The system recovery console in Windows provides us facilities against possible system failures. If the computer shuts down unexpectedly due to a power failure, the boot system of the operating system can be damaged. However, the System Recovery Console has mechanisms to repair this boot mechanism. One of these options is the command fixmbr. If you want to know what this command is for and how to execute it, I invite you to continue reading. We already started.
Windows Recovery Console
The Windows Recovery Console can be accessed in two ways. The first is by using the repair options for the operating system itself. Once we turn on the computer, if it has problems starting, it directs us to the option to Repair the system. In this window we select Troubleshoot and then Command Prompt. In this way we already have access to the console and we can execute the command.
The other way is through a Windows installation media. In this case we connect the removable drive with the installer of the operating system. Then we enter the computer’s boot menu and select to boot from removable media. Among the options offered by the installation interface, we select “Repair the system ”. This gives us access, in the Advanced Options, to the system recovery console.
Fixmbr command role
Actually the operation of the fixmbr command is quite simple. This is used to write a boot record compatible with the installed system on a specified disk drive. This command is available in the System Recovery Console from Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
Command syntax
To execute the command it is only necessary to type
fixmbr “disk_drive”
Need to replace disk drive by hard disk drive where we want to write the new boot record. In case the disk drive is not specified, the boot record it will be created on the primary drive from which the operating system boots.
Fixboot command example
If we want to write the boot record to a specific unit we can execute the command as follows:
fixmbr Device HardDisk1
In this case the boot record is written to the directory ” Device HardDisk1″.
On the other hand, if we execute the command of the form
fixmbr
in this case the boot record will be written to the partition used by Windows to load the default operating system.
The first variant is used when we have more than one Windows installation on your computer and you want to write the boot record for a specific one. And not just when there are multiple Windows installations. In case you have different operating systems, you must specify for which is the execution of the command.
In case you have only one Windows installation on the computer, run the command in the second way and the boot record it will be created on the disk partition where the operating system is installed.
What to do if the fixmbr command does not fix the problem?
If after using the command the problem persists and the operating system does not start, perhaps the situation is different. You can run other commands, such as the command fixboot bootcfg or diskpart, and see if that solves the problem.
If the operating system does not start even after performing these actions, it may be time to reinstall your computer.