Inaccessible Boot Device error in Windows 10

This is even more removed than with using the OS installation disk in Repair Mode which under these conditions COULD, COULD, be doing allot of damage.

I was specifically wondering why this was the case.  I guess I should've more explicitly stated that I was running WinRE off a bootable flash drive.

Perhaps adding to the confusion, I should otherwise add that I have two computers/laptops in the house which are exactly the same (hardware, history of software, and everything) with (almost) all the same software installed presently as well, and only one of them was affected. The only difference is, one of them is used every day (and therefore more frequently updated) - the one which is suffering from the issue - and the other closer to only like once a month.  The only other difference is that the one with the issue has ESET running on it as its antivirus.  I doubt that has anything to do with it though...

In any case, if Microsoft doesn't acknowledge the issue (and furthermore release or promise a patch to be able to install from the recovery environment) tomorrow (from what I understand they haven't yet), I will just restore to one of the old backups I mentioned I did for this computer.  Screw it.  On the user end, I think everything that's possible to do has been exhausted and I learned everything I possibly can from this.

Hi,

WinRE is never as completely isolated from your OS Image as your are in WinPE. I answered being aware that you and others were using WinRE from an external Disk, spinning or Solid State. I know this because I still need to dismount the Image disk, maybe not always, but sometimes because it is not always as clear cut as with WinPE(Preliminary/Preinstallation Environment). It stands to reason, RE, is Recovery Environment, the software is in there trying to get into the OS, trying to "make it stand up", which can be very problematic if done to early or sometimes at all. I far rather use Good 3rd Party Tools then MS tools in this area because they can be less Ham Handed, especially around boot/MBR issues. They are usually specialists, MS is not, the tools are something they "Have to DO" and are often an after thought.

I have listened to an Engineer(not giving names) whom works deep in the OS developing "Shims" to fix/solve problems in an age old OS, which Windows is. He speaks very low about SFC, not really doing what is advertised as, etc, in other words fluff stuff. Yet for myself I run SFC zealously, religiously, and I encourage you do to!!!! Why???? Because there is nothing else that does precisely what it does. Could it be causing some of our corruption issues YUP, You Betcha, but we have nothing else, let alone better. 

Now SFC in conjunction with DISM /RestoreHealth running them back to back as well as in different order, even when one continues to get Corruption errors thrown MOST OF THE TIME will work things out, and at least the Utilities are coming out clean! The thing is one needs to be persistent interspersed with plenty of Cold and Warm Starts/Restarts/Reboots, even for 2 or 3 hours.

As far as your occasional use PC goes, plenty of Cold and Warm Starts/Restarts/Reboots goes along way, along the way, so does SFC/DISM /RestoreHealth. The same can be said for your heavy use PC. Different kinds of maintenance is done in Cold and Warm Starts/Restarts/Reboots which is most necessary in an OLD OS like Windows.

3rd Party AV/AM/etc can dramatically be your enemy. This is where I and do advise to STICK Zealously to Windows Defender/Essentials/EndPoint. That approach can save one so much grief, it is indescribable. 

Ultimately, The more and more I see, I am chalking this up to 3rd Party AV/AM/etc some, but mainly "BIT ROT"!!!! If you read and follow my dissertations in this Thread, Zealously One can counteract it a great deal for a significant period of time. 

However eventually one will need to do an In Place Update to ones Image(I did this just before Christmas). I agree with you, about going back to your earlier Image. You may take a Data hit, but you probably will have most of your apps that you are currently using. Then do and In Place Update, with WU/MU off in some way. Use a controlled Method to Patch yourself up to Date, taking a few Image Backups along the way. What I am hearing is the problem seems to be gone even with the current Patches...... Therefore, this is ones maintenance problems, not Microsoft's??????

My controlled Method is using Powershell ISE and a module called PSWindowsUpdate(vLatest) found in the PSGallery Repository....... 

If you have a learning curve in front of you, do some of that first.......

Best Regards, 

Crysta

For me, the issue started with KB4054517 (Build 16299.125) and got worse with KB4056892 (Build 16299.192).  I have thought from the beginning that it has something to do with drivers being corrupted or crashing for some reason. I thought maybe it had to do with drivers updating to incompatible versions but not sure that is the case. On the machines that do NOT go to Inaccessible Boot Volume or have do so and have been restored successfully, I have had issues with drivers - mostly USB but occasionally a network driver. The fix for the USB driver has been to update the driver by browsing to C:\Windows\WinSxS - it will find it and install successfully from there.

Does anyone know:

1. which update exactly is causing the problem?
2. the steps to prevent it from re-installing?

To #1: For me it's been KB4056892 (Build 16299.192). Since I rolled back to KB4054517 (Build 16299.125) the issue is gone.

To #2: I toggled the Pause Update switch (Toggle "Pause Updates" switch under Settings  > Update & security  > Windows Update > Advanced options).

We've seen no USB problems but have had boot errors for a missing hard drive (1) and missing network card (1).