"The drive where Windows is installed is locked.Unlock the drive and try again."

Anonymous
2013-01-22T22:31:56+00:00

What to do when you get the following message on "the most stable", Windows 8, operating system?

"The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."

I got that message after the following:

I wanted to open a PDF file from my customer on OUTLOOK - a regular, every-hour procedure - and my computer froze. Nothing worked; therefore, only manually disconnecting my computer from the power source, I was able to shut it down.

After I restarted, I could not get passed the login screen - my computer used to enter the "blue background color and nothing else" mode. 

I decided to use USB Flash drive to repair Win8 but it failed. I wanted to refresh my Windows 8, but I got that message:

"The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."

Just 4 days ago, I did a "clean install" of Windows 8 OS.

What should I do besides another "clean install" of Windows 8?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2014-09-06T13:07:42+00:00

2 SSD drives one SATA HDD

win 8.1 on SSD #1

this is what I did:

  1. shutdown
  2. unhooked HDD
  3. restarted
  4. yay !!
  5. reconnected HDD
  6. restarted
  7. yay !!

cheers

Thank you.  Of all the proposed solutions this is the only one I tried and it worked perfectly.  My computer is back up and running.  Thank you so much!

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Anonymous
2013-04-16T06:32:07+00:00

I clean installed windows 8 on a second HD and then the original came up as an option.  the key is to disconnect the first hd with the good install on it. and then go into the bios and adjust your boot sequence.  

At least this worked for me.  As soon as this works you must defeat any options for fast start as that is likely where the trouble is.  This is outrageous as it is happening to customers across the world but yet the company is trying to pass it off as a virus.  I was told I would have to buy a second license to get the install to stabilize.  It is BS.

Good Luck

KC O'Dunn

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T06:08:13+00:00

    yes my mate they have lied to us windows 8 is not the most stable operating system but the most unstable.. even if you clean install win8 this problem will continue!

    you have two choice:

    1. switch back to windows 7(there is not much diffrence between them except. Win7 boots perfectly).

    2)install ubuntu (This option is the best solution if you doesn't play video games on pc. plus its faster and stable)

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-20T22:34:13+00:00

    *THIS FIX WILL REMOVE ALL DATA FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE. BACKUP YOUR INFORMATION WHERE POSSIBLE*

    To everyone having this problem I have a solution for you that worked perfectly. It took me a little bit to find the right way to do it, and the best way possible is to COMPLETELY WIPEyour hard-drive.

    This will only work if you have an install disk, even if you cannot access your system, or log in, this will work.

    First of all you want to put the Install disk in the tray (32Bit or 64Bit depending on your machine), then when prompted its should say "Press any key to boot from CD/Disk" or something along those lines. 

    Go through all the installation, put in your CD key, then when you get to a menu look for an option of "ADVANCED SETTINGS/OPTIONS". When you have found this, go to Command Prompt section. Once you have the command console open follow this guide:

    http://www.techhack.co.uk/2011/03/31/format-a-hard-drive-with-command-prompt/

    It will take you step by step through the process of how delete the information on your hard-drive which will include the corrupted OS.

    Once you have that done, you then want to boot from CD again, input your CD key again, but this time it will prompt you to install rather than repair (because the OS has been wiped). The process from techhack may create the partition in a invalid format, do not fear, when the OS installer pops up, just delete the partition that was created using the techhack tutorial and click "new", this will then ask if you would allow Windows to create partitions for you (these partitions include back-ups, external files, etc). Then thats its, it should start to process your installation.

    I'm sorry that this is a rather crude way of doing this, and it is a little complicated, but if you follow the techhack guide and what I have said allow you to get your PC back.

    Hope this helps.

    Disclaimer: I'm fairly fluent with this kind of stuff, so if you aren't comfortable with it, ask someone who knows about Partitions and the CMD prompt console.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-17T05:03:07+00:00

    I really that I don't have the ability to control the install, and this hidden hard drive is a pain in the blank. Didn't have my new laptop 3 days and got hacked, they locked the hdd and so far I have a high dollar paperweight. I keep reading the cookie cutter responses on here and hate seeing the regurgitated standard responses from people with a different dialect and culture. 

    Windows 8 has proven to be windows fail,  I don't think I will stick this one through, after seeing all the problems that every os roll out has had with an increase of issues. Give me a start button and leave the apps on the tablets and smart phones where they belong

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