11/23/20 – Strange USB Boot problem that I’m thinking is Windows oriented

Anonymous
2020-11-23T22:22:39+00:00

Something I’ve always done over the years is run weekly 100% mirror image bootable backup clones of the C-drive in my ThinkPad laptops…using spare USB cable connected SSD hard drives.  [ connect the drive, run ‘Acronis True Image’ cloning software that I use, done ]

From time to time I’d boot the laptop from a USB backup drive, always worked perfectly…but mostly I’d just make the weekly backups for peace of mind in case the C-drive should ever fail.

But discovered a pesky little problem as I’ve been setting up a new ThinkPad P52 to replace my older P51.  After I finished setting up the new P52 C-drive, I cloned it to a USB attached hard drive like I’ve done on the P51 a couple hundred times…and then just to be sure it worked, tried to boot the P52 back from the cloned USB attached drive.

Failed…blue screen error message: “Inaccessible Boot Device”.

TROUBLE SHOOTING SUMMARY SO FAR:

The P52 ThinkPad boots up normally / works perfectly from its internal C-drive.

All USB flash drives and/or USB cabled hard drives that I plug in all operate normally.

The P52 laptop sees them all, adds them to the list of other drives in the laptop (c, d, e, f, etc.).

I can read/ write to them business as usual, click open / look at content inside normally.

My cloning software works like always because I’ve taken cloned copies and physically installed them inside the laptop as the internal C-drive and the laptop comes right up normally / works perfectly, etc.  I simply cannot BOOT FROM a USB connected clone any longer.

I’ve spent hours over a few days Internet searching, trying this, trying that, no help.

I’ve tried different SSD hard drives, different cables, different USB ports, no help.

Ran a few check-disk kinds of scans and the SSD’s are rock solid as always.

Ensured all Lenovo ThinkPad updates are downloaded and installed.

Ensured all Windows updates are downloaded and installed.

Then started trying the approach of uninstalling Windows updates one at a time but it’s very time consuming and several of the "security related Win updates" wouldn’t let me uninstall them.

So I decided to go back and ensure everything sill worked OK on the original P51, and to my surprise it fails the same way.  Been quite a while since I actually did a USB Boot on the original P51 so I assume something must have changed during the past several months and I’m thinking the Win 10 Pro software is the common denominator.

Thought I’d check here with the Brain Trust and see if anyone might know of a specific Win 10 related finding / fix for this situation…thanks a lot in advance.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-03T20:03:15+00:00

    Hi,

    That seems to be correct.. The only indication as to which is the Boot drive is the term Boot in the description..

    What I found is that some of my programs like Acronis and Macrium would actually change the disk number so that the drive that was booted from would always be of a lower number.. It does not appear that Windows itself does that..

    Like you, I had an extra partition at the end of the drive... Because these were just test drives with nothing on importance on them, I renamed the last partition so that I could keep track of that easier that way..

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-05T20:46:41+00:00

    Well, I've exhausted every search argument I can think of to try and pin down why the "Inaccessible Boot Device" error started popping up when trying to Boot from a USB SSD clone on these laptops.

    And as an aside, I actually did run across a similar USB SSD boot related error that Microsoft has owned and has a fix coming out for it in mid-December...but it's not exactly the 'Inaccessible Boot Device" error I was getting...but heck, who knows, maybe their fix will take care of mine too..

    Bottom line, I'm worn out from all the searching and have to let go of it.

    Thanks to you for putting me onto that "WinToUSB" I at least now "know" the USB SSD Clones work.  In the past, I always "assumed" they did because I followed instructions, interrupted over to the Boot Menu, selected the USB drive to Boot from, there weren't any errors, and the machine booted up, looked & acted normal, etc.

    But now, after every USB SSD clone I make, I add the step of including that WinToUSB modification...AND...after booting up the USB SSD clone, I open Disk Management and verify it.

    Meanwhile, I've upgraded both the P51 and P52 with all the very latest Windows updates, ran all disk diagnostics I know to run on all the disks...made backup (verified) bootable clones of each laptop.

    Once again, many thanks to you for all of your help through this unexpected experience...not only did you steer this to success, but I learned a lot giong through it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-05T21:33:14+00:00

    PS:

    Turns out that this Microsoft Community Forum has a "private message" feature after all.

    Go to the top right hand corner of the page, and click on the little person symbol where member info is stored to get the drop-down.

    In the bottom right corner of the drop down, there's a little "3 dots in a row" symbol.

    Clicking the "3 dots in a row" symbol opens up the "private message" feature.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-12-05T22:25:54+00:00

    Hi,

    The primary reason reason you are getting the "Inaccessible Boot Device" error is because Windows does not normally allow booting from a USB drive and therefore will not access it.. Maybe it would be more accurate for the message to state "Unallowed Boot Device"..

    I have been busy with some hardware changes to my older computer and have not even been connected to the internet for two days.. I think I am finally finished with that and will take another look at the error.. I doubt that there is any more to find other than a possible workaround in addition to the WinToUSB..

    The Private Message location only allows replies to messages from Forum moderators.. I have several.. I have yet to find a way to actually contact someone with one, but will take a closer look...

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-12-05T22:59:12+00:00

    Good gracious, don't spend any more time on this on my behalf...your solution of WinToUSB is very quick & simple so there's no longer any problem or concern with USB SSD booting.

    New project tomorrow is replacing / reconfiguring a warranty replacement Base Station for our house security system...

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