Fix the MBR in Windows XP

**Big Booger** · January 20th, 2003, 06:34 AM

Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console. Select your windows XP installation from the list, and enter the administrator password.
Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes) at the input prompt and confirm the next question with a "Y" (without the quotes). Use exit to restore the computer.

I had to use this on a PC that I had corrupted the MBR with by using a boot manager.

Worked perfectly. This may have been posted before, and if so, forgive me. If not, now you know how to repair your MBR. By the way MBR stands for Master Boot Record. THis procedure kind of replaced Fdisk I think.

BB

**Fez Monkey** · June 18th, 2004, 12:14 PM

Awesome fix. I had a half baked install of bootmagic on an xp machine. Fix MBR worked great (although after reading the warning in FIXMBR about ruining partitions etc., I held my breath until I had successfully rebooted into XP). Thanks for the fix.

**cityman** · June 20th, 2004, 00:01 AM

a word of caution.. sometimes there is no adminsitrator password entered (by you) but the program insists on a password.

microsoft admits there is a bug in its XP and there is a workaround for it. i know because it happened to me. it was no fun not realizing it was a bug until way after the fact and cure.

**Big Booger** · June 20th, 2004, 04:23 AM

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;308402

There's the knowledge base article from Microsoft that shows how to fix what cityman posted. Thanks cityman for your contribution. Luckily I didn't run into this issue, but now if users do, there is a fix.

**lynchknot** · June 22nd, 2004, 01:46 AM

http://phoenixfire.thenetdragon.net/referenced/fixmbr/

**beyond3d** · July 4th, 2004, 11:41 AM

Well thanks for the tips, but on my HD both the FIXMBR and FIXBOOT commands did not do the trick. In the end, this is how I solved the problem:

I added an old 1GB hd to the primairy IDE controller, connected the drive I wanted to repair (a 40GB Maxtor HD) to the seconday IDE controller, installed windowsXP on the 1st drive (the 1GB drive). The broken disk was a Maxtor HD. I downloaded maxblast 3 for windows (not the floppy version or ISO version, which both should work also) and run maxblast 3 from the freshly installed XP. I corrected everything on the Maxtor 40GB drive (setting it as boot drive and making a new 15GB partition with NTFS).
Maxblast copied everything from the 1GB XP OS and builds up a new OS on the new partition. Shutdown the PC, removed the old 1GB HD and started the PC again...DONE

KUDOS to Maxtor!
Link for the maxtor software tools:
Maxtor sodtware download
(remember for using this trick you need a Maxtor HD)

**Jackpot** · July 8th, 2004, 15:31 PM

For what it's worth... I have always just
booted off of a windows 98 boot disk and typed "fdisk /mbr" without
the quotes of course and voila, she b fixed...

Please advise me if this proceedure is a dangerous method, so far it has
worked for me...

thanks...
Jackpot

**phishhead** · July 8th, 2004, 15:52 PM

jackpot i've never tried your method since I dont use floppy drives...but does it work with xp. if so then the fdisk.exe must have never changed and should work fine.

**Jackpot** · July 8th, 2004, 16:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phishhead

jackpot i've never tried your method since I dont use floppy drives...but does it work with xp. if so then the fdisk.exe must have never changed and should work fine.

----------------------------------------------------
Yes, works fine with XP...

I got this info along time ago when i was playing around
with Lindows (Linspire) and couldn't get rid of the dual boot
screen, Lol

It also worked with "Xandros" for me too, but i wanted to be
sure not to mess up or cause any probs for anyone here..!

Thanks..!
JP

**Big Booger** · July 9th, 2004, 02:21 AM

Yeah I would do that too if I had a floppy drive. I now use a clip drive instead of a floppy and have given the floppy the boot LMAO..

Nice tip though

**Berserker** · April 26th, 2005, 19:55 PM

Be VERY careful with FDISK /MBR. It rewrites the master boot record. If the machine is multi-booting XP and another OS, /MBR may blast away the boot loader, thus crippling multi-boot capability. It may also wreck multi-boot capabilities under Win 9x if programs've installed a boot manager that /MBR overwrites.

**Big Booger** · April 27th, 2005, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Berserker

Be VERY careful with FDISK /MBR. It rewrites the master boot record. If the machine is multi-booting XP and another OS, /MBR may blast away the boot loader, thus crippling multi-boot capability. It may also wreck multi-boot capabilities under Win 9x if programs've installed a boot manager that /MBR overwrites.

