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Windows Boot Sector corrupted

Anonymous
2018-03-07T16:38:20+00:00

Dear people,

A little time ago I bought an new SSD, the Samsung 960 Pro. Of course, I wanted to move my Windows installation to my SSD. Firstly I tried the default Samsung software, but that didn't work. Well, ok, Macrium Reflect Free then. Everything fine, booting alright and... Windows update. "The PC will be rebooted several times". Unknowingly I clicked on "ok", and a little time later... it was in a reboot loop. Apparently Windows didn't know which of the two installations (SSD and HDD) to boot from. Well then, in the command prompt, boorec and... I f*cked up.

Then we entered the situation I'm currently in. Boot screen, and after that nothing. With an USB Stick with Windows installation software I can still go to the command prompt, but bootrec now gives an "Element not found" error. I'd like to fix my Windows Installation without having to reinstall all my programs again.

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I've already tried a lot, but to no success yet.

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Hopefully someone can help me. If you need any more information, let me know.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T21:41:42+00:00

    How'd I go about restoring the registry files? 

    1. While at the Command Prompt of the Repair Environment, find the drive letter where Windows is installed. It could be C:, D:, E: or F: but it cannot be X:. I shall call it F:.
    2. Save the current registry files from F:\Windows\System32\Config to F:\RegistryBackup.
    3. Copy the back-up registry files from F:\Windows\System32\Config\Regback to F:\Windows\System32\Config.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T20:59:37+00:00

    How'd I go about restoring the registry files?

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T20:47:57+00:00

    Sadly the HDD installation doesn't work either. Is there still a way to fix this issue?

    If you have access to a working Windows 10 PC and if you are prepared to work at a Console level then you could do this:

    1. Create a bootable Windows Repair flash disk.
    2. Connect the HDD only.
    3. Boot the machine with the flash disk.
    4. Manually restore the registry files from their backup folder.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T20:24:55+00:00

    Sadly the HDD installation doesn't work either. Is there still a way to fix this issue?

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-03-07T18:04:13+00:00

    Does your HDD installation still work? If so then this would be the correct procedure to follow:

    1. Use Macrium Reflect (or a similar tool) to create an image of your installation.
    2. Disconnect the HDD, connect the SSD.
    3. Boot the machine with the Macrium Reflect bootable rescue flash disk.
    4. Restore the image to the SSD.

    In general: When restoring images you must make sure at the first reboot to connect the new disk only. If both disks are connected then you risk ruining both installations.

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