Total Boot Failure After Removing Second SSD - Win 10

PCR, thanks for the reply. The disc is not corrupt so I have already copied all the files from it to another disc. But that doesn't help too much. I need to actually get into Windows to deactivate some legacy licenses and also see how some programs are set up, etc. There are also some legacy programs that I would like to use occasionally that can't be installed anymore (some require dead server links to be installed and/or updated). In effect, I'd really like to get it working again, even if its just in a limp mode.

I reread your response and this first part may be in regard to just the files. And the second part may be with respect to getting it to boot. I will look into this further.

(1) Try this way to backup your files. Notepad works very well at a Command Prompt of the Recovery Environment...

(a) Plug in a USB drive on which to copy your files.

(b) Get to the Recovery Environment, I.e, boot to the Win 10 Installation USB drive,

     & click to "Repair your computer" (instead of to install).

(c) At the "Choose an Option" screen,

     click "Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt".

(c) Enter Notepadat the Command Prompt. It opens in GUI mode.

(d) In its File menu, select Open.

(e) Set Notepad to display all file types with its requestor at bottom.

The files you want are likely in the personal folders at "E:\Users<your user name>". Remember to Refresh the screen after a paste. Additional notes...

o  Notepad's left pane has only "Quick Access", "Libraries", & "This PC".

o  Click This PC to switch from C: to the USB drive & vice versa.

o  Double-click a drive or folder in the right pane to open it. Or just select it, then click the Open button at bottom. But ensure nothing is in the filename box, or you get an error message (if it isn't a text file).

o  Right-click a file or folder, & select Copy. That seemed instantaneous.

o  Go to the USB drive, right-click in Notepad's right pane, & select Paste.

     I had an hourglass for just about a minute - or was it two - for 1.3 GB.

o  When the normal pointer reappears, right-click in the right pane, & select Refresh - or I think you never will see it.

(2) Regenerate the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) & other boot files at the Command Prompt...

(a) Enter these commands...

DiskPart          <<<Enter DiskPart

List  Vol           <<<Show the drive letters

Exit                  <<<Exit DiskPart

Here's what mine looks like in the recovery environment...

DISKPART> List Vol

  Volume ### Ltr    Label            Fs              Type            Size     Status        Info

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

  Volume 0      D                                        DVD-ROM        0 B  No Media

  Volume 1      C  PCR Hard     NTFS         Partition      930 GB  Healthy                <<<My Windows partition

  Volume 2          ESP               FAT32        Partition        99 MB Healthy      Hidden     <<<EFI System partition

  Volume 3          WinRE NTFS         Partition      847 MB Healthy

DISKPART> Exit

Leaving DiskPart...

(b) Identify your Windows partition by its Label & Size, then enter...

BCDBoot  E:\Windows            <<<Presuming your Windows partition is E: in that environment

That's the simplest form of that command. It uses default values for everything else. But, if your language is not English, get the Locale value from "BCDEdit /Enum {Bootmgr}". Then the command would be...

BCDBoot  E:\Windows /L  en-US <<<But there's no need for it if it is en-US

C:\WINDOWS\system32>BCDEdit /Enum {Bootmgr}

Windows Boot Manager

identifier        {bootmgr}

device            partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume1     <<<What is your Device value? It will indicate whether

                                                                                             there is a system partition at all. Sometimes there is

                                                                                             none, then C: doubles as the System partition

path               \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi <<<Does yours say ...efi here or is it ...exe?

description     Windows Boot Manager

locale             en-US                                                    <<<Locale

inherit             {globalsettings}

default            {current}

resumeobject          {f8d976f9-df94-11ea-b1d0-74e6e2074932}

displayorder            {current}

toolsdisplayorder    {memdiag}

timeout                   30

If this simplest form of BCDBoot won't work, we can get a tad more complex. We'll need to know whether yours is a UEFI or a Legacy installation & where the EFI (for UEFI) or System Reserved (for Legacy) partition is located.

Reporting back...

I identified the appropriate driver as e:

Step 5 was a success

Step 6 did not work. I entered the information exactly as is (triple checked), but using e: as the drive. It just hangs with a blinking cursor. Interestingly enough, the example when just typing SFC use all caps for the switches. When I used all caps, it did not hang, but did not run either. This seems odd to me since I would not think it is case sensitive. In any case, this is just a check, so I moved on to Step 7.

Step 7 reported back:

Error: 4448

An error occurred accessing the temporary folder X:\windows\TEMP\XXX

where XXX is a long string.

Ensure the path to the temporary folder exists and that you have Read/Write permission on the folder.

The DISM log file can be found at X:\windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log

I was able to drill down to X: and see that X:\windows\TEMP\ exists. However, I don't know why the failure occurs. When I removed the USB drive, there is no \windows\TEMP folder, so I don't know what X: even is.

Thanks, I will work on that and report back!

Hi Brian,

My name is Igor, I have 12 Microsoft MVP awards. It's a pleasure for me to help others and I'll do all my best to help you. I'm sorry you have a problems.

Please use Windows installation media and try recovery steps described at

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/402603...

Note, Step 7 may be faulty unfortunately.

And some tips how to troubleshoot boot problems you may find at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/client...