Windows 8.1 error 0xc000000f on boot - tried everything.

Daniel1992

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21
  • Operating system : Genuine Windows 8.1
  • Updates : All installed up to date including additional ones except one that caused some random slow downs.
PC Specs :

  1. CPU : Intel i3 2x3.3 GHz (LGA 1155)
  2. Mobo : Gigabyte GA-H61M-S1 (rev 2.0)
  3. RAM : Geil Dragon 2x 4GB
  4. GPU : Nvidia Geforce GT630 1GB
5.HDDs :

  • 120 GB Samsung SSD (Home for OS)
  • 240 GB Kingston SSD (More important files)
  • 300 GB Seagate Barracuda SATA II mechanical drive (for less important files)
Problems :

  • Recently I noticed that explorer.exe started to crash from time to time (example: right clicking on a file was giving a 'stand-by' icon and caused explorer.exe to follow a loop of crashing and reloading). A simple restart was helping.
  • Few days ago I hooked up my Roland MV 8000 digital music production hardware via USB to my computer in order to transfer some audio samples to the machine. At that moment when I was waiting for folders to pop up upon successful connection, explorer.exe crashed again but it didn't reload. My MV 8000 froze as well. I decided to manually restart my pc with a dedicated button. Unfortunately upon restart I got the following message :
Loading operating system... a disk read error occured. Press ctrl+alt+del to restart
What I've tried :

  1. Prepared bootable usb drive with Windows 8.1. Tried to automatically repair the problem using windows built in troubleshooting tool. Prompted an information that automatic repair could not repair this computer.
  2. Reconnected the Samsung SSD cables.
  3. Pulled out the Samsung SSD and hooked it via Sata adapter to my laptop:
    • Ran diskmgmt.msc command, checked partitions. There is a system partition of 300 mb which lists 0 items upon opening and an unknown size partition that prompts read error when trying to access. System partition has NTFS file system and the unknown size partition has RAW file system.
    • Ran hdtune, checked overall health of the drive using S.M.A.R.T. data as well as checked for bad sectors. All fine.
  4. Hooked drive back to pc, booted to windows 8.1 from usb thumb drive:
    • Accessed command prompt and tried the following :
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
and
bcdedit /export C:/BCD_Backup
C:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:/boot/bcd bcd.old
bootrec /Rebuild Bcd
All operations were successful. However, in command prompt there was an information that
'total identified Windows installations: 0'
  1. From windows 8.1 installer I have chosen troubleshoot and tried to boot up windows 8.1 in multiple types of safe mode. However I was always given the following information:
Windows Boot Manager
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem :
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click 'next'.
3. Click Repair your computer

If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.

status: 0xc000000f

info: the boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

P.s. I did follow this tutorial on converting RAW file system back to NTFS, tried to perform automatic repair without any positive output (even log file is not saved...). I swear that it seems like Windows 8.1 is just a windows vista with new theme. Why can't you guys just focus on modifying the core of the system so it provides better security and stability overall ?

There are no alternatives to Windows when it comes to budget computers. Even most programs don't have their alternative versions for mac or ubuntu. I think that if Microsoft holds a huge monopol on the market and you - as a user - basically can't escape it then they should release quality products. One day people will get anger spasms, survive few months without pc and buy something that suits their needs better. Where is customer support for the faulty thing I bought ?

I kindly ask for help as I've ran out of ideas. Thanks in advance.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
Have you tried running-

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

&

sfc /scannow

in admin cmd prompts & restarting ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
Hi David and thanks for such a quick response. I did not try the first command. I understand that first command breaks into few separate lines or am I supposed to type it all in one row ?

Also - the only access to command prompt that I have is by inserting a bootable usb thumb drive and by using troubleshoot option accessing it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
Hi David and thanks for such a quick response. I did not try the first command. I understand that first command breaks into few separate lines or am I supposed to type it all in one row ?

Also - the only access to command prompt that I have is by inserting a bootable usb thumb drive and by using troubleshoot option accessing it.

