Delete EFI partition on external drive.

Anonymous
2024-06-18T13:31:49+00:00

I've been having problems regarding SSD cloning. Macrium have been very helpful. It appears that I'm booting from the 2 installed internal hard drives (!?!).

It was working OK for ages but obviously something subsequently has happened.

It was recommended I clone to an external drive.

Fortunately I had a another SDD that I could use. I reformatted this and connected externally . Checked with file folder that it could be read and was empty. All good.

Used Macrium to clone but was concerned that if supposedly booting form 2 internal drives, what am I copying, and would it work?

It didn't!

Both drives had 3 partitions; An EFI System partition (100MB), Windows 11 Home partition (465 GB) and a Recovery Partition ((610MB)

To cut long story short, the external drive now consists of 2 partitions, The EFI partition and an unallocated partition.

The external SDD is no accessible !!. I get the message "You currently don't have permission to access this folder" and continuing, "You have been denied access to this folder" " to gain access to this folder you will have to use the security tab"

Don't understand what to do next.

Using Disk Management and right clicking on greyed out EFI partition gives a greyed out window

Can anyone help in getting this 'external' drive accessible again ?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Recovery and backup

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.

0 comments

107 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-14T14:17:54+00:00

    Used an app called EasyBCD to add external clone to boot manager:-

    I've been using this since Windows 8/10 days and initially OK on windows 11. I now get this message:-

    However, having added external drive (F:) using EasyBCD, Boot Manger gave me option to boot from internal MSI and also external (USB connected) Samsung.

    On (first) boot, selecting external clone SSD (F:) got error code 0xc000000f with file \windows\system32\winload.efi. I believed this SSD was an earlier clone but.....

    Ran Macrium and cloned MSI to Samsung. Program stated that it completed and was 100% successful.

    On (second) boot, selecting external SSD, got error code 0xC00000225 again file \windows\system32\winload.efi

    So, not booting when trying to use boot device. Suspect EasyBCD has disabled some functions as stated by message. Not yet researched error codes. Any thoughts ???

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Ramesh 181.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-07-15T02:05:51+00:00

    I don't know what was written to the BCD by EasyBCD.

    I think changing the Boot order priorities would have been the best option to test if the Samsung disk is booting correctly.

    What does it show when you run BCDEDIT?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-07-15T14:21:44+00:00

    H Remesh,

    I've run BCDEIT with External Samsung SSD connected:-

    What would I have to input to make Disc F: bootable ? This is the externally connected Samsung EVO. From previous post re error code (cxC00000225) infers BCD is either corrupted or missing.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Ramesh 181.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-07-15T15:08:20+00:00

    0xC0000225 is "The object was not found."

    Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

    Renaming BCD and running "bootcfg /rebuild" is an option.

    If possible, please try this first:

    In the Boot order priorities setting in UEFI, take a photo of existing settings.

    Then. set "UEFI USB Hard drive" as the boot device.

    https://www.msi.com/support/technical_details/DT_Boot_Priority

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-07-16T11:30:18+00:00

    Hi Remesh,

    Easy BCD uninstalled!.

    Reset Boot Order after some initial difficulty - wasn't initially able to save change. BIOS complicated. Once found way to do (really need to look), simple really.

    Boot Order:-

    1. UEFI USB Hard Drive
    2. UEFI Hard Drive: Windows Boot Manager

    With USB drive connected system boots OK. However, how do I know with certainty that it booted from USB drive? Saw no disk activity? Created a "Not Image Disk" word document, removed USB SSD, rebooted and saved document to centre of desktop.

    Reconnected USB SSD and rebooted. Expected desktop of this disk to be without document showing. However, not he case. So, system booting with and without USB SSD connected. My conclusion, rightly or wrongly, is that it's booting from internal MSI EFI and its Windows volume or USB EFI and MSI windows volume.

    Can't get my head around what's happening. Any ideas? Looks like I won't be able to use external clone should it become necessary.

    I wanted to upload BIOS pictures but though on desktop ready to do so, they are not seen (?) to upload and insert. As ststed cannot get head round what's happening.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments