For many years, Microsoft has been improving the operating system recovery system. Windows systems, and in Windows 7 and Windows Vista she works in almost automatic mode. If you boot from the installer Windows disk 7 and click " System Restore" ("Repair Computer"), system Windows Recovery will be launched and will independently try to fix any errors that it finds. It is able to fix a large number of problems, however, it is quite possible that the bootloader is damaged, and the recovery system cannot cope with this problem. In this case, you can restore the bootloader manually using the Bootrec.exe utility.

The Bootrec.exe application is used to fix errors related to bootloader corruption and, as a result, the inability to start the Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems.

Sequencing

Description of bootrec.exe startup keys

Launched with the /FixMbr switch, the utility writes a Windows 7 and Windows Vista compatible Master Boot Record (MBR) to system partition. Use this option to troubleshoot problems with master boot record corruption or if you wish to remove non-standard code from it. The existing partition table is not overwritten in this case.

Bootrec.exe /FixBoot

Launched with the /FixBoot key, the utility writes a new boot sector compatible with Windows 7 and Windows Vista to the system partition. You need to use this option in the following cases:

1. The boot sector of Windows Vista or Windows 7 has been replaced with a non-standard one.
2. The boot sector is corrupted.
3. Has been installed previous version Windows operating system after Windows installation Vista or Windows 7. For example, if Windows XP was installed, NTLDR (Windows NT Loader, Windows bootloader NT), the code of the standard NT 6 bootloader (Bootmgr) will be overwritten by the Windows XP setup program.

It should be noted that a similar effect can be achieved using the bootsect.exe utility, also located on the Windows 7 boot media. To do this, you need to run bootsect.exe with the following parameters:

Bootsect /NT60 SYS

The boot sector of the system partition will be overwritten with BOOTMGR compatible code. You can learn more about using the bootsect.exe utility by running it with the parameter /help.

Bootrec.exe /ScanOs

Launched with the /ScanOs key, the utility scans all disks for installed Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. In addition, when using it, a list of found systems is displayed that, in this moment not registered in the configuration data store Windows boot(Boot Configuration Data (BCD) Store).

Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

Launched with this key, the utility scans all drives for installed Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems. The found operating systems are displayed in a list from which they can be added to the Windows Boot Configuration Data Store. Also use this option if you want to completely rebuild the boot configuration data store. Before doing this, you must delete the previous storage. The set of commands in this case can be as follows:

bcdedit /export C:\BCDcfg.bak attrib -s -h -r c:\boot\bcd del c:\boot\bcd bootrec /RebuildBcd

In the above example, the current boot configuration store is exported to the file C:\BCDcfg.bak, the system, hidden, and read-only attributes are removed from it, after which it is deleted with the DEL command and rebuilt with the bootrec /RebuildBcd command.

Enlarge picture

Of course utility bootrec.exe very functional, however, it will not help if, for example, the Windows bootloader file bootmgr damaged or physically missing. In this case, you can use another utility, also included in the Windows 7 distribution media - bcdboot.exe.

Restoring the boot environment with BCDboot.exe

BCDboot.exe is a tool that is used to create or restore a boot environment located on the active system partition. The utility can also be used to transfer download files.

The command line in this case might look like this:

bcdboot.exe e:\windows

Replace e:\windows with the correct path for your system.
This operation will repair the corrupted Windows Boot Environment, including the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store files, including the bootmgr file mentioned above.

Syntax of bcdboot command-line options

The bcdboot.exe utility uses the following command line options:

BCDBOOT source]

source

Specifies the location Windows directory The used as the source when copying the boot environment files.

Optional parameter. Specifies the language of the boot environment. The default is English (United States).

Optional parameter. Specifies the drive letter of the system partition where the boot environment files will be installed. The default is the system partition specified by the BIOS firmware.

Optional parameter. Enables the mode of detailed logging of the utility operation.

Optional parameter. Combines the settings of the newly created and existing storage boot record and writes them to the new boot record. If an operating system bootloader GUID is specified, combines the bootloader object with the system template to create a boot entry.

Summary

The article discussed the principles of working with the bootrec.exe and bcdboot.exe utilities, which are used to resolve problems associated with the inability to start the Windows 7 operating system due to a damaged or missing bootloader.

