Win10 no longer bootable after Win7 Update KB4056894 (Meltdo

[sigi]

I had a dual boot system with win7 and win10 each on its own dedicated Primary Partition (on the same drive) with BIBM as boot manager (BIOS, no UEFI).

When I installed Win7 Update KB4056894 the system crashed. When trying to recover Win7 with the Recovery CD I regained the OS but oviously overlooked something because Win10 is no longer bootable. The partition is still there in BIBM Work with Partitions, no errors displayed. But the BCD Edit for this partition does not contain a list of items in the Menu Entries, the Boot Entry however does.

When I try to start Win10, I get a black screen with the following message:

quote
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your windows installation disc and restart your computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "Next".
3. Click "Repair your computer".
If you do not have this disc, contact your system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance.
File: \Boot\BCD
Status: 0xc0000098
Info: The Boot Configuration Data File doesn't contain vailid information for an operating system.
unquote

The action proposed under 1. to 3. above results in the window "Refresh your PC" with the text "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."

I do not know what to make of this Unlock business or how to repair the BCD File. Please help.

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

If you don't have a current backup image of the drive it would be good to create one before doing repairs.

Was the "Recovery CD" you used a backup image disc you restored or was it a Windows 7 repair?

Were Windows 7 and Windows 10 hidden from each other? If a Windows 7 repair saw Windows 10 it may have tried to "fix" it, especially if it was active.

If you don't have a Windows 10 backup image you can restore (or recover the BCD files from), you could try recreating the BCD for Windows 10. Note that any repair attempts on Windows 10 should be done using the Windows 10 media, the Windows 10 partition should be active, and Windows 7 shouldn't be seen. For example, assuming C: is assigned to the Windows 10 partition when booted to the Windows 10 repair media, the following would rebuild the BCD:

In some cases, it may be helpful to first delete the old booting files:
rd /s /q C:\Boot

Then rebuild the files:
bcdboot C:\Windows /S C:

[sigi]

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> If you don't have a current backup image of the drive it would be good to
> create one before doing repairs.
>
I haven't had one. It is now in progress.

> Was the "Recovery CD" you used a backup image disc you restored
> or was it a Windows 7 repair?
>
It was an OEM Recovery Disc.

> Were Windows 7 and Windows 10 hidden from each other? If a Windows 7 repair
> saw Windows 10 it may have tried to "fix" it, especially if it
> was active.
>
I am afraid they were not. I had included the Win10 partition in the Boot Menu Item for Win7 so that I could see it in the Win7 Explorer.

> If you don't have a Windows 10 backup image you can restore (or recover the
> BCD files from), you could try recreating the BCD for Windows 10.
>
I have a rather old Win10 image of about July 2016. It my have the same boot configuration as the one I want to restore but I am not sure. Maybe there is a Linux Mint partition missing, which I had in my recent functioning boot configuration. I would be pleased if you could give me some guidance on both lines of action (recover the BCD files from the July 2016 image and creating a new one via the OEM Recovery Disc).

a) Perhaps I should try the Win10 image first?
Which prog should I use? I have BIBM, IFD, IFL, IFW and TBWinRE. How could I extract the BCD file? Once I had that file how could I best tranfer it to my unbootable Win10 partition? Doing it in the started Win7 with Win10 again in the Win7 boot item?

b) In wich environment do I apply the commands you gave me for recreating the BCD files? Is it the "Command Prompt" System Recovery Option of the booted Win10 repair medium? Note that my OEM Recovery Disc is tailored to Win8 and UEFI. I had modified both to Win10 and BIOS prior to my July 2016 Image of Win10.

[DrTeeth]

On Tue, 2 Oct 2018 07:04:59 EDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
sigi disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>I am afraid they were not. I had included the Win10 partition in the Boot Menu Item for Win7 so that I could see it in the Win7 Explorer.

I am sorry to hear of your troubles. been there, done that. However,
you must NEVER, EVER do this. I only ever do it is a) I have backed up
first, b) I have to and c) that I have backed up first. A + c are so
important, I had to mention it twice.

I backup my whole drive with 13 and soon to be 14 OSs *every* day as
well as my email data as I get lots.
--
Cheers,

DrT

"If you want to find out what is wrong
with democracy, spend five minutes with
the average voter". - Winston Churchill

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

sigi wrote:
> a) Perhaps I should try the Win10 image first?
> Which prog should I use? I have BIBM, IFD, IFL, IFW and TBWinRE. How could I extract
> the BCD file? Once I had that file how could I best tranfer it to my unbootable Win10
> partition? Doing it in the started Win7 with Win10 again in the Win7 boot item?

