[Tutorial] How to Repair Boot Sector in Windows 10 with External Drive

What is a Boot Sector

The boot sector is a vital component on storage devices that contains essential information to load the operating system. It can become corrupted due to various reasons, such as improper drive ejection, power failures, incorrect configuration, or malware infection.

When the boot sector fails to work, it can lead to some issues that prevent the system from starting or running normally. Fortunately, there are several ways to repair various boot sector issues, including using an external drive like a USB to boot into recovery mode. This article will show you how to repair boot sectors in Windows 10 with external drives step-by-step.

Repair Boot Sector in Windows 10 with External Drives

When your computer fails to function normally due to sector issues, it is recommended to use a bootable USB drive to repair it. This section provides a comprehensive guide on how to create a bootable drive and use it to repair boot sector in Windows 10. By following the steps below, you can effectively address boot issues and restore your device to optimal functionality.

Create an External Drive for Repair

Before discussing how to repair boot sectors in Windows 10, it’s essential to first learn how to create a bootable USB drive. Below are two effective ways to create it. Before starting, you have to prepare a USB drive (at least 16 GB of free space) and a functioning computer. Please ensure that all essential files on your USB drive have been backed up, preventing data loss during the formatting.

Method 1. Create a Bootable USB via CMD

Step 1. Press Windows+ R to open the Run dialogue. Then input cmd and press Enter to open the Command Prompt window.

Step 2. Type the diskpart command and press Enter to launch the DiskPart.exe tool. It is a disk partitioning tool that allows you to manage disk drives, partitions, and volumes using the command prompt.

Step 3. Execute the following command in order and press Enter every time you type a command.

► list disk: Displays all the disks on the computer.

► select disk : Replace X with the letter of your USB drive.

► clean: Deletes all data from the USB drive.

► create partition primary: Creates a new primary partition on the drive. 

► select partition 1: Selects the created partition.

► format fs=fat32 quick: Formats partition to store previously downloaded files, and only fat32 can be used in this command.

► active: Marks the current partition as active.

► exit: Closes the diskpart.exe.

Step 4. Download the Windows 10 IOS files from the Microsoft website and then manually copy them to the formatted USB drive.

Method 2. Create a Bootable USB via Media Creation Tool

Alternatively, you can also create a bootable USB drive using the Media Creation Tool provided by Microsoft. Here are the detailed steps:

Step 1. Download Media Creation Tool from the Microsoft official site and then accept the license terms.

Step 3. Choose Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC and then click Next to continue.

Step 4. Choose the language, edition, and architecture according to your needs and click Next.

Step 5. Choose USB flash drive on the next window and click Next.

Step 6. Finally, select the drive that you prepared in advance to store the downloaded Windows 10 installation files.

Repair Your PC with a USB Drive

After creating a Windows 10 boot repair USB, the next step is to use it to repair your system. Follow these steps to repair boot sector in Windows 10 with an external drive:

Step 1. Plug the created USB drive into the computer that you want to repair.

Step 2. Attempt to boot your computer by entering the BIOS/UEFI setup to set the USB drive as the primary boot device.

Step 3. After successfully booting, you will see the Windows Setup interface. Set languages, time, and keyboard according to your needs, and then click Next to continue.

Step 4. Choose Repair your computer on the next interface.

Step 5. Click on Troubleshoot > Advanced options to see a set of powerful recovery tools that can assist you in repairing different boot issues.

For instance, you can repair the boot sector by entering the correct commands in Command Prompt. Here are the related commands to repair the boot sector in Windows 10 via CMD. Type each command and press Enter to execute the Windows BOOTREC command. After running them, restart your computer to check if the issues have been resolved.

► bootrec /fixmbr

► bootrec /fixboot

► bootrec /scanos

► bootrec /rebuildbcd

An Excellent Boot Sector Repair Tool

Manually creating bootable drives and repairing boot sectors in Windows 10 can be a little challenging. If you are seeking an easier and more efficient way to do that, AOMEI Partition Assistant is a perfect option.

As an all-in one partition management tool, AOMEI Partition Assistant includes a wealth of features to address a variety of issues that you may encounter, such as allocating free space, merging partitions, or recovering data.

Its user-friendly interface guides you through a seamless process of creating a bootable disk in just a few clicks. By enabling the Boot Repair tool, you can automatically scan for and repair boot issues, ensuring your computer functions normally.

Here’s how to repair boot sectors in Windows 10 using AOMEI Partition Assistant:

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant on a working PC and connect a USB drive to it.

Step 2. Click Recover > Boot Repair on the toolbar.

Step 3. Select the create a bootable disk option to create a USB drive for boot repair.

Step 4. Plug the created USB drive to the computer that cannot function normally and set the USB drive as the primary boot device. It will automatically load the Boot Repair tool and perform a scan of boot issues.

Step 5. Once the process completes, select the repairable boot entries you want to repair and click the Repair button.

Step 6. After successful repair, remove the USB drive and boot your computer from the original system drive.

Bottom Line

In this article, we discussed how to repair boot sectors in Windows 10 with external drives. You are allowed to create a bootable USB drive using either the CMD or the Media Creation Tool. To easily repair boot sectors on Windows 10, AOMEI Partition Assistant provides you with professional restore services, making the repair easier even for those with limited technical experience.