How to fix 'Invalid Partition Table' error on Windows

The partition table is a table on the hard drive, which records and describes the partition of the hard drive. In general, to boot the system, it is important to access the hard drive partition. Therefore, if the partition table is corrupted, the system cannot determine the partition to boot. In addition, data on this partition will also be corrupted such as PST data.

One of the most obvious signs that the partition table is corrupted is the message 'Invalid Partition Table' on the boot system. However, you do not need to worry when encountering this problem, please do one of the methods below.

How to fix 'Invalid Partition Table' error on Windows Picture 1

Method 1. Reconfigure the boot sequence

Normally, the cause of this error is that there are too many external hard drives connected to the computer, resulting in an error during the boot process. In this case, you just need to turn off the computer and disconnect all external hard drives. Then restart the system and access the BIOS to configure the boot order, remove everything except the internal hard drive. Finally, restart Windows to check if the error has disappeared.

Method 2. Change the partition status with Diskpart

Out of all partitions on the hard drive, only one partition is set to activate to boot. Therefore, this error will definitely appear if there are two or more partitions operating on the hard drive. In this case, you should check and change the partition status according to the following steps.

Step 1: First, boot the computer from the Windows installation disk.

Step 2: After that, follow the instructions and click " Repair your computer ".

Step 3: Next, select " Windows installation drive " and click " Next ".

Step 4: In the " System Recovery Options " box, select " Command Prompt ".

Step 5: Then type " diskpart " and press " Enter ".

Step 6: Enter the " list volume " and press " Enter " to check the active partitions. If the active partition will have a " * " next to its name.

Step 7: Next, type " select volume driveletter " to select the volume that will be changed to inactive status and press " Enter ".

Step 8: Then, enter " inactive " and press " Enter ".

Step 9: Finally, try rebooting again.

Method 3. Restore Master Boot Record (MBR) manually

The error 'Invalid Partition Table' may also occur because the Master Boot Record is corrupted. Follow the steps below to restore the MBR.

Step 1: To start, start Windows from the installation disk.

Step 2: After that, select " Repair your computer ".

Step 3: Next, select " Command Prompt ".

Step 4: Type each command " bootrec / fixboot ',' bootrec / scanos ', ' bootrec / fixmbr ' and ' bootrec / rebuildbcd ' in order.

Step 5: Finally, restart the computer.

1. How is GPT and MBR different when partitioning a drive?

Method 4. Use third party repair tools

If the above ways still can't fix the problem, then this error is worse than you think. In this case you can use a third-party repair tool. There are many tools that can repair a corrupted table partition, you can choose a trusted tool to fix this error.

Method 5. Update the BIOS

When trying to install Windows into a Solid State Drive (SSD) manually or using a custom image, you may receive an error message "Invalid Partition Table". The workaround is very simple, just need to update the BIOS, but because you cannot boot into the system, you need to access another system and a bootable USB Flash drive. Follow the steps below to update the BIOS.

Step 1: On another computer, plug the boot USB drive into the computer.

Step 2: Visit dell.com/support/home?app=drivers to get the latest BIOS for your system type.

Step 3 : Under the BIOS list, locate the latest version for your system and click Download file.

Step 4 : Select the Single-File download option and click Continue .

Step 5 : Save the file to the bootable USB drive

Step 6: Disconnect the USB boot drive and plug it into the computer that has an "Invalid Partiontion Table" error.

Step 7 : Start or restart the computer

Step 8: Press F12 when booting to open the Boot Device menu. (You may have to press F12 multiple times until you see " Preparing one-time boot menu ").

Step 9 : Use the arrow keys to select the USB device from the device list and press Enter .

Step 10: If the BIOS .exe file does not start automatically, you need to: Type in the command prompt E: XXXXXXX.exe (where E is the USB drive letter name to start and XXXXXXXX is the name of the saved file to the USB drive boot). For example, you can type: E: M6700A08.exe.

Step 11: Press Enter to run the file and install the BIOS.

Step 12: After the update, the computer will restart and then you can continue to install the operating system.

1. Instructions for upgrading BIOS

Method 6. Restore the system

Another fix is ​​that you can restore Windows to the point before the error occurred. After starting Windows from the installation disk, select ' Repair your computer'> 'Startup Repair '. The system will then start searching for the problem and create the corresponding restore point. You can follow the on-screen instructions to complete the system recovery.

1. Instructions for restoring the system on Windows

Method 7. Reinstall Windows system

You should only do this when you cannot restore the system. Reinstall the system using the installation disc.

1. How to install Windows 7 from USB

I wish you all success!

See more:

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3. How to create a separate data partition in Windows?