- Bootrec Rebuildbcd Finds 0 Installations
- Bootrec No Windows Installations Found Windows 7
- Bootrec Finds No Windows Installations
- Bootrec No Windows Installations Found Dead
This guide explains how to use the Bootrec (bootrec.exe) utility for the following Windows versions: Windows XP (bootcfg, not bootrec), Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 or 10.
Contents
- Aug 06, 2019 I have been trying to rebuild the BCD on my laptop. I was able to run /fixmbr and /fixboot and then when i run /rebuildmbr it finds no windows systems. Naturally before reposting another article about rebuilding the BCD I googled it. I found that Lifewire had the next steps that I was looking. Hi, Please boot with your original Windows 10.
- Jun 28, 2018 Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 1 1 D:Windows Add installation to boot list? Yes/No/All: Press Y and you should see the “The operation completed successfully” message meaning that the BCD rebuild is complete. Restart your computer and check to see if you are able to boot normally.
- 1 Bootrec in Windows
- 1.2 Bootrec in Windows Vista
- 1.3 Bootrec in Windows 7
- 1.4 Bootrec in Windows 8 and 8.1
- 1.5 Bootrec in Windows 10
- 4 Troubleshooting
- 5 More Information
Bootrec or the bootrec.exe utility is a tool provided by Microsoft in Windows Recovery Environment, or the Windows RE. When your computer fails to start, Windows automatically starts in this Windows RE – a recovery platform based on Windows Preinstallation Environment – where you can find various tools that can potentially fix your computer: Startup Repair, Command Prompt etc.
Bootrec in Windows
Bootrec or the bootrec.exe utility is a tool provided by Microsoft in Windows Recovery Environment, or the Windows RE.
When your computer fails to start, Windows automatically starts in this Windows RE – a recovery platform based on Windows Preinstallation Environment – where you can find various tools that can potentially fix your computer: Startup Repair, Command Prompt etc.
This is useful to troubleshoot and potentially fix errors that are preventing your computer to start.
Bootrec.exe is used in connection with:
- Master Boot Record (MBR) [related guide: Fix the MBR]
- Boot Sector
- Boot Configuration Data (BCD)
- boot.ini [related guides: Invalid BOOT.INI file; Fatal error reading boot.ini; Rebuilding Boot.ini]
This utility is available for Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Windows 8.1.
Bootrec in Windows XP
Microsoft Windows XP doesn’t have a bootrec.exe utility, but a bootcfg.exe utility which is part of the Windows XP Recovery Console.
Windows XP has, instead, the bootcfg utility that can be used to modify the boot.ini file.
To read about bootcfg, follow our guide: Bootcfg – Guide for Windows XP
Bootrec in Windows Vista
You can run the bootrec commands in Windows Vista if you can boot into Windows Vista and access the System Recovery Options (your system may not have this installed) or you have the installation disc available to access Command Prompt.
If you can’t boot into your Windows Vista system or don’t have the original installation disc, use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Command Prompt. Download Easy Recovery Essentials and burn it to any CDs, DVDs or USBs.
If you have the installation disc
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe by using the original installation disc in Windows Vista:
- Insert the CD/DVD of Windows Vista in the optical drive
- Reboot the computer
- Press any key to boot from the CD/DVD
- Select a language, time and keyboard and click Next
- Click Repair your computer
- Select the operating system
- Click Next
- At the System Recovery Options box, click Command Prompt
- Once Command Prompt appears, you can type the command:
- Hit Enter
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
If you don’t have the installation disc
If you don’t have the Windows Vista installation disc, you can access System Recovery Options or use Easy Recovery Essentials to launch Command Prompt.
System Recovery Options is installed on your system if the Repair Your Computer option appears at the Advanced Boot Options menu.
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe without the installation disc in Windows Vista:
- Reboot the computer
- Press F8 as the Windows Vista logo appears
- Select Repair Your ComputerIf Repair Your Computer is not available, System Recovery Options is not installed on your system. Access Command Prompt from the installation disc or use Easy Recovery Essentials.
- Select Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options menu
- When Command Prompt opens, type the commands:
- Hit Enter
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
Instructions if you use Easy Recovery Essentials:
- Burn the ISO Image. Follow our instructions on how to burn a bootable ISO image. If you’d like to have a recovery USB instead, follow our instructions on how to make a recovery USB.
