Windows 7 and Windows 10 Dual-Boot no longer able to start Windows 7


  1. Leaflove
    Posts : 50
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
       New #1

    Windows 7 and Windows 10 Dual-Boot no longer able to start Windows 7


    Hi,

    I'm running a dual-boot setup with Windows 10 and Windows 7 on an HP 14-al061nr laptop, and I use Windows 7 99% of the time. When I shut my computer down recently, I briefly saw a BSOD pop up, but then the computer shut down completely. When I tried starting it up again, I got a black screen informing me that "Windows failed to start", giving me the option to Launch Startup Repair or Start Windows Normally. If I choose the former, I get another black screen informing me that windows failed to start, including these lines at the bottom:
    Status: 0xc0000225
    Info: A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.
    If I try starting Windows 7 normally (even in Safe Mode), I briefly see the same BSOD before the computer attempts restarting again, informing me that "A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer", advising me to run "chkdsk /f" and ending with the code "STOP: 0x0000007b (oxFFFFF880009A97E8, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000034, 0x000000000000,0x000000000000)".

    I've made a Windows 7 recovery USB and sought out various solutions online, including:
    -Running "Repair your computer" from the USB (most of the time this results in a window informing me that "Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically" -- even the one time when I was informed that "Startup Repair could not detect a problem", I got the same BSOD when I restarted and attempted starting Windows 7).

    -Running "bootrec /fixboot", "bootrec /scanos", "bootrec /fixmbr", and "bootrec /rebuildbcd" from the command prompt.

    -running "chkdsk /r" from the command prompt (I tried running "chkdsk /f" as well, which resulted in the line "The type of the file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive").

    -Running sfc /scannow from the command prompt.

    -Resetting the BIOS to its default settings.

    -Selecting "Last Known Good Configuration" from the Windows 7 boot options (this results in the same BSOD, then the computer restarts).

    This problem is especially difficult since the symptoms seem to keep changing. The BSOD message remains consistent, but the messages I get when I go into the advanced boot options for Windows 7 and select "Repair my computer" seem to keep changing almost every time I restart.

    At one point the text started with the "Windows failed to start" message I mentioned earlier, but after a few restarts and repair attempts, I was instead informed that there was a problem with winload.efi (including the phrase "The digital signature cannot be verified"), but now the message has reverted back to the way it was originally.

    I'm not really sure where to go from here, and hope there's somebody here who might be able to point me in the right direction.

    Thanks in advance!

    Note: Despite all the issues mentioned above, I'm still able to run Windows 10 and access all my files -- I'd just really like to get Windows 7 running again.
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  3. SIW2
    Posts : 16,161
    7 X64
       New #2

    I've made a Windows 7 recovery USB and sought out various solutions online, including:
    -Running "Repair your computer" from the USB (most of the time this results in a window informing me that "Startup Repair cannot repair this
    computer automatically" -- even the one time when I was informed that "Startup Repair could not detect a problem", I got the same BSOD when I restarted and attempted starting Windows 7).

    -running "chkdsk /r" from the command prompt (I tried running "chkdsk /f" as well, which resulted in the line "The type of the file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive").
    chkdsk /r /x driveletter:
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  4. samuria
    Posts : 3,788
    win 8 32 bit
       New #3

    Reseting the bios is a bad move chances are its now all wrong which is why it cant find efi. What is your disk set to ie ufi, gpt,mbr can you see 7 in diskmanager?
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  6. Leaflove
    Posts : 50
    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 7601 Multiprocessor Free Service Pack 1
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    SIW2 said:
    I've made a Windows 7 recovery USB and sought out various solutions online, including:
    -Running "Repair your computer" from the USB (most of the time this results in a window informing me that "Startup Repair cannot repair this

    chkdsk /r /x driveletter:
    No good, unfortunately. I still get the same BSOD.

    samuria said:
    Reseting the bios is a bad move chances are its now all wrong which is why it cant find efi. What is your disk set to ie ufi, gpt,mbr can you see 7 in diskmanager?
    Yes, I can see the Windows 7 partition in Disk Management, and my disk's partition type is GPT.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Something that I didn't think of until just now: Windows 7 is installed on drive D. I don't know if any of the scans I've tried have only been scanning C: instead.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Would rebuilding the BCD by following the steps on this page be worth trying? As I mentioned above, I tried "bootrec /rebuild bcd", but never went any further than that step, and I recall the line "Total identified Windows installations: 0" appearing afterwards.

    I apologize for my impatience -- I just want to exhaust as many options as I can before resorting to taking my laptop in for repairs.
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  7. flavallee
    Posts : 724
    Windows 7 Pro 64-bit / Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (dual boot)
       New #5

    He has started a thread here for the same issue:
    Can't start Windows 7 on Windows 7/Windows 10 dual boot | Tech Support Guy
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