Windows 10 bootrec /fixboot access is denied

Anonymous

Hi, I was in a hurry and made the stupid mistake of not backing up before I resized a partition on my new Acer laptop, intending to clone my Windows 10 installation from a 1TB HDD to a 500GB SSD. Although the hard drive has less than 100GB used space, needless to say an error occurred, Error Code 0xc0000225.

The recovery partition of the HDD is not accessible using Alt F10 at the splash screen as recommended by Acer.

I have been following the advice in this video My attempts so far:

I booted into a Win 10 flash drive and tried automatic repair, which took hours but did not work.

Next I tried command prompt - bootrec /rebuildbcd, which was successful; bootrec /fixmbr, also successful; and finally bootrec /fixboot - but that was not successful and returned an "access is denied" message.

Not sure whether to move on to the next suggestion, which is using Diskpart, or continue trying to find some way to get a successful result from bootrec /fixboot.

Advice would be much appreciated.

[Moved from: Windows / Windows 10 / Windows update, recovery, & backup]

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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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Windows 10 Installation Media:

Insert the Media (DVD/USB) in your PC and restart.
Boot from the media.
Select Repair Your Computer.

Select Troubleshoot.

Choose Command Prompt from the menu:

Type in the command:

Diskpart

Type in the command:

List disk (Note which disk is your Boot drive number mine is 0)

Type in the command:

Sel disk 0

Type in the command:

List vol (Note which volume is the EFI partition mine is 4)

Type in the command:

Sel vol 4

Type in the command:

assign letter=V:

Type in the command:

Exit

Type in the command:

After you have assigned a drive letter Using Diskpart You can format the EFI partition:

Example: if you assigned a letter V to the partition the command would be:

format V: /FS:FAT32

~~After the format you need to recreate the EFI directory structure with the command:~~

~~MD \EFI\Microsoft\Boot~~

~~Then change to the Boot directory with:~~

~~cd /d V:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot~~

~~Then run:~~

~~bootrec /FixBoot~~

~~Finally run:~~

~~bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-us /s V: /f All~~

Type in the command:

bcdboot C:\windows /s V: /f UEFI (This replaces the above crossed out lines and works in Win 10 1709)

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

I had the same issue with the command Bootrec /Fixboot "Access is denied",

This only happens with Windows 10 1709 install media.

I tried the same command with Windows 10 1703 install media and do not get the error "Access is denied".

This looks like an error with the install media for Windows 10 1709

Regards

Mark

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Thanks everyone. I found out how to fix it. My laptop is back in business.

First of all I found the drive has a hidden 100MB Fat32 EFI boot partition, something new to me since I haven't been keeping up with current tech. The Windows automatic repair program can't see it so it can't repair it either. What you have to do is use diskpart to give the partition a drive letter and go on from there using command prompt (although I guess it's possible that auto repair might be able to fix it once it's made visible).

The instructions I used were these from Dell, but there are others on the web too. They seemed to work fine for my Acer though.

Good luck!

Windows 10

If you do have the Installation Media :

Insert the Media (DVD/USB) in your PC and restart.
Boot from the media.
Select Repair Your Computer.
Select Troubleshoot.
Select Advanced Options.
Choose Command Prompt from the menu :
1. Type and run the command :

diskpart 2. Type and run the command :

sel disk 0 3. Type and run the command :

list vol

Verify that the EFI partition (EPS - EFI System Partition) is using the FAT32 file system and assign a drive letter to it :
1. Type and run the command :

sel vol <number of volume> 2. Type and run the command :

assign letter=<drive letter>: 3. Type and run the command :

exit

In order to repair the boot record :
1. Type and run the command :

cd /d <drive letter>:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot
2. Type and run the command :

bootrec /FixBoot

The next step is the same across all the operating systems at this point :

Rebuild the BCD store
First run the command below to backup the old BCD :

ren BCD BCD.old 3. Now recreate it using this command :

bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-us /s <boot letter>: All

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235 additional answers

Anonymous

2018-07-15T00:36:55+00:00

Look for my post, below this. I think it might help you. I replied to my own post with a solution for clean install. Most of the problem I was facing was due to the fact that I was using a Surface Pro and no Disk Drive to read an iso from. Check it out.
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Anonymous

2018-07-15T00:35:14+00:00
LINK to a discussion post with this same solution I came up with. I posted today.