How to repair hdd boot sector

Almost every user working with a computer is faced with the problem of hdd sector corruption. On this may be whole line reasons, ranging from improper shutdown to deep penetration of the virus. There are many possible ways how to restore the hdd boot sector and data on it (in some cases, information may be lost forever). Some options will be too difficult for ordinary users PC, and the worst thing is that incorrect actions can lead to this very process of irretrievable data loss or global damage to the overall system. Therefore, the first rule before starting the recovery work is to try to reduce the number of impacts and especially incomprehensible and unverified manipulations. It is not recommended to delete, cut or copy anything. Each problem is individual, so you will need to check the sector on different software. There are many different programs, the most popular are:

HDDScan;
Active File Recovery;
R-Studio;
Norton Partitionmagic;
Raxco;
EASEUS Partition Master.

And this, of course, is not all, but these programs most often cope with the task, and use good reviews among users. Alas, this is not always able to restore the hdd boot sector as soon as possible, problems may arise with determining the type of file system, or the presence of this sector will not be visible.

Media Formatting

This method is suitable for those who do not care about the information on the media and it is important to restore the hdd boot sector as soon as possible. After this procedure, in 80% of cases, work is completely restored. But this method is more often resorted to already in the most extreme cases, because. the data on the disk still plays an important role for almost everyone, especially if it is a working computer.

testdisk
If the user encounters a problem for the first time and absolutely does not know how to restore the hdd2 boot sector, this utility can get the job done very quickly. However, not without the participation of the user himself, it will be necessary to understand some points. The special complexity of the program is the English interface. With the knowledge of technical words, the system will be understandable.

Consider this way the points:
1) Find Create a new log file, if necessary, enter the log.
2) Next, you need to find the damaged media according to the description of its characteristics, for example: Disk / dev / sds - 160 GB, select it.
3) Next step, select partition type among Intel, Sun, Mac, etc.
4) After that, possible operations are opened that can be done with the disk. Choose Analyze.
5) Next is the analysis possible losses and overall structure.
6) Selection of geometry on the disk
7) The final steps in the "Master Boot Record" section are responsible for rebooting the sector. You need to select a damaged disk, then check the sectors, overwrite the MBD.

With the correct course of action, after a reboot, the disk should function again and at the same time have all its data in its original form.

The second way is application on Windows
For various reasons, the first option may not work, and the question of how to restore your hdd3 boot sector remains open. To understand the recovery process itself, let's take a closer look at what an MBR is.

MBR is the very first sector that is found on the disk, it has a special table with partitions, and boot program, it reads the data and their path, starting from the hard disk and ending with the partition of the installed operating system.

Course of action:
1) First you need to turn on the computer and select boot from the installation disk or USB drive, press any key and select "System Restore" in the Windows installation window, if a problem is found, click fix and reboot.
2) If this did not help the boot sector, re-open "system restore" and select the "next" item, in command line write bootrec/fixmbr. This command will check the compatibility of the master boot record and solve the problem of its corruption. But nothing will change in the partition table.
3) We issue the following bootrec / fixboot command, this action writes a new boot sector that will be compatible with Windows. Click "exit" and restart your computer.

All in all, this should work! But as practice shows, restoring the hdd boot sector is not so easy, and in this case there are more ways and commands:
1) The bootrec / ScanOs command does a full scan and search for operating systems, if found, it will be visible on the screen.
2) bootrec / RebuildBcd is used to add the found Windows to the general boot menu, the combination of Y and enter will complete the addition process.

If that doesn't work either, a command like bootsect/NT60 SYS can, on a case-by-case basis, restore the hdd boot sector by updating the master boot code. Then you need to click "sign out" and restart your computer.
Of course, this is not all existing methods and programs, so if these options did not help, it is reasonable to turn to a computer forum, because many users are faced with this problem and tell each other how to proceed in order to reasonably restore the hdd boot sector and not cause even more harm to it. Boot sectors are a fairly popular topic, if you google it becomes clear that situations with a bootloader failure are very different, but almost always there is a counteraction to any action. Here are some more good and effective hard drive recovery programs:
MBRFix
Paragon Hard Disk
Hirlen's Boot

If your computer does not boot into Windows when you turn on the computer, the process freezes on a black screen, then the boot record may be damaged hard drive(MBR).

External manifestations

When an error appears on the screen, doubts disappear.

Other information about a malfunction of the HDD bootloader may also be displayed.

