Cannot Restore Windows to NVMe M.2 SSD

I've been using my newly-built PC for a few months, but I had to go out of town for six weeks. About two days after I returned, Windows 10 prompted me to update from the April 2018 release before the end of November as support will end by then. So, I selected the update. I used my PC until 4 a.m., then went to bed. When I got up, I booted my PC, went into the next room and returned to find that my PC had booted into the wrong instance of Windows. Most likely, it had rebooted while I was out of the room, as my boot selector defaults to the wrong instance of Windows. When I tried booting from my M.2 drive, Windows checked for disk errors, then said that it couldn't repair the errors. I haven't been able to boot from my M.2 drive since then.

I've since run through all the options from Windows Troubleshooting, including creating a new installation USB Flash drive. I've run through a half-dozen Web sites. Right now, I'm stuck because Windows says it cannot install to an MBR drive on an EFI system and it cannot convert my drive to GPT. I've run DISKPART, CLEAN and reformatted my SSD, without success. I had my internal HDDs disconnected throughout this process, but when I reconnected them, I discovered that now I can't boot from any of them. My PC is dead and Windows won't allow me to install an OS on the SSD. Any ideas?

Open the BIOS and view settings for UEFI, UEFI native without CSM, UEFI hybrid with CSM, and Legacy.
Report into the thread the findings.
Alternatively find a camera or smartphone camera to take pictures and upload images into the thread.
In case there are any problems posting images please use share links (one drive, drop box, or google drive).
How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums

On a working computer create a bootble windows 10 iso:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10
Download Windows 10 ISO File
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

Boot to the iso > open the Windows advanced troubleshooting menu > command prompt with title bar: Addministrator:X:\windows\system32\cmd.exe and prompt: X:\Sources:>

Type these commands:

Code:

bcdedit /enum
bcdedit | find "osdevice"
reagentc /info
diskpart
lis dis
lis vol
sel dis 0
det dis
lis par
sel par 1
det par
sel par 2
det par
sel par 3
det pr
sel par 4
det par
sel par 5
det par
sel par 6
det par
sel dis 1
det dis
lis par
sel par 1
det par
sel par 2
det par
sel par 3
det pr
sel par 4
det par
sel par 5
det par
sel par 6
det par

Post images of the commands and results into the thread.

If files have not been backed up they typically can be saved using either Kyhi boot rescue and/or a bootable Ubuntu flash drive.

If the BIOS is set to UEFI with or without CSM then view the diskpart results.
First identify the applicable disk number: 0 or 1
Then identify the partition numbers for each:
system
boot
recovery
primary


Type:
diskpart
sel dis 7 (change 7 to the applicable disk)
sel par 8 (change 8 to the partition number for system)
del par override
cre par EFI
for fs=FAT32 quick
assign letter=W
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s W: /f ALL
exit

Then reboot the computer.

If the BIOS is Legacy then comment into the thread and the above commands will be modified for BIOS/MBR

bcdedit /enum
The boot configuration data store could not be opened.
The requested system device cannot be found.

bcdedit | find "osdevice"

(Returned to CL prompt w/ no messages)

reagentc /info

'reagentc' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

lis dis

(The pertinent disk is Disk 0, which shows online, Size 931 GB, Free 0 B. That's my M.2 NVMe SSD.)
(Disk 1 is my USB Flash drive, Size 28 GB, Free 0 B.)
(The other drives listed are my all-in-one card reader.)

lis vol

Volume 0, Ltr J, Type DVD-ROM
Volume 1, Ltr C, Label BOOT, Fs NTFS, Type Partition, Size 931 GB, Status Healthy
Volume 2, Ltr D, Label ESD-USB, Fs FAT32, Type Removable, Size 28 GB, Status Healthy

det dis

MKNSSDPL1TB-D8
Disk ID: 0FB8A51C
Type : NVMe
Status : Online
Path : 0
Target : 0
LUN ID : 0
Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(0101)#PCI(0000)#NVME(P00T00L00)
Current Read-only State : No
Read-only : No
Boot Disk : No
Pagefile Disk : No
Hibernation File Disk : No
Crashdump Disk : No
Clustered Disk : No

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 1 C BOOT NTFS Partition 931 GB Healthy

DISKPART>lis par

Partition ### Type Size Offset
------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Partition 1 Primary 931 GB 1024 KB

DISKPART> det par

Partition 1
Type : 07
Hidden: No
Active: Yes
Offset in Bytes: 1048576

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
* Volume 1 C BOOT NTFS Partition 931 GB Healthy

DISKPART> sel dis 0

Disk 0 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> sel par 1

Partition 1 is now the selected partition.

