Solved Cant Boot - Boot Selection Failed Because a Required Device Is Inacces

[Epicity]

I can't log in to my old windows 7. Error: The Boot Selection Failed Because a Required Device Is Inaccessible shows up before the booting of the disk.

I've tried repairing with the win7 disc and marking the partition as boot partition. Still not working.

 

[Megahertz07]

Welcome to the forum.
How did you tried repairing with the win7 disc and marking the partition as boot partition if you can't boot?

Please edit your profile and add ALL your hardware specs so we can see what you have.

 

[Epicity]

I used the win7 iso boot from iso and a linux boot disk. I also have another win 7 installed on another harddrive. And I can still access the disk, so it's not like it's dead.

Usually with two windows installed, it shows the option to boot into either one. But it just boots into the one that works and doesn't show an option to boot into the one that doesn't work.

 

[Megahertz07]

Try this.
From the working win7, open a CMD window and type chkdsk x: /f where x: is the drive that isn't booting. Pay attention to the results. If it finds bad clusters or bad blocks, your disk is dying.
- Detach the other drive (that has the win 7 that works)
- Boot from the Win 7 installation disk and go to boot repair. Try to repair it.

 

[Epicity]

IT is an SSD, not sure if that plays a part.

0 bad sectors but there are 9284 reparse records processed (dont' know what that does)

Also, I've already tried repairing it before and it failed. There's also a System Reserved disk that pops up with it as well. I remember from my laptop days that's something to do with boot? Not sure if that popping up as legit disk space is somehow breaking the system.

 

[Megahertz07]

On a disk, System Reserved partition is normally used for boot loader. On a OEM computer it may have the tools for maintenance (like Factory Recover). On UEFI-GPT drive it has the boot loaders that take you to the OS partition.


Open Disk Management, expand the columns, and with the snipping tool, take a snapshot and post the image as an attachment.
(Go Advanced- Manage Attachments - Browse - upload)

 

[Epicity]

So the H disk and the System Reserved (Disk 0) is the one i'm having trouble booting with.

 

[Megahertz07]

You didn't expand the columns so I can't read the status.

Witch disk has Window installed?
Disk 0-P2 (H) is mark as active - Does it has Windows?
Disk 1-P1 (C) is mark as active - and I suppose is the one you booted from.
Disk 3-P1 (D) is mark as active - Does it has Windows? It doesn't has any free space.

 

[Epicity]

Do you mean expanding the status column?

Disk 3 does not have any windows on it, but both windows does use it as desktop, documents etc.

Disk 1 is the one I booted from.

Disk 0 as a whole, is the one with windows and the one not working.

 

[Megahertz07]

Disk 0 (SR+H doesn't have the boot loader.
I don't know how did you installed win 7 on it, but it's possible that the boot loader was on Disk 0.
Remember: When installing an OS (Win or Linux) ALWAYS detach all other drives.

BCD edit can fix some boot problems. EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

 

[Papaya]

Here is some info, if the hard drive has a Master Boot Record (MBR) partition style and if your computer has only one hard drive.

If the System Reserved partition exists
- System Reserved partition (System, Active, Primary Partition)
- Windows OS partition (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

If the System Reserved partition does not exist
- Windows OS partition (System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)

This naming convention is confusing. The "System" partition on a Windows computer is where the files needed to "boot" the computer are located. It is normally the first partition on the first hard drive enumerated by the computer's BIOS. The "Boot" partition of a Windows computer can be located on any other hard drive and contains the files for the Windows operating system.



How to fix the Windows 10 bootloader if the hard drive has a Master Boot Record (MBR) partition style.
Look at post #24 in this thread: Solved How do I restore w10 bootloader? dual boot with ubuntu on separate hdd - Page 3 - Windows 10 Forums

How to use BCDBoot to add or repair the boot menu on a dual-boot PC.
Look at post #3 in this thread: Solved EasyBCD Dual Boot management for Win10 and Win7 on separate drives - Windows 10 Forums

(both of these instructions also work in Windows 7)

 

[Epicity]

I installed Win 7 on it, got a larger SSD and installed win 7 on that was well. THen I plugged in the original SSD to boot it up, it actually worked. But it stopped working from then on.

 

[Epicity]

So when using BCD, I assume I add a new windows boot entry. Do I added to the BOOT disk (I assume the system reserved) or the H disk?

 

[Papaya]

So when using BCD, I assume I add a new windows boot entry. Do I added to the BOOT disk (I assume the system reserved) or the H disk?

BCDBOOT <source>

<source> - Required. Specifies the location of the Windows directory to use as the source for copying boot-environment files.

The following example initializes the system partition by using BCD files from the D:\Windows folder:

bcdboot D:\Windows

Step 1:

How to make a backup copy of your BCD store (and how to restore them).

For example:
bcdedit /export c:\bcd.bak
bcdedit /import c:\bcd.bak

Step 2:

On the Windows 7 desktop, open a command prompt as administrator and type the following commands.

diskpart
list volume (note the volume letter of the Windows 7 that you want to add to the boot menu)
exit

bcdboot x:\windows (replace "x" with the Windows 7 volume letter that you want to add to the boot menu)

EDIT: If the volume letter is incorrect you will receive the following error message: Failure when attempting to copy boot files.

 

[Epicity]

Ok I'm confused. I've got 2 harddrives with Win 7 plugged in, so specifying the source and backing up and restoring, I'm not too sure which one I'm supposed to copy into and from to.

Disk 1 - The C: Drive is the one that boots fine, is the one that I'm currently using.

Disk 0 - The H: and F: (System Reserved) is the stuffed one.

Am I backing up from C or H? Why am I exporting and re-importing into the same drive for Step 1?

In step 2, is the volume I want to add the boot menu the H or F?

 

[Papaya]

Step 1:

It's highly recommended making a backup of your current BCD store in case something goes wrong.

How to make a backup copy of your current BCD store

bcdedit /export c:\bcd.bak

Step 2:

Select the volume letter that contains the Windows operating system, do not select the System Reserved partition.

On the Windows 7 desktop, open a command prompt as administrator and type the following commands.

diskpart
list volume (note the volume letter of the Windows 7 that you want to add to the boot menu)
exit

bcdboot x:\windows (replace "x" with the Windows 7 volume letter that you want to add to the boot menu)

edit: Now you should see two Windows 7 entries on the dual-boot screen.

Step 3: If something goes wrong

How to restore of your BCD store

bcdedit /import c:\bcd.bak

 

[Epicity]

Awesome, it worked. Thanks