Problem

Most of the times when the system gets halted improperly due to power outage or due to some other reason, the file system gets corrupted and Windows is unable to mount the boot drive properly. There are other factors that also result in unmountable boot volume. These include faster UDMA modes configured in BIOS and using 40 wire data cable for the hard drive.

Resolution

  • Load the fail-safe defaults in your BIOS and use 80 wire data cable for the hard drive for optimum performance.
  • If the file system is demaged (which usually is the case)
  1. If you have Recovery Console installed at startup, then start the recovery console and go to step 3. (See here how to install recovery console at startup)
  2. If Recovery Console is not installed at startup, then boot with Windows XP CD.
  3. When the “Welcome to setup” message appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  4. Select your Windows installation and type administrator password when prompted.
  5. At the command prompt, type chkdsk /r and then press enter. This will check your file system for errors and try to fix if any.
  6. When the above process is complete, type fixboot at the command prompt. This will fix the boot sector of the hard drive.
  7. Type exit at the command prompt to restart the system. Most probably the system will boot into Windows now.

5 Responses to “How to fix Unmountable Boot Volume in Windows XP”

  1. jerx says:

    just slave your drive if you have another computer..system will automatically fix it on start up.

  2. SodA says:

    I agree, all you need is to slave the disk to another computer, I’ve just fixed a friend’s computer this way :)

    PS: Ahora solo te resta instalarle XP, Leo :)

  3. and how do i slave my drive? i’m relatively new at software fixes, i usually put the components together and hope for the best. This is what I wrote to Tom’s Hardware:
    My homemade PC, a AMD Phenom Quad Core CPU, 2 -80 Gig WD SATA HD’s, Gigabyte MD. Thermal Take Typhoon cooler, 2 gigs of RAM, has given me the Win XP “blue screen of death” The machine just froze on the web page that I was on and debooted. And the the blue screen appeared with the cryptic message “unmountable boot sector”. I found a web site that suggested loading the Win XP disc ( The Win XP disc that I used was a Dell.) and rebooted the beast. I then attempted the suggested command, CHKDSK/R. No joy. The message was “that command is not supported”. But I did see a command that looked appropriate, just “R”. I did that from the “C” prompt. The system asked “repair boot sector of drive “D”?, and I assuming that the CD drive was now “C” and the my “C” HD was now “D”, I said yes, and pushed enter. The system said the boot sector had been repaired and so I rebooted. Same bloody blue screen. What I want to know is my “C” drive fixable w/o reformatting?

  4. dale says:

    William,
    The command has a space between chkdsk and /r
    So, it’s chkdsk /r
    Try that, and you may need to type fixboot again, to repair the boot drive.

Leave a Reply

You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Incoming search terms for the article:

unmountable_boot_volume fix, unmountable_boot_volume fix without cd, unable to mount boot volume, unable to mount boot volume xp, unaccountable boot volume, windows xp unable to mount boot volume, unable boot volume, unmountable_boot_volume fix no cd, unmountable boot volume fix, unable mount boot volume, unmountable_boot_volume windows server 2003, unmountable boot volume blue screen server 2003, unable mount boot volume xp, fixing unbootable disc, bluescreen unable to mount boot device, unbootable mount volume, windows xp repair unmountable boot, blue screen of death volume mount, unmountable boot volume gigabyte, unmountable boot repair, unmountable boot volume fix with ubuntu, unmountable boot volume blue screen windows server 2003, unmountable boot volume, unmountable_boot_volume after windows update, unmountable boot volume blue screen xp after windows disk sta, unmontable boot volume, UNABLE_TO_MOUNT BOOT VOLUME, UNABLE_TO_MOUNT BOOT VOLUME XP, unbootable devices windows blue screen, unbootable drive mount xp, unbootable _boot_ service, unbootable mount dell computer, unbootable mount drive, unable to mount volume on windows -ubuntu, unbootable mount volume vista caused by virus, unbootable xp chkdisk, unmountable boot volume loop, unmountable boot volume not able to fix this, windos xp unable to mount boot, windows 2003 unmountable boot volume, windows 7 unmountable_boot_volume, windows cd unmountable_boot_volume, windows unable mount BOOT, windows unable to mount d, windows xp blue screen cannot mount, windows xp unable to mount boot drive, xp no boot volume mounted, xp recovery console cannot mount disk, xp unable to mount boot volume, using linux to fix unmountable_boot_volume blue screen, unmounting boot volume error in win XP, unmountable_boot_volume windows xp, unmountable boot volume windows 2003, unmountable boot volume xp professional, unmountable_boot_volume & windows XP, Windows XP Unable to boot_volume, unmountable_boot_volume blue screen windows 2003, unmountable_boot_volume fix dell no cd, unmountable_boot_volume fix english XP with chinese xp, unmountable_boot_volume fix using another computer, unmountable_boot_volume fix without windows cd, unmountable_boot_volume fixboot, unmountable_boot_volume server 2003, xp volume unmount, unable to mount volume blue death of screen, Blue screen during boot not able to mount drive, fix unmountable usb tool, fix unmountable_boot_volume, fix unmountable_boot_volume no cd, fix unmountable_boot_volume no disk, fix win xp unmountable_boot_volume with linux, fixbootxp reg, Fixing a Unmountable Boot Volume Blue Screen WITHOUT CD, fixing dell unbootable boot volume, fixing unmountable boot volume error, hard drive not mountable blue screen of death windows 7, how repair unmountable volume drive without cd drive, how to fix a blue screen of death chkdsk with an xp installation dsk, fix unmountable boot volumen with out xp cd, fix unmountable boot volume without cd, blue screen mount boot device, blue screen unable to mount drive, blue screen unmountable boot volume recovery console, blue screen xp unable mount boot volume, boot mount volume windows xp, can you fix bsod unbootable volume, dell unbootable volumne, drive is unmountable boot loop, failure to mount boot drive, fix boot windows xp, fix mountable blue screen, Fix unbootable harddrive, how to fix the unmountable boot volume without the disk, how to fix unmountable boot volume, server 2003 blue screen Unmountable_boot_volume, SERVER 2003 unmountable boot volume blue screen, toms hardware bluescreen of death unmountable, toms hardware CD repair windows, tools disks that fix unmountable boot device errors, unaacountable boot, unable boot volume xp, unable to boot volume, unable to mount boot device, unable to mount boot drive, unable to mount boot volume linux, unable to mount the volume vista blue screen, server 2003 blue screen unmountable boot volume, screen of death unable to load volume, how to fix unmountable boot volume without cd, how to fix unmountable_boot, How to fix UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME (XP) without xp cd, How to fix Unmountable_boot_volume Without CD, how to fix volume on computer windows XP, how to mount an unmountable volume in linux, how to mount unmounted volume on windows 2003, how to repair an XP harddisk after unmountable blue screen, not able to fin boot volume is windows xp, professiona way to fix unmountable boot volume error, repair unbootable 2003 server, repair unmountable_boot_volume