Use copy & paste to insert the dism cmd.
Copy it & put the cursor at the blinking cursor in the cmd prompt & right click & it will be pasted in.

As long as you can get an administrator command prompt go for it. :)

edit-

screenshot_290.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
It just occured to me you may be responding from another computer.
In that case just type it in being careful of the spaces in the cmd.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
you do realize that running those command in a PE envoriment are just running the commands on the booted OS..

to repair the system boot files from with the command prompt in WinPE

where C below refers to the drive letter of your OS Partition

type> C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot C:\Windows

and the offline (when booted into winpe) dism command would be

type> Dism /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
you do realize that running those command in a PE envoriment are just running the commands on the booted OS..

to repair the system boot files from with the command prompt in WinPE

where C above refers to the drive letter of your OS Partition

type> C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot C:\Windows

and the offline (when booted into winpe) dism command would be

type> Dism /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Thanks. :)
You can help better than I can. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Gateway
    CPU
    AMD K140 Cores 2 Threads 2 Name AMD K140 Package Socket FT1 BGA Technology 40nm
    Motherboard
    Manufacturer Gateway Model SX2110G (P0)
    Memory
    Type DDR3 Size 8192 MBytes DRAM Frequency 532.3 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    AMD High Definition Audio Device Realtek High Definition Audio USB Audio Device
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Name 1950W on AMD Radeon HD 7310 Graphics Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x76
    Screen Resolution
    Current Resolution 1366x768 pixels Work Resolution 1366x768 pixels
    Hard Drives
    AMD K140
    Cores 2
    Threads 2
    Name AMD K140
    Package Socket FT1 BGA
    Technology 40nm
    Specification AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics
    Family F
    Extended Family 14
    Model 2
    Extended Model 2
    Stepping 0
    Revision ON-C0
    Instruction
    Browser
    Opera 24.0
    Antivirus
    Avast Internet Security
to verify that your OS is on partition C or to get the assigned drive letter

type> diskpart
type> list volume

look for the drive letter assigned to your OS partition (and use it in place of C )
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 3.1 > Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8700
    CPU
    I7
    Memory
    24 GB
Hi David and thanks for such a quick response. I did not try the first command. I understand that first command breaks into few separate lines or am I supposed to type it all in one row ?

Also - the only access to command prompt that I have is by inserting a bootable usb thumb drive and by using troubleshoot option accessing it.

Use copy & paste to insert the dism cmd.
Copy it & put the cursor at the blinking cursor in the cmd prompt & right click & it will be pasted in.

As long as you can get an administrator command prompt go for it. :)

edit-

View attachment 63639

Thanks and yes I am using an old IBM T61 that survived 3rd world war and atomic fallout. Works like a charm, even keyboard glows :D. I'm booting up right now on my pc and will give a try with the commands you've provided me with.

you do realize that running those command in a PE envoriment are just running the commands on the booted OS..
to repair the system boot files from with the command prompt in WinPE

where C below refers to the drive letter of your OS Partition

type> C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot C:\Windows

and the offline (when booted into winpe) dism command would be

type> Dism /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth


The letter of my OS partition is 'I:' however it does not have any label (i.e. 'reserved by system'). Upon booting up from my thumb drive I am in X:/sources/ directory. When I type 'cd I:' or 'cd I:/Windows/', command line prompts X:/sources/ like before. I don't understand what is this directory.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
It looks like this to me:

You were having weird issues with explorer.exe screwing up. (Likely unrelated)

You plugged in your audio equipment, and Windows choked on the driver, so you hard reset your computer.

Your filesystem data had not yet been flushed to disk, and was in the uncommon state of being very vulnerable for whatever reason.


Massive filesystem corruption ensued. Your boot sector survived, one partition did not, and your boot partition lost all of its data, but somehow retained the filesystem.

I could be wrong, maybe the SSD is just going bad, or needs to have some special low level configuration resets done. (easy to do)



Either way, I'd bet that there is corruption across a bunch of your data. Hard resets can do that in some rare cases.

