Error code 0xc000000e after replacing system disk with a cloned SSD disk

Question

I have a computer with dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

Both OS' are installed on their own HDD.

I bought an SSD to replace my Win8.1 HDD - both 500GB. I used Acronis 2015 True Image to clone the disks. After cloning I swap the old HDD with the new SSD. But when I then booted I was faced with this image:

If I hit Enter it would give me a more detailed error message:

If I switched back to my old HDD then the system would boot up fine again. So something was up with the boot loader. I cloned the drive three more times - still no go. DSKCHK would report no errors.

Using a Windows recovery USB disk I tried to automatically repair startup problems - that also failed:

After switching back to the old HDD, booting up in Win8.1, connecting the SSD to check it's state I get this view in Disk Manager:

Notice that the cloned drive G: is also marked as active. Is that right? I did try to set it as inactive then reboot, but I still got the same errors.

Referring to this Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System\_partition\_and\_boot\_partition

Microsoft defines the terms as follows:

• The system partition is a primary partition that contains the boot loader, a piece of software responsible for booting the OS.^\[4\]^ This partition holds the boot sector and is marked active.^\[5\]^^:970^
• The boot partition is the disk partition that contains the operating system folder, known as system root or %systemroot% in Windows NT.^\[6\]^

A single partition may be both a system and a boot partition. In case they are separate, however, the boot partition does not contain the boot software and the system partition does not have the system root.^\[5\]^^:971^

Before Windows 7, the system and boot partitions were, by default, the same and were given the identifier "C:". After Windows 7, however, Windows Setup creates a separate system partition that is not given an identifier and therefore is hidden. The boot partition is still given "C:" as its identifier. This configuration is suitable for running BitLocker, which requires a separate, unencrypted system partition for booting.

Also, notice that the disk numbering is different. Is that of significance?

I eventually decided to try to repair the MBR - as described in this article: http://www.techspot.com/guides/630-windows-8-boot-fix/

I recalled having to do that once before when a botched Linux dual boot failed on me.

So I booted into the Windows 8.1 Recovery USB stick I had and from the recovery console use these commands:

bootrec /fixmbr

bootrec /fixboot

bootrec /scanos

bootrec /rebuildbcd

And then it worked! Windows would boot. But... I now had the Windows 7 boot screen to select which OS to use. So for some reason, using the Win8 recovery tools recovered the Win7 boot loader, not the Win8.1 boot loader I used to have.

As it is now, not a huge deal, at least my system boots with the new SSD. But I do like the Win8 boot screen and it would be nice if I was able to restore it. Question is, how?

And does anyone have an idea of why the cloned SSD failed to boot in the first place?

While we're at it, my new SSD drive is still marked as active after the last clone. So I have to drives marked as active. Is that really ideal?

Sorry for the long post, but that should be all the nitty gritty details.

Answer 1

Hi,

Download EBCD and burn it to CD/DVD according to the instructions, then set up your BIOS to boot from CD. You need full EBCD version to actually write changes to the disk, but it's recommended to try demo version first to make sure  there are no hardware incompatibilities.

2. Boot EBCD:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Main Menu

3. Run File Manager from the main menu:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - File Manager Started

4. Press Alt+F1 and choose your boot partition from the menu. In Windows 7 and Windows 8 boot partition has size about 100MB in size and "System Reserved" volume label. In Windows Vista separate boot partition does not exist, computer boots from system disk where Windows OS files are installed (use UP and DOWN arrow keys and ENTER to navigate the menu):

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Choosing Windows 7 Boot Partition

5. Press TAB to switch input focus to the left panel, and go to Boot folder (using arrow keys UP and DOWN and ENTER to enter the folder):

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Entering Boot Folder on the Boot Partition

6. List of files should appear on the left panel. BCD file should be in the list, BCD.LOG, BCD.LOG1 and BCD.LOG2 may also appear in the list. Navigate to that files using arrow keys, then select them INSERT key:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Selection of BCD-related Files For Backup

7. After selection:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - BCD-related Files are Ready to be Renamed

8. Press F6. File rename dialog will pop up:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - File Rename Dialog

9. Type BCD_OLD.* on keyboard and press ENTER:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - About to Rename BCD-related Files for Backup

10. Make sure BCD files were renamed successfully to BCD_OLD files, then press F10 and ENTER to exit EBCD File Manager:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Exiting EBCD File Manager

11. Choose Mount & Boot Center in the main menu:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Choosing Mount and Boot Center in the main menu

12. Wait:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Waiting for EBCD Mount and Boot Center to start

13. Enable checkbox (checkboxes) on the intersection of the bootloader and operating system (operating systems) it should load:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Fixing Boot Error in EBCD Mount and Boot Center

14. Mount & Boot Center should look like below. Press OK to commit changes (BCD registry hive and corresponding log will be created from scratch at this point):

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Saving Updated BCD Registry Changes to the Disk

15. "Status 0xC000000E" boot problem should be fixed now. Choose 'Reboot' in the EBCD main menu:

Fix BCD status 0xC000000E with EBCD - Status 0xC000000E problem is fixed, rebooting

Please note: Because BCD (Boot Configuration Data) was recreated from scratch, you may need to adjust boot timeout, menu order etc from within Windows when it boots successfully.

Answer 2

A follow up. The Win7 boot loader defaulted to my old Win7 disk so I changed the default to Windows 8.1.

Upon rebooting the Windows 8 boot screen was back! 

Maybe that's expected behaviour, I don't know... but at least it's all working now.

I'm still curious to why it failed initially... if anyone have an idea I'd love to hear.

Answer 3

*sigh* All it not well. The Windows 8.1 OS selector now doesn't display Windows 7...

Answer 4

Great write up ThomThom.

I've been pounding bricks for about a 2 days looking for fixes on this and came across your post.  While it took a bit for me to get my boot media working (Win 8.1 on USB) it did eventually and BINGO!

The main thing I wanted to add is that the Win8 "auto boot repair" option did not work, your manual commands did.

bootrec /fixmbr

bootrec /fixboot

bootrec /scanos

bootrec /rebuildbcd

Here's a link to what these specific options do: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392

In my case is an issue was related to the Windows 7 SP1 media did not contain the proper native drivers to detect the new SSD (OCZ). It appears the Windows 8.1 now has these drivers. Win10 should as well.