Windows 10 died today, advice?

[Davedave09]

I have win10 newly upgraded on a stationary PC with three Samsung SSD drives. Recently I started getting crashes, where my screen went all one light color suddenly. Always while playing Black Desert Online. I needed to hard boot each time. Tonight after this happened, Windows would not start up correctly and went into its repair mode. After this, it could start up. But shortly after, the blank screen happened again and this time after the hard reboot all I get is blue screen with critical error. Nothing in the Windows repair options worked.

I unplugged my three ssd drives and put in my former hard drive with the 17xx build of Windows and got the machine running. I then restarted with some of the ssd drives in place, to see if I could read them. And what scares me is that the drives show up in windows explorer, but are reported to only have a small amount of disk space with the Samsung software on it. Does anyone know if this is because my older hard drive is lacking a driver to read them? Or have I somehow managed to fry them?

Any tips on what might have happened and how to fix? I am hoping I only somehow killed Windows on the ssd and can get things running again by reinstalling windows or somehow repairing it. I am making a bootable usb now. But is it possible for me to install/repair the windows on my ssd from the usb without losing the installed programs that are also on this drive? Mostly Lightroom and Photoshop and some games, but doing a reinstall of these would be a lot if work.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Davedave09]

Update: I mentioned above that I could see my ssd drives when booting up with my old hard drive but I was mistaken. I could first see and access these drives after I entered the bios and examined the setup (the drives were there) and saving the bios (I made no changes), exiting and booting up windows. Does this make sense? Can someone explain how this works? I am wondering if there are any special issues with repairing or installing windows on an ssd drive, to make sure the drive can be seen by the repair/install software on a USB.

 

[Snuffy]

Sounds like the hard boots has created a Corruption on your BOOT SSD.
how to fix.
Insert you Bootable Media (any will work) move thru to advanced or command Prompt.
type the following and let it run....
chkdsk c: /f (normally this will fix.) then after you get booted back run attached file as Admin.

 

[Davedave09]

Hi and thanks! I was going to attempt a windows repair from a bootable USB but I could try your suggestion first. Right now I am copying most files to an external disk just in case I need to do a clean install. I do back up most things but there are lots of items that I don't.

 

[Davedave09]

Snuffy, I tried but no luck. I could boot from the USB but the windows repair still could not repair the installation. I opened up a command prompt and ran the chkdsk c: /f and this reported that it fixed something. But the PC still cannot boot into Windows or do a repair.

Any ideas? What can I try other than a clean install?

 

[Snuffy]

Windows 10 does allow a repair install. you can try this:
boot to command prompt via the USB
rstrui.ese /offline:C:\windows if there is a working restore point that will reinstall that version.
of
while in command prompt bcdedit
see what it says/shows.
it should show similar
-------------------------------------------
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19564.1005]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
flightsigning Yes
default {current}
resumeobject {b04f7abb-4e97-11ea-85ad-f323480d2b69}
displayorder {current}
{b04f7abf-4e97-11ea-85ad-f323480d2b69}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 0
displaybootmenu No

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {b04f7abd-4e97-11ea-85ad-f323480d2b69}
displaymessageoverride Recovery
recoveryenabled Yes
nointegritychecks No
isolatedcontext Yes
flightsigning Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \WINDOWS
resumeobject {b04f7abb-4e97-11ea-85ad-f323480d2b69}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
--------------------------------------------------

if your [bootmgr] does not show the proper
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \WINDOWS\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 10
locale en-US
that means your BCD is corrupt... and needs fixed.
------------------------------------------------
then try this: from command prompt as admin
bootrec /fixboot

 

[Davedave09]

Thanks. I hope I understand all this. I will try tomorrow because I am a little too sleepy to not make mistakes.

 

[Davedave09]

Oh just an observation. When I was in the repair mode from the USB, I did try the option to restore to a restore point and it did show me two recent dates but I could not mark the checkbox by them. It gave a warning that I could only restore the drive which Windows was on. But this was the drive, C:.

 

[Davedave09]

Hi,
Thanks for the help so far. I am now in usb mode again. I don't know how to run the bootrec command, I get access is denied. But the top of the command window says Administrator.

My bcdedit looks similar but maybe some lines are missing? I attached a screenshot of the output.

 

[Davedave09]

And if I try the restore point here you see the error about the drive not being where windows is located.

