How to Repair & Rebuild Partition Table in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7?
"Invalid Partition Table!"
"A couple of days ago. I cloned my main drive, deleted the partitions, did a failed reinstall of Windows 10. So I deleted the partitions again and cloned the backup back onto the same drive. But now when I boot the machine, I get a black screen before windows loading, along with the 'Invalid Partition Table' error. So anyone know how to repair or rebuild partition table? Thanks."
What does "invalid partition table" mean?
A partition table is a table maintained on disk by the operating system describing the partitions on that disk. It is located in the first sector (cylinder 0, head 0 and sector 1, MBR) of each hard disk. It is most commonly associated with the MBR partition table of a Master Boot Record in IBM PC compatibles.
Damaged partition table and MBR are the main causes for most Windows boot issues. The "invalid partition table" means the partition table becomes corrupt or missing, and the operating system cannot find and locate the partition to boot from. So the boot process is halted.
2 Methods to repair partition table in Windows 11/10/8/7
Generally speaking, the invalid partition repair requires the use of the original Windows installation disc. But most users don't have one. So we will share two different methods for those two situations.
- Method 1. Repair partition table via Command Prompt (Windows installation disc is required)
- Method 2. Rebuild corrupted partition table via free partition manager
Method 1. Repair partition table via Command Prompt (Windows installation disc is required)
If the Windows installation CD or DVD is available, you can use it to access the Command Prompt to repair damaged partition table in Windows 11/10/8/7.
Step 1. Insert the installation disc, and restart your computer and boot from the disc.
Step 2. After booting your system, launch command prompt.
◆In the Windows 7 computer, at the "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…", press any key to boot from the disc. Select a language and a keyboard layout, then click "Next". Select the OS and click Next. At the System Recovery Options screen, click on Command Prompt.
◆In Windows 8/8.1/10 and Windows 11, at the Welcome screen, click Repair your computer>Troubleshoot>Command Prompt.
Step 3. When the Command Prompt loads successfully, execute the following two commands:
▶bootrec /FixMbr
▶bootrec /FixBoot
Method 2. Rebuild partition table via free partition manager
If you do not have Windows setup media, you can use the free partition tool named Qiling Disk Master Standard. It can fix damaged partition table using its "Rebuild MBR" option. It is available for Windows 11, Windows 10/8/8.1, Windows 7, Windows XP and Vista. Here is the step-by-step guide on how to repair corrupted partition table in Windows 10.
Step 1. Free download, install and run Qiling Disk Master Standard on a working computer since your current computer won't boot due to damaged Master partition table.
Step 2. Insert an empty USB to the working computer, and make a bootable media via the software. (The bootable drive will contain pre-installed Qiling Disk Master Standard). Click "Tools" and then "Make Bootable Media".
Step 3. Plug the bootable USB drive on your computer which has boot issue. Change boot order in BIOS and boot computer from the USB stick. When you log in, the Qiling Disk Master Standard will run automatically.
Step 4. In its main interface, right-click the system disk and select "Rebuild MBR".
Step 5. In this window, choose a proper MBR type for your OS.
Step 6. Back to the main interface, click "Proceed" to start rebuilding partition table Windows 10.
Conclusion
For "Invalid partition table" error during Windows boot, two solutions are available to repair or rebuild partition table for users with or without original Windows installation disc. Apparently, Qiling Disk Master Standard provides an easier solution. The same steps can also apply to repair MBR on external hard drive, repair corrupted partition table on USB flash drive, SD card and more. If any data loss happens during your operation, you can use the "Recover Data" function to retrieve lost data. And if you are planning to repair master partition table on Windows Server, try Qiling Disk Master Server edition.
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