How to Solve “Invalid or Damaged Bootable Partition” in Windows?

Are you annoyed by black screen error messages about invalid or corrupted bootable partitions when you boot into your Windows 10/11 computer? Many users have reported that they are experiencing the issue:

I have a Lenove Model H420, this morning it did some updates. When I restart my computer, it failed to boot and i get the message "invalid or damaged bootable partition". Any suggestions or bits of information to deal with it. Thank you so much" - Question from Lenovo

Invalid or damaged bootable partitions can interfere with the computer's ability to boot the system smoothly. This article will explain the cause of this problem and show you how to repair an invalid or damaged bootable partition.

What does “invalid or damaged bootable partition” mean?

A bootable partition is a partition that holds the important files for the operating system to ensure the OS can start up successfully. if you receive a message- “invalid or damaged bootable partition”, it means the boot partition is corrupted, and you will not be able to boot your computer. Commonly, there are four reasons behind this error:

• Boot from an incorrect partition.
• Two or more partitions are set as active.
• The MBR is corrupted.
• Some items like motherboard, SATA port, HDD are old or incompatible.

This compass provides a corresponding effective method for each error. If you know the problem, you can jump directly to the corresponding solution. Among them, AOMEI Partition Assistant is your essential repair tool, especially for MBR and boot errors.

How to fix “invalid or damaged bootable partition table” in Windows 10/8/7?

It is common that “invalid or damaged bootable partition table” error appears when you start a computer. Don’t worry, here we provide three ways to fix this error. Firstly, check if your hardware and items are compatible, if they are compatible and doing good, just take the following methods and learn how to repair “invalid or damaged bootable partition” error.

Method 1. Change boot order

If your computer is connected to one or more external hard drive, your computer may boot from a worry one, which can lead to “invalid or damaged bootable partition table”, “no bootable device found” and other errors. Now, follow instructions below to change the boot order to make your computer boot from the right active drive.

Step 1. Restart your computer, and press ESC, F1, F2, F8, or F10 to Enter BIOS, and choose to enter BIOS setup.

Step 2. Use the arrow keys to select Boot tab, and select the hard drive where the operating system is.

Step 3. Press Enter or F10 to save operation and exit.

Method 2. Repair corrupted MBR

MBR (Master Boot record) is a type of boot sector at the very beginning of hard drive in computer. It contains the partition table and executable information for boot start. So corrupted MBR can lead to “invalid or damaged bootable partition” issue.

Then, you can choose one method to repair MBR between the 2 methods listed below.

1. Repair MBR with free MBR repair tool

Using Command Prompt can repair MBR, but it is a bit complicated. And some people may feel confused about how to open Command Prompt.

You can turn to a great MBR repair tool-AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition. It can help you create a bootable USB drive and fix “invalid or damaged bootable partition” error without installation disc or repair disc on Windows 10/8/7. Let’s see how is the steps.

Step 1. Insert a USB flash drive into another computer. Install and open AOMEI Partition Assistant, and click "Tools"> “Make Bootable Media” on the top side of window, and click “Next”.

And follow the instruction to create a bootable USB stick. When it is finished, The AOMEI Partition Assistant will be installed on the USB.

Step 2. Now insert the USB into the computer that is with “invalid or damaged bootable partition” error. Start your computer and boot into BIOS as the Method 1. Change the USB as boot drive.

Step 3. Once your computer boot, you will see the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant. Then right-click the boot disk that contains a damaged MBR and select “Rebuild MBR”.

Step 4. Then choose a correct MBR type according to the operating system.

Step 5. Return to the main interface, click “Apply” and “Proceed”.

When the operation is completed, unplug the bootable USB, and restart the computer, enter the BIOS again, and change back the repaired disk as boot drive.

2. Repair MBR using Command Prompt

For this method, you need to prepare an installation CD beforehand and insert it into your computer.

Step 1. Restart computer, and boot from the installation CD, and choose language and time. Then click “Next”.

Step 2. Press shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.

Step 3. Now, execute the following commands:

• bootrec.exe /fixmbr

• bootrec.exe /fixboot

• bootrec.exe /scanos

• bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

Step 4. When it is completed, restart computer.

✍Tips: The specific steps may slightly different, they depend on the OS and brands you are using.

Method 3. Inactive partition

Only one partition should be set active. Setting two or more partitions active may result in “invalid or damaged bootable partition” error because the system couldn’t tell a right partition to boot from. Then, you can set other partitions inactive to fix this error.

Step 1. Insert an installation CD, and open the Command Prompt as method 1.

Step 2. Type and execute the following commands:

• list volume (you will see which partitions are set active)

• Select volume n (the volume you are going to set inactive)

• Inactive

✍Note: If there are more than 2 active partitions, you need to repeat these commands until only one active partition left. But if you have AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can simply avoid using the command prompt.

Method 4. Run Boot Repair

Windows provides a built-in startup repair feature. If you are experiencing issues with invalid or corrupt bootable partitions on Windows 10, try performing a boot repair using Windows bootable media. However, the method is more complicated. You need to create bootable media first and then refer to the following steps:

Tip: You can directly use AOMEI Partition Assistant for one-stop repair. It creates Windows installation disks and provides built-in repair functions.

Step 1. Turn off your computer and insert the Windows installation disk.

Step 2. Restart your computer and press any key.

Step 3. Specify the language, time, and keyboard settings, and then click Next.

Step 4. Select "Repair your computer" and choose "Troubleshoot".

Step 5. Now select "Advanced Options" and choose "Startup Repair".

Conclusion

If you encounter the error “invalid or damaged bootable partition”, choose the method above according to the cause. In addition, AOMEI Partition Assistant can help check whether there are some bad sectors on a certain partition and fix them if necessary.

You can upgrade to Professional Edition to enjoy more advanced features like allocating free space from one partition to another, converting system disk to GPT without data loss, partition alignment.