Version 1903 (OS Build 18362. 476)
I've got an external drive where I keep many of my private files. I have shortcuts to them on the desktop. No system files are on it.
If the drive is plugged in, the computer won't start. It will start only if that drive is unplugged.
It'd not a disaster but I wonder if I could boot up with it already plugged in ?
If you can, boot Windows into Safemode.
If USB drive is still connected at same time and you can see details, write them down. Like drive letter and size. If you can, now do a Windows 'chkdsk /f' on the paticular drive. See how she fairs out.
As bro67 is suggesting, there is a good chance your machine is set to boot from USB device. You need to check for this in the BIOS boot order settings.
My laptop does the same thing if a non-boot USB stick is plugged in. I will watch, and learn from, this thread.
Everyone is assuming USB drive. Is this a USB drive? What brand? If this is setup as a hot-swap drive, you may need to enable hot swap in the BIOS. Please let us know.
BTW you can still boot with a USB external drive connected to the PC. Been there done that with my USB Samsung T5 portable drive, My WD MY book drive, even thumb drives.
That said, what you really need to do is make sure the first boot drive in the BIOS is the OS drive. Sometimes the boot drive ends up being the second drive in the boot order. Make sure its first. After that, Windows should boot even with external drives connected. If this is a hot swap drive, you'll need to enable hot swap in the BIOS (usually under SATA settings).
Let us know.
Thank you all for the advice.
It's a SEAGATE Expansion Desktop Drive, Model SRDNF2, 2TB
It's a long time since I had to look at the BIOS on any computer.
Remind me please how to get there.
Is the parition on the drive set to active? Not knowing your pc or bios we cant give exact instruction on how to get to the bios it often flashes up for a second on start F2 is a common key to press
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