Text information may be different depending on the classification of the error. But when the word boot is mentioned, it is clear that there is something wrong with booting.

How to restore the MBR, you will find out on this page.

The reasons

Pay attention to the common causes of HDD boot sector failures.

Two types of bootloader

Older systems prior to Windows XP used the NT Loader (NTLDR). In Windows 7, Vista, and later versions of the OS, UEFI and EFI began to be used. Therefore, old and new systems are usually not installed on the same PC. Otherwise, NTLDR overwrites UEFI.

Third party software

Errors in the HDD boot sector may occur even when using popular programs for the hard drive partition. This happened to me with Acronis. This happens because such software replaces disk boot drivers with its own. This can corrupt the original MBR. Therefore, it is better to use the built-in hard disk partitioning methods from Windows.

Viruses

Viruses sometimes induce their own "orders" in the MBR. Therefore, after restoring the HDD boot, check the computer with antivirus programs.

If you are sure that the cause is viruses, then clean your PC of them even before repairing the MBR. To do this, there are utilities of well-known anti-virus companies, for example, Kaspersky Rescue Disk. They are provided free of charge on official websites with instructions for use.

Any of these programs is included in the software package for CD or DVD, which allows you to boot from a CD, find and remove viruses on the HDD.

Windows 7 Boot Recovery

Sector repair is performed from a CD or USB flash drive with the installation package of the operating system.

1. First, insert the DVD into the drive or flash drive into the USB port with the Windows distribution.
2. Then you need to allow launch from these devices. This is done in the BIOS settings.

Changing download sources

Technology of the following order:

Be sure to press F10 when you exit, otherwise the changes will not be saved!

Working from a CD or flash drive

You act in the following order:

1. After the reboot, an inscription will appear at the bottom: “Press any key... ". It is asked to press any key. Click. Otherwise it won't work. If the inscription has already disappeared, repeat all over again. To do this, press three keys at once: Ctrl + Alt + Del. This will restart the computer.
2. When you boot from the DVD or flash drive, the Windows installation window will appear. Select "System Restore" on the bottom left.
   
3. Will offer to connect networking capabilities, select languages ​​or a drive letter. Do not change anything and get to the choice of systems.
4. Highlight desired Windows and check the box next to "Use recovery tools ...".
   
5. If the required system is not there, then it should appear when you click "Load Drivers".
6. Continue with the "Next" button.
7. In the next window, select "Startup Repair", and the MBR can be reanimated automatically.
   
8. If the sector did not work, then click "Command Prompt".
9. At the command line, call the Bootrec utility and write for it to repair the MBR: bootrec /fixmbr. End each command with the Enter key.
   
10. Then create a new boot sector: bootrec/ fixboot. To exit the program, type exit and remember to press Enter.

If the fixes didn't work

There is another MBR reanimation command - bootsect /NT60 SYS. After that, try to boot again.

In case of an unsuccessful attempt, write on the command line like this: bootsect /rebuildbcd. It will search for operating systems installed on the PC.

Now try to log into Windows again. Please note that the list of systems will now have one more. Try to go to each of them. It should work!

Non-standard way

If all options for recovering the sector did not save, then it is recommended to reinstall Windows. And how you want to do it sometimes! Is it true?

I also thought so and decided to put another small system next to it. What does "small" mean? This is the boot system. It is empty: I did not install drivers and my programs on it, because I do not work in it. But it does load!

I achieved what was needed: a working boot area appeared on the hard drive. Now in old system I'm fine. The disadvantage is that I lost about 14 GB of disk space. If you are not afraid, you can take this method into service!

How to fix a sector in Windows 8-10 and Vista?

For Vista and later Windows versions the same methods are suitable as for the "seven", only the design differs. For example, in the "eight" he is like that.

But the points remain the same. Therefore, we will not describe them. Use the instructions above for Windows 7.

In Windows XP

In the "expish" the principle of resuscitation of the sector is similar. But the input is a little different. Now you will see it:

1. After booting from the CD, the system files are copied to the hard drive.
2. Then a window for selecting actions appears.

If you have never encountered the problem of failures when loading the operating system of your computer, this article may not be of interest to you. It is intended for those who want to learn on their own (without calling specialists) how to fix occasional failures in the operation of the operating system and restore the boot sector with their own hands.

