Fixmbr Command (Recovery Console)

How to Use the Fixmbr Command in the Windows XP Recovery Console

by Tim Fisher
Tim Fisher has 30+ years' professional technology support experience. He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire.
Updated May 21, 2019

The fixmbr command is a Recovery Console command that writes a new master boot record to the hard disk drive that you specify.

Fixmbr Command Availability

The fixmbr command is only available from within the Recovery Console in Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Fixmbr Command Syntax

fixmbr device_name

device_name = This is where you designate the exact drive location that a master boot record will be written to. If no device is specified, the master boot record will be written to the primary boot drive.

Fixmbr Command Examples 

fixmbr \Device\HardDisk0

In the above example, the master boot record is written to the drive located at \Device\HardDisk0.

fixmbr

In this example, the master boot record is written to the device that your primary system is loaded onto. If you have a single installation of Windows installed, which is normally the case, running the fixmbr command in this way is usually the right way to go.

Fixmbr Related Commands

The bootcfg, fixboot, and diskpart commands are often used with the fixmbr command.