I would recommend trying from TBWinRE or from Windows 7 (the procedure would be the same). There's nothing to lose by trying this before rebuilding except a little time if it doesn't work.
* Boot to either TBWinRE or Windows 7.
* You should have drive letter access to the Windows 10 partition. I will use E: here.
* You should have access to the backup image.
* Mount the Windows 10 partition image using TBIMount. I will use Z: for the mounted letter.
* Open an administrator command prompt.
* Change to the E: drive. Command: e:
* If you want, create a copy of the current \Boot folder. Command: robocopy e:\Boot e:\Boot-Copy /s
* Remove the current \Boot folder. Command: rd /s /q e:\Boot
* Copy the \Boot folder from the backup image. Command: robocopy z:\Boot e:\Boot /s
* If any BCD references have changed since that backup was created, you may need to adjust them. You can do this in BIBM. See this KB article: https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=492
* Try booting into Windows 10.

> b) In wich environment do I apply the commands you gave me for recreating the BCD
> files? Is it the "Command Prompt" System Recovery Option of the booted
> Win10 repair medium? Note that my OEM Recovery Disc is tailored to Win8 and UEFI. I
> had modified both to Win10 and BIOS prior to my July 2016 Image of Win10.

Yes, it would be the Command Prompt option. It's generally best to use recovery media that's based on the same version of Windows being repaired. You can also run the commands from TBWinRE (same thing applies here -- better if based on same Windows version). Make sure to boot the media in Legacy mode (don't boot them in UEFI mode).

[sigi]

Thank you Paul for the detailed instructions about how to transfer the BCD files from my Win10 Image to the unbootable Win10 partition. They were very clear. I tried the first line of action and am stuck now:

I booted into Win7 and successfully created a copy of the current /Boot folder of (I:) (my drive letter of the Win10 partition).

However, when trying to remove the current /Boot folder, I was not able to give the necessary permissions to Administrator. He was even denied access to drive (I:). That corresponds to what I said in my initial posting on the results of my WinRE efforts ("The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.") – cf. Attachment.

What can I do now to get the necessary permissions for removing the current \Boot folder from drive (I:) and copying the \Boot folder from the backup image to (I:)?

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

Try from the TBWinRE boot media. This will get Windows out of the way (it sometimes locks things up more). If you're using standard Windows recovery media you should be able to press SHIFT+F10 after booting to bring up the Command Prompt window. Trying to select that option from the menu may not work if it's trying to log in and can't access the drive properly.

You could go ahead and try running the "bcdboot" command even if you're not able to delete the \Boot partition.

If you haven't, run "chkdsk /f" on the partition to check for any errors. (It may not allow this if it things it's locked.)

Run DISKPART and check if the disk is set read-only. From an administrator command prompt (just the Command Prompt from in TBWinRE), run DISKPART. Then determine the disk number and check read-only status. For example:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
detail disk

Check output for read-only state. If it's set, clear it using the following command:
attributes disk clear readonly

[sigi]

TeraByte Support(PP) wrote:
> Try from the TBWinRE boot media. This will get Windows out of the way (it
> sometimes locks things up more). If you're using standard Windows recovery
> media

Win7 or Win10 or is it irrelevant? Which one should have been cold booted before?

> you should be able to press SHIFT+F10 after booting to bring up the
> Command Prompt window.

I found out that when leaving the WinRE dialog field with the 3 settings (for language, time/currency and keyboard layout) just by clicking OK, I get the message "This version of the System Rcovery Options is not compatible with the Windows Version to be repaired. Apply a Recovery Medium compatible with this version of Windows" (translated by me from German). However, when I applied Shift+F10 immediately after OK, I indeed got a Command Prompt window.

I took the opportunity to input your diskpart commands with results being essentially the same as shown in the Attachment. But - strangely enough - I did all that having cold booted the Win10 partition and started the Win7 Recovery DVD. So, not only is the RE environment a different Win version as complained in the message, it is even a different Win OS. Nevertheless it appears to have produced reasonable-looking information (no read only, no errors).

When I insert the original OEM Win8.1 Recovery Disc, I do not need the Shift+F10 shortcut but can open a Command Prompt Window directly via the Menu. The result of the respective diskpart commands are shown in the Attachment.

