Windows 10: Cannot Boot to Windows 10 on Newly Cloned SSD - Stuck in Infinite Recovery Loop - Need Help!

I recently cloned my old SSD system drive to a new PCI-E NVMe SSD using EaseUS ToDo Backup.


After the clone was successful, I wiped the old SSD using EaseUS Partition Master and rebooted. Now, the PC doesn't boot into Windows. The old SSD has been removed from the system completely uninstalled/disconnected and so the new cloned SSD is the C:\ drive.


It keeps going into a boot loop failure and I've been spending all of yesterday evening and all day today trying to fix it to no avail. I tried the various guides online rebuild BCD, DISM commands, Startup Repair etc. etc. and nothing seems to work.


While before it was booting to the Recovery screen, now it boots to a BSOD with "Critical Process Died" with no BSOD code. It happens even if I try to boot into Safe Mode; i.e. Safe Mode does not work.


My C:\ drive the newly cloned SSD is a GPT disk and so in Diskpart, I see that it has four 4 partitions see attachment:


1. System - 100MB - this partition has no letter assigned to it and is the one with the EFI iirc

2. Reserved - 16MB - not sure what this is

3. Primary - 893GB - main partition where Windows 10 is installed i.e. "C:\" drive

4. Recovery - 505MB - recovery partition


I followed this guide on Dell's website my PC is custom built by myself and when I get to the part with 'bootrec /FixBoot' it says "Access Denied." I saw some guides online about how to set that partition to "ntfs" by using "bootsect /nt60 sys" and although it said it was set, the end result was no different - kept getting boot failure loop.


I then used a USB flash drive to download the latest ISO from Microsoft and created a bootable USB with Rufus. I went into Command Prompt with this installation media and tried some DISM commands.


The 'install.wim' file is in the 'X:\sources' folder and so I ran the following command in CMD:


'dism /Image:C:\ /ScratchDir:C:\Scratch /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:WIM:F:\sources\install.wim:1 /LimitedAccess'


*F:\ drive is the installation media USB Flash Drive


It goes up to ~ 55% and then to 100% immediately with the error:


'Error 0x800f081f: The source files could not be found'


I even tried copying the 'install.wim' file to the root of the C:\ drive and then running the above command like so:


'dism /Image:C:\ /ScratchDir:C:\Scratch /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:WIM:C:\install.wim:1 /LimitedAccess'


and still get the same 'Error 0x800f081f: The source files could not be found'.


So, my questions are:


1. How on earth do I run the DISM command to "RestoreHealth" in Windows PE? It doesn't seem to "find" the 'install.wim' file even when it's in the root of the C:\ drive.


2. Is there a way to completely delete all the non "Primary" partitions in the C:\ drive and then recreate them as well as the boot files/records? Is this safe to do? How do we do it?


3. I have another computer that I can install the PCI-E NVMe SSD in that is also running Windows 10 - is there a way I can fix the boot record/files on this drive by using a separate computer so it would be another drive letter like M etc.? What are the commands to use to completely fix the boot files/records on the drive within Windows 10 on another computer?


I have a lot of programs, games, and files that I really do NOT want to reinstall from scratch so please do not suggest doing a clean install of Windows 10 - that is the absolute last resort if nothing else works. I am asking for help here to avoid doing that so please let me know how this issue can be resolved.


Thanks in advance.


P.S. screenshot of the different partitions on the cloned SSD:




:)

 

Windows recovery infinite loop

My laptop is stuck in an infinite windows recovery loop. I can't boot into safe mode. I have tried chkdsk commands bootrec etc. Legacy boot results in the windows recovery loop and the uefi boot displays this message ''hardware scan complete with no issues.
No bootable devices were found! Possible causes could be a corrupt os image or a boot device is not enabled in bios setup.'' I was using windows 10 32-bit with latest 1903 updates and it was activated with a digital license.
Reinstalling windows also results in error after 65%.

If I get another copy of windows 10 for my laptop will I still be able to activate it and will my digital license be valid? And my processor and other hardware is 64 bit capable can I switch to 64 bit now. And why can't I access my product key using the
cmd from recovery environment. The command wmic path softwarelicencingservice get........ Results in an error while it used to work before.

Please also suggest some solution for this loop that has worked before.

 

Unable to boot Windows after cloning it to SSD

Hi,



Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.



I understand that you are facing issues while booting the PC after cloning Windows to new SSD. I would like to know what happens when you try to boot the PC to desktop using SSD?



The reason you are not able to boot the PC is that the files required to boot Windows are still recognizing the HDD as the main drive. I would suggest you to try rebuilding the BCD files and see if you are able to boot the PC using
SSD.



Kindly follow the steps below to rebuild the BCD.

1. Create a bootable media and boot the PC using the media.
2. On the Install Windows screen, select Next >
   Repair your computer.
3. On the System Recovery Options screen, select
   Troubleshoot> Advanced options > Command Prompt.
4. Now type in the commands and hit enter: BOOTREC /FIXMBR
   
   BOOTREC /FIXBOOT
   
   BOOTREC /scanos
   
   BOOTREC /rebuildbcd
5. Restart the PC.

If the issue persists, please get back to us with the results of the troubleshooting steps to assist you further.



Regards,

Prakhar Khare

Microsoft Community – Moderator

 

Windows 10 Infinite Boot Loop

Any suggestions ? What should i do? My 1st boot priority is already set to cd/dvd but still detects sata device 2 as the dvd