Restore Windows Bootloader using command line at boot time

UPDATE: Kindly note that I wrote this article back in 2013 & has been one of most viewed articles on this topic, however I am not sure if these steps work completely fine even now. Kindly try these on your own risk, and if you are able to get this working successfully, kindly leave a comment, I also suggest you to kindly help others who have asked few questions recently in comments section.

If due to any reason you lost your boot system, you can restore window’s bootloader using windows CD or bootable pendrive. You may need this to do if you had linux grub earlier which you uninstalled now, or due to damage to bootloader.

Follow these steps to restore MBR (Master Boot Loader) for Windows Bootloader

1. First of all insert Windows CD / bootable pendrive in your computer and start it. (follow my another post if you need to know how to make your pendrive bootable manually)
2. Now go to Command line at boot time
   • In windows 7, select ‘Repair your computer’ >’Startup Recovery Option’ > ‘Command Line’
   • In windows 8, select ‘Repair your computer’ > ‘Troubleshoot’ > ‘Advance Options’ > ‘Command Line’
3. Now give following commands
   1. • bootrec /fixmbr
      • bootrec /fixboot
      • bootrec /scanos
      • bootrec /rebuildbcd
4. You will see your console like this while giving above commands

X:\Sources>bootrec /fixmbr

The operation completed successfully.

X:\Sources>bootrec /fixboot
The operation completed successfully.

X:\Sources>bootrec /scanos
Scanning for all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while…

Succcessfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identifies Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

X:\Sources>bootrec /rebuildbcd
Scanning for all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while…

Succcessfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identifies Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

Thats it, just restart your computer!

Other related posts : ‘Fixing Grub using linux live CD’

🙂