Ultimate: General Methods for Repairing Windows System Boot

General Methods for Fixing Windows System Boot

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Reading Order for This Series:

• Computer Firmware Boot Principles: Windows System Boot Process Part 1
• Full Reveal of UEFI Firmware Booting Windows
• Detailed Explanation of Core Configuration BCD Files and BOOTICE Editing Practice
• BIOS Firmware Booting Windows Systems
• General Methods for Fixing Windows System Boot

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When we encounter a Windows system with boot failures, what method should we generally use to quickly repair its boot?

The author recommends using Dism++ to fix the boot.

Using Dism++ to Fix Windows System Boot

Dism++ is almost always included in mainstream PE systems. Of course, it can also be used within a running Windows system.

Open Dism++.

• Click on the system that needs boot repair.

• Click on Recovery Features -> Boot Repair

• Click OK

• Boot repair is complete

[Notes and Issues]

Dism++ determines whether to repair UEFI mode boot or BIOS mode boot by detecting the disk partition table type.

The default configurations are UEFI+GPT and BIOS+MBR.

Therefore, if you install Windows on a disk with an MBR partition table on a UEFI motherboard, Dism++ will default to repairing the BIOS boot (i.e., rebuilding the MBR, fixing BOOTMGR, and creating BCD files suitable for BIOS).

If you encounter the above situation and must use the MBR partition table for some reason, Dism++’s boot repair function will be ineffective. In this case, there are two options available for fixing the UEFI firmware + MBR partition table boot:

Option 1:

First, use DiskGenius to convert the disk partition table to GPT. Then, use Dism++ to repair the boot.

Next, open the EFI partition in DiskGenius, copy the BCD file located at \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD to any other location. (Note: Do not copy it to the same disk. You can copy it to the PE system’s system drive, such as the PE desktop.)

Then, use DiskGenius again to convert the disk’s partition table back to MBR.

Finally, replace the original BCD file with the copied one.

Why copy and replace the BCD? Because the BCD file loses boot information when the partition table type of its disk changes.

Option 2:

First, use DiskGenius to locate and open a normal EFI partition on another computer.

Next, copy the EFI folder from the root directory to the EFI partition of the MBR disk that needs boot repair.

Finally, edit the BCD file on the target disk to ensure it can boot the Windows system on that disk.

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Reading Order for This Series:

• Computer Firmware Boot Principles: Windows System Boot Process Part 1
• Full Reveal of UEFI Firmware Booting Windows
• Detailed Explanation of Core Configuration BCD Files and BOOTICE Editing Practice
• BIOS Firmware Booting Windows Systems
• General Methods for Fixing Windows System Boot

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