fixmbr XP Pro ?

[dbota]

I am doing a clean install of XP Pro because of some kind of viral or worm compromise of the machine. I deleted the NTFS partition and thought I should do something to make sure that the MBR isn't harboring any unwanted guests. When I started to use the fixmbr command it warned me that something was unusual with the MBR so I elected not to go ahead without knowing more about the process first.

I see all kinds of warnings on the web about "fdisking" or "fixing" the MBR ... is that because people are afraid of losing their data? Since I have wiped out my partition anyway, do I have anything to be concerned about? If "fixmbr" causes some problems, isn't there another procedure to rebuild the MBR or whatever?

Any info will be appreciated.

 

[david817]

If you have any worries about viruses being in the mbr you are probalby just as well using the fdisk utility as that will get rid of everything.
David

 

[linney]

I think you can almost certainly ignore the Fixmbr error.

266745 - Error Message When You Run fixmbr Command

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;266745&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Alternative MBR program.

Go to

http://www.bootitng.com.

look for MBRWORK in the freeware and download it, put it on a DOS floppy (one made by formatting in XP and taking the MSDOS Startup disk option will do).

Boot that and run MBRWORK