Error 0x800f0922 for 2020-01 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1909 for x64-based Systems (KB4532695)

You are welcome. OK, yeah, it was the BCD you wrote. So long as you can recover disk 2 &/or are willing to do a clean install, I think no lasting harm can come of what I wrote. I've done something similar but not quite the same as all that. Good luck with it. Definitely let us know how it turns out, so that I may unpack my bags & tear up my ticket to parts unknown.

(1) I see you recovered from a disaster before. Nice going,

(a) What do you use to make and restore a full disk backup?

(b) Can you backup all of disk 2 & restore it (if necessary)?

(c) Did you mean to say you wrote your own BCD (not GPT)?

(d) Are you prepared to do a clean install, if things get even worse?

(a) Paragon backup and recovery 17 free.

(b) I'm not positive that I can with that software, but I'm sure I can find something else that can do it if not.

(c) Yes, probably? Honestly it's a lot of 3-letter acronyms for things that perform the same function but slightly differently that I'm getting them mixed up. I do remember having to use BCDEdit so I guess that means it was the BCD.

(d) Yeah, I don't want to, but I can't really have a system that is unable to update, and even worse, attempts to update on every reboot and then takes upwards of 5 minutes undoing the changes before letting me back into Windows.

Looks like a good plan, I will attempt later this week and report back. Again wow you're going above and beyond helping me out here, thank you.

(1) I see you recovered from a disaster before. Nice going,

(a) What do you use to make and restore a full disk backup?

(b) Can you backup all of disk 2 & restore it (if necessary)?

(c) Did you mean to say you wrote your own BCD (not GPT)?

(d) Are you prepared to do a clean install, if things get even worse?

(2) It would be nicest to have EFI be the first partition on disk 2. But that would take a 3rd-party tool to accomplish. You'd have to create 100 MB of unallocated space at the beginning of the disk by shifting the others rightward by that amount. Well, you'd...

Partition ###  Type              Size     Offset

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

  Partition 1    Reserved       16 MB  1024 KB

  Partition 2    Primary        464 GB      18 MB

  Partition 3    Recovery      844 MB   464 GB

  Partition 4    Reserved      554 MB   465 GB

(a) Delete that 2nd MSR (of 554 MB) to create that much unallocated space.

(b) Shift the remaining 3 partitions rightward by 100 MB.

(c) Shift the Recovery partition all the way rightward (over the remaining 454 MB).

(d) Extend the Primary partition (C:) to claim that 454 MB.

If you do that first, the following will need adjusting.

(3) Well, here is what I come up with...

DiskPart                              <<<Enter DiskPart

Select  Disk  2                     <<<Focus on disk 2

Select  Part  4                      <<<Focus on partition 4 of disk 2

Delete  Partition  Override                          <<<Delete partition 4 (that 2nd MSR is now gone)

Create  Partition  EFI  Size=100                   <<<Create an EFI partition of 100 MB

Format  Quick  FS=FAT32  Label="ESP"      <<<Format EFI, & name it "ESP" (EFI System Partition)

Assign  Letter=S                                          <<<Give EFI the letter S

Exit                                                               <<<Exit DiskPart

BCDBoot  C:\Windows  /s  S:  /f  UEFI       <<<That copies boot files from C: to S: (EFI),

                                                                          & it generates a new BCD.

DiskPart                        <<<Enter DiskPart

List  Vol                        <<<Show the volumes & letters

Select  Vol=S                <<<Select the volume of letter S (EFI)

Remove  Letter=S        <<<Remove the letter from it

Exit                               <<<Exit DiskPart

Now see whether the computer will reboot. If so, hopefully it has used the new EFI to do so (instead of the System Reserved). I know that BCDBoot command has filled EFI with boot files. But I don't know for sure the system has been told to use it instead of the other. Does BCDEdit now work...?...

Windows Boot Manager

identifier      {bootmgr}

device          partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1       <<<Yours should say HardDiskVolume6

path             \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

Then -- for you if all went well -- I calculate the Windows Boot Manager device should say ...6. That is because EFI is the 6th partition counting one each on disks 0 & 1 (presuming there is no hidden partition on them) & counting the 3 that precede EFI on disk 2. The HardDiskVolume number can also be seen in MSInfo32 (type into search) in the boot device: "Boot Device   \Device\HarddiskVolume1".

If that looks good, then it is time to delete the System Reserved partition...

DiskPart

Select  Disk  4

List  Part                                <<<List the partitions, & check whether partition 1 is indeed

                                                     the 100 MB System Reserved partition.

Select  Part  1                        <<<Or whatever partition number it is.

Delete  Partition  Override

Exit

But it might refuse to delete because it is still a system partition. In that case, try it in the recovery environment. That is...

1. Shift+Restart for the recovery environment.
2. Click "Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt".
3. Do the delete in DiskPart.
4. Close the Command Prompt.
5. Click "Continue" to return to Windows.

Notes:

(a) "Create  Partition  EFI  Size=100" will create EFI in the 1st unallocated space of 100 MB on disk 2 that it comes across. That will be the unallocated space created by deleting the MSR partition at the end of the disk because it is the only unallocated space available. Then still 454 MB will be left unallocated at the very end of disk 2.

(b) I would have wanted to do a reboot before the BCDBoot command just to be sure the full system knows EFI has been created & has the letter S. But I just don't know whether the computer would hang because EFI is as yet half-baked. Would it just be ignored in favor of the System Reserved on disk 4? I don't know.

I believe the problem initially stemmed from when I tried to resize the boot partition to make room for a linux dual boot. For some reason by making that new partition, even before putting GRUB or any data whatsoever onto that partition, windows would no longer boot (I forget the exact error message it gave me.) Luckily I do scheduled full disk backups and was able to restore the boot partition, but even then it wouldn't boot and I had to write my own GPT to get back into Windows. I remember having this same BCDedit error when I tried that as well, I had to write it using the source files from a windows installation disk, my local windows installation wouldn't work.

I wouldn't say that I *want* to convert the MSR, it's just that I was trying to follow the directions provided earlier in the thread, and I thought that might be the partition that needed to be converted. I'm honestly over my head and trying not to do anything that renders my system unable to boot, because with how screwed up the partition table appears to be it's several hours of trial-and-error work before I might be able to fix it. All I know for certain is that I'm getting the 0x800f0922 error on 2020-11 cumulative.

You've got a strange installation. A System Reserved partition belongs to a Legacy install. It is the equivalent of a UEFI install's  EFI partition (that holds the BCD & other boot files). Yours is on an MBR (Master Boot Record) style disk (disk 4) which is normal for a Legacy install. But the rest of the Windows installation is on disk 2 which is in the GPT (GUID Partition Table) style. That's normal for a UEFI install. They don't show up in Disk Management (that's normal), but two MSR (Microsoft Reserved) partitions are also on disk 2. There really should be only that first one (of 16 MB), but the presence of an MSR means it is a UEFI install. Legacy installs don't have them.

It looks like you can boot that way, but Windows doesn't appear to want to do an update that way. Have you been able to get Windows updates in that configuration before? Also, it doesn't appear BCDEdit likes it, either.

It seems you want to convert the 2nd MSR (of 554 MB) into an EFI partition, which I think is a good idea. But it can't be done with Set ID. And also the System Reserved partition should be deleted. I'm not really sure I can come up with the instructions to do it all. It would be to...

(a) Delete the 2nd MSR.

(b) Use DiskPart to create an EFI in its place.

(c) Have Windows use that EFI.

(d) Delete the System Reserved partition.