Recover a Boot Record in XP

[Kalyan]

Recover a Boot Record in XP

The boot record stores the first bits of software executed once the system BIOS hands control of the computer over to software.

The boot record stores instructions used to start Windows XP. Each drive partition can store a boot record.

Occassionally a boot record will be damaged and need to be repaired. This damage may be caused by a hardware error, software error, user error, or even malware such as a boot sector virus.

How to Recover a Boot Record in XP

To recover the boot record in XP, use the fixboot command in the Recovery Console. The fixboot command will write a new boot sector to the partition.

To access the Recovery Console, follow the instructions in How do I use the Windows XP Recovery Console.

The fixboot command takes only one argument, the drive letter of the partition on which you want to repair the boot record. If you omit this argument, the fixboot command will repair the boot record on the current partition.