Inaccessible Boot Device error in Windows 10

I have been unable to find a fix that will undo the final steps of the bad update that caused the initial blue screen.  There are literally hundreds of pending deleted and renames that happen.  I've spent considerable time trying to figure it out.  Thats why I imaged the drive before operating on it in the first place.

My best advice at this point is to do the system reset, keep your data and reload the programs.  If I discover a way to resolve it at this point, I will post it, but don't hold your breath.  I spent way too much time working on recovering the crashed systems of mine and my clients.  They are all recovered now, and I am now way too busy trying to catch up.  So I won't be spending much additional time on it.

Let this be a learning experience.  If the windows build is valuable, image it to a backup drive

The cost of the data usually is higher than the cost of the hardware.

You can get a 2 Tb external drive for under $70 from a variety of vendors.  Seagate, Western Digital have a version of Acronis that is free (but only works on their hardware).

Schedule it to backup at the end of the day.  That way when you see a blue screen in the morning (after a bad update,) you can easily recover from it.

Also, if you have a UEFI BIOS, unless you really are concerned about someone coming in your house, booting from a flash drive and stealing your data, Turn off Secure Boot in BIOS.

what I can do if I did restart after first successful boot without in-place upgrade ? I get same "inaccessible-boot-device-error" and now unable to boot even following this instructions again

I got now a laptop with the same issue. The repair is overwritten with next reboot, so beware everyone!

allloohaaa, what is the shape of the image? In my case the install image is broken.

try to run this command to find out:

dism.exe /image:YOUR_REAL_WINDOWS_DRIVE:\ /cleanup-image /scanhealth to find out while booted from an USB stick.

I analyzed package list in my instance and found that some packages changed state from installed to superseeded so uninstalling them in the same order as before (batch script) wouldnt work.

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.

what I can do if I did restart after first successful boot without in-place upgrade ? I get same "inaccessible-boot-device-error" and now unable to boot even following this instructions again

 Now they suggest the only option is to reset/ rebuild my PC, but I don't want to lose various software that I no longer have install media and/or keys for.

Hoping the collective wisdom of the internet may have some more suggestions?

The command

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth won't work from preinstallaton environment.

You need to check on which drive are your Windows files while running from the USB stick. Usually it is D: if you have the system partition.

Then run dism.exe /image:D:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth I am writtng this from off the top of my head.

It is usually possible to see what is broken in the package by examining the dism logs. This is a very tedious work, not worth it if you have another recovery options.