You could troubleshoot this for hours if not days, running useless dism commands. (I hate how every single person here instantly suggest dism restorehealth and sfc scans, even without reading the posters problem. How many times has this really helped anybody...?)

I'd just reinstall, then you can be sure that the MBR, partition boot flag, boot partition file system, bootloader, BCD, operating system filesystem, winload.exe, and windows system files are all as they should be.

Filesystem corruption sucks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Kernel 4.x
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    P8Z77-V LK
    Memory
    G.skill Ripjaw Z 2133MHz 9-11-10-28
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX770 4GB Dual BIOS
    Sound Card
    Audigy 4 Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" SAMSUNG HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 progressive
    Hard Drives
    10TB total
    3 RAID arrays
    3 single disks
    PSU
    Corsair HX750
    Case
    Corsair R400
    Cooling
    Corsair H100
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    ~900mbps (~115MB/s) down, ~10mbps(~1.5MB/s) up
    Browser
    Firefox & Chromium
    Antivirus
    Common Sense
It looks like this to me:

You were having weird issues with explorer.exe screwing up. (Likely unrelated)

You plugged in your audio equipment, and Windows choked on the driver, so you hard reset your computer.

Your filesystem data had not yet been flushed to disk, and was in the uncommon state of being very vulnerable for whatever reason.


Massive filesystem corruption ensued. Your boot sector survived, one partition did not, and your boot partition lost all of its data, but somehow retained the filesystem.

I could be wrong, maybe the SSD is just going bad, or needs to have some special low level configuration resets done. (easy to do)



Either way, I'd bet that there is corruption across a bunch of your data. Hard resets can do that in some rare cases.

You could troubleshoot this for hours if not days, running useless dism commands. (I hate how every single person here instantly suggest dism restorehealth and sfc scans, even without reading the posters problem. How many times has this really helped anybody...?)

I'd just reinstall, then you can be sure that the MBR, partition boot flag, boot partition file system, bootloader, BCD, operating system filesystem, winload.exe, and windows system files are all as they should be.

Filesystem corruption sucks.

The stability of all Windows products is just horrible. Of course I can reinstall the os but what about the data that I have no access to right now (data that resides on hard drive with OS). Second thing is the stability in the future. Upon reinstalling I may encounter exactly the same problems as I'll continue to make music, write code, create vector graphics and eventually play battlefield 4 in spare time.

Samsung SSD seems to be alright. Various S.M.A.R.T. data readers have confirmed it as well as hdtune when I scanned it for bad sectors. All seems to be nice and shiny. I already converted the RAW file system back to NTFS but for some reason I still have no access to the 2 partitions that reside on this OS drive.

you do realize that running those command in a PE envoriment are just running the commands on the booted OS..
to repair the system boot files from with the command prompt in WinPE

where C below refers to the drive letter of your OS Partition

type> C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot C:\Windows

and the offline (when booted into winpe) dism command would be

type> Dism /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth


Ok, so I've tried the following : "
Dism /Image:i:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" (notice that I have changed the 'C:' letter with 'i:' as for some unknown reason 'i' is right now a label corresponding to my os partition (?). I have achieved the following result :



Error 1392

It stated that the file or directory is damaged or unaccesible.

Patient :



 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
Actually I take back my statement about reinstalling windows. That's a last resort. Maybe we can fix this.

I can walk you through a full manual reconstruction of your systems boot process. If the system isn't totally screwed up, it will fix it.

If you're up for it, you'll need to download my favorite tool for boot related headaches, and place it on the flash drive which you're using to boot the windows setup. (Add it to the windows install flash drive, so you can use the tool from within the PE enviroment)
The Tool

It's a powerful tool, so be careful when using it. I won't be online much longer, but if you get back to me within about 30 minutes, I'll stay on until we're done.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Kernel 4.x
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    P8Z77-V LK
    Memory
    G.skill Ripjaw Z 2133MHz 9-11-10-28
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX770 4GB Dual BIOS
    Sound Card
    Audigy 4 Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" SAMSUNG HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 progressive
    Hard Drives
    10TB total
    3 RAID arrays
    3 single disks
    PSU
    Corsair HX750
    Case
    Corsair R400
    Cooling
    Corsair H100
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    ~900mbps (~115MB/s) down, ~10mbps(~1.5MB/s) up
    Browser
    Firefox & Chromium
    Antivirus
    Common Sense
Sure, I would be glad for any help :). I'm downloading the tool right now.

