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FixMBR


FastScan

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I ended up in the same problem, but my experience is that the diskpart command doesn't insert the boot code into the MBR. That it leaves for the setup program.

I was using Win PE to create a primary partition on a disk, acitvate, assign it. Then formatted using format C: /fs:ntfs.

Lastly copying in a Windows Embeded XP installation to C:.

Would not boot, just booted to a black screen without any errors, hanging around :(

So it seems that diskpart does not insert the bootcode into the MBR, just defines the partitions.

fdisk /mbr wont work since it is a DOS (heaven forbid) utility.

I found some info on the Internet and set out to make my own utility to write boot code into the MBR. Was finished after a few hours, yesterday.

The utility is written for Win PE, and is tested in Win XP and Win PE. Should work with any version above NT 4.0, including W2K, Win 2003, XP.

Commands:

   MbrFix /drive <num> driveinfo              Display drive information
   MbrFix /drive <num> listpartitions         Display partition information
   MbrFix /drive <num> savembr <file>         Save MBR and partitions to file
   MbrFix /drive <num> restorembr <file>      Restore MBR and partitions from file
   MbrFix /drive <num> fixmbr                 Update MBR code to W2K/XP/2003
   MbrFix /drive <num> clean                  Delete partitions in MBR
   MbrFix /drive <num> readsignature {/byte}  Read disk signature from MBR
   MbrFix /drive <num> generatesignature      Generate disk signature in MBR
   MbrFix /drive <num> writesignature hex     Write disk signature to MBR
   MbrFix /drive <num> readstate              Read state from byte 0x1b0 in MBR
   MbrFix /drive <num> writestate <state>     Write state to byte 0x1b0 in MBR
   MbrFix /drive <num> drivesize              Returns drive size in MB as return value
   MbrFix volumeinformation driveletter       Get volume information for partition

fixmbr is the command to run. It do keep the partition table, so any partitions should stay! The readstate and writestate commands are meant to have a place to store a status number between 0 and 255, if you have no other place to store it during the installation phase. The state is stored in a byte not used for other purposes in the MBR.

Se the htm file in the zip-file.

Use at your own risk :)

3. december: Uploaded a new version of the program, which doesn't popup the HTML documentation everytime one make a typo. No functional changes!

9. september 2005: Uploaded a new version of the program. A couple of new commands, no other changes. About 1470 had downloaded the previous version!

Unhappily it didn't work for me :( On Win2K that is.

All the files are still there on correct (single) partition.

I've been through every Google search I can find. Checked the BIOS setting for 'Large'.

Still get "Error loading operating system" :(

Do I pay for Bootmaster @ $30? Will that fix it?

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Unhappily it didn't work for me :( On Win2K that is.

All the files are still there on correct (single) partition.

I've been through every Google search I can find. Checked the BIOS setting for 'Large'.

Still get "Error loading operating system" :(

Do I pay for Bootmaster @ $30? Will that fix it?

Wow, that's an old thread. ;-)

What is your WinPE platform (version?)

What have you tried so far?

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Unhappily it didn't work for me :( On Win2K that is.

All the files are still there on correct (single) partition.

I've been through every Google search I can find. Checked the BIOS setting for 'Large'.

Still get "Error loading operating system" :(

Do I pay for Bootmaster @ $30? Will that fix it?

Wow, that's an old thread. ;-)

What is your WinPE platform (version?)

What have you tried so far?

Sorry, difficult to edit your reply - a black banner below "Signed in as..." which I can't remove :( FIrefox 3.6 maybe?

Actually it seems that it wasn't a problem with the MBR.

To explain: A friend brought me a Win2K machine and asked if I could upgrade it to XP. "No problem", I thought. Hah! As IF!

I copied all his hard drive files to another drive. Good backup, eh?

Then attempting to upgrade things went pear shaped and locked out his WD drive - still not cured :(

So I copied back the files to a new WD drive.

Then I got locked into "cannot find operating system". That's how after much Googling and trying several different methods assuming an MBR problem I arrived here.

Last night I wiped the new drive and installed a fresh copy of Win2K and surprise! Surprise - it now works :)

So. It seems that it is/was some incompatibility with partitioning even though boot.ini is/was correct.

Never seen this issue before after nearly 20 years with PCs.

Maybe it will help someone else.

Apologies if I've posted off topic but I've not seen another board thread that talks so much common sense.

And many thanks for your reply ;)

BTW, I used USB BART PE a couple of weeks ago on a netbook and it went without a hitch.

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