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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?
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.
2 SSD drives one SATA HDD
win 8.1 on SSD #1
this is what I did:
- shutdown
- unhooked HDD
- restarted
- yay !!
- reconnected HDD
- restarted
- 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!
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
Hi, I had a slightly different problem. I had my system running in "Windows To Go" on an external drive. This made it difficult to do a direct reinstall, as others propose. So if Reinstall is not an option. I have discovered a way to recover the files without reinstall. I used EaseUS partition master. First I did a repair of the drive to correct errors. but, that only repaired the drive and it was still not accessible. I continued receiving the locked error when entering the drive. I tried a number of different things to correct the error non worked.
Then I thought of creating a good Partition to the side of the corrupted one, and then merging the drives to the new drive. Using EaseUS partition master I Shrank the drive that was corrupted. Then Created A new Drive in the un-allocated space. Then had EaseUS Merge both drives to the newly created drives.
this worked well. however I did have to run this process a number of times before the entire partition was recovered. because when EaseUS hits the error in the partition, it stops. However after running the Shrink Original Drive, Expand New Drive, and Merge about 3 times I was able to recover the entire drive.
As I have just successfully finished recovering my drive I have not attempted to see if the windows to go is still operational. In the merge process EaseUS puts everything into a separate file on each Merge. I now need to move everything from the files to the base partition and see if it works. This however was not my primary concern as I was mostly worried about my files, pics and videos.
EaseUS URL:
http://www.easeus.com/thankyou/install-partition-master-free.htm
-
Hi, I had a slightly different problem. I had my system running in "Windows To Go" on an external drive. This made it difficult to do a direct reinstall, as others propose. So if Reinstall is not an option. I have discovered a way to recover the files without reinstall. I used EaseUS partition master. First I did a repair of the drive to correct errors. but, that only repaired the drive and it was still not accessible. I continued receiving the locked error when entering the drive. I tried a number of different things to correct the error non worked.
Then I thought of creating a good Partition to the side of the corrupted one, and then merging the drives to the new drive. Using EaseUS partition master I Shrank the drive that was corrupted. Then Created A new Drive in the un-allocated space. Then had EaseUS Merge both drives to the newly created drives.
this worked well. however I did have to run this process a number of times before the entire partition was recovered. because when EaseUS hits the error in the partition, it stops. However after running the Shrink Original Drive, Expand New Drive, and Merge about 3 times I was able to recover the entire drive.
As I have just successfully finished recovering my drive I have not attempted to see if the windows to go is still operational. In the merge process EaseUS puts everything into a separate file on each Merge. I now need to move everything from the files to the base partition and see if it works. This however was not my primary concern as I was mostly worried about my files, pics and videos.
EaseUS URL:
http://www.easeus.com/thankyou/install-partition-master-free.htm
This is the most ridiculous voodoo I think I've ever used on a Windows machine, but I'm at black-magic desperation, and I can't believe the unplug drive-reboot-plug drive thing worked. This was with one drive, by the way. Whatever. Thanks for the insane tip!