DISKPART> del par override

DiskPart successfully deleted the selected partition.

DISKPART> cre par EFI

MSR and EFI partitions are only supported on GPT disks.
Convert the selected disk to GPT and try again.

DISKPART> for fs=FAT32 quick

There is no volume selected.
Please select a volume and try again.

Opcode said:

I've run DISKPART, CLEAN and reformatted my SSD, without success. I had my internal HDDs disconnected throughout this process, but when I reconnected them, I discovered that now I can't boot from any of them. My PC is dead and Windows won't allow me to install an OS on the SSD. Any ideas?

You should not be reformatting the SSD. Run the clean command on the SSD and then exit diskpart. Do not create any partitions. Then after the Custom Install option in Windows setup, select the unallocated space on the SSD and click next.

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
exit
exit

Then continue with Windows 10 setup.

[QUOTE=NavyLCDR;1732051Then continue with Windows 10 setup.[/QUOTE]

I was left w/ one more decision; whether to use my Windows Product key or not. Windows says that for installing on PCs that already have Windows installed, select "I don't have a product key." However, I added my product key and the process completed. I had bare Windows 10 installed on my SSD.

I might be more upset about wiping out my entire SSD's contents, except that I have a Macrium Reflect backup of the partitions. However, after Reflect restored from backup, my PC rebooted to a black screen. Nothing else happened. I have a brick warming my room, but no data.

I tried installing Windows, again, now that all my data supposedly is on the SSD the way it was in July. Now, Windows repeats its earlier insult, insisting that it cannot be installed on this partition (where it actually is installed through Reflect), because the disk has an MBR partition table. I'm wondering if that's somehow a holdover from some instructions I followed yesterday, in which I tried "repairing" the MBR? Would MBR2GPT work?

Right now, DISKPART shows my SSD as Disk 0, with the three Primary partitions that Macrium Reflect just put on it during restore. I also see that the partitions have the amount of space occupied that I would expect. So, something is on there. Why won't it boot? Or, why won't Windows install over the bootable partition?

Try doing the clean install and making sure the computer boots into Windows OK. Once that is done, then restore ONLY the C: drive partition over the top of the newly created C: drive partition on the SSD. Leave all the other partitions on the SSD alone. After you restore only the C: drive partition, then run the utility under the restore menu to fix windows boot problems. Then finally try to boot the computer from the SSD.

If that doesn't work, then you probably have a driver issue in the Windows installation that failed. If you install Macrium Reflect in the new Windows installation that will boot, you can mount your image backup file that you have and copy data files out of it. All is not lost.

Opcode said:

I got a clean Windows install, installed MR & ran it, pulled up my MR backup and noticed that Windows has an extra partition on the SSD than I expected:




What is MS trying to pull? Look at the size of those partitions and what's on them!

I installed just the C: from my BU. It doesn't load. I'm back to just a black screen.

Your source backup is a system image of an mbr disk, typical of a system set up in legacy bios mode.

Your destination disk is a gpt disk, the extra partitions beind a Fat32 EFI partition and a 16MB MSR partition, typical of a UEFI system. In order to be able to replace the C: drive with the one from the backup the destination system needs to be the same type as your backup, an mbr legacy instsall.

Bree said:

Your source backup is a system image of an mbr disk, typical of a system set up in legacy bios mode.

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you there. I've been running GPT on this computer for at least five years. Also, my source backup is of a partition on a 2 TB HDD; too big for MBR.

Opcode said:

I'm afraid that I have to disagree with you there. I've been running GPT on this computer for at least five years. Also, my source backup is of a partition on a 2 TB HDD; too big for MBR.

Your screenshot clearly states that the source you used was an image of a 1TB MBR disk.