Solved Windows 11 update failed. Boot up loop

glasskuter · May 17, 2026

Just thinking out loud @zbook and @Megahertz
Brink's statement in the custom install tutorial says "When you perform a custom install of Windows 11, a clean install of Windows 11 is performed only on the same partition as the current installation of Windows to replace it."
This leads me to believe that the EFI patition is not touched by the custom install. The EFI is where the bootloader resides. This user has boot issues. How can a custom install solve the problem? Just asking because I don't know.

glasskuter · May 17, 2026

@zbook @Megahertz OK I found the answer to my question. A Custom Install can break a reboot loop, but only if the loop is caused by the old Windows installation itself. If the reboot loop is caused by something outside the C: partition, then no — a Custom Install will not fix it. If the problem is with the bootloader, a custom install does not rewrite or recreate the EFI partition.
I feel better now that I understand the whole custom install process..

zbook · May 18, 2026

glasskuter said:
This user has boot issues. How can a custom install solve the problem? Just asking because I don't know.

The opening post reported:

bimfi said:
Recently my PC automatically updated and failed, causing my boot process to continue to fail.

There was no posted error message or code.

There was limited info:

windows update and boot failure

A custom install creates a new Windows.old.

If a custom install works or fails a clean install can be performed.

If a Windows.old is available then important files can be restored to a successful custom install or a clean install.

These are some trial and error steps:

a) Rebuild BCD

b) Replace the efi partition

c) Replace the operating system and registry

d) Check SATA/NVMe controller mode

etc.

This was AI reply:

top causes failure to boot after attempted automatic windows update

The most common causes of a Windows PC failing to boot after an automatic update fall into a few clear categories:

corrupted boot files,
problematic cumulative updates,
storage/partition damage, and
Secure Boot–related changes.

Below is a structured breakdown of the top causes, grounded in recent real‑world update failures.

Summary of the Top Causes

Cause	Description
Corrupted boot volume	UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME, failed rollback, damaged BCD
Boot loops/BSODs	Update KB5083769 and others causing repeated restarts
Secure Boot certificate issues	Multiple reboots, 0x800f0922, failed certificate updates
Partition/GPT corruption	Drive not recognized or mountable after update
Rollback failures	Update fails → rollback fails → system unbootable
Driver blocks	Security updates blocking kernel drivers
Firmware/BIOS conflicts	Hardware‑specific boot failures
Recovery loops	WinRE options fail and loop back

dacrone · May 18, 2026

I wouldn’t wipe the drive. If an update failed and it’s stuck in a loop, it could very well be something as simple as a broken bcd. I would start by using a hirens boot drive and just use the bcd repair tools provided in that environment. Post pictures of your bios screen here and myself or another member can assist you in allowing boot from usb option

Celery · May 18, 2026

First, recreate the boot files on the EFI system partition using the bcdboot command. If the boot loop issue is caused by corruption on the EFI system partition, this may allow Windows to boot again.

Repair the system partition. If the system partition has been corrupted, you can use BCDBoot to recreate the system partition files by using new copies of these files from the Windows partition.

UEFI:

BCDBoot copies the boot files to either the EFI system partition, or the partition specified by the /s option.
BCDBoot creates the BCD store in the same partition.

BCDBoot Command-Line Options

learn.microsoft.com

If bcdboot does not fix the boot loop issue, then perform a custom install of Windows if you do not have backups of your important files.

A custom install of Windows 11 can be useful if you are unable to start Windows for whatever reason, need to reinstall Windows 11, but do not want to lose any files in your current installation by doing a full clean install.

Custom Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to do a custom clean install of Windows 11 on your PC. When you perform a custom install of Windows 11, a clean install of Windows 11 is performed only on the same partition as the current installation of Windows to replace it. The previous installation is moved...

www.elevenforum.com

idgat · May 18, 2026

Option 2

Remove the problem drive
Replace with new blank drive
Clean install on the new drive
Insert the old drive into a USB enclosure
Connect to the new installation
Copy your files across (you may have to take possession of personal folders on the old drive)
When complete, wipe the old drive
Run CrystalDiskInfo on the old drive to make sue it wasn't a hardware issue, in the first place
You now have a spare external USB to do regular and frequent backups (either native formats and/or imaging)

Celery · May 18, 2026

Edit: There is no need to delete any partitions when performing a custom install of Windows.

glasskuter said:
If the problem is with the bootloader, a custom install does not rewrite or recreate the EFI partition.

