Attempting to boot SATA drive in new HP Envy results in BSOD

Shot in the dark because I believe the issue to be hardware-related, but maybe someone has some experience with this problem. I'm running into the BSOD message "Inaccessible boot device". Winver for all OS' involved in this post is Windows 10 64-bit, 20H2.

Here's the timeline:

My client purchased a new HP Envy desktop to replace the aging desktop she has now.

The plan going into the service was to take her SATA SSD (Windows 10 installation) she had in her old desktop, connect it internally to the new Envy desktop (also Windows 10), boot into Windows, all is copacetic. Well, as they say, nothing ever goes according to plan.

Discovered her SATA SSD was MBR, and this particular Envy is GPT/UEFI only. No problem right? I back up her original Windows 10 installation, format her SATA SSD, convert the SSD to GPT, restore her installation, try to boot again. Should work, but unfortunately, it didn't. BSOD, "inaccessible boot device".

I brought her SATA SSD home with me to my personal computer to see if I could get the drive to work in another system. I made sure the boot files were restored and made sure that boot mode in my BIOS was set to UEFI. I was able to boot her SATA SSD successfully with my system. Perfect...so why isn't her SATA SSD booting on her new Envy?

I tried something for curiosity's sake. I have a SATA to USB 3.0 adapter. Very convenient piece of gear. I tried booting the SATA SSD with the USB adapter connected to the Envy. Curiously enough, it worked. I was blown away. So we can confirm that the HP Envy can boot the SATA SSD, but only through external means. So bizarre.

I went ahead and checked to see if her old desktop was capable of booting UEFI. Sure enough, it was able to boot. My client thankfully has a desktop she can use, but all of this troubleshooting leaves me stumped.

So in summary, GPT/UEFI SATA SSD behaves thusly:

• Can boot via UEFI on my personal system (AMD Ryzen 5 5600x, motherboard is MSI B550 Gaming Pro with up-to-date BIOS).
• Can boot via UEFI through SATA to USB 3.0 adapter connected to new HP Envy desktop.
• Can boot via UEFI through the client's old desktop (Intel Ivy Bridge or Haswell-based, I know it's an i7 processor in a socket 1155, MSI H61 chipset motherboard).
• Can NOT boot via UEFI through an internal SATA connection in the new HP Envy desktop.

Is there something I'm missing here? Will secure boot or TPM prevent me from booting from the SATA SSD?

My next experiment would be to try cloning the SATA SSD over to the included NVM-E SSD in the HP Envy. I fear that I would: a) lose the brand new, fresh install of Windows 10, b) still not be able to boot with the old Windows 10 installation. I believe something in the motherboard hardware is preventing me from booting any Windows installation that did not come included with the new Envy desktop.

Has anyone encountered a situation like this? Any assistance would be great. Thanks in advance!

- Aaron

Why are you trying to use the SSD from the old computer in the new computer?

You can't just take an SSD with Windows 10 from one computer and try to use it in another. You said the new computer was an HP Envy. If the old computer is a prebuilt like that they have OEM versions of Windows 10. Windows 10 OEM cannot be transferred legally to another computer.

Another problem is compatibility. The hardware may be different enough between the two computers that Windows 10 on the SSD may be incompatible with the new computer.

If you simply want to use the old SSD as the boot drive in the new computer instead of the drive that came with it then if I were you I would simply reinstall Windows 10 on it. Since Windows 10 has already been activated on that computer it should activate again on it again with no problems.

MisterEd said:

Why are you trying to use the SSD from the old computer in the new computer?

You can't just take an SSD with Windows 10 from one computer and try to use it in another. You said the new computer was an HP Envy. If the old computer is a prebuilt like that they have OEM versions of Windows 10. Windows 10 OEM cannot be transferred legally to another computer.

Another problem is compatibility. The hardware may be different enough between the two computers that Windows 10 on the SSD may be incompatible with the new computer.

If you simply want to use the old SSD as the boot drive in the new computer instead of the drive that came with it then if I were you I would simply reinstall Windows 10 on it. Since Windows 10 has already been activated on that computer it should activate again on it again with no problems.

Thanks for the reply, MisterEd!

The reason I want to use the SSD from the old one in the new one is simply for convenience. My goal is to always keep the original Windows 10 installation intact and transfer it to a new system. That means less labor I have to do to get the computer back up and running, which means the customer saves money.

Of course, my last resort is to take inventory of all the applications and programs installed on the old SSD and just install all of those on the new SSD in the new computer, but if I can help it I'd want to avoid it.

To your concerns regarding OEM keys and switching systems, I've never had trouble in the past transferring Windows 10 installations, whether it be from a major brand prebuilt or a custom configuration.
Examples:

• Her old system was an HP, but I had replaced the motherboard a few years back. No issues moving the Windows 10 installation from an HP board to an MSI one.
• My personal systems I have used OEM keys and I have replaced motherboards. I did run into one instance where my version of Windows was deactivated by Microsoft because of a hardware change but did not result in a BSOD. I explained the situation to Microsoft technical support, they gave me a new Windows 10 key free of charge. No reinstallation necessary. I switched from an Intel platform to an AMD platform recently and I haven't received any notice from Microsoft about any hardware changes I've made. I've had the same Windows 10 installation for 5+ years.

My experience has been a deactivation of Windows 10, leaving a watermark. Definitely not a blue screen where I can't boot to the OS internally. If I can't move Windows 10 from one computer to another, why have I done it before with such ease? Why can I boot through an external USB port and not an internal SATA port? Like I said, very bizarre situation. If I have to reinstall Windows and reinstall all the necessary programs I will, I'd just prefer not to if at all possible.

Thanks,

-Aaron

Did you check hp website for rst drivers for that model envy?

SIW2 said:

Did you check hp website for rst drivers for that model envy?

SIW2, I did not actually. I did notice that the BIOS mentioned it somewhere. I think as a feature to enable or disable, so I will investigate that further.

Now that you have me thinking about the BIOS, I remember seeing that RAID was enabled but only one new hard drive was present...I'm wondering now if switching from RAID to AHCI would make a difference.

Thanks,

-Aaron

SIW2 said:

Did you check hp website for rst drivers for that model envy?

Do you think getting RST drivers on that old ssd would make it boot?

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Ztruker said:

Read here for how one person did this successfully: How to switch from RAID to AHCI

I switched from RAID to AHCI and tried booting with the old SSD and it still didn't work. Thanks anyways!

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bro67 said:

See the part about moving data from old hard drive to new. Aomei is just one way of doing it. Simple Way to Move a Windows 10 Hard Drive to a New Computer

The program I used believe it or not is AOMEI Backupper! That's what I've been using lately for all the systems I work on and it's been the best. Unfortunately, I don't think AOMEI is necessarily the problem or the solution. Thanks anyways!

RJARRRPCGP said:

I'm surprised that 10 don't use its own SATA controller driver.
This stop code is usually seen only on NT5, because of no AHCI SATA support included.

Something I discovered in Windows 10 Recovery Tools was when I ran diskpart, the new hard drive that's included (NVMe) was listed as a GPT disk, but the old SSD wasn't, even though its listed as GPT in Disk Management and it'll boot in every other example.

What I'm beginning to believe is that the internal SATA ports are strictly for storage/expansion, not bootable media. I'm thinking HP designed the mobo that way, locked those ports up. Not sure though. The only other thing I've thought about doing is cloning the old OS to an NVMe drive and trying to boot that way. Maybe the M.2 slot is the only slot that can boot an OS?