How to Repair Your Master Boot Record for Windows 7

You're diligently working on a document that you've spent several hours preparing, suddenly, your computer locks up and you're stuck. With no other option, you hold down your power button to shut your system off. You turn it back on and to your horror, you get an error stating that "No Operating System Found". At first you panic, as this project is due tomorrow morning and the boss is going to be furious if you screw this up.
This happens when the Master Boot Record gets corrupt or damaged. The system doesn't know how to boot due to this and thus is stuck at this point. Let me guide you through how to repair this on your Windows 7 machine, and fear not, resolution is just around the corner.

Step 1:

Turn your computer on and place your Windows 7 installation DVD or System Recovery Disc into your DVD player. If it doesn't automatically boot to your DVD, then you might need to change your boot order in your BIOS. If this is the case, once again reboot and watch for something that states "Enter Setup" or "Enter BIOS by pressing [key]. It is usually the F1, F2, F8, F10, or ESC key. Find the area that talks about boot order and make sure your DVD is first, not your hard drive. Save, and restart your computer.

Step 2:

You will receive the following message "Hit any key to boot from the DVD... " hit any key now! This should lead you to a screen that allows you to "Repair your computer". Select this option.

Step 3:

Your system will scan for previously installed operating systems and should find your windows 7 installation. Select it and click "Next"

Step 4:

You will be presented with a list of options, choose the bottom option "Command Prompt" and click "next" again.

Step 5:

You will now enter the command prompt and this may look foreign to you. Don't worry, we will only be in here a few minutes and I will tell you exactly what to type. On the actual command line, type:

bootrec.exe /fixmbr

and hit enter. This will take a few minutes to run but afterwards, you should be back up and running. once the process is complete, you can click on the X in the upper right hand corner of the command prompt window.

DONE!

Hopefully you regularly saved that word document you were working on and didn't lose the entire document. The changes between the time you saved and when your computer froze will be gone, but at least your computer is now back up and running