I tested this in a virtual machine: during a custom install, Windows Setup creates a new EFI partition if one does not already exist.

Image below: "Keep nothing" does not mean that a custom install will delete your important files from the Windows partition.

bimfi · May 18, 2026

Thank you for your response. No, the drives are not bit locked or encrypted. Yes, I would like to know another solution. Thanks!

glasskuter · May 18, 2026

I have never used this in a large scale situation but it's worth a try.
On the laptop, add "take ownership" to your right click context menu. Add Take Ownership to Context Menu in Windows 11

Connect the drive in the extender to the laptop. . See if you can then browse to the X:\users\yourname\ Right click on each of the sub folders you want to recover files from. Select "show more options" then select "take ownership" This should change ownership of the folder to your laptop user. While you can take ownership of the entire drive, I would go by folder since all you're interested in is your personal files.

If that doesn't work, you can go the Linux route for recovery, custom install, or take ownership by manually changing permissions on the folders..Attached is a link to onedrive for instructions how to do that.

Microsoft OneDrive

1drv.ms

bimfi · May 18, 2026

I think I have some good news. I removed my c: drive and checked it on my laptop. I was able to copy all my pertinent documents and files to a thumb drive. I am in the process of doing a clean install of Windows 11 on my PC. I will update this post when it is up and running. Thanks to all

. I will let you know.

allan · May 18, 2026

glasskuter said:
I have never used this in a large scale situation but it's worth a try.
On the laptop, add "take ownership" to your right click context menu. Add Take Ownership to Context Menu in Windows 11

Connect the drive in the extender to the laptop. . See if you can then browse to the X:\users\yourname\ Right click on each of the sub folders you want to recover files from. Select "show more options" then select "take ownership" This should change ownership of the folder to your laptop user. While you can take ownership of the entire drive, I would go by folder since all you're interested in is your personal files.

If that doesn't work, you can go the Linux route for recovery, custom install, or take ownership by manually changing permissions on the folders..Attached is a link to onedrive for instructions how to do that.

Microsoft OneDrive

1drv.ms

I used to use the subinACL utility for large scale permission changes, but I guess that hasn't been available for a while.

bimfi · May 18, 2026

So far, everything seems to be going smoothly. Had to download some apps which I knew I would have to do. Yes, I did lose some important files, but the most important ones I did manage to rescue. I just want to thank all of you who contributed suggestions and helpful directions. There is so much info given on this thread, that it will take me a while sifting through them to figure out how to safeguard my PC by recovery means and backups. You have all been very kind and helpful. Thanks!

Megahertz · May 18, 2026

If you do a custom install and use the same name when creating a user all files on the old user profile can be accessed by the user on the new windows created. No need to take ownership.

Now it's time to make a drive image and get used to make routine backups.
I suggest you use Macrium Reflect or any other good one.
Macrium Reflect 10 subscription or Macrium Reflect 8 free version .
Aoemi Backupper free
Hasleo Backup Suite free
Easeus To Backup

zbook · May 18, 2026

In addition, these are some optional additional steps:

a) Test the drive
b) Enable Regback
c) Add WMIC
d) Create a new restore point

Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring

Monitoring hard disk health and temperature. Test and repair HDD problems, predict disk failure.

www.hdsentinel.com

Enable Automatic Backup of System Registry when Restart in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to enable automatic backup of the system registry to the RegBack folder when the computer restarts in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Starting with Windows 10, version 1803, Windows no longer automatically backs up the system registry to the RegBack folder when the...

www.elevenforum.com

Add or Remove WMIC command Feature in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the WMIC command as an optional feature for all users in Windows 11. The WMI command-line (WMIC) utility provides a command-line interface for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). WMIC is compatible with existing shells and utility commands...

www.elevenforum.com

Create System Restore Point in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to manually create a restore point in Windows 11. Turning on system protection for a drive allows System Restore to include the drive when restore points are created so you can undo undesired system changes by reverting to a previous point in time. System...

www.elevenforum.com

bimfi · May 27, 2026

Good evening to all. I think I finally got my PC working properly. I ended up purchasing new drives. Took the old C: drive and wiped it after removing any necessary files, and am using it as my E: drive (storage). I have a new HDD drive that is designated as storage also, and designated it B: drive. I took the old storage drive and removed all pertinent files and folders, then wiped it clean and removed all partitions. My only major task is to go through my B: drive and remove all duplicate photos, documents, videos etc.
Can anyone recommend a good duplicate file finder app?

