Windows 10: Recovery --> Reset this pc --> Remove everything - Error: INACCESSIBLE

Hi there,

About 4 hours ago I updated Windows on my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10.
After waiting for some time, my laptop was successfully upgraded to Windows 10, working perfectly! *Biggrin
Since it's an old laptop, I decided to give it a clean install and went to: Recovery --> Reset this pc --> Remove everything
After following the instructions my laptop started working on resetting my pc.
Eventually it 'got stuck' at 99% and after about 30min-1hour it finally continued and restarted.
As soon as this happened I got the following error: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE
Now my laptop restarts, tries to load windows, throws this error, and repeats this over and over again.
In other words. I'm not able to use my laptop anymore since it just crashes.

How can I resolve this problem? (I do have a second laptop available)

Thanks in advance,

Rick

:)

 

Recovery --> Reset this pc --> Remove everything - Error: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

You're certainly right that the partition confusion likely caused

1) the BSOD; and

2) now I've discovered that I can't activate Bitlocker too!

So ending up with the 3 partitions, that you pointed out, is critical. Not a problem suited for the faint hearted or users like me!

This is a great opportunity to to test out the "contact support" app in windows 10? LOL! Let me set aside some time for it...

 

Recovery --> Reset this pc --> Remove everything - Error: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Hi,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

I understand your inconvenience. We will assist you to resolve this issue.

Follow the method provided below.

Note:
You can download the Installation Media from the following Microsoft help article.

Download Windows 10

Method 1: Perform Automatic repair using the Installation Media and check if it helps.

• Insert the bootable media such as (USB or DVD) and Restart your computer.

• Press F12 key (typically this is F12, but it can differ between computer manufacturers) and choose the drive that you inserted the installation media into.
• Once the Windows Setup window appears, follow these steps:
• Click on Next and select Repair your computer.
• Click Troubleshoot option and select Advance options.
• Click on Automatic Repair option.

Hope this information is helpful. For any further query, feel free to contact us.

Thank you.

 

I am also unable to reset my dell i3 laptop after free upgrade from windows 7 ultimate, error (WDF-violation) keeps popping up during boot up and restarts laptop.....Any insight???

 

I've been an insider and this just happened to me when trying to reset the RTM. The boot loop lasted about 4 tries and then the changes were undone and I was able to boot into Win 7. A quick search shows that several people are affected.

I would try and get a hold of a windows recovery disc, and use those tools, try repairing the MBR.

 

First thing you gotta do is get yourself a flash drive and a windows install ISO or recovery media.

Once you boot to the USB, you have to determine whether or not your system partition is intact.


Either that, or just reinstall windows.

 

I too got caught in the INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE loop after doing the reset. This seemed to wreak general havoc with the PC which had been working fine running Windows 7. After a reboot the machine would get stuck during the boot sequence at the "looking for IDE devices" stage and go no further. I had taken the precaution of burning a Win 10 recovery CD and that seemed to find a problem with the MBR but was unable to fix it. Fortunately I had also taken the precaution of creating an image of the Win 7 boot disk and was able to restore the machine back to where it was prior to the upgrade.

The advice above could well solve it but (from googling the issue) I have an idea that it is caused by a conflict between a BIOS setting (related to the SATA drive controller - my boot disk is a SATA SSD) and a couple of entries in the Windows registry which seem to control access by the system to particular drivers. So if the BIOS is set to AHCI mode and the registry is denying access to the relevant driver (Msahci.sys) the boot drive becomes inaccessible. Or if the BIOS is set to IDE but the registry is blocking the Pciide.sys driver then same problem.

I haven't yet managed to pluck up the courage to test this theory out having spent many hours messing about and getting Win 7 restored and then doing the whole upgrade procedure over again (thank you Microsoft *Mad ) but when I do I will post again.

Anyone who is interested could refer to these pages:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/922976

Change from IDE to AHCI after installing Windows 8 - Super User

UPDATE: having recovered my Windows 7 installation I got it to do the upgrade again and took a backup image of Windows 10. I then decided to test my theory out and it was a success. Before starting the reset off I went into the registry and replaced the "3" with a "0" in the "Start" sub-key of this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\pciide

Then I checked that the registry entries for the drivers for AHCI and RAID had this "start" thing set to "3" (which they did).

Then I set the reset process going for a second time with my fingers crossed. I needed to use the Win 10 recovery CD which I had created earlier to get the reset started. I cant remember whether I needed it the first time or not! It all went completely smoothly and I now have a completely clean version of Win 10.

NB: I have read people say that this registry tweaking is not necessary and that all you need to do is start Win 10 in safe mode (by using the msconfig app) and go into the BIOS to check or change the setting for SATA mode, save any change made in the BIOS and let Windows boot fully in safe mode. They claim that booting in safe mode sorts out the muddle in the registry and then you are good to go.

Of course you can get around this problem (presumably?) by burning a fresh install DVD (or USB drive) and using that to do your clean install after upgrading to Win 10. I haven't tested that option.

Depending on which version of Windows you upgrade from the registry keys you need to examine and potentially alter are:

pciide
Msahci
pcahci
storahci
iaStorV
iaStorAV

In all cases these are found inside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\

Also, bear in mind that you may have to also change a sub-key named "StartOverride" as alluded to in the second of my links above. *Smile

 

It has happened on surface pro 3's. Non MBR/win 7 systems. It has happened on Win 8 single partition systems.

Solved - Reset Windows 10 10240 = INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE | Microsoft Surface Forums

If that helps in any way. It has happened on my system (dual boot, win7/win 10 10240 {insider}). Would really like to know the cause ...