EDIT : How am I supposed to insert the program executable file in windows 8.1 installation thumb drive without damaging it's ability to boot ?
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
To place the tool on the USB flash drive, just drag and drop it directly onto it as if you were putting any other file onto a flash drive. It should still be able to boot without any trouble.



Edit: Oh Ok, good thing I prepared the rest of the process before hand. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Kernel 4.x
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    P8Z77-V LK
    Memory
    G.skill Ripjaw Z 2133MHz 9-11-10-28
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX770 4GB Dual BIOS
    Sound Card
    Audigy 4 Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" SAMSUNG HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 progressive
    Hard Drives
    10TB total
    3 RAID arrays
    3 single disks
    PSU
    Corsair HX750
    Case
    Corsair R400
    Cooling
    Corsair H100
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    ~900mbps (~115MB/s) down, ~10mbps(~1.5MB/s) up
    Browser
    Firefox & Chromium
    Antivirus
    Common Sense

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
First we will just replace the MBR on the disk. Your MBR seems to work fine, but for sake of completeness we'll move up through the whole boot chain.


==Restoring the MBR==
1) Boot the computer with the Windows Setup flash drive containing the tool I linked you.
2) Get to a command prompt like you did previously.
3) Type "notepad" and press enter.
4) From within notepad, go to File>Open (ctrl+O)
5) Select "My PC" on the left.
6) Open the the flash drive.
7) On the botton left, change the drop-down menu "Files of type:" from "Text Documents (*.txt)" to "All Files (*.*)"
8) Navigate to where you placed the tool on the flash drive, right click it, and click "Open" (not "Select")
9) In the first tab of the tool, for "Destination Disk" select your Windows OS drive (120GB Samsung)
10) Click "Process MBR"
11) Check the bottom box for "Windows NT 5.x / 6.x MBR"
12) Click "Install / Config"
13) Click "Windows NT 6.x MBR"
14) Press "OK"
15) Press "Close"




We'll now format the filesystem on the boot partition


==Boot Partition Filesystem==
1) Ensure the "Destination Disk" is still the Windows OS disk
2) Click the button "Parts Manage"
3) Select the first 300MB partiton
4) Click "Format this part"
5) Select "NTFS" as the filesystem
6) Label is optional
7) Reserved sectors is "16"
8) Check the box "Optimize internal structure (4K-aligned)"
9) Click "Start"
10) Click "OK"
11) Click "OK" again
12) Click "Assign Drive Letter" then press "OK" (Unless the drive already has a letter)
13) Select the Windows OS Partition (not the RAW, but the other)
13) Click "Close"




Now we'll fix the next step in the boot process. The PBR.


==Restoring the PBR==
1) Ensure the "Destination Disk" is still the Windows OS disk
2) Click "Process PBR"
3) At the top, change "Destination Partition" to the 300MB boot partition that you just created the filesystem on.
4) Make sure "BOOTMGR boot record (FAT/FAT32/NTFS/ExFAT" is checked.
5) Press "Install / Config"
6) Press "OK"
7) Press "OK" again
8) Press "Close"




<<Next Post Will have the rest of the steps>>
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Kernel 4.x
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    P8Z77-V LK
    Memory
    G.skill Ripjaw Z 2133MHz 9-11-10-28
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX770 4GB Dual BIOS
    Sound Card
    Audigy 4 Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" SAMSUNG HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 progressive
    Hard Drives
    10TB total
    3 RAID arrays
    3 single disks
    PSU
    Corsair HX750
    Case
    Corsair R400
    Cooling
    Corsair H100
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    ~900mbps (~115MB/s) down, ~10mbps(~1.5MB/s) up
    Browser
    Firefox & Chromium
    Antivirus
    Common Sense
Thanks so much ! I'll begin now, had to go buy myself 2x Heinekens as they are required to complete the boot sector restoration process :D
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
Now we must populate the new boot partition manually.


