2011 at 2:53 pm

Thanks!!! Worked like a charm!!!

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Zarquon says: June 7, 2011 at 5:39 pm

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou – All I had in my Win7 laptop was aflashing curser – no error messages – I read your article re “How toManually Repair Windows 7 Boot Loader Problems” – rebooted and nowhave the login screen – i have now signed up

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a says: June 22, 2011 at 5:54 pm

I needed your mom last week Tom

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Talha says:33.


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July 3, 2011 at 9:32 am

when i type the commandbcdedit /create {ntldr} -d “Windows XP”it gives me an error :(this is what it writes

A description for the new entry must be specified.Run “bcdedit /?” for command like assistance.The parameter is incorrect.

Please anyone help me here i really need to fix this :(

Chris says: July 6, 2011 at 10:25 pm

thanks a lot!!

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buyoy says: July 12, 2011 at 11:29 pm

Thanks! this solves our hp mini blank screen during windows 7 boot

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Jack Gura says: July 13, 2011 at 12:33 pm

Is there a way to perform “bootrec /fixmbr” and “bootrec /fixboot” or“bootsec /nt60 all” type commands from a freedos environment forWindows 7 partitions? I have an old free drive cloning program thatclones my Windows 7 just fine, but when I restore the image i have touse the Windows 7 system recovery disk to repair the startupenvironment for it to boot and work. I restore my c: drive

(system,boot,active partition) from a freedos environment and wouldlike to just command line repair the startup environment in my batch fileafter the restore partition event completes.

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mike chandler says: July 19, 2011 at 2:53 pm

my lenovo laptop just keeps restarting and running the automated

startup repair tool. i can’t get it to boot form a rescue disk, externaldrive, cd drive. it just keeps saying it is loading files and then begins thestartup repair tool again. any assistance would be appreciated.

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Rohit says:August 9, 2011 at 7:56 pm

You all are just good.. KEEP IT UP!!

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Joeeisie says:August 10, 2011 at 6:26 am

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I mean seriously. A fixmbr command when others had me deleting,reinstalling, and many more crazed procedures. I know sometimes it hasto be done the hard way, but with the right info. life can become wholeagain. I am trying to be a better geek, and now I aspire to be ahowtogeek! Thanks ya’ll and you do make a diff!!!!!!

suraj says:August 16, 2011 at 12:16 pm

it worked for me….thank q so much

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ahmed7 says:August 20, 2011 at 3:32 pm

I was have windows XP sp3 and windows 7 sp1 and then i format thepartition which contain xp with xp compact disc and reinstalled windowsxp, after installing complete i tried to make repair to windows sevenstartup but it didn’t success. Then i installed EasyBoot 2.2 in xp and itcan’t start after complete installation it give me ()

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ahmed7 says:August 20, 2011 at 3:37 pm

This is the error message t the boot configuration data store couldn’t beopened the system cannot find the file specified You should know that my windows 7 installation disc isn’t with SP 1 buti install it later

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Dave says:September 3, 2011 at 8:19 am

THANKS MAN, I attempted in cloning my OS drive which is a share of WIn7&Linux, after ghost both failed to startup, not even after reloadinglinux which usually sort it out, this repair got my windows loader backand now I can finally trash linux, ,

Thanks again

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bob white says:September 12, 2011 at 3:28 am

Does this work when Microsoft taps you out?

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Grace says:September 17, 2011 at 10:25 pm

After Following these steps, are you files deleted? Is there any hope that

your files are still on your hard drive if your computer goes to ‘StartupRepair’? Does this help if you accidentally download a virus? I had theFrostwire program open while I was gone, and when I got back, it was

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on the sign on screen, where I type my password normally, but all Icould see was the mouse, so I powered off and this happened.

ali says:October 4, 2011 at 5:32 pm

Thank you very much. Very helpful :)

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fred says:October 13, 2011 at 4:43 am

good article

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Muna says:October 13, 2011 at 3:37 pm

I installed windows xp on my external hard disk,after that when i bootmy laptop which came with win 7 OS, it shows “windows could not startbecause of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.could notread from this selected boot disk.check boot path and diskhardware.”plz need help on what to do.

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In2Deep says:October 14, 2011 at 2:25 am

Thank you. /fixmbr worked like a charm.I was familiar with old windows commands such as fdisk/MBR option.Don’t know why Microsoft luv to confuse things.

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In2Deep says:October 14, 2011 at 2:25 am

Thank you. /fixmbr worked like a charm.I was familiar with old DOS commands such as fdisk/MBR option. Don’tknow why Microsoft luv to confuse things.

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Anees says:October 16, 2011 at 2:02 am

I have the following issue:My laptop is: DELL N5110, core i5 with 4 GB RAM.

Initially I installed WIN VISTA 32 bit on C drive and then applied crack. –worked fine.Then I tried to install WIN 7(cracked version) 32 bit in my otherpartition. worked fine.

Again, when I loaded VISTA desktop, in the “System Properties”, thecrack is no longer valid.(I see a message, 15 or 30 days trial).

I would like to use both OS(cracked verison). Please help!!

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chancll says:October 24, 2011 at 7:57 pm

How do you use the command promt at the end? It just keeps sayingattempting repairs and never does anything. When I click cancel it says,

“The current repair operation cannot be cancelled.” I click ok and itkeeps doing the scan.

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CFJ90210 says:October 26, 2011 at 7:08 pm

chancll, I am having the same problem. I’ve fixed the MBR before usingthis method in the past, but in my current situation, it skips past the

recover options menu altogether after choosing my OS. It is stuck insome “Startup Repair” mode, looping the message “Attempting repairs…”as you have mentioned. If anyone knows how to reset the system insuch a way as to get back the recover options menu, I would beappreciative.

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Dr.sms says:October 28, 2011 at 6:23 am

Thanks a lot man..

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