- Boot Easy Recovery Essentials from the CD, DVD or USB
- Select Launch Command Line
Bootrec in Windows 7
You can access bootrec.exe on Windows 7 systems similar to Windows Vista systems: via the System Recovery Options (which is, by default, available in Windows 7) or via the installation disc.
If you can’t boot into your Windows 7 system or don’t have the original installation disc, use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Command Prompt. Download Easy Recovery Essentials and burn it to any CDs, DVDs or USBs.
If you have the installation disc
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe by the installation disc in Windows 7:
- Insert the disc in the drive
- Reboot the computer
- Press any key to boot from the CD/DVD
- Select a language, time and keyboard
- Click Next
- Click Repair your computer
- Select the operating system
- Click Next
- At the System Recovery Options box, click Command Prompt
- At Command Prompt, you can type the commands:
- Hit Enter
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
If you don’t have the installation disc
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe without the installation disc in Windows 7:
- Reboot the computer
- Press F8 as the Windows 7 logo appears
- Select Repair Your ComputerIf Repair Your Computer is not available, System Recovery Options is not installed on your system. Access Command Prompt from the installation disc or use Easy Recovery Essentials.
- Hit Enter
- Select Command Prompt
- When it opens, type the necessary commands:
- Hit Enter
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
Instructions if you use Easy Recovery Essentials:
- Burn the ISO Image. Follow our instructions on how to burn a bootable ISO image. If you’d like to have a recovery USB instead, follow our instructions on how to make a recovery USB.
- Boot Easy Recovery Essentials from the CD, DVD or USB
- Select Launch Command Line
Bootrec in Windows 8 and 8.1
In Windows 8, you can access the bootrec.exe utility by using your original installation media: DVD or USB drive.
If you can’t boot into your Windows 8/8.1 system or don’t have the original installation disc, use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Command Prompt. Download Easy Recovery Essentials and burn it to any CDs, DVDs or USBs.
If you have the installation disc (DVD, USB)
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe with the installation disc (DVD or USB media) in Windows 8 or 8.1:
- Insert the Windows 8 or 8.1 DVD or USB
- Reboot the system
- Press any key at the “Press any key to boot” message
- Click Repair your computerOr press R.
- Select Troubleshoot, then select Command Prompt
- When Command Prompt appears, simply type the necessary commands:
- Press Enter after each command
- When you are finished with Command Prompt, type
exit
, press Enter and remove the DVD/USB from the drive
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
If you don’t have the installation disc (DVD, USB)
If you don’t have the original disc, you can either boot to System Recovery Options and select Command Prompt or use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Command Prompt (you can burn EasyRE to any CDs, DVDs or USBs).
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe without the installation disc in Windows 8 or 8.1:
- Reboot the system
- Press Shift and F8 quicklyShift + F8 doesn’t always work, as reported by some users. If this is the case for your system, consider using Easy Recovery Essentials to run Command Prompt – details below this section of steps.
- At the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot
- Select Command Prompt
- When Command Prompt opens, type the commands:
- Hit Enter
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
Instructions if you use Easy Recovery Essentials:
- Burn the ISO Image. Follow our instructions on how to burn a bootable ISO image. If you’d like to have a recovery USB instead, follow our instructions on how to make a recovery USB.
- Boot Easy Recovery Essentials from the CD, DVD or USB
- Select Launch Command Line
Bootrec in Windows 10
In Windows 10 you can access the bootrec.exe utility by using your original installation media: DVD or USB drive.
If you can’t boot into your Windows 10 system or don’t have the original installation disc, use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Command Prompt. Download Easy Recovery Essentials and burn it to any CDs, DVDs or USBs.
If you have the installation disc (DVD, USB)
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe with the installation disc (DVD or USB media) in Windows 10:
- Insert the Windows 10 DVD or USB
- Reboot the system
- Press any key at the “Press any key to boot” message
- Click Repair your computerOr press R.
- Select Troubleshoot, then select Command Prompt
- When Command Prompt appears, simply type the necessary commands:
- Press Enter after each command
- When you are finished with Command Prompt, type
exit
, press Enter and remove the DVD/USB from the drive
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
If you don’t have the installation disc (DVD, USB)
If you don’t have the original disc, you can either boot to System Recovery Options and select Command Prompt or use Easy Recovery Essentials and run Command Prompt (you can burn EasyRE to any CDs, DVDs or USBs).
