Non booting Windows 11

Please take a look at this article: Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

The article states that the February patch made C: drive inaccesible. Although Microsoft states that the bug affects Samsung PCs, the problem maybe affects other systems was well.

Hope this helps.

SIW2 said:

What exact model is the pc you are trying to fix?

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Apparently (from Post #1) Dell desktop with Windows 11 Enterprise and he thinks it's 22H2

suatcini54 said:

Please take a look at this article: Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

The article states that the February patch made C: drive inaccesible. Although Microsoft states that the bug affects Samsung PCs, the problem maybe affects other systems was well.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Wow!

suatcini54 said:

Please take a look at this article: Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

Click to expand...

But that is not related to this OP's reported problem.
The OP ran SFC amongst other tests and the system drive must have been accessible for the tests to run.

For those affected by the bug reported by neowin, the MS source document is
See also
Known and Resolved issues for Windows 11 version 25H2 - ElevenForum


Denis

zbook said:

Is the BIOS set to AHCI or RAID.

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I have seen this driver request window for certain systems requiring RAID drivers. Perhaps there was a BIOS reset and now it needs to be set back to RAID?

Dell Precision 5820 and other Dell / Toshiba.

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We dont know what the machine is. If it is the 5820 you could have a look for storage drivers in the relevant dell driver pack

Hi
Thanks for the comments.
Yes it's a Dell Precision 5820, it reports the version is 10.0.22621.1 which is 22h2.
I've just checked the BIOS is set to RAID, not AHCI, could that be the problem?
I'll do some tests and post some pictures.

shlkbones said:

Hi
Thanks for the comments.
Yes it's a Dell Precision 5820, it reports the version is 10.0.22621.1 which is 22h2.
I've just checked the BIOS is set to RAID, not AHCI, could that be the problem?
I'll do some tests and post some pictures.

Click to expand...

Yup. It can be a problem if your OS wasn't installed when it was in RAID mode. As I stated earlier it could be looking for RAID drivers.

suatcini54 said:

Please take a look at this article: Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

The article states that the February patch made C: drive inaccesible. Although Microsoft states that the bug affects Samsung PCs, the problem maybe affects other systems was well

Click to expand...

The bug has been traced back to the Samsung Galaxy Connect app, which Samsung is trying to work with MS on a fix.
Not a problem for non-Samsung PC's.

If you read the details in the 24H2/25H2 Known Issues page, it's clearly explained.

On another internet computer, Download Belarc Advisor

Save the advisorinstaller.exe file to the Root of your Windows Installer USB Flash drive.
Put the installer Flash drive into the Troubled computer and boot off of it.

In the Installer, Choose Your Language then hold Shift +F10, this will start the Command Prompt.
In the command prompt, change the drive letter to the Flash drive by typing it (ie) X: or whatever drive letter it is and pressing enter. Then type


This should install the app and it should open a web page.
The results will show you every 3rd party app you installed and it's serial key/license.
You can copy each Serial key and paste them into a Notepad text along with it's name,
You can save this to the root of the USB flash drive.

Once your User files are saved to a different USB HDD and the product key license text is saved.
You can do a Clean Install of the Windows OS and reinstall your 3rd party apps and user files

I've been using Belarc for years. Awesome tool! It will also let you know any security updates you might be missing.

Spunk said:

On another internet computer, Download Belarc Advisor

Belarc Advisor

Builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes.

www.techspot.com

Save the advisorinstaller.exe file to the Root of your Windows Installer USB Flash drive.
Put the installer Flash drive into the Troubled computer and boot off of it. In the Installer, Choose Your Language then hold Shift +F10 , this will start the Command Prompt.
In the command prompt, change the drive letter to the Flash drive by typing it (ie) X: or whatever drive letter it is and pressing enter. Then type

Code:

Start advisorinstaller.exe

This should install the app and it should open a web page.
The results will show you every 3rd party app you installed and it's serial key/license.
You can copy each Serial key and paste them into a Notepad text along with it's name,
You can save this to the root of the USB flash drive.

Once your User files are saved to a different USB HDD and the product key license text is saved.
You can do a Clean Install of the Windows OS and reinstall your 3rd party apps and user files

Click to expand...

Can it be pointed at the installed os?

How is it going to open a web page when booted into microsoft boot.wim ?

There are special keyfinder programs that can be pointed at an installed os, they can also export the finds into a text file. I linked one earlier in the thread. Post #11
If the OP didnt get it then, the giveaway is finished.

Hi Thanks, Thanks for all the advice, I really do appreciate it.
I haven't been able look at until today.

I was trying to work out what version of windows it is. So I looked at the details of file ntokrnl.exe, which I believe can tell you.
According to this its 10.22621.6489. However, the recovery environment says 10.22621.1.
I believe this is part of this update, which updates the winre.wim? There is a mention of possible problems with USB stick and other problems.
Windows 11 Dynamic Updates for WinRE and Setup: Essential Image Hygiene



However, I believe I have found a real problem with the registry.
I was trying to check again what version of windows I have. I loaded the 'software' hiv into a registry on another computer. I believe the version is located in Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion.
When I looked, nearly all the 'Windows' keys are blank or missing. I'm assume the registry is very corrupt. There could be others.
I checked again another computer in the same location, and it had a long tree of keys.
I've tried exporting some of the windows registry keys to a reg file, changing the locations and then importing them back into the hiv, which got me the windows keys back.
Unfortunately my other computer is not an identical version, so I'm not surprised it didn't work.
I attempting to run the update from USB stick or from recovery.
Neither worked.

I'm at the point of nearly giving up. Windows 11 does not create a registry backup anymore. (Not sure whose idea that was)
Maybe I should try updating the 'winre.wim'. I think it's in a separate partition?

I feel your pain and hope you resolve it. We've all been there at some point in our computing life. Hopefully when all is said and done, you realize the importance of having a backup strategy and will commit to making regular images of your system.

To find your version of Windows, if you can't get to the search or Run box,
press CTRL+ALT+DEL and start the Task Manager
Start a New Task
In the Run Box type Winver and press Enter.
It seems you have tried everything, it might be time to backup your User files
And do a Clean Install of Windows.

Spunk said:

type Winver

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It's not booting.
And the OP has found the version using another reliable method anyway.


All the best,
Denis

OPs problem is probably caused by secure boot and can be solved by going into bios and changing secure boot to "Audit" mode?

-A Dell Precision owner.

DJNelson said:

OPs problem is probably caused by secure boot and can be solved by going into bios and changing secure boot to "Audit" mode?

-A Dell Precision owner.

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If secure boot can cause this there ought to be a way of it telling us that with some text.
The best minds in the world have been working in this for decades . . .

This isn't likely a Secure Boot issue. If you don't have the right Secure Boot setup, one of several conditions will happen:

1. The Windows boot manager fails to pass the UEFI certificate check, and return you to the BIOS screen.
2. winload.efi is reported as "corrupted" with a bad digital signature (didn't pass the cert check).

The whole goal of Secure Boot is to prevent non-approved boot files from running. So you wouldn't get as far as watching Windows reach a BSOD.