Computer won't boot and have code 0xc000000f

Question

I'm working on a family laptop that had been slow and just didn't seem to be working the way it did when new. We had upgraded to Windows 11 at some point through the auto update option. I wanted to do a clean install, so downloaded the Microsoft Media Creation Tool and set to get the computer to boot from the USB I had the tool installed on. I was in step 2 of the process when I got the blue screen with File \Windows\system32\winload.efi and Error Code 0xc000000f. I found several related questions in this Microsoft Community and followed one of them that had a video attached on things to do, and then further down in the text it listed out several command prompts. I followed the process but have the following:

bootrec /fixmbr --this was successful

bootrec /fixboot --this said access denied

bootrec /scanos --this ran and found one installation
c:\windows.old\windows
bootrec /rebuildbcd --this ran and found the one installation and then asked to add installation to boot list Y/N/A. I tried all three and none worked.

I tried downloading the Media Creation Tool again for W10 22H2 and still didn't work. Same blue screen. Further down in the same question I referenced above, it mentioned deleting two files from the USB, can't remember what they are at the moment but when I restarted the computer with these missing it was more unhappy, gave me a different startup screen what was not windows based.

So right now this computer I'm working on is not working, I've attempted to follow some suggestions I found but they haven't fixed my issue yet. Any help that you can provide is MUCH appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi, EzB_620

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

The error code 0xc000000f you are experiencing is usually related to the boot configuration data (BCD) file in Windows. It can occur due to a corrupted file, disk write error, power failure, or boot sector virus. Since you have already tried some of the common fixes without success, you can try the following more comprehensive approach to resolving this issue.

1. Prepare a bootable USB drive: Visit this site:

Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com)

Make sure your USB drive is properly prepared as a bootable device with the latest version of Windows 10.

2. Access Advanced Boot Options:

• Insert a bootable USB drive into your laptop.
• Reboot the laptop and enter the BIOS/UEFI settings. This is usually done by pressing the keys F2, F12, Del, or Esc immediately after turning on the laptop. The exact key varies by manufacturer.
• Change the boot order to prioritize booting from the USB drive, then save the changes and exit BIOS/UEFI.
• The laptop should now attempt to boot from the USB drive, which will display the Windows installer. Select your language and preferences and then select Next.
• On the next screen, instead of continuing with the installation, click Repair Computer in the lower left corner.

3. Attempt an automatic repair:

• Navigate to Troubleshooting -> Advanced Options -> Startup Repair.
• Select the operating system to be repaired (if prompted) Windows will attempt to diagnose and repair the startup problem automatically.

4. Try Manual BCD Repair again:

Since you have already performed a BCD repair once but to no avail, you can try it again!

• Enter Command Prompt mode using the USB installation media.
• Execute the bcdedit /enum command. If you are prompted with a message that the boot configuration data cannot be opened, the BCD is corrupted.
• Execute the following commands to find the bad sectors and restore readable information: chkdsk /r

Once the disk check is complete, try restarting the computer to see if the problem is resolved.

• If the problem persists, please reboot to "Command Prompt" and use the following commands to try to rebuild and recover corrupted Windows 10 system files: SFC /SCANNOW
• Finally, execute the following commands in order to repair the Windows 10 master boot record and rebuild the BCD configuration file: BOOTREC /SCANOS BOOTREC /FIXMBR BOOTREC /FIXBOOT BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD
• After the repair is complete, use the bcdedit /enum command again to list the items in the storage to check, if the repair is successful, you may reboot and log in to Windows 10. 5.

5. Check the disk for errors:

• At the command prompt, type and press Enter to check and repair disk errors on your Windows partition. If your Windows installation is located on a different partition, replace it with the correct drive letter. chkdsk <disk letter>: /f

Disclaimer: Running chkdsk can check the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical and physical errors. To avoid any trouble for you, do not cancel or interrupt chkdsk, and back up important data.   More information please refer to this chkdsk | Microsoft Learn.

6. Retry a fresh installation:

• If none of the above steps work, you may need to perform a fresh installation of Windows using the Live USB installation media. this will erase all data on the partition where Windows is installed, so make sure you have backed up important files.
• The steps can be found in this video: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/videoplayer/embed/RE1ZWJz

Disclaimer: At this point, we have exhausted all troubleshooting and I recommend that we try to perform a clean install to get your computer back into a working condition. Please ensure that you backup any important data, including Documents, Pictures, Videos, and more.

Sincerely

Nicholas | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

Hi Nicholas, thanks for the additional steps. I re-downloaded the Windows 10 bootable drive, and all files appear to be on my USB. I stepped through the process and completed 1- the first half of 4. The second time I went to get a command prompt, it set it as X:\Windows\System32 which is not a drive that I thought I had. .My 'C' drive is the main hard drive. I'm not great on DOS commands, but was attempting cd c:\Windows and could not get it to change directory. I could use cd to back out to X:, but never go to C. So I never got to try the BOOTREC commands..... I started to watch the video link at the bottom to do the clean install and think it's the same Media Creation Tool that creates the bootable drive (?) but the process on my computer is the similar, I can click on 'Install' after confirming my location and language, and now get a 'Windows setup could not reinitialize the deployment engine. To install Windows, restart the installation'. Which takes me back to the 'install now' button which does the same thing.

In the first command prompt when I got to the C drive, I had to tell it to 'unmount' to get from X to C and so I did, but maybe that's why I can't get to C now?

Thanks for any additional insights and direction.

Answer 3

Hi, EzB_620

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

The prompt 'Windows setup could not reinitialize the deployment engine. To install Windows, restart the installation' is usually due to a disk partitioning problem. If you want to reinstall the system, you can try to press shift+F10 and type sfc /scannow in the installation interface to see if it can be repaired. If it still doesn't work, please try to format the system partition after backing up important files.

Sincerely

Nicholas | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 4

Nicholas, I followed the instructions and had to change the format of my C drive to GPT but found a separate video that helped me with that. I was then able to get Windows to load! Just wanted to do a quick follow up and say thank you for helping me through this challenge! Have a great day!

Answer 5

Glad to hear you were able to resolve the problem! Feel free to revisit the Microsoft Community if you have problems with Microsoft products in the future!