How to Repair MBR on Windows 7
MBR stands for “Master Boot Record” in Windows Vista and later versions of this operating system. This region of your hard drive stores information about the partitions of your drive and the data types stored there. The MBR in Windows 7 can experience errors for a number of different reasons, particularly if you’ve installed a second hard drive or have created multiple hard drive partitions. These changes often reset the BIOS settings, which can cause your system drive not to be recognized correctly when you start up your machine. Depending on your level of experience with troubleshooting Windows, the following steps have been shown to fix most MBR errors in Windows 7.
<strong>Check the BIOS Settings First</strong>
Restart your machine and hold down the F12 key to get it to boot up the BIOS interface. Check the boot order sequence list and make sure your primary hard drive is listed correctly in this list. If it’s not, you can use the Windows 7 installation and recovery DVD to restore this BIOS setting to its factory default one. Boot your machine from this disk, and you should see a list of automatic repair utilities on the startup screen. Select “Startup Repair” from this list, and let the utility scan for any issues with the MBR. It should automatically repair them in most cases.
<strong>Fixing Windows MBR With the Command Prompt</strong>
If the Windows 7 recovery disk isn’t successful at fixing the MBR problem, you probably need to repair it manually from the command prompt. Select “Command Prompt” from the recovery disk’s list of system repair options, and then enter the command “bootrec.exe /FixMbr” to start this process. You should get the message “Operation Completed Successfully” if this step repairs the MBR. You may also need to check the boot configuration record to make sure no further startup errors are listed. These remaining errors usually only occur if you have multiple manual hard drive partitions, which is usually not the situation for most average Windows users. If the command prompt MBR repair turns up no further errors, restart your machine normally and eject the recovery disk.
