Will a Windows 10 re-install keeping settings

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Gordy7

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#299138 14-Aug-2022 18:43

I have a Windows 10 cloned SSD that lost the MBR in the cloning process.

Will a re-install of Windows 10 keeping personal settings create an MBR on the SSD?

Longer story:

My son-in-law (100km away) had a HDD near death. Extremely/painfully slow desktop.

Managed to catch an image of the HDD using Macrium Reflect and transferred the image to an SSD.

I was never able to get access to the HDD again. Never had a second computer with me to help out.

However, the SSD ended up with no MBR.

Bit hazy - but in my rush Macrium Reflect had a build MBR option.... but it put the MBR on the Macrium Reflect USB stick.

Now the computer boots up using the USB stick. If I remove the USB stick when Windows is running - all stops.

To repair I have tried Aomei Partition Assist but it only repairs an MBR and does not create a new MBR.

I can of course leave him with the USB stick and SSD combo.... it does work.

I could also gather up his personal info and do a fresh install of Windows 10.

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

Behodar

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#2954498 14-Aug-2022 18:49

If I recall correctly, if you boot from the Windows installer and open a command prompt, you can run "fixmbr" to drop a new one on without reinstalling.

Edit: It looks like it's changed to "bootrec /fixmbr" in recent versions of Windows.

Oblivian

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#2954545 14-Aug-2022 18:56

Yeah that ^^

A reinstall will likely be dumb and not tell what you hope to do

The path to go gown, is treat it as a 'windows not booting' install case and use the tools at hand.

You know the files are there. You just need to update windows/uefi to find it.

Windows DART or recovery on a stick should help fins the install Using drive search and as you if you need help repairing.

K8Toledo

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#2954554 14-Aug-2022 20:16

Gordy7:

I have a Windows 10 cloned SSD that lost the MBR in the cloning process.

Will a re-install of Windows 10 keeping personal settings create an MBR on the SSD?

Longer story:

My son-in-law (100km away) had a HDD near death. Extremely/painfully slow desktop.

Managed to catch an image of the HDD using Macrium Reflect and transferred the image to an SSD.

I was never able to get access to the HDD again. Never had a second computer with me to help out.

However, the SSD ended up with no MBR.

Bit hazy - but in my rush Macrium Reflect had a build MBR option.... but it put the MBR on the Macrium Reflect USB stick.

Now the computer boots up using the USB stick. If I remove the USB stick when Windows is running - all stops.

To repair I have tried Aomei Partition Assist but it only repairs an MBR and does not create a new MBR.

I can of course leave him with the USB stick and SSD combo.... it does work.

I could also gather up his personal info and do a fresh install of Windows 10.

Edit: Here is the link to Macrium KB article.

https://knowledgebase.macrium.com/display/KNOW80/Fixing+Windows+boot+problems

In Rufus select the MR ISO to create a bootable USB drive.

Boot from the USB drive and select Fix Windows Boot Problems below.

yitz

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#2954608 14-Aug-2022 21:29

It could also be a valid MBR which points to the system boot loader files ("system partition") which somehow got installed to the USB flash drive in which case you need to run:
(sometimes the built-in diagnostics are too stubborn to pick up and fix)

BCDBOOT C:

bcdboot C: /s S:
where C: is the "boot partition" with the \WINDOWS folder
and S: is the separate "system bootloader partition" if it is not the same partition as the \WINDOWS folder (you might have to mount first using the diskpart tool as system drive usually has no letter). This is most likely the option for Windows Professional with Bit Locker and 64-bit installations.

This all assumes you are indeed on a MBR boot layout and not actually UEFI.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/bcdboot-command-line-options-techref-di

K8Toledo

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#2954676 15-Aug-2022 00:22

Reflect Rescue disk writes a new MBR to the selected partition. I use it all the time.

Gordy7

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#2954739 15-Aug-2022 08:57

Thanks for all the fix MBR options.

A good reminder to use KISS.

I haven't had to use MBR fixes since DOS days 😃

Gordy

My first ever AM radio network connection was with a 1MHz AM crystal(OA91) radio receiver.

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richms

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#2954757 15-Aug-2022 10:10

MBR only applies to legacy boot devices. There is a lot more to it to get current hardware, but reflect has got me back booting again when the useless windows repair options did precisely nothing to get it working again. I am sure that the inclusion of the repair option on the boot media is just a troll by microsoft because I am zero from about 30 with trying that.

Richard rich.ms