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Windows 10 won't boot - how to repair bootloader

Good time!

Despite the fact that Windows 10 has become a very reliable system (at least compare with Windows XP ...), however, it is not immune from various problems. One of the most common and painful is refusal to boot ...

Most often, Windows 10 does not boot after you have installed a second OS on a different disk partition, possibly upgraded the system, connected another hard drive (or SSD). In rare cases, the problem occurs due to incorrect operation of the antivirus.

In this article I will show you several ways how you can restore the bootloader and bring Windows 10 back to life. I think the information will be relevant for most novice users ...

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👉 Supplement!

Perhaps the article on how to restore Windows 10 (a kind of mini-guide) will come in handy for you.

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Windows 10 boot repair

In this article I am assuming that your Windows OS will not boot at all, giving various errors, for example, "No bootable device found ...", "An operating system wasn't found", "reboot and select proper ..." " and etc.

By the way, for our work we will need boot (or, as it is called, installation) USB flash drive with Windows 10.

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👉 Instructions!

How to create a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive for UEFI and BIOS - a step-by-step guide for beginners

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In general, it is highly recommended to create it in advance (and not to lose it!), Because it will come in handy more than once or twice for various problems. If there is no flash drive, create it on another PC / laptop.

👉 Important!

If you have problems loading Windows, the first thing to do is to check that the floppy drives there were no disks (floppy disks) left, disconnect all drives and devices from USB ports (and indeed from a PC / laptop) (leave a minimum: mouse, keyboard).

Also check your BIOS / UEFI settings (try resetting to optimal). Especially, it is worth paying attention to when installing (and any manipulations) with drives. Often, when the whole point is that the BIOS incorrectly specifies the disk from which to boot the OS.

To help:

  1. How to reset BIOS settings
  2. How to configure the BIOS to boot from a USB flash drive or disk

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Automatic recovery

The most up-to-date and easiest way to get Windows back to normal. The most important thing is that the user is required to press just a few items in the menu invoked using the installation flash drive.

I will consider all actions in steps (so that everyone can orient themselves):

  1. Insert a bootable USB flash drive with Windows 10 into a USB port;
  2. Reboot / turn on the computer (laptop);
  3. We call the BOOT menu to select the media from which the computer / laptop will boot. Alternative option: you can configure the BIOS to boot from a USB flash drive (if you cannot call the BOOT menu);
  4. The first screen when booting from the Windows 10 installation media is the language selection. We press the button "next";

    Language selection - the first screen when booting from a USB flash drive

  5. Then instead of the button "Install" click the link in the corner of the screen "System Restore" ... Note that this link is not always there, for example, it may not be there if you use various "collections" of Windows from the craftsmen. In general, I expressed my recommendations for creating bootable media here;

    System Restore (when installing the OS)

  6. Then a "blue" screen will appear with several options for further actions. You need to choose "Troubleshooting" .

    choice of action - troubleshooting

  7. Next, specify the function Startup Repair - this will help eliminate the causes and problems that prevent Windows from booting.

    Troubleshoot problems preventing Windows from loading

  8. Actually, after a short period of time, you should be given a notification that the system has been restored (or that it has not, and such and such errors have occurred).
  9. By the way, I note that in some cases, even if the notification says that "something did not work out there" - try to restart your computer and boot Windows anyway.Often, even after the "unsuccessful" recovery procedure, everything began to work normally ...

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If the described the above method did not help, try the manual method (using the command line 👇). It is a little more confusing, but there is nothing complicated about it either - any user can also run it ...

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Manual recovery (using the command line)

  1. The first points (1, 2, 3) are performed in the same way as in automatic restoration (links given above);
  2. After you see the first screen with the choice of language (booting from the installation flash drive), press the button combination Shift + F10 (should start command line !);
  3. Next, we need to find out what letter the drive with your Windows 10 has (booting from a USB flash drive is far from the fact that it will be the "C: \" drive). To do this, enter three commands in turn: diskpart , list volume , exit . In my case, the drive letter turned out to be "C: \" (in your case, the drive letter may be different).

    Command Prompt - Browse Drives, Find Windows Drive Letter

  4. Then enter the command bcdboot c: \ windows (note that instead of c: \ may need to be specified d: \ and the command will look like this: bcdboot d: \ windows ).

    Upload files created successfully

  5. If the recovery is successful, you will see the message "Boot files have been successfully created" (similar to the screenshot above). By the way, if you have several Windows operating systems on different disk partitions, then the command from the previous paragraph, you can enter several times, changing the drive letter.

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PS

1) If the above did not help, then as an option, you can 👉 reinstall the Windows OS (if some system files have been damaged or the system is infected with a virus, this is the only alternative).

2) By the way, a good option (for those who do not want to lose the old system with all the data):

  1. create one more partition on the hard disk for sub-installation of the new Windows OS (using 👉 LiveCD or 👉 special utilities for working with HDD - this can be done quickly and without data loss);
  2. then install Windows on this disk partition;
  3. then you can "scan" the old Windows and pick up all the necessary files that were on that partition;
  4. after which the old disk partition can be formatted and attached to any other partition (also using special utilities, the link is given above).

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3) Alternatively, you can try to restore Windows using the special tools provided on the 👉 LiveCD (DVD / USB). Such rescue media will allow you to check the system for viruses, assess the condition of the hard disk, remove some errors, etc.

True, it must be prepared in advance, or use another PC / laptop. One of my previous articles will tell you how to create such a medium:

👉 How to create a bootable LiveCD / DVD / USB-stick or disk with Windows operating system and service utilities that do not require installation on a hard drive

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Additions on the topic are welcome ...

All the best!

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First published: 03/17/2018

Correction: 10/10/2020

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