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe without the installation disc in Windows 10:
- Reboot the system
- Press Shift and F8 quicklyShift + F8 doesn’t always work, as reported by some users. If this is the case for your system, consider using Easy Recovery Essentials to run Command Prompt – details below this section of steps.
- At the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot
- Select Command Prompt
- When Command Prompt opens, type the commands:
- Hit Enter
For more commands and parameters you can run, go to Commands and parameters. If common commands don’t work for your system, go to Troubleshooting for tips.
Instructions if you use Easy Recovery Essentials:
- Burn the ISO Image. Follow our instructions on how to burn a bootable ISO image. If you’d like to have a recovery USB instead, follow our instructions on how to make a recovery USB.
- Boot Easy Recovery Essentials from the CD, DVD or USB
- Select Launch Command Line
Commands and parameters
The commands and parameters below are for the bootrec.exe utility in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10.
Windows XP uses the bootcfg utility. For commands and parameters for bootcfg, go to Parameters at Windows XP section.
Parameters for bootrec.exe are:
bootrec /FixMbr
will write a Windows Vista and Windows 7 compatible MBR to the system partition.bootrec /FixBoot
will write a new boot sector to the system partition. If your system is Windows 7, FixBoot will write a Windows 7-compatible boot sector and so on.bootrec /ScanOs
will scan the hard drives for any installations. ScanOs will also print installations that are not currently in the BCD.bootrec /RebuildBcd
will scan for installations on your hard drive and allows you to select which to add to the BCD.Download Bootrec.exe
You cannot download bootrec.exe as it’s a command line utility part of Windows.
To access the utility, you have these options available:
- boot into the recovery mode of your Windows to access Command Prompt
- get the original installation disc of your Windows version to access System Recovery
- use Easy Recovery Essentials, our recovery and repair disk, and access Command Line from there
Instructions if you use Easy Recovery Essentials:
- Burn the ISO Image. Follow our instructions on how to burn a bootable ISO image. If you’d like to have a recovery USB instead, follow our instructions on how to make a recovery USB.
- Boot Easy Recovery Essentials from the CD, DVD or USB
- Select Launch Command Line
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe without the installation disc:
Instructions on how to access bootrec.exe with the installation disc:
Troubleshooting
bootrec /RebuildBcd doesn’t work
If
bootrec /RebuildBcd
does not fix the error, you can also try to completely rebuild the BCD. TO do so, you need to run these steps:- Type this command:
- Type
c:
, where c: is where your Windows is installed - Type
cd boot
- Type this command:
- Type this command:
- Type this command:
The requested system device cannot be found
If Bootrec shows the “The requested system device cannot be found” error, follow the steps from bootrec /RebuildBcd doesn’t work.
bootrec /ScanOs doesn’t find Windows
It’s possible that the
bootrec /ScanOs
command can find 0 Windows installations:In this case you can try the steps from bootrec /RebuildBcd doesn’t work or try:
ren c:bootmgr bootmgrbackup
, wherec:
is where your Windows is installedbootrec /RebuildBcd
bootrec /FixBoot
bootrec prints Element not found
Various bootrec commands, like
bootrec /RebuildBcd
or bootrec /FixBoot
, can print this error:Bootrec Rebuildbcd Finds 0 Installations
In this case, try any of the following tips:
- Run the steps from bootrec /RebuildBcd doesn’t work
- If you have a SATA cable, move it to another port
- Make sure the partition is active. To do that, run these commands:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
, where0
is the number of your disklist partition
select partition 0
, where0
is the number of your partition numberactive
exit
bootrec in Windows 7 doesn’t work
If the
bootrec /FixMbr
or bootrec /FixBoot
commands don’t work in Windows 7, try the following steps to restore the boot sector code for your system:This solution works only if you have the original Windows 7 installation disc. Otherwise, use Easy Recovery Essentials to access Command Prompt or run Automated Repair for automatic repairs.
