What is Master Boot Record (MBR) ?

The Master Boot Record (MBR) is a small program that resides in the first sector of a hard disk drive or other storage device. It contains the boot loader, which is responsible for loading the operating system (OS) into memory and starting its execution.

During the installation of an OS, the process typically involves partitioning the storage device and creating one or more partitions on it. The MBR is typically written to the first sector of the storage device, which includes information about the partitions on the device and the location of the boot loader for the OS.

[ITLearning-rcxy]

Thank you! Finally, I understand how a computer loads Windows. Your explanation of the MBR and the boot process was incredibly clear and helpful!

[player]

An accurate explanation on how the boot process works, good job !

[johnwight]

Finally a good hardware level explanation. Thank you very much

[adrianandrews]

A good description of the process.

But, just a warning to vewers. NOT ALL storage devices have an MBR and use other ways of booting, and A FEW drives don't have 512 byte sectors.

Another interesting thing - even newer GPT drives HAVE an MBR (which they don't normally use but they can).