Inaccessible Boot Drive after Update?

n2gn2 said:

AMAZING! Thank you so much my friends!

We are glad to hear your issue has been resolved, thank you for letting us know that all is now well!

What a weird issue that seemed to come from no where...

Guys,

Thank you for all your replies. I really appreciate it. I have found out why I got the Boot Drive Inaccessible error and it was not Windows related after all!

Before I installed my SSD, I used to boot Windows from my Hard Drive, but after I installed my SSD, I deleted Windows from the Hard Drive and changed it to a non-boot drive in the Computer Management console. I figured that that would be the end if it, but I was wrong. I now know that Windows continued to see my Hard Drive as bootable even after I disabled it!

It was my hard drive warning me that it was about to crash and that is what caused the problem. The drive finally crashed a week ago on Tuesday evening. I replaced the drive and that solved the error! It was pure coincidence that this error was similar to the boot drive inaccessible error of the windows patch.

I just wanted you guys to know and to thank those that responded.

I have the same/similar problem.

For me, it also started on 15th January. I come home from school and my PC randomly decides it doesnt want to boot and i get "inaccessible boot device". Then it throws me into that restart loop. I have also noticed that the only way to solve it (temporarily) is by system restore. Once I restored my system on the 15th (1st restore), it was fine for the next few days until on the 21st Jan where I woke up to the same "inaccessible boot device". That was the day I restored again (2nd restore) and started looking around on my PC for the causes of this problem.

The thing that nobody has mentioned is the pattern of windows updates that corresponds to this crash loop. On the 21st Jan, I went in and checked my updates. There was an update on Jan 10th 2018 where "windows malicious software removal tool january 2018" (MRT) was installed. It has already been there for 5 days until my computer first crashed on the 15th January. It seemed like 5 or 6 days after restoring and having auto updates install MRT, the computer would go into "inaccessible boot device" startup.

I tried removing MRT and disabling auto updates but all that did was instantly put my PC into "inaccessible boot device" upon restarting - causing me to system restore for the 2nd time on 21st Jan (3rd restore). My PC is currently in the state that it was on 21st Jan after the 2nd restore but before i started looking around and messing with update settings. I'm still not sure if MRT is to blame or what is the problem.

The only thing I have not tried yet is FreeBooter's solution earlier in this thread (im currently away from home). Hopefully its a permanent fix unlike system restore.

You can hide the update causing the problem with Microsoft program.

How to temporarily prevent a Windows Update from reinstalling in Windows 10

FreeBooter said:

You can hide the update causing the problem with Microsoft program.
How to temporarily prevent a Windows Update from reinstalling in Windows 10

Thanks, but I'm looking for a permanent solution that i can do once and get over with. And never updating Windows again doesnt sound like the best idea.

(i've edited my big post to make things more clear maybe go back take a look?)

Please download and run SeaTools for Windows.

Before the installation begins you will be prompted to either Decline or Accept the terms of the installation, click on I Accept.



1. Once the installation begins SeaTools for Windows will search for HDDs and SSDs on your computer.

2. Detected Drives will list the HDDs and SSDs found. Place a check mark in the drive box you want to run the scan on. This should be the drive that has the operating system installed on it, this is usually C: drive.

3. You will see Basic Tests toolbar above Detected Drives, move the mouse pointer over this to open the test options. Please click on Long Generic Test

4. This will start the scan. When the scan is complete you will see the result under Test Status , please post the results in your topic.

5. The test will indicate either Pass or Fail. Post the results of the scan in your topic.

6. Click on Help, then click on View Log File. If the scan failed take a screen shot of the Log File and post it in your topic.

FreeBooter said:

Please download and run SeaTools for Windows.

Ok I'll do that when I get home tomorrow.

In the meantime, do you think the BCD 0xc0000098 solution may help with this problem? I saw a YouTube video that ran through the same process and claimed it to fix "inaccessible boot device".

When computer does not boot because of missing or damage BCD data store file try below commands and reboot your computer.



Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below commands into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following commands will repair Master Boot Record (MBR), Boot Sector and BCD Store.

Code:

Bootrec /FixMbr

Bootrec  /FixBoot

Bootrec  /RebuildBcd

Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following command will fixes errors on the disk and locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.

Code:

Chkdsk D: /r

Please replace partition letter D: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.





Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

The following command scans integrity of all protected Windows system files and repairs files with problems when possible.

Code:

Sfc  /Scannow   /OFFBOOTDIR=D:\   /OFFWINDIR=D:\Windows

Please replace partition letter D: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

My issue returned... unable to restore back to prior Jan 15 2x critical updates... choose the oldest and restore - no go...

Currently booting off of W10 media to test other repair options and letting them run... attempted bcdboot fixes that worked for n2gn2, but no go for me...

Dell Precision T5500 windows 10 - with 250g samsung SSD primary and secondary 150gb
(have two of these in service other one has 250g ocz SSD and generic 750g secondary
both systems same issue - initially able to restore... few days later - even with holding all updates from installing - same issue re-occurs - second system hasn't been rebooted yet so creating a backup of that one shortly hopefully will be able to keep that one online, even though less critical that the one I'm working on now.

---- Nope no go...
have tried all solutions here and still no go...

more research...
removed unused video card - leaving only ATI/AMD W5000 -
if this was a drive failure - wouldn't be able to access and check files on the HDD and create files move around files on the disk which is entirely possible... also two systems same hardware except HDD/SSDs - this looks like an update created issue - expecting intel fix from MS is the cause currently... but won't know until I do more via the DISM tool and see what I can remove via that...

Arg more fun...