 

[Snuffy]

that is why i use the command instead, since the command uses the file contained in C:\windows\system32 - it makes not mistake then.
strange but some backups do not see the original as C:\ some see it as different.
if that was checked from X: then i see why. your USB would be X: so to see you would need to use the command [rompt which tells where the drive is.... /offline:C:\Windows

are you booting to the USB and running commands as admin.
also bcedit you might try but i see nothing wrong with you bcd but
more detailed

Spoiler

Rebuilding the BCD in Windows should only take around 15 minutes and, while it isn't the easiest thing you'll ever do, it's not tough either, especially if you stick to the directions below.

1.) Start Advanced Startup Options if you're using Windows 10 or Windows 8. See How to Access Advanced Startup Options if you're not sure how to do that.

2.) Open Command Prompt from Advanced Startup Options or System Recovery Options menu.

Note: The Command Prompt available from these diagnostic menus is very similar to the one you may be familiar with within Windows. Also, the following procedure should work identically in Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista.
At the prompt, type the bootrec command as shown below and then press Enter:

3.) bootrec /rebuildbcd

The bootrec command will search for Windows installations not included in the Boot Configuration Data and then ask you if you'd like to add one or more to it.

4.) You should see one of the following messages at the command line.
Option 1

Scanning all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while...

Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.

Option 2

Scanning all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while...

Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 1
[1] D:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? Yes<Y>/No<N>/All<A>:

If you see:

Option 1: Move on to Step 5. This result most likely means that Windows installation data in the BCD store exists but bootrec couldn't find any additional installations of Windows on your computer to add to the BCD. That's fine, you'll just need to take a few extra steps to rebuild the BCD.

Option 2: Enter Y or Yes to the Add installation to boot list? question, after which you should see a The operation completed successfully message, followed by a blinking cursor at the prompt. Finish up with Step 10 toward the bottom of the page.


5.) Since the BCD store exists and lists a Windows installation, you'll first have to "remove" it manually and then try to rebuild it again.

At the prompt, execute the bcdedit command as shown and then press Enter:

bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup

The bcdedit command is used here to export the BCD store as a file: bcdbackup. There's no need to specify a file extension.

The command should return the following on screen:

The operation completed successfully.

meaning the BCD export worked as expected.

6.)At this point, you need to adjust several file attributes for the BCD store so you can manipulate it.

At the prompt, execute the attrib command exactly like this:

attrib c:\boot\bcd -h -r -s

What you just did with the attrib command was remove the hidden, read-only, and system attributes from the file bcd. Those attributes restricted the actions you could take on the file. Now that they're gone, you can manipulate the file more freely - specifically, rename it.

7.) To rename the BCD store, execute the ren command as shown:

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

Now that the BCD store is renamed, you should now be able to successfully rebuild it, as you tried to do in Step 3.

Note: You could delete the BCD file entirely since you're about to create a new one. However, renaming the existing BCD accomplishes the same thing since it's now unavailable to Windows, plus provides you yet another layer of backup, in addition to the export you did in Step 5 if you decide to undo your actions.

8.) Try rebuilding the BCD again by executing the following, followed by Enter:

bootrec /rebuildbcd

which should produce this in the Command Prompt window:

Scanning all disks for Windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while...

Successfully scanned Windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 1
[1] D:\Windows
Add installation to boot list? Yes<Y>/No<N>/All<A>:

meaning that the BCD store rebuild is progressing as expected.

9.) At the Add installation to boot list? question, type Enter Y or Yes, followed by the Enter key.

You should see this on screen:

The operation completed successfully.

meaning that the BCD rebuild is complete.

10.) Restart your computer.

Assuming that an issue with the BCD store was the only problem, Windows should start as expected.

If not, continue to troubleshoot whatever specific issue you're seeing that's preventing Windows from booting normally.

Important: Depending on how you started Advanced Startup Options or System Recovery Options, you may need to remove a disc or flash drive before restarting.

also here is another
How to rebuild the BCD store

What if when things really went wrong, such as message like BOOTMGR is Missing, that prevents you from booting into any of boot system you have on your computer? When this happens, here is what you can do:

1. Find a Windows 7 or 8 installation media, either DVD or USB, and boot from it or any Bootable Windows Media.

2. Go to Repair your computer, when prompted.

If it’s a Windows 8 installation media, you will need to go through Troubleshoot ? Advanced Option ? Command Prompt to open the Command Prompt window, and run the command bootrec.

The command bootrec has four options to restore your BCD store:

/FixMbr – writes the master boot record of the system partition using the master boot record
/FixBoot – write a new boot sector onto the system partition
/ScanOS – scall all disks for installations compatible with Windows
/RebuildBcd – scan all disks for installations compatible with Windows and all the users to choose which to add and which to ignore.