==Populating The Boot Partition==
1) Leave the tool open and now switch windows to the notepad open file box from earlier. (the explorer, from where you opened the tool)
2) Go back to "My PC", and open your Windows OS drive.
[Note: If you cannot access the Windows OS drive, substitute the drive X: for it and follow the same steps.]
3) Open the "Windows\Boot\PCAT" directory.
4) Select everything inside that directory, and right click, and click "Copy"
5) Navigate back to "My PC", and open the boot drive from before.
6) Create a new directory and name it "Boot"
7) Paste the copied files inside the new "Boot" directory.
8) From inside the new "Boot" directory, move the file "bootmgr" up one directory, so that its directly in the boot partition, instead of the "Boot" folder.
9) Now you should have a 300MB partition, with 1 folder named "Boot", and 1 file named "bootmgr".




Since I forgot to add earlier, we need to make the boot partition active.


==Activating the boot partition==
1) Switch windows back over to the Tool.
2) Ensure the "Destination Disk" is still the Windows OS disk
3) Click "Parts Manage"
4) Select the Boot Partition you've been working on so far.
5) Click "Activate" button.
6) Click "OK" (If theres a dialog)
7) Click "Close"




Now its time to semi-manually create a new BCD file.


==Creating the BCD Store==
1) In the tool, switch tabs to the "BCD Edit" tab
2) Click "Create New BCD"
3) Navigate to, and save the file inside that "Boot" folder you created earlier. Name the file "BCD"
4) Click "OK"
5) Click the button "Easy Mode"
6) Click the button "Add"
7) Choose "New Windows 7/8/8.1 entry"
8) In the "Boot Device" section, change the drop-down menu for "Disk:" to your 120GB Samsung SSD.
9) Change the drop-down menu for "Partition:" to the Windows OS partition. (Not the boot partition you created, but the one that you converted from RAW to NTFS)
10) In the "Options" section, change the entry for "OS title:" to whatever you prefer. (Optional, but recommended)
11) Change the drop-down menu for "Language:" to whatever you prefer. (Optional, but recommended)
12) Tick the box "Metro Boot Manager (Win8)"
13) Click the button "Save current system"
14) Click "Close"
15) You can close the tool now by pressing "Exit"






That should manually repair the whole boot process. Now you can close any open windows, causing the system to reboot.


You can remove the flash drive, and I wish you luck that it boots.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Kernel 4.x
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    P8Z77-V LK
    Memory
    G.skill Ripjaw Z 2133MHz 9-11-10-28
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX770 4GB Dual BIOS
    Sound Card
    Audigy 4 Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" SAMSUNG HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 progressive
    Hard Drives
    10TB total
    3 RAID arrays
    3 single disks
    PSU
    Corsair HX750
    Case
    Corsair R400
    Cooling
    Corsair H100
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    ~900mbps (~115MB/s) down, ~10mbps(~1.5MB/s) up
    Browser
    Firefox & Chromium
    Antivirus
    Common Sense
Now we must populate the new boot partition manually.


==Populating The Boot Partition==
1) Leave the tool open and now switch windows to the notepad open file box from earlier. (the explorer, from where you opened the tool)
2) Go back to "My PC", and open your Windows OS drive.
[Note: If you cannot access the Windows OS drive, substitute the drive X: for it and follow the same steps.]
3) Open the "Windows\Boot\PCAT" directory.
4) Select everything inside that directory, and right click, and click "Copy"
5) Navigate back to "My PC", and open the boot drive from before.
6) Create a new directory and name it "Boot"
7) Paste the copied files inside the new "Boot" directory.
8) From inside the new "Boot" directory, move the file "bootmgr" up one directory, so that its directly in the boot partition, instead of the "Boot" folder.
9) Now you should have a 300MB partition, with 1 folder named "Boot", and 1 file named "bootmgr".




