Failed boot after system recovery

Begin with a bootable Windows 10 install media on a USB stick. If you download the Windows ISO, you can use a utility called Rufus to create the UEFI-bootable USB stick. If you don't already have the Windows ISO file, you can run the Media Creation Tool from the link below to create the ISO file.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
 

The same link under Ubuntu will download the ISO file without running the Media Creation Tool, but you would also need some way to create the bootable USB stick.

 

Once you have booted your PC from this USB stick, Windows setup will load. Use SHIFT-F10 to get a Command Prompt.  From there, check what drive letter has Windows and your Users folder on it.  If it is on C:, use the command below to attempt to rebuild the BCD:

bcdboot C:\Windows

You can also check Windows:

sfc /scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows

If sfc finds but cannot fix some errors, try this DISM command:

DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If you find Windows is on some other drive letter, adjust the commands above to replace C: with that drive letter. The letter does not matter in this mode, as long as you use the letter that has Windows and Users folders on it.

Hi Mariam. I'm Greg, an installation specialist and 10 year Windows MVP here to help you.

ACHI is also the suggested and optimal SATA setting for Windows 10, never RAID which is nothing but trouble.

What I suggest is to recover the Windows bootloader, reinstall GRUB to the Linux partition, then add it to a Windows Boot Menu using EasyBCD.

To recover the Windows bootloader for UEFI you need to create the UEFI System partition:

- Boot the computer using the Windows 7/8/8.1/10 installation media.
- On the first screen, press SHIFT+F10 to bring up the command prompt.
- Run the following commands at the command prompt.

diskpart
list disk
select disk # Note: Select the disk where you want to add the EFI System partition.
list partition
select partition # Note: Select the Windows OS partition (# number) or your data partition.
shrink desired=100
create partition efi size=100
format quick fs=fat32
assign letter=s
list partition
list volume Note: Note the volume letter where the Windows OS is installed.
exit

bcdboot X:\windows /s S:
Note: Replace "X" with the volume letter of the Windows OS partition.

BCDBoot copies the boot files from the Windows partition to the EFI System partition and creates the BCD store in the same partition.

(Source Kyhi Guru)

For Legacy MBR mark the System Reserved or Windows partition Active first:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-part...

Then for either run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times until Windows starts.

See here for how to add GRUB on Linux partition to the Windows Boot Menu:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Ubuntu
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/EasyBCD+B...
EasyBCD download (no email or name needed) http://neosmart.net/Download/Register/1

If you want to reinstall wipe all partitions down to Unallocated Space doing this gold standard Clean Install which compiles the best possible Install of Windows which will stay that way as long as you stick with the tools and methods given, has zero reported problems, and is better than any amount of money could buy: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and keep me posted. I will keep working with you until it's resolved.

________________________________________________________

Standard Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the sites that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before you decide to download and install it.

The first command seemed to work, the second found some errors it could not resolve, and the third hit some snags. First it said the scratch directory size is insufficient so I made a scratch folder and then stopped at 84% and said some resources were not found. I made a scratch folder and added it into the command, but the sources not found error still showed up(error 0x800f081f). I tried the /StartComponentCleanup and /AnalyzeComponentStore, both of which ran successfully, but rerunning the original command still yielded the same error.

Now booting windows does not give me the recovery menu but fails completly.

As my previous reply to Don, the bcdboot command seems to make things worse by stopping windows from being able to diagnose a problem at all and it stop showing the recovery menu at all.

This problem occured previosuly when a solution online had me change my BCD file to BCD.old and copy a fresh one to the same directory. Windows was able to boot again to the recovery menu after I returned the BCD.old to BCD.

Is there a possible way to undo the bcdboot command os is the only option left a clean install?

HI Mariam. I 'm

Mariam, the problem with rebuilding the BCD on C is that it almost never is on C but instead on the EFI System or System Reserved partition. So the proper BCD Commands are in my tutorial here which includes everything possible is here for Troubleshooting Windows 10 Failure to Start: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

How can I check which drive it is on?

Included in the tutorial I gave you which tells how to find the boot drive:

"Note that it is often necessary to export the BCD first as detailed in the link, and the drive letter referenced may not be C. To determine the boot partition's drive letter run:

DISKPART
LIST VOLUME

Now look for the System partition. If it doesn't have a letter run:

SELECT VOL # (replace # with Volume number for System Partition)

ASSIGN (to assign a drive letter, now detected by List Volume)."

But I would start at the top because these repairs are all sequenced in that tutorial in order of priority. It is based on ten years daily in forums troubleshooting tens of thousands of boot failures.

Sorry, I was not available earlier to reply here. I apologize, as I always forget the Scratch portion for offline DISM until I try it and get the warning, as you did.

The bcdboot command by default updates the System partition identified by the firmware.  Sometimes, I have found that totally deleting and replacing the System partition works best. This is fairly easy to do on a UEFI-enabled install and I believe Greg has documented repair steps very well in his links.

If your install media matches the Version of Windows 10 installed, you may be able to use the \sources\install.wim, or install.esd as the source for DISM repair. You would need to determine the correct Index number in the install.wim file that matches your installed Windows Edition.

To check to see which Index matches your Edition:

DISM /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:D:\sources\install.wim

You would have to use the corresponding Index number in the DISM command to repair Windows. I have one that has install.esd with 7 Editions and Home Edition is in Index:1.  The DISM command to attempt repair, including the Source (and Scratch) would be:

DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /ScratchDir:C:\Recycler\Scratch /RestoreHealth /Source:ESD:D:\sources\install.esd /Index:1

(Sometimes getting a valid source to work with DISM is difficult.  For example, with a WIM file it must be, at most, compression "max".)

To restore Recovery functions during bootup:

If you replace your System partition, you also need to redirect Windows to the Recovery image, in order to restore the auto-Repair function during boot. It can be a bit complex, as you need the GUID of the Windows from the new BCD that you created. However, you can copy and paste that using the mouse in the Command Prompt. Highlighting text and then right-clicking the Command window copies the selected text. Your next right-click will paste what you copied.

run C:\Windows\system32\ReAgentc.exe /info /target C:\Windows

bcdedit /enum /v  <-- this will give you the GUID for your Windows (similar to below):

Windows Boot Loader

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

identifier              {3334a397-7c23-11e9-8f6d-5cf370840b24}

device                  partition=C:

To enable Windows Repair Environment, it helps to have a drive letter assigned to the Recovery volume. You can do this in diskpart.

list volume

assuming Recovery shows as volume 4, the command to give it letter R: would be:

select volume 4

assign letter=R

Once you exit diskpart, use these commands to get Windows Repair Environment working:

C:\Windows\system32\ReAgentc.exe /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows

C:\Windows\system32\ReAgentc.exe /enable /osguid {3334a397-7c23-11e9-8f6d-5cf370840b24}  <-- use your own GUID from the bcdedit /enum /v command

C:\Windows\system32\ReAgentc.exe /info /target C:\Windows  <-- this should now show Windows RE status: Enabled

An alternative Repair menu is available by booting with Windows 10 install media (such as on USB) and selecting Repair your computer from the second screen of Windows setup.