None of the advice, nor videos helped in any way. So I did a clean install. I'm a tech-savvy guy, but I'm not a Windows Engineer. I did get a degree in math and computer science, but networking, Windows admin... is a whole category of expertise.

So, with hours of using my own geek savvy... it all failed. So I did a clean install and that too some time to figure out too.

NOTE: this is what all tech repair shops under all different cool names do, Clean Install. That's what you usually agree on before you leave the store, "Do we have your consent to do a clean install if we have to?" -- once you leave the store your computer sits in a pile of "ready to do clean installs" queue.

Every time I am faced with a new challenge and somehow figure it out and fix it, I write some notes. So here are my notes.

My own steps I took to fix my mom's broken Win10 Surface Pro - via CLEAN INSTALL: in no particular order

*A lot of these steps is for a USB boot, whereas a CD boot with iso image is pretty easy and fast.

Tools / software you will need:
1. MediaCreationTool.exe
2. Windows10.iso (uses #1 to create this) -- burn to a disk if you have a disk drive
3. USB Thumb drive (for those who don't have disk drive, else #2 should suffice) -- I believe at least 16GB?
Note 1:

MediaCreationTool.exe creates the ISO.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-operating-system-free-download-full-version

Once logged in, it will take you here:

https://insider.windows.com/Home/SetupPC

Then you will download Win 10, -> MediaCreationTool.exe

This tool will read your current version of Win then give you options to install:

Option 1: Upgrade

Option 2: Install iso to USB

Option 3: Install iso to Desktop to burn to DVD later.

Note 2:

Download software ISO

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Download an image for your product, e.g. SP4 (surface pro 4) with product ID:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surfacerecoveryimage

(for computers that don't use Disk Drives, e.g. Surface Pro)

Prepare the USB.)

On a working computer
1. Plug in the usb
2. Open cmd.exe in Admin mode / elevated mode
3. At prompt -- C:\WINDOWS\system32>Diskpart
DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---

Disk 0 Online 238 GB 0 B *

Disk 1 Online 7648 MB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 1 (pick the disk that matches the size of the USB stick you connected to the system)

(picking the wrong drive could cause you to destroy your running PC)

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> clean (this will wipe the drive clean without asking for confirmation)

DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

DISKPART> CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> select partition 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> active

DiskPart marked the current partition as active.

DISKPART> FORMAT FS=FAT32 Quick

100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> ASSIGN

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit
1. - Extract the ISO you downloaded earlier to the root of the USB stick we just created.
*** I used PowerISO program to open the iso, then Extract ISO to USB to ensure all files will copy over to usb. This is very important because there are may 0-bytes and other files that will not just copy over, so iso-extraction to USB is the only way that I was able to accomplish a true ISO to USB.
1. Once the copy/extract to USB is complete, change your focus to the USB drive ( mine is mapped as drive E: ) navigate to the Boot directory and update the boot manager using the following command from an elevated command prompt windows.
In this example: E-drive is the DVD drive, or the mounted ISO location.

While still in elevated CMD, change to USB location

C:\WINDOWS\system32>e:

E:>CD BOOT

-- this next part makes the USB ready for booting.

E:\boot>BOOTSECT.EXE /NT60 D:

Target volumes will be updated with BOOTMGR compatible bootcode.

D: (\?\Volume{xxxxxxxx-0000-0000-0000-100000000000})
1. Plug usb now into surface pro. Hold volume down, hip power button. When logo "Surface" shows, release volume button. Install.
Successfully updated FAT32 filesystem bootcode.

Bootcode was successfully updated on all targeted volumes.

E:\boot>

Now it's ready for a boot, and clean install.
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