Since I forgot to add earlier, we need to make the boot partition active.


==Activating the boot partition==
1) Switch windows back over to the Tool.
2) Ensure the "Destination Disk" is still the Windows OS disk
3) Click "Parts Manage"
4) Select the Boot Partition you've been working on so far.
5) Click "Activate" button.
6) Click "OK" (If theres a dialog)
7) Click "Close"




Now its time to semi-manually create a new BCD file.


==Creating the BCD Store==
1) In the tool, switch tabs to the "BCD Edit" tab
2) Click "Create New BCD"
3) Navigate to, and save the file inside that "Boot" folder you created earlier. Name the file "BCD"
4) Click "OK"
5) Click the button "Easy Mode"
6) Click the button "Add"
7) Choose "New Windows 7/8/8.1 entry"
8) In the "Boot Device" section, change the drop-down menu for "Disk:" to your 120GB Samsung SSD.
9) Change the drop-down menu for "Partition:" to the Windows OS partition. (Not the boot partition you created, but the one that you converted from RAW to NTFS)
10) In the "Options" section, change the entry for "OS title:" to whatever you prefer. (Optional, but recommended)
11) Change the drop-down menu for "Language:" to whatever you prefer. (Optional, but recommended)
12) Tick the box "Metro Boot Manager (Win8)"
13) Click the button "Save current system"
14) Click "Close"
15) You can close the tool now by pressing "Exit"






That should manually repair the whole boot process. Now you can close any open windows, causing the system to reboot.


You can remove the flash drive, and I wish you luck that it boots.


Hello and huge thanks,

Everything went smoothly until PBR section of this tutorial. I'm stuck exactly on step 4 which is : "4) Select everything inside that directory, and right click, and click "Copy"". Unfortunately I'm able to select only one directory at a time. CTRL+A shortcut does not work. Same for using mouse to manually select the directories. Also I've tried to select each element with left CTRL being pressed and performing a left click on each item. How to bypass this problem ?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Genuine Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel I3 2x 3.3GHZ (LGA 1155)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte H61
    Memory
    Geil Dragon 2x4GB 1333mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GT630 1GB
    Sound Card
    Integrated realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq and LG
    Hard Drives
    2SSD's and 1 HDD
    PSU
    Corsair 450 watt
    Case
    Logic B38
    Cooling
    original
    Keyboard
    Logitech K120
    Mouse
    Logitech G5 rev.1
    Internet Speed
    40 mbit
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Avira
Sorry, my son was hungry and I forgot to press Post Reply.

Hello and huge thanks,

Everything went smoothly until PBR section of this tutorial. I'm stuck exactly on step 4 which is : "4) Select everything inside that directory, and right click, and click "Copy"". Unfortunately I'm able to select only one directory at a time. CTRL+A shortcut does not work. Same for using mouse to manually select the directories. Also I've tried to select each element with left CTRL being pressed and performing a left click on each item. How to bypass this problem ?



If you're familiar with command prompt commands, you're essentially doing this:
(For sake of the example "C:" is my Windows partition, and "B:" is my boot partition.)

XCOPY C:\Windows\Boot\PCAT\* B:\Boot\ /E
(copy everything inside C:\Windows\Boot\PCAT, into B:\Boot\)

MOVE B:\Boot\bootmgr B:\
(Move the file "B:\Boot\bootmgr" to "B:\bootmgr")


You can use the command prompt as it makes it easier.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Kernel 4.x
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    P8Z77-V LK
    Memory
    G.skill Ripjaw Z 2133MHz 9-11-10-28
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX770 4GB Dual BIOS
    Sound Card
    Audigy 4 Pro
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" SAMSUNG HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 progressive
    Hard Drives
    10TB total
    3 RAID arrays
    3 single disks
    PSU
    Corsair HX750
    Case
    Corsair R400
    Cooling
    Corsair H100
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech G5
    Internet Speed
    ~900mbps (~115MB/s) down, ~10mbps(~1.5MB/s) up
    Browser
    Firefox & Chromium
    Antivirus
    Common Sense
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