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How to Manually Repair BCD when Windows Won’t Start

You can automatically solve most startup problems with the Startup Repair tool. If you prefer a more manual approach, you can use the BootRec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery environment.

First, follow these steps to load the Windows Recovery Environment:

1. Restart the computer from the Windows Vista DVD (the computer must be configured to start from CD/DVD), and start setup.

2. Configure your language preferences.

3. When prompted, click Repair your computer.

click-repair-your-computer.png

4. Startup Repair will automatically detect a problem. When prompted, click Repair and restart, and then restart your computer from the Windows Vista DVD. If Startup Repair does not automatically detect a problem, continue to the next step.

5. When prompted, click Repair Your Computer.

6. Click Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options.

click-command-prompt.png

BootRec.exe provides the following command-line paramters:

  • /FixMbr. Re-writes the master boot record (MBR) of the system partition to start Windows Vista. This won’t overwrite the existing partition table.
  • /FixBoot. Writes a boot sector onto the system partition to start Windows Vista.
  • /ScanOs. Scans all disks for Windows Vista installations and displays them to you. Oddly, this didn’t work for me, even on a test system that was starting just fine.
  • /RebuildBcd. Scans all disks for Windows Vista installations and prompts you to pick the ones you want to add to the BCD.

For more information, read Chapter 30 of the Windows Vista Resource Kit.

For more information, read the Windows Vista Resource Kit (co-authored by your very own Tony Northrup). Got a question for Tony? Send an e-mail to qa@vistaclues.com.

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Posted: January 16th, 2007 under Troubleshoot.
Comments: 2

Comments

Comment from Nigel
Time: February 2, 2007, 2:14 pm

Thank you for taking the time to pass on your knowledge, a power failure would not allow a reboot of my computer proclaiming a corrupt winlogon process and only displaying the files on my hard drive.

I have now instructed this to reboot and my fingers crossed I have done this correctly after rebuilding the BCD.

Thanks

Comment from Brett May
Time: December 19, 2007, 11:57 pm

I am having a problem with repairing the files because my laptop didn’t come with a backup disk. Is there anything I can do?

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