Possible causes of failure

As a rule, a failure appears unexpectedly. It's just that one day you can't turn on your computer because the operating system won't load. This is due to the fact that for various reasons that are not interesting for the vast majority of users, the master boot record (MBR), or as it is also called, the boot sector, is damaged. The reasons for the failure can be software corruption of the MBR due to a virus attack or a violation of the physical sectors of the hard disk. You can fix the problem by restoring the boot sector. As a result, the program will reassign the hard drive areas, and another sector of the disk will perform the MBR functions.

Solution

Restoring the boot sector is quite simple. Most often, restarting the system helps. You may be presented with several options. For inexperienced users, we advise you to choose the option to boot the system with the latest working parameters. If that doesn't help, try uploading it to safe mode. In this case, you will not see the background image. In addition, most programs will not work, but files stored on the desktop can be copied to other media or to local disk. This option should be tried, because the only way to restore the system can only be to reinstall it with formatting system disk. And if you do not want to lose any important documents, do not neglect this action.

Windows 7 Boot Sector Recovery

You need to find the Windows 7 installation disk. If it is missing by definition or lost, then you need to look for boot disk. Do not forget to check your hard drive for viruses before restoring the system, or rather, to make sure that they are absent. To do this, install it on another computer or use the antivirus CD. If such a check is ignored, there is a risk that the bootloader will fail again due to the fact that the lurking virus is activated again.

Sequencing

You should start restoring the Windows 7 boot sector by pressing the "Delete" button when you turn on the computer. In the "Advanced" (or "Boot") section, find the device boot order. Set the BIOS as the first CD/DVD device, save the change, and exit.

The next step is to select "Repair Windows using the Recovery Console". Then, from the proposed list, select the system to restore and enter its number. Press "Enter". Then enter the "fixmbr" command to restore the MBR, or the "fixboot" command with the drive letter to restore, confirm it (Y) and press "Enter" again. Restart your computer. If the recovery of the boot sector in this way failed, the only thing left is to reinstall the system.

Very often, the cause of a computer failure is damage to the boot sector or the master boot record.

When you do this, you cannot start the computer in Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration mode. The computer may not give errors, or you will see the following entries on the screen:

NTLDR is missing. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart,

Cannot start Windows due to corrupted or missing file: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

How to restore the boot sector and boot record using the recovery console?

For Windows XP:

To do this, in the BIOS, select boot from a CD / DVD disk, or set the boot priority from a CD / DVD disk. Files will start downloading. After the download is complete, press R - start the recovery console.

In which a copy of Windows should you sign in?

1: C:\WINDOWS Which copy of Windows should I sign in to? Type 1, press Enter.

A message will appear:

**WARNING** This computer has a non-standard or invalid master boot record. Using FIXMBR can damage the existing partition table. This will result in the loss of access to all partitions of the current hard drive. If there are no disk access problems, it is recommended to abort the FIXMBR command. Are you confirming the writing of the new MBR?

Press: Y

The new master boot record will be written. Wait for the corresponding message.

Enter the FIXBOOT command.

The message appears: Destination Partition: C:. Do you want to write a new boot sector to the C: partition?

Press the Y button.

A message will appear: File system in boot partition: NTFS (or FAT32). The FIXBOOT command writes a new boot sector. The new boot sector has been successfully written.

Type exit to exit the console. Now, if this was indeed the problem, the computer will turn on without problems.

For Windows 7

For Windows 7, the commands are slightly different. Yes, and the console will also start differently.

How to restore the Windows 7 bootloader?

You will also need a CD operating system Winows 7. We boot from the disk, as in the case of Windows XP.

After downloading the main files, a window for selecting language options will appear. At the bottom there will be a system restore button.

Click it and choose the option you want. In our case, the command line.

We also type the following commands. First

bootrec /fixboot (or bootrec.exe /fixboot)

bootrec /fixmbr (or bootrec.exe /fixboot)

We also press type exit to exit the console.

In the case of Windows 7, the Recovery Console can be started without a disc using Startup Repair. As a rule, the system itself will prompt you to run the recovery tool in case of a failure.

Note: If suddenly you see that the letter of the system drive in the recovery console is different from yours (that is, you know for sure that the OS was installed on drive D, and not on C, just enter the drive letter in the console. For example: D :)

We hope that you will be able to restore the OS. However, this method will not necessarily help you. Be careful. The authors of the site are not responsible for any damage caused to your PC.