How to Fix a Bad Partition Table

A partition table is the portion of your hard drive that contains information regarding the various system partitions written to the drive. A faulty partition table can prevent you from reading or writing to the partitions on your computer, a clearly undesirable result. Repair a faulty partition table by utilizing the Bootrec tool in the Startup Repair options of your operating system.

Things You'll Need

• Windows installation DVD

Instructions

1. Insert the Windows DVD into the computer.

2. Restart the computer. Press any key to boot from DVD when prompted.

3. Select your language, currency and keyboard settings. Press "Next."

4. Click "Repair your computer." Select the drive containing Windows and press "Next."

5. Click "Command Prompt," type "Bootrec.exe" and press "Enter." Type "bootrec /fixmbr" and press "Enter" to repair the master boot record, including the partition table(s).

References

• Microsoft: Bootrec
• PC Guide: MBR