But the Menu Item "Refresh your PC" ends up with the message "THE DRIVE WHERE WINDOWS IS INSTALLED IS LOCKED. UNLOCK THE DRIVE AND TRY AGAIN."

> ............
> ............
> You could go ahead and try running the "bcdboot" command even if
> you're not able to delete the \Boot partition.

Where is the proper place to input this command and what should be the parameters? Every command prompt I tried produced only Help for the command.

> If you haven't, run "chkdsk /f" on the partition to check for any
> errors. (It may not allow this if it things it's locked.)

I ran it from within Win7 for drive I: which is my Win10 partition.
No problems.

-------------------

Finally I ran TBWinRE.
I didn't need Shift+F10. The results of the diskpart commands are the same as in the Attachment apart from the differing disk and volume numbers and the Location Path, which is here PCIROOT<0>#PCI<1F02>#ATA<C04T00L00>

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

As mentioned before, you should be using Windows recovery media or TBWinRE based on the version of Windows you're trying to fix. For example, if trying to repair Windows 10 you would want to use the Windows 10 recovery media or TBWinRE built from Windows 10. With Windows 10 you'd generally want to use the most current version (1803 or later).

You may also be having issues with the repair since the disk isn't seen as Disk 0.

Try this to simplify things a bit:
* Boot to BIBM and set the Windows 10 partition active (insert into partition table, if necessary). You can do this in Partition Work | View MBR.
* Shutdown the system and make the Windows 10 drive the only connected drive (disconnect or disable the other drives in the BIOS).
* Boot to the Windows recovery media or TBWinRE and open a Command Prompt.
* Run the following commands to reset the MBR code and the boot sector:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
* Remove the boot media and try booting the disk. If it doesn't boot Windows 10, then continue.
* Boot back to the Windows recovery media or TBWinRE and open a Command Prompt.
* Run the commands to rebuild the BCD and booting files (assuming C: is assigned to the Windows 10 partition):
rd /s /q C:\Boot
bcdboot C:\Windows /S C:
* Remove the boot media and try booting the disk.

In other words, try to get Windows 10 booting directly from the disk. Once that's working reconnect/enable the other drives and set booting back to BIBM.

[sigi]

I have three problems with your last posting:
------------------------------------------------------

1-- I feel uneasy about some aspects of hiding/filling of partitions in BIBM ( e.g. should I fill into all empty slots of the boot item something like the 1MiB "filler" partitions proposed by CyberSimian?), disabling them in BIOS (I don't find an item where to do this apart from the boot priorities), disconnecting SSD/HDD physically (I hate to open the notebook).


2-- Before running the commands to rebuild the BCD and booting files I would like to know if any overwriting of my existing partitions by newly created Win10 special partitions is excluded.


3-- I am not sure whether I understand correctly the meaning of the terms "disk" and "drive" in several places of your posting e.g.:

> You may also be having issues with the repair since the disk isn't seen as
> Disk 0.

Disk 0 here should be my internal SSD where Win7 and Win10 reside? – By the way, it is Disk 0 in BIBM as you can see in the Attachment. My notebook has only one other internal SATA HDD, which contains my Extended Partition.

> * Remove the boot media and try booting the disk. If it doesn't boot
> Windows 10, then continue.

"the disk" here is the internal SSD?

> * Shutdown the system and make the Windows 10 drive the only connected
> drive (disconnect or disable the other drives in the BIOS).

Here again "Windows 10 drive" and "the only connected drive" refer to my internal SSD, which means I should try to physically disconnect my internal SATA HDD?

> In other words, try to get Windows 10 booting directly from the disk. Once
> that's working reconnect/enable the other drives and set booting back to
> BIBM.

I assume with "disk" you mean here again the internal SSD

=====================================================================

If you can assure me that I have correctly understood everything and that there won't be overwritten anything on my internal SSD and HDD, I will proceed with your BCD building commands using my Win10 recovery media. I don't have TBWinRE built from Win10.

There are still 2 problems with BIBM though:
-------------------------------------------------------

1-- You mentioned that the drive containing Win10 should be seen as Disk 0. I cannot achieve this reliably. In BIBM it is Drive 0. In the RE environment it is mostly Disk 1, at least when using my Win10 recovery media. The pertinent (?) BIBM setting "Keep HD active" is checkmarked but does not change this.


2-- In "Boot Edit > MBR details > HD 1" I cannot clear the first (and only) entry, which is "MBR 0" (my Extended).


Could you please comment on these 2 problems?