MBR Repair Tool: Repair Damaged MBR in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7
Overview of MBR Repair Tool for Windows
MBR (short for Master Boot Record) contains the Partition Table for the disk and a small amount of executable code for the OS startup. Without a valid MBR, it's impossible to boot the system from the primary hard disk. When malicious code or disk errors corrupt the MBR, you need to use the MBR repair Tool to quickly repair the corrupted MBR on any device and reload the operating system.
MBR repair tools play a vital role in many situations. We have also summarized some free tools so that you can choose from any of them:
#1. Qiling Disk Master: It mainly deals with MBR issues and disk management situations and provides methods for creating bootable media. In addition, it offers advanced features such as partition recovery. The tool is the simplest program among all repair tools and it does not require any know-how.
#2. Bootrec.exe: It is a command used to update the master boot record code, partition boot sector code and BCD (boot configuration data). No additional software needs to be installed, but a prior installation DVD and specialized knowledge is required.
#3. Ultimate Boot CD: The tool is a bootable kit that can be used for a variety of computer rescue tasks. However, it is complex to operate and is more suitable for advanced users.
#4. BOOTICE: It is a tool for installing, repairing, backing up and recovering disk MBR or partition PBR, but only for 64-bit operating systems.
#5. MBRWizard: This tool is for problems with x86 and x86-64 based computers. Designed to fix MBR boot problems left over from third-party software
Drive failures, invalid partition tables, and virus infections can cause MBR errors or corruption. Do not worry if you encounter the problem. Next, we will provide detailed steps on how to repair corrupt MBR using the best free MBR repair tools.
How to repair MBR in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7
Here we provide two effective ways to repair MBR as the following content shows.
▶ Method 1. Download a professional MBR repair tool
Qiling Disk Master Professional is a powerful third-party MBR repair utility to repair damaged or corrupted MBR. This all-in-one tool provides many powerful functions like rebuild MBR, clone hard disk, clone partition, convert MBR to GPT/GPT to MBR without deleting partitions, etc. If any data loss happens during your operation, you can use the "Recover Data" function to retrieve lost data.
With the feature Rebuild MBR in Qiling Disk Master Professional, you can easily repair damaged MBR within simple steps. Below are the specific steps:
Before you do:
➥ Connect the hard drive to a working Windows PC which installed Qiling Disk Master (you can download Qiling Disk Master Professional from its official website).
➥ Use Qiling Disk Master to create a bootable media (USB, CD/DVD).
➥ Insert the bootable device you created before to the computer that its MBR is damaged or corrupted, and boot the computer from the bootable media. It will get into the main interface of Qiling Disk Master Professional automatically.
★ Steps to boot the computer from the bootable media:
1. Connect the bootable media to your computer, and start your PC.
2. When you see the PC logo, tap a BIOS key to enter BIOS setup.
3. Under the Boot tab, set the bootable media as the boot drive. Then save the change and restart your PC.
Step 1. Right-click the disk which need to be repaired and select "Rebuild MBR" in the pop-up window.
Step 2. In the next window, set the type of MBR for the current OS. (Choose a proper MBR type according to your operating system.)
Step 3. After that, click "Proceed" on the toolbar to commit Rebuild MBR operation.
Notes:
◆"Rebuild MBR" is a lossless data operation, but improperly rebuild MBR may cause your computer unbootable. So, you'd better learn more relevant knowledge before you do this operation.
◆"Rebuild MBR" only can solve problems such as corruption of the MBR code. It cannot solve the problem that the operating system cannot be booted due to the loss of bootable file or system file.
▶ Method 2. Repair MBR via Windows Installation Disk
This method is more suitable for experienced computer specialists to use the command parameters. If you can't boot the OS, you will need to boot the Windows computer using the installation DVD. If you don't have a Windows installation disk in hand, you can use the Qiling Disk Master to create it.
If you have it, you can repair MBR easily. Below is an example of repairing the MBR in Windows using CMD:
Step 1. Connect the external disk to your computer. Shut down the machine and insert the installation disk. Then boot from the disc.
Step 2. Select the time, language, and keyboard input, and click next.
Step 3. After that, click Repair your computer in the lower-left corner.
Step 4. Press Shift + F10 key combination to call out Command Prompt.
Step 5. Type the drive letter of your external hard drive partition at the prompt, like F: , followed by a colon and press Enter.
Step 6. Type these commands in sequence and press Enter after each.
● Bootrec /fixmbr
● Bootrec /fixboot
● bootrec /scanos
● Bootrec /rebuildbcd
Step 7. Restart the machine when it completes.
Tip: If Windows falls to the internal disk, you'll need to change boot priority to the installation disk in BIOS.
When do you need to repair MBR?
Master Boot Record (MBR) belongs to boot record, along with Boot Configuration Data (BCD). Sometimes you may get the error message like "Operating System not found" or "System missing", and you may not able to boot your system at all. Such errors are most likely to be caused by damaged MBR. At this time, you need to rebuild or repair corrupted MBR in Windows 10/8/7 to fix the issues. Mostly, the MBR problem may be caused by malware infection, or improper shutdown. Some external hard disk may also encounter corrupted MBR.
What Is the Best MBR Repair Tool?
With the free powerful MBR repair tool, you can easily and effectively repair your damaged MBR in Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7. Qiling MBR repair tool and bootrec.exe /fixmbr command are the two most commonly used MBR repair software.
- If you are a professional, you can try Bootrec.exe. with the help of command prompt you can easily complete the repair.
- If you are a newbie, you can use Qiling tool. This tool is easy to use and offers additional technical support.
Besides repairing MBR, it is also able to help resize partition, move/create/delete/merge/format partition, migrate OS to SSD, convert system disk between MBR and GPT partition styles for Windows 11 upgrade, convert file system between NTFS and FAT32 without formatting and so on. If you want to repair MBR in Server 2022/2019/2016/2012/2008/2003, you can try Qiling Disk Master Server.
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