Inaccessible Boot Device error in Windows 10

Anonymous
2018-01-09T16:46:16+00:00

I manage multiple computers running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit with the latest Current Branch and recently had multiple computers randomly startup with this BSOD: Inaccessible Boot Device.

I have tried everything:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-fix-update-causing-inaccessible-boot-device-error-windows-10

Which recommends deleting registry keys and install packages, though no pending installs could be found

SFC /SCANNOW - No corruption found

CHKDSK /R - Some minor issues corrected

BOOTREC - Scan OS shows 0 windows installations

FIXBOOT - Successful, but this tool finally made the entire process fail without being able to get to the recovery environment, just boots to the legacy screen and shows options for safe mode, but those fail too.

I am at my wits end, because I find thousands of websites and desperate users and admins, but the only fix that works is to clean install. I can't clean install the whole company. This is insane, there has to be a better known cause / fix out there...

*Modified title for accuracy*

*Original title: Inaccessible Boot Device error - cause? fix?*

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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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Anonymous
2018-01-17T17:16:49+00:00

WIN 10 BSOD FIX - Inaccessible Boot Device - THIS WORKS!  I Just Repaired 2 computers that went down at the same time last night on 1/16/18

Good Afternoon Bobby,

Here is the fix I came across from another kind IT tech, please see below.  Credits go to them, I'm just forwarding so everyone can finally get their computers back up and running.

Boot Windows 10

Go to Repair

Go to Tools/Options to get a command prompt.

Confirm the drive letter for the Windows image. Usually D: –> dir d:

Run the following to view the installed packages which will also show a date of install.

Dism /Image:D:\ /Get-Packages

Find the package(s) that were just installed by date. Run the following command on the last installed package:

example: dism.exe /image:d:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_KB4014329~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.1.0

Reboot.

The patch that caused my issue was from 1/6/18 or 1/10/18     Remove the latest windows update entry with Rollup Fix in it's name.  Once complete, close command prompt, turn off computer.  Power back up.  You should be back into WIN10.

If you still receive BSOD, rinse and repeat with the next latest update, try it again.  You'll eventually boot right back into WIN10.

I hope this helps.

Have a great day.

Showster

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-02-04T19:48:15+00:00

    Hello,

    Hoping somebody can help.  I am experiencing this issue as well but can't seem to solve the issue using this solution.  I am not an expert programmer so please bear with me.  Below are some of the steps I took to solve the issue.

    I'm able to get into the command line to start diagnosing what's happening.  I default in X: which I have read in this thread I need to navigate out of as it is the drive for recovery only.  I tried to then find which drive the Windows image is located in. I tried both D: and E:. However when I try to cd directly into windows folder in both drives, both give errors.  I also tried to Dism /Image:D:\ /Get-Packages   while in the D: and Dism /Image:E:\ /Get-Packages   while in the E, Neither worked. I then was looking on https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/use-dism-in-windows-powershell-s14 to see if I had the syntax wrong.  Tried various combinations like Dism.exe /Image:D: /Get-Packages     Dism.exe /Image:E: /Get-Packages       Dism.exe /Image:D:\ /Get-Packages       Dism.exe /Image:E:\ /Get-Packages

    If anyone can help me get into the correct drive for the windows image and then the correct syntax so I can view the recently installed packages and from there remove the most recent installations.

    Thanks!

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-02-04T15:06:18+00:00

      The Win 10 build that seems to work for me is 16299.214. Good luck to you.

    Hello,

    I have a broken laptop that I do not want to reinstall and that is broken for the second time (first time removal of the newest package helped, now the newest package can't be uninstalled from the command line, it seems the package or dism is broken).

    After your feedback about the level 16299.214 i installed the update manually on the command line machine just for a test. The answer is "No". It does not fix the boot. I am waiting for another patch from the vendor...

    Here is the screen dump of what I did:

    D:>sfc /scannow /offbootdir=c:\  /offwindir=c:\windows

    Beginning system scan.  This process will take some time.

    Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

    The image is clean! I ran dism scan health too, clean.

    Package install

    D:>dism /scratchdir:c:\temp /image:c:\ /add-package /packagepath:d:\newhope\windows10.0-kb4058258-x64_69f87cf7f2ea83509d5e61ba2d525a103a6d64f9.msu

    Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

    Version: 10.0.14393.0

    Image Version: 10.0.16299.15

    Processing 1 of 1 - Adding package d:\newhope\windows10.0-kb4058258-x64_69f87cf7f2ea83509d5e61ba2d525a103a6d64f9.msu

    [==========================100.0%==========================]

    The operation completed successfully.

    I needed to run the bootrec with params first as it showed some error on boot, it resulted in INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, back to square one.

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-02-04T11:00:16+00:00

    Hey guys, I toggled the "Pause Update" switch back today after I saw a lot of Win 10 updates lately, on machines that had not been hit by the "inaccessible boot device" issue. It seems the risk of updating the troubled machine paid of since I haven't seen the the "inaccessible boot device" error yet. The Win 10 build that seems to work for me is 16299.214. Good luck to you.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-02-03T18:34:17+00:00

    Congrats, I advise stopping the Windows Update Service completely. If your system survives the next two reboots your done. Clone back the system is a breeze!

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