BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

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RossB
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:13 pm

BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by RossB »

I've been successfully running BIBM with three MBR installations of Windows 10 for a while. All of my Windows installations are self contained in their own partitions. I have no separate Widows recovery or boot partitions and each OS partition is hidden from the others. My drive is partitioned like this:

EMBR -- W10_A -- W10_B -- W10_C

I recently upgraded to BootIt Collection because I wanted to convert to GPT/UEFI to prepare for Windows 11. I converted my drive to GPT, created an EFI partition, and created a Microsoft Reserved partition. My GPT drive now looks like this:

EFI -- MSR -- W10_A -- W10_B -- W10_C

BIU was installed in the EFI partition with Bit 55 enabled. I turned UEFI/Secure boot on in my BIOS and used Fixboot to create Microsoft.001, Microsoft.002, and Microsoft.003 boot folders for my three Windows 10 installations. I used the same Fixboot options for all three Windows installs, with Standard Boot mode enabled and Fast Boot off. I created three BIU menu entries that boot from the proper bootmgfw.efi file


W10_A and W10_C both boot properly from the BIU menu, but W10_B gives me an inaccessible_boot_device blue screen. All three Windows installs run the same driver versions for hardware and the same basic start up options. The only difference between operating systems is installed applications. I already tried sfc/scannow, DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, and chkdsk /r.

Can anyone provide any other ideas I can try?
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by Brian K »

Ross,

Can you do a BCD Edit on each Microsoft.xxx
Especially the problem one.
RossB
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:13 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by RossB »

Yes I can, on the OS partitions and on each boot entry in the EFI. Would you like to see something?
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by Brian K »

https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=492

For the problem Microsoft.xxx, make sure Menu/Device and Menu/OS Device are pointing to the correct partition.
RossB
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:13 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by RossB »

I checked Menu-Device and Menu-OS Device and they are both pointing to the proper HD and OS Partition. I checked Boot-Windows Boot Manager-Device and it is pointing to my EFI Partition. Boot-Windows Memory Diagnostic-Device is also pointing to my EFI.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by TeraByte Support »

You get that if the storage driver doesn't match the storage controller (or otherwise can't find the drive), the file system is corrupt (chkdsk/f), or there is not enough memory or bad memory, or if any driver in the filters list don't exist or can't be loaded.

Also on conversion of a boot drive from MBR/EMBR to GPT, you need to use the CHGDTYPE.TBS script.

Highly recommended you disable fast startup to prevent potential corrupt.
RossB
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:13 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by RossB »

I ran chkdsk /f and no errors were detected.

I tried running CHGDTYPE.TBS, but it hung up after it deleted my EMBR and it never finished. To configure my GPT I did the following:

* Created an image of my drive
* Deleted all partitions
* Used BIBM Partition Management to convert the drive to GPT, which created a 16 MB Microsoft Reserved Partition
* Created a 1GB EFI Partition at the beginning of the drive and turned on Bit 55 (BIU Managed)
* Set my BIOS to UEFI, rebooted to BIU Media
* Installed BIU to the EFI partition
* Restored my three Windows installation partitions from the image backup created above
* Ran Fixboot for each Windows installation and created Microsoft.001,Microsoft.002, Microsoft.003
* Created BIU Menu items for each installation, The Rename Directory option is checked. Non Booting Windows partitions are hidden
* Two of the Windows installations booted fine, one got inaccessible boot device.

Since two of my Windows installs booted fine in UEFI mode on a GPT drive via the BIU boot loader, I have to assume my GPT, EFI, and BIU configurations were okay. After all that:

* I wiped the drive again
* Converted the drive back to EMBR
* Restored my three Windows installations from the image backup created above
* Created an EMBR boot partition
* Installed BIBM to the EMBR partition and restored the EMBR partition from the image backup created above to get all of my MBR boot settings back
* All three Windows installations booted fine again in MBR

Hibernation and fast startup are disabled in all three Windows installations via "Powercfg /hibernate off".

Why would a Windows install boot fine in Legacy MBR mode, but get inaccessible boot device in UEFI mode? All three Windows installations run the same driver version for my storage devices.
Last edited by RossB on Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by TeraByte Support »

you may want to run osdtool and install all standard drivers to the windows with a problem. What Win10 OS is it by the way (x64/x86)?
RossB
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 4:13 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by RossB »

All three Windows installs run Win 10 64B, Version 21H1 (Build 19043.1110)

I was able to get the problem installation to boot in Safe mode. After the successful Safe mode start up it booted normally even though I changed nothing. I believe I figured out why this was happening. All three Windows 10 installations are now booting in UEFI/Secure/TPM 2.0 (picture below).

Unfortunately, my BIOS boot order sometimes changes, which disables the BIU boot loader and product suite. I have the BIU Auto Reactivate option selected, but it doesn't appear to do anything.

  • IMG_4402.jpg
    IMG_4402.jpg (65.22 KiB) Viewed 3603 times
nemesis
Posts: 76
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:25 pm

Re: BIU Inaccessible Boot Device

Post by nemesis »

Hi Ross,

I also had the issue of the BIOS at random activating the Windows Boot Manager. I resolved this by creating a WBM partition and housing all windows boot records there. Set the new partition to type "data" so the BIOS won't try to boot from it.

As far as I know the auto reactivate option only works when you actually boot into BOOTIT
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