Inaccessible Boot Device error in Windows 10

from the x: prompt (this is the windows recovery environment drive)

type dir d:

or dir e:

etc until you see your build of windows.

you do not want to do anything to drive X

all references are for you to substitute the letter of your windows build for X.

(you can tell which letter your windows is on by looking at the users directory for your name.

example: dir d:\users or dir e:\users, etc.)

substitute that letter in all the commands

wiz

Thanks for the reply. I instantly left the "X:\Windows\System32>" (which contains the boot files & is inside of drive c:). I did get to the volumes list which now contains drives c: - h:/. The problem is that when trying to do a DOS repair it comes back that something in the boot files (x: drive) now has lines that are encrypted that will not allow any fixes. My repair disk will allow me to access the folders & files I want to  save on an external drive. I can even see all of my HP & Win 10 recovery/backup files but the system will not recognize that they exist. It will not let me install a brand new version of Win 10 Pro 64 bit or any ISO copies of Creators Version (CD, USB or HD) even though the USB & disk drives are working fine.

I tried every solution in this thread before my 1st post & from 10+ other places with no results. This reminds me of the Win ME fiasco & I doubt that Win 10 will be around for long. I know there is a beta version of a new Win OS out already & will be looking to find a copy soon. I am in the middle of swapping out 80 Win 7 workstations now with new Win 10 comps on our city's network & these ongoing update problems with Win 10 are making us have second thoughts about continuing with them. I've been around for a long time like a lot of others here (pre Windows or Mac) & have never seen so many comps with so many different problems from a few updates in 1 OS. After I get the rest of my txt & media files that I need off of the unbootable comp I am going to "Hillary" the HD & move on. Thanks to all that have tried to help people with this bad OS.

forget about what's on the x: drive. And it is NOT on C: (unless you aren't following instructions)

You need to boot from recovery media, not use the recovery environment on the hard drive.

You do not care anything about the x: drive!!!!!

After booting from recovery media, locate your windows drive.  It should be the only drive that has a Users**{your name}**  folder

use that letter in the repair procedure.

Then follow the instructions (CAREFULLY).  Remember you can use notepad in the recovery environment.  Also you can mark and copy the long names of the patches from the DOS windows and paste them in a notepad file. Create a batch file from the notepad files that looks like this:  (in my case the windows drive letter was e:)

md e:\temp

md e:\temp\packages

dism /image:e:\ /get-packages

pause

dism.exe /image:e:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

dism /image:e:\ /remove-package /packagename:package_for_kb4056887~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.1.0 /scratchdir:e:\temp\packages

dism /image:e:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_RollupFix~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~16299.192.1.9 /scratchdir:e:\temp\packages

dism /image:e:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_RollupFix~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~16299.125.1.6 /scratchdir:e:\temp\packages

dism /image:e:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_KB4058702~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~16299.188.1.0 /scratchdir:e:\temp\packages

This was the batch file I created to fix the problem.

I put the pause in so you can verify which Packages are installed in your version of windows.  You need only remove the 2018 dated packages.

You will recover your Windows build for one boot only. 

Do not reboot, but immediately perform an in-place upgrade (repair install)

After the upgrade, your windows will be recovered.

I got this problem on Jan 9-11, but had to go out of town to work for 12 days. I thought that they would have a fix by that time. I have tried all of the fixes on this thread several times... It will not allow that comp to boot anything. In "Startup Settings" there are no f4, f5, f6, etc.. options, just bullet points in front of these options. I have used every DOS scan, repair, etc.. & still come up with errors inside of drive c: that says it can not do anything because of lines of Caps are inside (which is the x: drive). It does find a backup on an external drive, but won't let it run.

I have been on the phone with several other IT pros that just scratch their heads at this mess. I had to correct the IT person from MS on how to make a USB bootable copy of 1709, that gave me confidence... not (after 4 hours they had no answers either).

Thanks for your advice, but all I've found is 100s of different problems caused by the same bad updates (Oct/17 & Jan/18) on every brand of comp & cpu's.

MS put out bad updates for what I thought was a decent OS. I am going back to Linix for my home network once the file recovery process is done. Or I will code a batch file that will stop all Win 10 updates from installing on startup or shutdown.

I'm still amazed that MS has not came out with a fix for the problems that we are all here discussing. Have a Great week.

This whole situation is a total mess. I had to rebuild my work PC because none of these fixes worked, and I'm getting inundated with calls from work colleagues and friends with similar problems. One colleague is going on a business trip abroad tomorrow morning and her laptop's just bricked following a Windows update! Unbelievable.