 

[Davedave09]

Just a few points. When I ran the command rsrui.exe /offline:C: Windows it opened up the window that I showed in the second attachment. And here I could not select the restore point.

The instructions you send for rebuild are long but I am not sure how this works and what it us doing. If I set my bios up for booting my broken drive first but leave my older good drive installed, would the command find the bootrec of the older disk and copy this for option 2? What happens then? I will later want to remove my older disk and not use it so I am not sure what this step actually does for me.

 

[Davedave09]

I want to try the instructions in your attachment but need to wait til tonight. One question I am not sure of: when I enter the command prompt window from the usb boot environment (yes, this is drive X: for me) do I need to do something special to invoke a command as Administrator? Or am I already by default admin here? If so, how do I become admin?

Ah another question for understanding the attached instructions. It confused me that the instructions are referring to the drive as letter D: but I guess this is because in these instructions the user has booted up as C: and the drive letter D: is referring to the broken installation. Is this correct? So in my case I am booting from the USB as X: and my broken installation is C: . Just so I understand it correctly.

 

[Davedave09]

Hi, need more help. I did the commands given above in Snuffy's attachment and I did have to copy my bcd file and rename it, and the I could rebuild and the OS on my C drive showed up. Rebooting, I came further, this time instead of failing immediately, the PC went into repair mode, but could not repair. But I could get into the repair screens from the C: drive boot instead of using the USB stick.

Next I tried the sequence of commands here:

bootrec /RebuildBcd
bootrec /fixMbr
bootrec /fixboot

For the first command, this time I got no response but I expect this is ok because I have repaired the bcd file.
The second command gave me a successfully completed response.

But I cannot do the fixboot command. I get "access denied".

If I need administrative rights from this command window, how do I do that? Could there be some other reason why I cannot carry this out?

The entire command line looks like this:

X:\windows\system32>bootrec /fixboot

 

[Davedave09]

I tried something else and am getting weird results. I used diskpart hoping to follow the instructions on the net but here in the attachment I show the list disk and list vol results. I don't see an EFI partition and do not understand the listing of the volumes.

 

[Davedave09]

Ah a net search just made me realize something. I cannot see a FAT32 EFI partition at all, and I was supposing that this is one of my problems, that it got deleted. But when I boot up on my older hard disk, there is no FAT32 EFI partition either. And then I read that this can be because my Windows 10 was born as a free upgrade from a Windows 8 installation. Apparently in this case, a separate EFI partition is not made. And my broken ssd drive was created as a clone from my older drive.

Maybe this complicates my repair.

 

[Davedave09]

I give up. Tried all I could, and had a friend come by with a Ubuntu boot media to see if Linux tools could do a fix. Nothing worked. I would believe that the exotic nature of this disk layout could be complicating things, as the disk was a) upgraded for free from Windows 7 or 8 to Windows 10 and b) this was a Samsung software migration from my older non-SSD hardisk.

I have reverted to my older hardisk for now. Will re-migrate when everything is in place.

Thanks to Snuffy for all the help!

 

[davehc]

I tried something else and am getting weird results. I used diskpart hoping to follow the instructions on the net but here in the attachment I show the list disk and list vol results. I don't see an EFI partition and do not understand the listing of the volumes.

I cannot get too deep in this one, but, did you follow through on the whole diskpart process.
Looking at your picture, the next step should have been "Select disk !"
This is , apparently, the main HD.
Then "List partitions"
You might then have been able to see quite a bit more of what was actually on your main OS Hd

 

[Davedave09]

I cannot get too deep in this one, but, did you follow through on the whole diskpart process.
Looking at your picture, the next step should have been "Select disk !"
This is , apparently, the main HD.
Then "List partitions"
You might then have been able to see quite a bit more of what was actually on your main OS Hd

I did try this several times. And I did do at least once the select disk. True, I might have missed it here on the one where I took a screen shot. But my Linux-wise friend also with his tools could not see a UEFI partition, and this matches well with what I saw on the internet. I saw a forum post with the question of not seeing this partition but not having any issues with booting up Windows 10, and one of the replies was that if one installed Windows 10 as a free in-situ upgrade from Windows 7 (or 8), then it could be that the legacy boot up method was retained. This is how I upgraded to Windows 10.

Oh I looked again at my screen dump. I do have a "Sel disk 0" command with a response right afterwards that the Disk 0 is now the selected disk. I did not have a Select partition on this one here.