WINDOWS 10 OS messed up after extending system recovery partition

[nolive721]

hello

its going to be a long post I apologize but I need help so sharing as much details as I can.

running DUAL OS machine (PC desktop) with Ubuntu and windows 10 PRO on a 480Gb SSD

I was having issues to update from 1809 to 1903 because of an error code leading to not enough space on system recovery partition.

To cut long story short, I did extend this partitioon within Windows over 500Mb as I saw it recommended in a imilar update error case and my OS went from bad to worse after that.
Could not boot in Windows anymore since

1. tried bootrepair in Ubuntu didnt fix it
2. tried bootrec in CMD didnt fix it

I never did a image backup of my system since I had some Windows Programs installed on another 2TB sata drive connected to my MB and the backup function in windows was asking me to capture the SSD Windows system plus the entire 2Tb hard disk so i never bothered doing it

I did backup my Libraries though but the last update I recall was from last year so I am potentially losing a lot of personal files if I cant find a fix to this issue

I have managed what i thought would be a progress, creating an USB boot disk that allowed me to boot in repair mode and run CHKDISK but after that it looked like all my Windows install was wiped away.I recall that no disks errors were found but tahst about it.

I am writing this post from inside UBUNTU, the snapshots showing whats left in my Windows partition and the system recovery partition as well which doesn't seem empty but that doesn't help me to boot in Windows properly either.Or at least I didn't find a way to do so.


I had an USB disk with a Windows10 image used on my company laptop but when I tried to use it, the image restore function says that my PC hardware is not compatible, as I expected anyway


where should I start from here in the hope for fixing this mess I created?

thanks so much

Olivier

 

[Regedit32]

Hi Oliver,

You sure got yourself into a bad situation.

Off hand the only thing I can think of would be to burn a Windows ISO onto a DVD, then boot your computer with the DVD.

Once it loads click the Repair my computer and run that.

When that is done reboot the computer with the DVD again | Click Repair my computer again but this time select Command line

From the Command console you could try the following three commands:

• bootrec.exe /FixMBR
• bootrec.exe /FixBoot
• bootrec.exe /RebuildBCD

Then close the Command console and restart your computer.

Warning: There are no guarantees here, so you may want to see what others suggest before proceeding, and if at all possible via Ubuntu attempt to create a Linux boot thumb drive that you could load on startup of computer, and perhaps scan your drives and back up personal files and data with first.

Good luck!

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[nolive721]

hello, yes I am aware it doesn't look good for sure.

where I am hoping is that my Ubuntu OS runs just fine from the SSD Windows is installed on(i am logged in Ubuntu right now) so its really the Windows partition that is messed up. I have backed up personal data since I built this PC but not done this for some time thats my biggest mistake


anyway,I mentioned I had tried bootrec from an USB recovery and it stops at Fixboot where it says "access denied"

what is scary is that "rebuildBCD" returns "total windows installation=0"

if you look at the snapshot with all my disks, the SSD partition2 is where Windis is but the used space is only 9Gb so I am relaly wondering if the Windows installation was actually completely wiped out when I ran CHKDISK off this same USB recover disk

I am hoping these 9Gb are my actual personal data there but from Ubuntu,I can only see and access what you see in teh 2nd snapshot which is nothing like the Windows Libraries "document, Pictures,Music.Download" that I would like to save

any further advice appreciated

Olivier

 

[Regedit32]

I mentioned I had tried bootrec from an USB recovery and it stops at Fixboot where it says "access denied"

You may be able to sort that doing the following:

1. Boot your computer with a Windows Disk inserted
2. Once booted select Repair my computer
3. Select Troubleshoot | then select Command Prompt
4. At the Command prompt type diskpart then press Enter
5. Type list disk then press Enter
6. Check your Boot Disk Number that matches your boot disk
7. Select it by typing Select disk 0 (or in your case if the Boot disk number has changed select that) then press Enter
8. Type list volume and press Enter. Here you are wanting to find the volume number of the EFI partition
9. For example, if the volume number of your EFI partition is 1, then type select volume 1 then press Enter
10. Next you need to assign a letter not in use by any partition. For example, type assign letter=T: then press Enter
11. Once you've assigned a letter not in use (in my example that letter is T) type exit then press Enter
12. Next type T: and press Enter to change prompt to the newly assigned letter
13. Now type md \efi\microsoft\boot\ and press Enter
14. Now change directory by typing cd /d T:\efi\microsoft\boot\ then press Enter [ Note: make sure you use your new assigned letter ]
15. Next type bootrec /fixboot and press Enter
16. Assuming you do not continue seeing that access denied message here, then type the following command:

bcdboot c:\windows /l en-us /s T: /f all then press Enter [ Note: Use the new assigned letter you chose where I typed T: ]​

​

If all goes well you should be able to now run the commands mentioned earlier via the usual command line method and all going very well, hopefully gain access to your Windows partition again.

Again, no guarantees here. It is possible you somehow corrupted important files during your resizing of the partitions, but hopefully whatever you did is not irreparable. Again, others may have more suggestions on how to recover from your situtation.

Regards,

Regedit32

 

[nolive721]

hello

i have managed to fix the Access denied not with your method but by using the USB boot disk but with windows 1703 on it rather than 1903 I was using for my initial repair trial

I could run the 3 commands you suggested

• bootrec.exe /FixMBR
• bootrec.exe /FixBoot
• bootrec.exe /RebuildBCD

But still not chance to boot into my Windows OS and I am still getting the Total identified Windows installations 0

I am stuck basically

Olivier