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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
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You need to disable all drive security options in the BIOS. Usually UEFI boot, and Secure boot.
If possible, set startup to use both UEFI and Legacy
The key to getting that to work is to also disable The "OS Optimized Defaults" option under the Save/Restart menu.
Download and burn a copy of "Hiren boot cd." You can find it here.
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd The cd has lots of neat stuff not all of it licensed. When you boot to the CD one of the options will be to start a version of the OS installed on the hard drive. Srart it up, Shut it down. Remove the CD. Start from the hard drive. Maybe 2 minutes start to finish.