- Type these commands and press Enter after each:
- Remember the letter of your media drive that has the installation disc, e.g. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
- Type the following commands, press Enter after each and replace
D:
below with the letter of your media drive: - Type this command:
- Press Enter
- Remove the CD or DVD from the media drive
- Type
exit
- Press Enter
- Reboot the computer
bootrec in Windows 8/10 doesn’t work
If the bootrec utility doesn’t fix your Windows 8 system, you can also try to fix the EFI bootloader of your system:
- Boot from the install disc (DVD or USB)
- Click Repair your computer
- Choose Troubleshoot, then Command Prompt
- Type these commands in the exact order shown below and press Enter after each command:
- Select the volume number that has the FAT32 under the Fs column:where
2
is the number of the FAT32 partition printed by Command Prompt above. - Assign a unique letter to this partition. The letter must not be already available on your computer, e.g. C: or D: or E:
- The confirmation message should appear:
- Type
exit
to quit the diskpart utility (step 4): - Type the following command, but replace
x:
with the letter of the partition you chose earlier: - Type the bootrec command:
- Backup your old BCD configuration to create a new one:
- Type this command to replace the BCD, but remember to replace
x:
with the letter of the FAT32 partition mentioned earlier: - Remove the media from the drive: DVD or USB
- Type
exit
- Hit Enter
- Reboot the computer
More Information
Support Links
- Easy Recovery Essentials for Windows – our repair and recovery disk.
It’s an easy-to-use and automated diagnostics disk. It’s available for Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. It’s also available for Windows XP and Windows Server.Read more at Windows Recovery Disks. - The NeoSmart Support Forums, member-to-member technical support and troubleshooting.
- Get a discounted price on replacement setup and installation discs: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.
Applicable Systems
This Windows-related knowledgebase article applies to the following operating systems:
- Windows XP (all editions)
- Windows Vista (all editions)
- Windows 7 (all editions)
- Windows 8 (all editions)
- Windows 8.1 (all editions)
- Windows 10 (all editions)
- Windows Server 2003 (all editions)
- Windows Server 2008 (all editions)
- Windows Server 2012 (all editions)
Hi,
1. First Start System Recovery Options. To start system recovery options.
a) Boot from the disk, Once you get the welcome screen of installation with the option “Install now”
1. First Start System Recovery Options. To start system recovery options.
a) Boot from the disk, Once you get the welcome screen of installation with the option “Install now”
Batterybar free download. b) Click on Repair your computer
c) On the next page click on Advanced Options
d) Now click on Troubleshoot
e) Lastly click on Command prompt and follow the on screen instructions
2. At the prompt, type the bootrec command as shown below and then press Enter:
e) Lastly click on Command prompt and follow the on screen instructions
2. At the prompt, type the bootrec command as shown below and then press Enter:
bootrec /rebuildbcd
Please wait, since this may take a while..
Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.
4. Since the BCD store exists and lists a Windows installation, you'll first have to 'remove' it manually and then try to rebuild it again.
At the prompt, execute the bcdedit command as shown and then press Enter:
The bcdedit command is used here to export the BCD store as a file: bcdbackup. There's no need to specify a file extension.
The command should return the following on screen:
Meaning the BCD export worked as expected.
5. At this point, you need to adjust several file attributes for the BCD store so you can manipulate it.
At the prompt, execute the attrib command exactly like this:
What you just did with the attrib command was remove the hidden, read-only, and system attributes from the file bcd. Those attributes restricted the actions you could take on the file. Now that they're gone, you can manipulate the file more freely - specifically, rename it.
6. To rename the BCD store, execute the ren command as shown:
Now that the BCD store is renamed, you should now be able to successfully rebuild it, as you tried to do in Step 2.
Note: You could delete the BCD file entirely since you're about to create a new one. However, renaming the existing BCD accomplishes the same thing since it's now unavailable to Windows, plus provides you yet another layer of backup, in addition to the export you did in Step 5, if you decide to undo your actions.
7. Try rebuilding the BCD again by executing the following, followed by Enter:
which should produce this in the Command Prompt window:
meaning that the BCD store rebuild is progressing as expected.
8. At the Add installation to boot list? question, type Enter Y or Yes, followed by the Enter key.
Bootrec No Windows Installations Found Windows 7
You should see this on screen:
Bootrec Finds No Windows Installations
meaning that the BCD rebuild is complete.
9. Restart your computer.
Bootrec No Windows Installations Found Dead
Assuming that an issue with the BCD store was the only problem, Windows should start as expected.
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If not, continue to troubleshoot whatever specific issue you're seeing that's preventing Windows from booting normally.
Important: Depending on how you started System Recovery Options, you may need to remove a disc or flash drive before restarting.