Ghot · May 27, 2026

@bimfi

Now that's how Disk Management should look.

You should mark your topic as solved (upper right), when you're done with it.

bdogg · May 27, 2026

Probably too late for the OP but maybe will help someone in the future so i'll post this.

Same or similar issue on 3 machines, one old incompatible with Windows 11 Dell laptop and one old incompatible xps tower both on previously running Windows 11 Home up to date 11 by Rufus installation, and one xps 8940 compatible running Windows 11 Pro. Recovered without loss from 3 machines.

All machines failed boot, but I did not have to reinstall.

On the two incompatibles I pressed F2 during initial startup, made sure under the BOOT section of BIOS that USB boot option was before HDD boot option, placed a Rufus installation USB in the port, and restarted. It booted, recognized that there was a problem booting, and gave me the restore options. I chose to go back to a prior setpoint before the last update, and that took care of it. Neither machine now works well though. The laptop had a mechanical failure of the keyboard and mousepad, so i tossed it, but the hard drive was intact and i was able to extract everything i wanted by attaching it with a SATA to USB wire ($7 at Microcenter) to another machine using Diskgenius. The xps works but is ungodly slow. I cannot tell why, but it has only 8 GIG of memory so i assume it is that, or maybe it is trying to access something that is simply not present in that old a machine and has to time out before proceeding, or maybe the HDD is beginning to fail. I could go back to an even earlier prior setpoint on that one and play around, but it too is very old so i will salvage the data on the hard drive and donate the carcass to someone who will run Windows 10 on a newer HDD.

The compatible xps 8940 had the same issue, but after pressing F2 at initial startup and verifying the BOOT section of the BIOS, then restarting, it booted to recovery and i again restored to a prior setpoint. It sometimes throws the warning that model Dell does of over temp, but it works as it should now, although i will wonder if it too has a mechanical issue yet to be uncovered.

bimfi · May 27, 2026

bdogg said:
Probably too late for the OP but maybe will help someone in the future so i'll post this.

Same or similar issue on 3 machines, one old incompatible with Windows 11 Dell laptop and one old incompatible xps tower both on previously running Windows 11 Home up to date 11 by Rufus installation, and one xps 8940 compatible running Windows 11 Pro. Recovered without loss from 3 machines.

All machines failed boot, but I did not have to reinstall.

On the two incompatibles I pressed F2 during initial startup, made sure under the BOOT section of BIOS that USB boot option was before HDD boot option, placed a Rufus installation USB in the port, and restarted. It booted, recognized that there was a problem booting, and gave me the restore options. I chose to go back to a prior setpoint before the last update, and that took care of it. Neither machine now works well though. The laptop had a mechanical failure of the keyboard and mousepad, so i tossed it, but the hard drive was intact and i was able to extract everything i wanted by attaching it with a SATA to USB wire ($7 at Microcenter) to another machine using Diskgenius. The xps works but is ungodly slow. I cannot tell why, but it has only 8 GIG of memory so i assume it is that, or maybe it is trying to access something that is simply not present in that old a machine and has to time out before proceeding, or maybe the HDD is beginning to fail. I could go back to an even earlier prior setpoint on that one and play around, but it too is very old so i will salvage the data on the hard drive and donate the carcass to someone who will run Windows 10 on a newer HDD.

The compatible xps 8940 had the same issue, but after pressing F2 at initial startup and verifying the BOOT section of the BIOS, then restarting, it booted to recovery and i again restored to a prior setpoint. It sometimes throws the warning that model Dell does of over temp, but it works as it should now, although i will wonder if it too has a mechanical issue yet to be uncovered.

Yes, I believe if I had this info, I probably could have saved a lot of time. Thanks for the post. I will definitely keep this post on file!

idgat · May 27, 2026

bimfi said:
Can anyone recommend a good duplicate file finder app?

Alldup
Can de-duplicate by
- file name
- file type
- file size
- file contents

Also
- Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder
- Glary Utilities

bimfi · May 28, 2026

idgat said:
Alldup
Can de-duplicate by
- file name
- file type
- file size
- file contents

Also
- Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder
- Glary Utilities

Thanks! Will check them out

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