Fix mbr but no installation disks

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msday94

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May 15, 2010
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I got my PC with 7 preinstalled so I don't have installation disks. I had installed Ubuntu but decided to uninstall so I formatted the partition and now learned that the mbr must be fixed after doing that. I can't boot so Idk what to do. I have recovery disks but Idk if those will work and I'm having trouble finding them. is there a bootable CD that I could make from another PC to fix the mbr? thank you!
 
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Hi again,

The file you need to fix the MBR is called BootRec.exe, but it is not presently available for download anymore. I checked

It is on the Win-7 DVD installation disk. Do you have or know a friend that has a Win-7 installation disk? It should be the same 32 or 64 bit disk version you have on your computer.

You don't need to reinstall Win-7, at least not yet.
You just need it to get to the Recovery Environment where you can run BootRec.exe /FixMbr

Next step is obtain the installation DVD and we can give you the needed steps

John_VanKirk

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Hi there,

The short answer is you probably can fix the MBR.

Does your system disk have valuable information on it you haven'et backed up, or as a worst case, could your reinstall the OS with the restore disks and start anew?

Since you don't have an installation DVD, and can't boot into the OS, to get to System Recovery, it is a problem.

Here is a link that Microsoft discusses how to use BootRec.exe to repair the MasterBootRecord. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Since it is fairly technical, and you have to download BootRec.exe and run it from the Cmd line, you might want to ask a friend that is familiar with command line computing to give you a hand.

Hope that's helpful.

 

msday94

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May 15, 2010
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thanks, nothing on the PC is too important that I couldn't reinstall but I would hate to have to do that. is there a way I could make a bootable CD to fix the mbr? like hirems boot CD but preferably smaller? thanks again!
 

John_VanKirk

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Hi again,

The file you need to fix the MBR is called BootRec.exe, but it is not presently available for download anymore. I checked

It is on the Win-7 DVD installation disk. Do you have or know a friend that has a Win-7 installation disk? It should be the same 32 or 64 bit disk version you have on your computer.

You don't need to reinstall Win-7, at least not yet.
You just need it to get to the Recovery Environment where you can run BootRec.exe /FixMbr

Next step is obtain the installation DVD and we can give you the needed steps
 
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John_VanKirk

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Other thing to consider is to install Win-XP (if you have an installation disk copy of it) on the second partition where linux was, and download and use EasyBCD to modify the MBR, as previously recommended. An alternative would be to use the command line cmd "e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 all" which would put the Win-7 bootloader choice back in the MBR.

The first idea is easiest.
 

msday94

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May 15, 2010
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thank you john for the advice. I'm working on getting the installation disks. area 51 that would work if I could get into the os. also with the mbr corrupted is it impossible to boot from a bootable CD? thanks again.
 
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