How To Repair Boot Sector On Windows 10

A black screen and a Windows 10 PC that won't boot ofttimes means that your principal kick record is on the fritz. Here are two ways to fix it.

In a recent commodity, we looked at resolving issues with black screens in Windows ten with some basic troubleshooting tips. But sometimes, Windows 10 fails to boot because of bug with the primary boot tape. In these cases, repairs need to be made to the main boot record to get things upwards and running again. Fortunately, the Windows 10 recovery surround includes an automated pick for doing just that. And if that doesn't work, you can do it manually in the command prompt. Read on to observe out how.

Why Won't My Windows ten PC Boot?

The Windows x kicking process is quite unproblematic. When your estimator starts, the BIOS or UEFI Firmware is loaded, which performs a small set of checks on your hardware called the Ability On Self Test (Post). The BIOS and then scans the difficult deejay principal boot record, which loads an essential file into master retention called WINLOAD.EXE. This kicks off the start-up process by loading the NTOSKRNL.EXE (NT Kernel, the heart of Windows) and HAL (Hardware Brainchild Layer.) Windows 10 and then performs tasks such every bit initializing your hardware like your mouse and keyboard and reading the Windows Registry and user profile.

If you see a black screen with gray text that reads "Windows Boot Manager" with an error along the lines of "Condition: 0xc0000605 Info: A component of the operating system has expired," then it ways something went wrong with WINLOAD.EXE.

This is obviously not a good matter. Only it's not the cease of the globe either.

Performing a Startup Repair

The get-go thing you tin try is booting into the recovery environment, if possible, and and then performing a startup repair. To admission the recovery environment, plough your computer on and off iii times. While booting, brand certain you turn off the estimator when you see the Windows logo. After the third fourth dimension, Windows ten will boot into diagnostics way. Click Avant-garde options when the recovery screen appears.

Click Troubleshoot.

Click Avant-garde options.

And so, click Startup Repair.

Fix Windows 10 Winload.exe Using the Command Prompt

If you are unable to perform a startup repair, so your next option is to try using your Windows 10 installation media to fix the boot error.

If y'all don't have installation media, you will demand to go to a working computer and Create a Windows 10 USB Bootable Flash Drive. You tin too get to a working Windows 10 PC and create a recovery drive. When using a USB drive, brand sure to fix up your BIOS to boot from the USB drive.

Subsequently booting into setup, choose the Repair Calculator selection > Troubleshoot > Avant-garde Options > Command Prompt. If you are using a recovery drive, click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.

In one case yous accept the command prompt up on the screen, you volition demand to effect a fix of commands to find and resolve issues that might be preventing your computer from booting.

Type BOOTREC /FIXMBRand striking <Enter>.

This command will attempt to fix any corruption issues with the primary kick record.

If all goes well, you lot should see The operation completed successfully.

Side by side, typeBOOTREC /FIXBOOT then hit <Enter>.

This control will effort to write a new kick sector on the hard disk drive if Windows detects damage. Usually, this happens in cases where an older version of Windows was installed, or a not-compatible operating organization such as Linux was installed.

If you are seeing an error such as Boot Manager is Missing, and so the BOOTREC /RebuildBcd control might be able to fix it. This operation tin can also restore boot entries for older versions of Windows if you accept a dual boot configuration.

If BOOTREC /RebuildBcd does not work, and so Microsoft recommends you support your BCD (Boot Configuration Data) shop, then run the BOOTREC /RebuildBcd command once more. Hither is how you lot do it.

Blazon each command and so hitting <Enter>:

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -due south -h -r
ren c:\kicking\bcd bcd.onetime
bootrec /RebuildBcd

Another option if y'all are dual booting with older versions of Windows such equally Windows seven is theBOOTREC /ScanOs command. The ScanOS command tin notice and restore entries for older versions of Windows.

What if None of These Options Work?

Your next best pick is to try salvaging your data and then reinstalling Windows 10 and your applications. If yous have your Windows 10 install media, y'all tin can boot from information technology, then perform a custom install. This will create an archive of the old installation chosen Windows.former. You can then recover your personal files from this folder.Make sure you perform a custom installthat migrates your Windows.old data. Otherwise, all your data volition be erased.

If you don't want to risk overwriting your data by reinstalling Windows, check out this article on How to Recover Data from a Difficult Drive that Won't Boot.

Decision

That'south a await at repairing a broken Windows ten installation. While these occurrences should be exceedingly rare for most everyday users, they can occur during riskier operations, like reinstalling Windows, resizing partitions, or setting upward a dual boot. While the steps higher up tin can assistance, it'south always a adept idea to perform a thorough fill-in in advance.