Total Boot Failure After Removing Second SSD - Win 10

That's right. BCDBoot regenerates the boot files. It's more likely to succeed, I think, if your installation is UEFI. I have a suspicion your EFI partition may be on the secondary disk while the Windows partition is on the primary. That is why it wouldn't boot without it. If the simple form of BCDBoot won't work, we'll give it more parameters. Good luck.

Licensing data is on Microsoft servers enabling disk drive replacement or reinstalling Windows.

Consider performing a custom install.

For a custom install files are saved to Windows.old and a fresh version of Windows is installed.

Drivers and applications need to be reinstalled.

Important files are restored from Windows.old.

A custom install is performed using a bootable Windows Media Creation Tool (MCT) (Windows 10 iso).

These are some links / tutorials:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/148005-how-restore-files-windows-old-folder-windows-10-a.html

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/9230-download-windows-10-iso-file.html

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/120352-custom-install-windows-10-a.html

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/148005-how-restore-files-windows-old-folder-windows-10-a.html

If there are no files that need to be backed up then perform a clean install:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-clean-install-windows-10-a.html

Some udpates. I ran BCDBoot  E:\Windows     

Is E:\ correct? This is the largest partition and also the one that windows is (but not sure if its actually a boot partition).

Before BCDBoot, it would be up to the recovery menus (the same ones as you have when you boot from a install disc and choose repair). However, after running BCDBoot, this is what the system boots to now:

Your PC/Device needs to be repaired.

The operating system couldnt be loaded because the digital signature of a file or one of its dependencies couldn't be verified.

File:\Windows\system32\winload.exe

Error code: 0xc000428

You'll need to use recovery tools. If you have any install media (like a disc or USB device), contact...

For reference, this is from List Vol. The weird thing is that I don't know what "Data" is. Maybe its a boot drive? I also don't know what Volume 3 is.

Volume 0 G DVD-ROM 0B

Volume 1 C Data Partition 100MB

Volume 2 E OS Partition 237GB

Volume 3 F Partition 860MB

Volume 4 D ESD-USB Removable 14GB

Do you still have boot failure and automatic repair process?

(1) I thought you had two disks. Why does your List Vol seem to show only one? That simple form of BCDBoot was supposed to find the EFI (if a UEFI install) or System Reserved (if Legacy) on its own to put new boot files inside. And my suspicion was that it is on your secondary disk. But leave the secondary unplugged for now. Later, we'll want to plug it in to see what partitions are on it. I don't want to see another EFI or System Reserved on it.

Did the "BCDBoot  E:\Windows" say it completed successfully?

(2) This List Vol, however, does suggest a complete installation is on the primary disk. But you left out the File System column. The 100 MB partition is the right size for either, but EFI would be FAT32, & System Reserved would be NTFS. Is the 100 MB partition FAT32 or NTFS? Going also by size, the 860 MB partition is the Recovery partition. E is the only one large enough to be the Windows partition. "OS" is the label you should see for it in File Explorer.

Volume 0 G DVD-ROM 0B

Volume 1 C Data Partition 100MB <<<EFI or System Reserved?

Volume 2 E OS Partition 237GB <<<Windows partition

Volume 3 F Partition 860MB <<<Recovery Partition

Volume 4 D ESD-USB Removable 14GB <<<Win 10 Installation USB drive

(3) "Data" as a label seems wrong whether that is EFI or System Reserved. It should be "ESP" (EFI System Partition) like mine, or it should just say "System Reserved". That makes me think the partition's type code is wrong which also is a reason for a failure to boot. Or, maybe, if it's a System Reserved partition, it just needs to be set Active. Let's try...

DiskPart <<<Enter DiskPart

List Disk <<<Is there an asterisk under GPT...?...

DISKPART> List Disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

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

Disk 0 Online 931 GB 2048 KB * <<<It's UEFI if an asterisk is there

List Vol <<<Is Vol 1 still 100 MB & still have letter C?

Select Vol 1 <<<Then select it

Detail Part <<<Show its details

Exit <<<Exit DiskPart

DIR C:\ /a <<<Let's see its folders/files

(a) My Detail Part shows an EFI partition type...

DISKPART> Detail Part

Partition 1

Type : c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b <<<EFI

Hidden : Yes

Required: No

Attrib : 0X8000000000000000

Offset in Bytes: 32768

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info

* Volume 2 S ESP FAT32 Partition 99 MB Healthy System

What type is shown for you? If it's a lot smaller, yours is a Legacy installation. Then, I think the type ID should be 07. Also, the partition needs to set Active. Does it say "Active" anywhere in your result?

(b) My DIR shows an EFI folder...

C:\WINDOWS\system32>DIR S:\ /a

Volume in drive S is ESP

Volume Serial Number is FAD1-673D

Directory of s:\

05/09/2017 12:25 AM <DIR> EFI

09/29/2017 08:41 AM 1 BOOTNXT

What folder is on yours?

(4) That error message (by mentioning "winload.exe") suggests your installation is Legacy. It would say "winload.efi" if UEFI. Let's try to verify it with...

BCDEdit /Enum {Bootmgr}

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 isnone, 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                                                    

inherit             {globalsettings}

default            {current}

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

displayorder            {current}

toolsdisplayorder    {memdiag}

timeout                   30

Did you run that command earlier to see the locale? Did it work? If it worked earlier but not now, it suggests the type code of EFI/System Reserved was good before but bad now. Or, maybe, that it just needs to be set Active. We'll have to fix it.