The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.

Hello Duarte,

Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft community.

I would like to know some information about the issue so that we could help you better.

Did you make any hardware changes to your computer prior to the issue?

I appreciate you for providing details about the issue and your efforts towards resolving it.

This issue may occur due to corrupt Windows startup files.

As startup repair failed, I would suggest you to run Bootrec commands in the command prompt from Windows recovery environment  and check if it helps. Please follow these steps:

a. Do one of the following, depending on whether you have installation media (such as a DVD or USB flash drive):

• If you have installation media for Windows 8.1, start (or boot) your computer from the installation media. Insert the DVD or USB flash drive and restart your computer. If you see a message asking you to "Press any key to boot from DVD", do so. If you don’t see the message, you might need to change the boot order in your computer's BIOS settings so that it first starts from the DVD or USB. When you see the "Install Windows" page, click "Repair your computer" to start the Windows recovery environment.
• If you don’t have installation media, use the power button to restart your computer three times. This will start the Windows recovery environment.

b. In the Windows recovery environment, on the "Choose an option" screen, click "Troubleshoot".

c. Click "Advanced options" and then click "command prompt".

d. In the command prompt, type the following commands one by one and press Enter after each command.

bootrec /fixmbr

bootrec /fixboot

bootrec /rebuildbcd

Note: Modifying BIOS/ complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of BIOS/CMOS settings can be solved. Modifications of the settings are at your own risk.

You may create Windows 8.1 installation media using the following article:

Refer:

Create installation media for Windows 8.1

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

I hope this information helps.

Please do let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thank you

Just to let you know some additional info.

I have tried another approach in the meantime. I have swapped current 1TB hard drive (which only has files) with a spare one I had from my old laptop, to see If I could access the SSD hard drive (with the original windows 8.1 which we want to correct the installation of) from a new and clean windows 8.1 installation using the USB recovery media.

In other words: I have done a clean install of windows 8.1 in my old hard drive. Everything went alright during the installation.

Result: the SSD does not even show up in the device manager. And some unknown devices the windows can't find the drivers even connected to the internet.

Does this help? (I hope I haven't made it worse to solve the original problem)

Thank you!

Hi Ratandeep,

Tried to follow Vijay B, but here is what I get:

X:\sources>bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup

The store export operation has failed.

The requested system device cannot be found.

I have also tried with d:\ instead, but same message comes up.

Thanks for all the help!

Hello Duarte,

Thank you for your response.

I appreciate your time.

Please refer to suggestions from 1stone replied on May 12, 2014 and Vijay B replied on January 13, 2014.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-windows_install/total-identified-windows-installations-0/52359f87-de4a-41dc-b0c3-cc275e1d9fbf

Please keep us updated.

Thank you

Hi Ratandeep,

Thanks for trying to help me.

I have not made any hardware changes. Just updated office 365 and I was trying to run the optional windows updates when it froze and never booted up again.

The first two commands say "the operation completed successfully".

The third one (bootrec /rebuildbcd) says "Total identified Windows installations: 0 " "the operation completed successfully" 

Tried to restart the system but it still wont boot up normally.

Next step?

Thank you

Duarte