Windows 10: Issue with Windows Activation and Boot Failure after Switching from HDD to SSD

Hello, Microsoft Support Team,I recently replaced the original HDD on my Lenovo notebook with an SSD to improve performance. However, after installing Windows, I am facing recurring issues: the system works fine for a while but eventually encounters a boot failure "Boot failed".I believe the issue might be related to Windows activation. My notebook originally came with Windows 10 pre-installed and was later upgraded to Windows 11, which means I have a valid license. However, I am unable to confirm if it is being recognized after switching the drive.I have reinstalled Windows several times, b

:)

 

Switching Windows Boot Manager from HDD to SSD

(1) It is the EFI partition that holds the boot files including the BCD (Boot Configuration Data). The BCD tells the boot process which Windows partition to boot to. It looks like you set the BIOS correctly to boot using EFI (& its BCD) that is on the SSD. However, that is a clone of EFI on the HDD -- which loads the Windows partition that is on the HDD. You need to alter the SSD's BCD to boot to the Windows partition that is on the SSD. Let's see your BCD...

(a) Type CMD into Search, & click Run as Administrator.

(b) Enter the following commands...

BCDEdit /Enum All <<<Show the BCD

DiskPart <<<Enter DiskPart

List Vol <<<List the Volumes

Select Disk 0 <<<Focus on the HDD

List Part <<<List its partitions

Select Disk 1 <<<Focus on the SSD

List Part <<<List its partitions

Exit <<<Exit DiskPart

Use Ctrl-A & Ctrl-C to copy, then post it to us. We can adjust it manually.

(2) It might be as Paloma suggests, that disconnecting the HDD will cause the BCD (on the SSD) to self-adjust. Windows might do an automatic Startup Repair. But I hope it also gets the Recovery partition right.

(3) I guess you want that D: partition. So, after all is well with the SSD, you may plug the HDD back in. But it will be best to delete its EFI, Windows & Recovery partitions. Just keep D:.

 

Switch HDD to SSD + Add m2 2280 SSD then Activation? Or Activate then swap all the HDD/SSDs around?

Good Afternoon,

Just purchased a brand new desktop PC (it still in the box). Its preinstalled with Windows 10 Professional (awaiting activation) on the a single drive which is a 2.5" HDD. I don't' want that drive in the computer and I've purchased two new SSD's to upgrade
the system. Once I remove the HDD, its no longer part of my equation.

Current out of the box setup:

2.5" HDD with Windows 10 Pro awaiting first startup / initiation and activation.

Where I want to go:

M.2 2280 SSD as Primary drive with Windows 10 Pro installed and activated here

2.5" SSD as secondary drive for my files/documents/data.

How do I get the preinstalled Win10Pro off the HDD, and activate it on the M2 SSD as the primary OS boot drive? Should I activate windows before making all these hardware changes? Or should I clone/reinstall Windows 10 Pro to the M.2 SSD then activate?
Last step is adding the additional SSD for data, but that's not a priority … or is it? Add it before activation?

This is the headache I get for buying an pre-built system that wasn't originally spec'd the way I wanted. Oh well.

Do the HDD/SSD changes make a diff to the activation process? or is it all hardware encoded to the motherboard which remains unchanged?

Advice?

 

Automatic repair while booting from hdd and installing windows on ssd.

1. Migrated windows from hdd to ssd
   
2. Formatted hdd
   
3. Prioritised boot from ssd in bios
   
4. Turned on the pc
   
5. Automatic repair
   

To deal with this I select boot from a device > then EFI USB device > it says no bootable USB detected, select from these drives > there are few options including the newly installed ssd > I select ssd > then it shows disk checking, press any key to stop > I stop it > windows then boots from ssd.

It very difficult to repeat all this everytime I turn on my pc. Please suggest a fix.