Thanks for the word of caution. Always pays to be cautious and before doing anything ask or research it.

**MasumX** · May 18th, 2005, 17:56 PM

Ok i have the stupid MBR problem and everytime i start the computer and if no WIndows XP CD iis inside the CD-ROM the windows wont start and it keep saying ..

Master Boot Record has changed.
Press any key to enter to restore master boot or something...

i tried doing fixmbr but didnt help

and it keeps coming...if i dnt insert the CD inside...so how do i fix this problem anyone help? thanks!

**Big Booger** · May 19th, 2005, 15:54 PM

It's odd that this procedure doesn't work. Everytime I have had an MBR issue the fix I posted above worked.

You could try a few things...

Run a repair install
Reinstall over the existing installation

Or using the XP disk, make a new partition, and install XP that way. Then you'll be all set.

**worf6161** · November 25th, 2005, 22:22 PM

First of all, I have a Western Digital WD1000BB - 100 Gb 7200 RPM EIDE HDD. It is a secondary drive (no Executable files at all, just text, Pics, and music). It HAS been running fine for about 3 years until 11/18/2005. When booting the computer, I got a "S.M.A.R.T. imminent drive failure error" and said that the drive was bad and needed to be replaced. I thought it was referring to my PRIMARY drive so I disconnected the WD21000BB wrote Zero's to the Primary drive and then reloaded the OS. When booting up again after Re-connecting the WD1000BB, got the SAME error again. I powered OFF the computer and INPLUGGED the WD1000BB and rebooted the computer. The error did not re-appear. I powered off the computer and reconnected the WD1000 and booted up the computer again, and the error appeared. I allowed it to continue booting up. It booted up. The WD1000 was detected, BUT was showing "This drive is NOT FORMATED.I removed the drive and attached a DIFFERENT WD HDD. It booted up fine and showed ALL of the data on that HDD. Is there ANY THING I can do to RESTORE or Reconstruct the (MBR) for the partition and recover the data? This was NOT a bootable drive (no OS on it, just non-Executible files). I have not done ANYTHING to the drive since it failed. I have some irreplacable files on it. HELP!

Worf

January 20th, 2003, 06:34 AM	#1
Big Booger Super Moderator Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: JAPAN Posts: 10,857	Fix the MBR in Windows XP Boot from the windows XP CD, press the "R" key in the setup in order to start the restoration console. Select your windows XP installation from the list, and enter the administrator password. Enter the command: "FIXMBR" (without the quotes) at the input prompt and confirm the next question with a "Y" (without the quotes). Use exit to restore the computer. I had to use this on a PC that I had corrupted the MBR with by using a boot manager. Worked perfectly. This may have been posted before, and if so, forgive me. If not, now you know how to repair your MBR. By the way MBR stands for Master Boot Record. THis procedure kind of replaced Fdisk I think. BB __________________ Map yourself with TZ Frappr \| Booger's Blog

June 18th, 2004, 12:14 PM	#2
Fez Monkey Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 1	Worked Great Awesome fix. I had a half baked install of bootmagic on an xp machine. Fix MBR worked great (although after reading the warning in FIXMBR about ruining partitions etc., I held my breath until I had successfully rebooted into XP). Thanks for the fix.

June 20th, 2004, 04:23 AM	#4
Big Booger Super Moderator Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: JAPAN Posts: 10,857	http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;308402 There's the knowledge base article from Microsoft that shows how to fix what cityman posted. Thanks cityman for your contribution. Luckily I didn't run into this issue, but now if users do, there is a fix. __________________ Map yourself with TZ Frappr \| Booger's Blog

July 4th, 2004, 11:41 AM	#6
beyond3d Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 1	Well thanks for the tips, but on my HD both the FIXMBR and FIXBOOT commands did not do the trick. In the end, this is how I solved the problem: I added an old 1GB hd to the primairy IDE controller, connected the drive I wanted to repair (a 40GB Maxtor HD) to the seconday IDE controller, installed windowsXP on the 1st drive (the 1GB drive). The broken disk was a Maxtor HD. I downloaded maxblast 3 for windows (not the floppy version or ISO version, which both should work also) and run maxblast 3 from the freshly installed XP. I corrected everything on the Maxtor 40GB drive (setting it as boot drive and making a new 15GB partition with NTFS). Maxblast copied everything from the 1GB XP OS and builds up a new OS on the new partition. Shutdown the PC, removed the old 1GB HD and started the PC again...DONE KUDOS to Maxtor! Link for the maxtor software tools: Maxtor sodtware download (remember for using this trick you need a Maxtor HD) Last edited by beyond3d; July 4th, 2004 at 11:43 AM.

