USB keyboard and mouse suddenly not recognized

I completed all of the steps leading up to the command "cd /d <drive letter>:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot", but when I tried to run that command, I received the following error message: "The system cannot find the path specified".

When you ran diskpart
list disk
Did it show that the disk was GPT
so on the link here
How to Repair EFI/GPT Bootloader on Windows 10? | Windows OS Hub

at the fourth image down - the small black and white image is the indicator for the GPT - with the asterisk
and then when you selected that disk and typed list volume
did you then have in the listed volumes the partition shown as FAT

that is on the next image where you can see the FAT partition without a letter.

so you then allocate a letter to it, so that you can issue the cmd
If you do NOT have that partition shown then you need to see the next item on the link
If you don’t have a separate EFI or MSR partition, you can recreate them manually. Check the article Restoring deleted EFI and MSR system partitions.

If you do have the partition then after selecting a volume and allocating a letter allocating a letter - which is not in use
you should see
A message that the drive letter has been successfully to the EFI partition should appear:

You then EXIT diskpart and issue the cmd
cd /d K:\efi\microsoft\boot\
or whatever letter you allocated where in this example it is K

so does your reply in this part

cd /d <drive letter>:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot

indicate that you did NOT allocate a letter to it

cd /d Z:\ESP\Microsoft\Boot
If you allocated Z
change the cmd from EFI to ESP

If that does not work try
cd /d Z:\ESP\Windows\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

I am still slightly confused as you say you allocated Z but then you mention you also tried
cd /d G:\Boot\
cd /d G:\ESD\Windows\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

or were those just examples of the cmd you used

OK it is I think time to move on to another possible solution before we resort to a refresh/reset or indeed a clean install.
On the Dell XPS presuming the usb ports are working sufficiently to make a usb pen
Please download this
Macrium Reflect free edition.
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

when you click on the download free edition home use you will be asked for an email, you do not need to supply it, leave it blank, click continue and the download will still work

Install that on your Dell XPS
When you have it installed you, will when you open it see your installations on the Dell.
HOWEVER you are not going to use it for that, you are going to use it, to create rescue media on the usb pen which will then boot the Inspiron to the WinPE environment, then we are going to use - (Hopefully) the automatic Macrium Reflect boot repair for the Inspiron.

I need to guide you for the rescue media build on the usb, so could you please post back, when you have Macrium installed and running.

- - - Updated - - -

I am not sending this intending that you do all the above yourself on the create rescue media and boot repair, I will guide you as best as I can, but I thought it would be useful for you to have this
http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v...df?src=sidebar

I cannot of course type every individual step in detail, so if you need it you can refer to the guide.

- - - Updated - - -

I will be offline from approx 1900 to approx 2030 for evening meal
I will come back to you asap

Macboatmaster said:

OK it is I think time to move on to another possible solution before we resort to a refresh/reset or indeed a clean install.
On the Dell XPS presuming the usb ports are working sufficiently to make a usb pen
Please download this
Macrium Reflect free edition.
Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

when you click on the download free edition home use you will be asked for an email, you do not need to supply it, leave it blank, click continue and the download will still work

Install that on your Dell XPS
When you have it installed you, will when you open it see your installations on the Dell.
HOWEVER you are not going to use it for that, you are going to use it, to create rescue media on the usb pen which will then boot the Inspiron to the WinPE environment, then we are going to use - (Hopefully) the automatic Macrium Reflect boot repair for the Inspiron.

I need to guide you for the rescue media build on the usb, so could you please post back, when you have Macrium installed and running.

I already have Macrium Reflect Rescue Media installed on a USB thumb drive. It's a couple of years old, but I suppose it's still OK. I should probably add: I do not have a current Reflect backup image for the Inspiron.

- - - Updated - - -

I am not sending this intending that you do all the above yourself on the create rescue media and boot repair, I will guide you as best as I can, but I thought it would be useful for you to have this
http://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v...df?src=sidebar

I cannot of course type every individual step in detail, so if you need it you can refer to the guide.

- - - Updated - - -

I will be offline from approx 1900 to approx 2030 for evening meal
I will come back to you asap

Thank you! I'll boot to the Macrium Reflect drive in a few minutes and then wait to hear from you, at your convenience.

UPDATE:
I'm now in the "Fix Boot Problems" menu of the Reflect Rescue Media, itching to pull the trigger. But prudence suggests that I wait to hear further from you, so I'll do that.

Hi
I think it would be best to remake the macrium reflect rescue media on the XPS
As the one you have is two years old and I do not know what system it was made on.

On the XPS open the macrium reflect program you have installed
With the USB you are going to use to make the rescue media connected - formatted first in FAT32

When it is open it should show you the installation on your XPS
Then click - Other Tasks on the menu bar and create rescue media
A window will open and it will show you the usb pen.

It will probably already be the selected device if NOT select it

At the lower part of the window leave checked - both options check for drivers on boot and enable MBR/UEFI
Now click the advanced tab
check the architecture is 64 bit it should be

On the options window you do not need any of them checking - presuming of course that the Inspiron drive is NOT bitlocked.

Then click the tab choose base wim
It should show you the one highlighted and state this is the best for your system.
if you have any doubt post which is shown please

When you use this rescue media to attempt the repair on the boot of the Inspiron, it must be booted on the inspiron in UEFI mode, as a rescue media can only repair a boot on a UEFI GPT system if the rescue media itself is booted in that mode
See here please
From Macrium.

Rescue Media booted in UEFI mode, means that Fix Boot Problems will attempt fixes appropriate for a UEFI boot scenario. Sometimes people will boot their Rescue Media in BIOS mode and try to run Fix Boot Problems against a UEFI mode Windows installation, or vice versa, and that doesn't work properly.

The when you have that correct return from advanced and click build.

When that is complete- check that the Dell XPS now boots from that usb
so you do of course the same as when you are booting anything from usb - one time boot options and IF - usb is shown twice - one as UEFI that is the one you want. of course.


When you know it boots the Dell XPS
The boot the Inspiron.
To confirm to you if necessary that you can use the rescue media to boot any computer of the same architecture - and basic system please see here

Once I have created rescue media, will it work on all my computers?

If the hardware for all your computers is supported by the default Windows PE driver set, then the answer is a simple yes. You can confirm this on the Rescue Media Wizard drivers page. If all the drivers listed have the status Device support in WinPE or Compatible device support in WinPE for each of your machines then you only need one rescue media.

When you have it made and checked it booted the XPS
then please boot the Inspiron.

It will now find NOT the build that it was made on but the build on the Inspiron - in the WinPE environment, when it does that you click on the restore tab and then click fix boot
See page 343 of the guide I sent you - under this heading.
Fix Boot problems for GPT/UEFI Boot Systems

NOTE if it has not found the FAT ESP/EFI and of course the NTFS Windows partition when the rescue media first booted the inspiron, as I am sure you saw it did when it booted the XPS, then we have a problem

Any questions please ask
Sorry I was a bit late
Took a long time to type this.
Did start it at 2035

Sorry about that
I got it out of order - somehow - not too difficult when you are trying to type full instructions
It should have read

Then click the tab choose base wim
It should show you the one highlighted and state this is the best for your system.
( usually it will choose the correct one)

then the caution about checking which build it intends to use for the WinPE environment
as on page 305 of the guide.

Then when you have that correct return from advanced and click build.

Sorry about that.