Image for UEFI partition copy
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2019 3:04 am
I have come across very strange problem on one my desktop with BootIt UEFI when certain actions with this software can cause Windows 10 boot to fail with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE message. This desktop (Asus x99 Deluxe) has two disk drives. Drive #1 (Intel 905p NVMe SSD) is bootable GPT drive with EFI partition, Windows partition, Recovery partition and data partition (with image files made by Image for UEFI). Drive #2 (HDD) is GPT drive with two data partitions where second smaller partition has exactly the same size as data partition on drive #1. Making partition image files (full backup) and restoring them with Image for UEFI works without issues, but copy partition from one drive to another (small data partition in this case) while completes successfully cause Windows 10 boot to fail with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE message. Fast startup and hibernation are disabled.
After two failed boot attempts Windows goes to repair mode: Preparing Automatic Repair -> Choose your keyboard layout. On next screen I choose “Exit and continue to Windows 10” and Windows boots normally. If after that I reboot Windows, boot to BootIt UEFI and with Image for UEFI restore EFI partition, Windows partition and Recovery partition to state right before I did copy partition, Windows boots normally. So looks like Windows “repair” changes nothing on disk (NVRAM variables maybe?). If copy partition is done by BootIt UEFI Partition Works, it does not affect Windows boot. It does not matter if BootIt UEFI boots from CD/USB or it is it is installed on disk drive (EFI partition). Actually, if BootIt UEFI is installed on disk drive it always boots successfully.
There are no issues on my second desktop (Asus Z170 Deluxe) with identical drives, so it may be related to some specifics of UEFI on X99 motherboard. While I have a workaround by using BootIt UEFI Partition Works for copy partitions, the problem is very annoying.
After two failed boot attempts Windows goes to repair mode: Preparing Automatic Repair -> Choose your keyboard layout. On next screen I choose “Exit and continue to Windows 10” and Windows boots normally. If after that I reboot Windows, boot to BootIt UEFI and with Image for UEFI restore EFI partition, Windows partition and Recovery partition to state right before I did copy partition, Windows boots normally. So looks like Windows “repair” changes nothing on disk (NVRAM variables maybe?). If copy partition is done by BootIt UEFI Partition Works, it does not affect Windows boot. It does not matter if BootIt UEFI boots from CD/USB or it is it is installed on disk drive (EFI partition). Actually, if BootIt UEFI is installed on disk drive it always boots successfully.
There are no issues on my second desktop (Asus Z170 Deluxe) with identical drives, so it may be related to some specifics of UEFI on X99 motherboard. While I have a workaround by using BootIt UEFI Partition Works for copy partitions, the problem is very annoying.