Total Boot Failure After Removing Second SSD - Win 10

That is sad.

"DIR E:\Windows\Temp" would say whether it exists, but I guess it is there.

"Attrib E:\Windows\Temp" should not show the R, S, or H attribute.

"Attrib E:\Windows\Temp\C7D2F3DE-C3DA-4CF3-9018-C82B21BB9D6"

Mine shows none...

C:\WINDOWS\system32>attrib C:\Windows\Temp

                 C:\Windows\Temp

They would be on the left of the folder name, if present. You know, in the Command Prompt, you can drag the cursor over that huge GUID, then Ctrl-C will copy it. Then Ctrl-V will paste it to the DOS Prompt (X:).

So long as the SFC cursor is blinking within SFC -- not outside it at the X:\prompt -- may as well let it go overnight, yeah.

Unfortunately, no success with that. I get:

Error: 4448

An error occurred accessing the temporary folder E:\Windows\Temp\C7D2F3DE-C3DA-4CF3-9018-C82B21BB9D6

Ensure the path to the temporary folder exists and that you have Read/Writer permissions on the folder.

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

-I also tried it with the ScratchDir as just E:\A, where A is a directory I created. And tried with just D:, which is the removable drive. Same result.

-That is quite a long filename...could that be an issue?

-I had a look at the dism.log and its got a lot of stuff on it, but nothing that I could make out as being useful from a layman's perspective.

-I left SFC run for a couple hours and it just hangs with a blinking cursor. I suppose it can't hurt to run it overnight and see what happens.

(1) OK. I'm convinced a reset is at best a last resort.

(2) "X:\windows\TEMP\XXX"

X: is a RAM disk that was set up for use in the recovery environment. It likely is too small. There is a way to have DISM use your Windows (E;) drive instead for TEMP. Ah, here it is. Try...

DISM /Image:E:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /ScratchDir:E:\Windows\Temp

I hope that will do it. Then, try SFC again just as you posted. How long did you let SFC sit on the blinking cursor? Give it time, even half an hour, to get started. Once it starts, it will show progress percentages.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/dism-global-options-for-command-line-syntax?view=windows-10 DISM Global Options for Command-Line Syntax

"

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(2) I tried SFC /scannow /offbootdir=E:\ /offwindir=E:\windows again,but it just hangs with a flashing cursor. I wonder if I am doing something wrong?

Regarding the DISM command, that failed due to a read/write permission error. I wonder if there is a way around that?

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

(3) Well, there are so many useful things on there. One would be an Adobe CS6 license. Some very specific javascript was created to go along with CS6 and won't work in modern CC (it cost several thousand to develop that). It may be possible to get Adobe to work with me, but who knows since CS6 is old. There are lots of setups for different programs that could be observed to transition to a new computer. There are some legacy programs that can no longer be installed on modern computers (I have tried), because links to download other programs to make them work are dead. It would be good to at least some important things before fully transitioning away from them. Recovering old business emails may or may not be possible...that is tbd. A variety of customizations on programs are on there (it would be good to observe them and assist with transition). Probably other things I can't think of at the moment, but its definitely worth it to me to get it running.

(1) There are no other switches for it. Possible cures were ChkDsk & BCDBoot, but you've already ran those, one of them twice.

(2) It's too bad DISM & SFC would not work. I've been looking to put more switches onto DISM -- to use a larger TEMP folder &/or to use Install.esd as a source -- but I can't quite come up with them. If we can get DISM to work, maybe SFC will work after.

(3) I know you've backed up your files. What are the licenses/stuff you want not to lose in a reinstall/reset? If it's just your digital license for Windows, questions_ is right. That's on a Microsoft server & won't be lost.