July 8th, 2004, 15:52 PM	#8
phishhead Friendly Neighborhood Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: San Diego, Ca. Posts: 3,675	jackpot i've never tried your method since I dont use floppy drives...but does it work with xp. if so then the fdisk.exe must have never changed and should work fine. __________________

June 20th, 2004, 00:01 AM	#3
cityman Bronze Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: near ex- world trade center Posts: 184	a word of caution.. sometimes there is no adminsitrator password entered (by you) but the program insists on a password. microsoft admits there is a bug in its XP and there is a workaround for it. i know because it happened to me. it was no fun not realizing it was a bug until way after the fact and cure.

June 22nd, 2004, 01:46 AM	#5
lynchknot Titanium Member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: blk helo target, WA Posts: 3,558	http://phoenixfire.thenetdragon.net/referenced/fixmbr/

July 8th, 2004, 15:31 PM	#7
Jackpot Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 66	For what it's worth... I have always just booted off of a windows 98 boot disk and typed "fdisk /mbr" without the quotes of course and voila, she b fixed... Please advise me if this proceedure is a dangerous method, so far it has worked for me... thanks... Jackpot

July 9th, 2004, 02:21 AM	#10
Big Booger Super Moderator Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: JAPAN Posts: 10,857	Yeah I would do that too if I had a floppy drive. I now use a clip drive instead of a floppy and have given the floppy the boot LMAO.. Nice tip though __________________ Map yourself with TZ Frappr \| Booger's Blog

April 26th, 2005, 19:55 PM	#11
Berserker Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 8	Be VERY careful with FDISK /MBR. It rewrites the master boot record. If the machine is multi-booting XP and another OS, /MBR may blast away the boot loader, thus crippling multi-boot capability. It may also wreck multi-boot capabilities under Win 9x if programs've installed a boot manager that /MBR overwrites.

May 18th, 2005, 17:56 PM	#13
MasumX Junior Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1	Ok i have the stupid MBR problem and everytime i start the computer and if no WIndows XP CD iis inside the CD-ROM the windows wont start and it keep saying .. Master Boot Record has changed. Press any key to enter to restore master boot or something... i tried doing fixmbr but didnt help and it keeps coming...if i dnt insert the CD inside...so how do i fix this problem anyone help? thanks!

May 19th, 2005, 15:54 PM	#14
Big Booger Super Moderator Super Moderator Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: JAPAN Posts: 10,857	It's odd that this procedure doesn't work. Everytime I have had an MBR issue the fix I posted above worked. You could try a few things... Run a repair install Reinstall over the existing installation Or using the XP disk, make a new partition, and install XP that way. Then you'll be all set. __________________ Map yourself with TZ Frappr \| Booger's Blog

November 25th, 2005, 22:22 PM	#15
worf6161 Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 2	Error: Drive NOT formatted First of all, I have a Western Digital WD1000BB - 100 Gb 7200 RPM EIDE HDD. It is a secondary drive (no Executable files at all, just text, Pics, and music). It HAS been running fine for about 3 years until 11/18/2005. When booting the computer, I got a "S.M.A.R.T. imminent drive failure error" and said that the drive was bad and needed to be replaced. I thought it was referring to my PRIMARY drive so I disconnected the WD21000BB wrote Zero's to the Primary drive and then reloaded the OS. When booting up again after Re-connecting the WD1000BB, got the SAME error again. I powered OFF the computer and INPLUGGED the WD1000BB and rebooted the computer. The error did not re-appear. I powered off the computer and reconnected the WD1000 and booted up the computer again, and the error appeared. I allowed it to continue booting up. It booted up. The WD1000 was detected, BUT was showing "This drive is NOT FORMATED.I removed the drive and attached a DIFFERENT WD HDD. It booted up fine and showed ALL of the data on that HDD. Is there ANY THING I can do to RESTORE or Reconstruct the (MBR) for the partition and recover the data? This was NOT a bootable drive (no OS on it, just non-Executible files). I have not done ANYTHING to the drive since it failed. I have some irreplacable files on it. HELP! Worf Last edited by worf6161; November 25th, 2005 at 22:32 PM.

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