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Windows 7 Startup Repair Loop (Boot manager failed to find OS Loader)
Hey guys.. I am very anxious and frustrated about this issue. I have searched frantically all on multiple forums but the solutions are all over and I just can't..
I have seen some really knowledgeable users here while looking at threads to solve my problem so this is my best bet.. I really do not want to lose all my data :/
I am willing to follow any instructions provided as I am very desperate.
Background Information
My laptop automatically boots into Startup Repair, and once it finishes "repairing", the laptop restarts and boots into Startup Repair once again, looping the whole process. The diagnostic and repair details from Startup Repair showed that the "root cause found" was that the "Boot manager failed to find OS Loader", and the repair action for "File repair" and "Boot configuration data store repair failed".
This is the second time this issue has happened, where I tried to boot up my laptop after hibernating it. Prior to encountering this issue again, reboot, sleep, and shutting down my computer worked fine. Also, I think before the two times the issue happened, I was installing some Windows Updates. I am trying to avoid restoring the disk back to factory state.
What I have tried
- Letting Startup Repair finish. Just simply loops back.
- Running chkdsk /f on my C: drive. No errors and fixes.
- Pressing F8 to access Advanced Boot Options does not work. Goes to Startup Repair.
- System restore to the point before the Windows Update occurred. Did not work.
- Windows Memory Diagnostic tool, Memtest86, Memtest86+ showed no errors.
- Run this in CMD. This is where it gets weird.
I'm not sure what happened, but after rebooting, I encountered an error by Windows Boot Manager in which Windows cannot verify the digital signature for this file for \Windows\System32\winload.exe. Pressing Enter brings me onto this screen, where either pressing Enter once again or pressing F8 brings me back to the screen before with the error message. Restarting the computer or anything now always brings me to the screen with the error message by Windows Boot Manager.Code:Bootrec.exe bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup c: cd boot attrib bcd -s -h -r ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old bootrec /RebuildBcd bootrec /fixmbr bootrec /fixboot
To resolve this, I tried following a bunch of instructions from this thread, and making C: (where Windows is) drive the active partition instead of D: (labelled System) solved this and returned me to the Startup Repair Loop issue.
Additionally though, now if I try to boot from a USB, it says Bootmgr is missing, which is bad. I could boot to Kali Linux via USB before I attempted a bunch of solutions, where I could mount the Windows partition in read-only mode in Kali Linux.
Current situation
So far, I have deleted the bcd and bootmgr files and ran Startup Repair 3 times with reboots in between to restore them for a number of times. I'm not sure which of my actions contributed to what problems (such as the Bootmgr is missing problem appearing later) and I am confused and frustrated. Thus, I await your professional help. I'll return in about 12 hours because of sleep.