Windows 8 Pro cannot boot - Error 0xC000021a

Hi,

I sent the Laptop in and got the DVD drive repaired. This allowed me to reinstall W8. Now everything is working.

If you can get to the CMD prompt, as was the case for me, you might want to try to backup your files to a USB stick or USB drive. Then reinstall.

Hope this helps

John

I have the same problem right now, did you ever get it fixed? I only have one laptop and I have my life on it. And right now, it's completely useless. I am starting to rethink the Apple Mac, and I have never been a fan of Apple products. Never. But I can't do this. I need to have this fixed, I have all my work on it.

I have the same problem on my HP desktop that we upgraded a few weeks ago from windows 7 to windows 8. A windows update came through that morning, and it rebooted then, but later that day, it never came back. Same error the above posts noted. Cannot go to desktop, cannot go to safe mode, cannot boot from recovery cd either. No system recovery or reset works. I managed to copy my personal files to another hard drive and back up to another computer, but my $1500 HP is useless. How can I fix the Windows 8 Error 0xc000021a without booting to desktop, from the command line?

Just wondering if Arron's suggested fix worked.  The reason I ask is that his response is for a failure during the upgrade process from windows 7 to 8. Based on the information you provided, it sounds like you had your sons system up and running in windows 8 and some security update from ms was installed and after the usual reboot to complete the install, you got the 21a error. 

Just wondering, it seems like maybe some people do not understand that an upgrade is different from an update.

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