Windows 10: Windows 10 Boot Manager Fail (endless startup loop). Certain files are locked/cannot be...

I am facing an issue with my Windows 10 on my laptop (Lenovo Y720 15-IKB). The boot manager does not start, there’s an endless loop of restarting and displaying the Lenovo screen again and again. To resolve this issue, I created a Windows 10 bootable USB to access repair tools etc. to see if they could help or not. I have already tried the following:

1) If I go to Startup Repair, it “logs” an error in the SrtTrail.txt file that there is a version mismatch and hence Startup Repair could not repair the PC. Most probably its because I had the latest Insider build installed and the bootable USB was of a slightly older version. I wonder if I can get a .iso of the latest build to resolve this issue.

2) If I go to “Reset” system, it says that the drive where Windows is installed is locked. Please “unlock” the drive and try again. How could I possibly unlock it, when it won’t even start. I can’t access the safe mode either.

3) I had created restore points earlier, to which I tried restoring to however, I received an error code 0x80070091. Afterwards I googled around and tried a few scripts (similar to those mentioned in this link https://www.easeus.com/backup-recovery/system-restore-failed-and-did-not-complete-successfully.html) and the error changed to “An unspecified error occurred during system restore (0x80070780)”.

4) I finally narrowed down the problem via Command Prompt (when starting using a bootable USB and going to command prompt) to certain files and folders which “can’t be deleted”. I tried pretty much all techniques I could think of. These files were in the folder “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps”, one of them belonged to MS Office and another related to Lenovo. I have tried the following:

• Tried deleting the folder (and individual files), upon trying to delete a folder I get the message “The directory is not emply” and upon deleting a file I get “The file cannot be accessed by the system” and for other similar commands I also got an error saying “The file is being used by some other process”.
• Tried renaming the folder
• Tried changing access permissions (using takeown command etc. and retried the above)
• Tried moving the folders to another drive so that System restore could work for the C: drive
• Tried opening the folder etc. None of the above seems to work.

5) I have also tried “chkdsk” and “mbr” related repair strategies, none seem to work. Apparently, all is good based on the result of “Check Disk”.

Assuming a “Clean Install” is out of the question, what else could I do to repair / restore to a restore point?

:)

 

Windows 10 Boot Manager Fail (endless startup loop). Certain files are locked/cannot be deleted, restricting system restore. How to fix?

Hi Shafeeq,

Thank you for your response.

I got this problem with my laptop around 15 days back, since then I have been using another one and tried fixing it multiple times.



Method 1) I have already tried method 1. The boot disk is the laptop’s hard drive. However, like I mentioned, since the default boot manager takes the laptop into an endless startup loop, for debugging purposes I boot from a bootable USB and go to
the repair options you get from the in bottom left side of the Install Windows 10 menu. And then I try all my fixes through the command prompt. After trying all fixes, when I try to boot from Hard Drive again, I get back into the endless startup loop.



Method 2) I did previously try method 2, however, upon retrying it this time. Windows detected another windows installation in “C:\Windows.old\Windows” folder, usually this happens after a major update. Anyways, I added it to the Bcd using the next
command.

Afterwards when I tried chkdsk /f /r, I got the following error:

The type of file system is NTFS. Cannot lock current drive. Windows cannot run disk checking on this volume because it is write protected.



Strangely enough "chkdsk /f /r" does not work, however "chkdsk C: /f /r" does work ("C: being my OS drive"), but even for the latter I get a message saying:

"Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.

.

.

.

Failed to transfer logged messages to the event log with status 50."

I'm guessing this is probably due to the same drive/file lock which is causing other problems.

Method 3) I also tried method 3, however, it didn’t fix the problem either. I retried method 2 after trying method 3 as well (as suggested on some online forums), still to no effect.

The only difference that go made was that by method 1 I now have two operating systems listed instead of one (Windows 10 and Windows 10 Home), from which neither boot/work.

Anything else I could possibly do other than a clean re-install?

Regards,

Mikaal

 

Windows 10 endless loop reboot

Hi,

• Have you checked if the hard disk is set as first boot device in the BIOS?
• Which version of Windows is installed on the computer?
• What did the HP supported suggested you to fix the issue?

I suggest you to follow the steps provided in the following article and check if it helps.

Windows 10 endless loop reboot

If the issue persists, please get back to us with the more information about the interaction with HP support and the outcome of the issue.

 

Windows 10 Boot Manager Fail (endless startup loop). Certain files are locked/cannot be deleted, restricting system restore. How to fix?

I am facing an issue with my Windows 10 on my laptop (Lenovo Y720 15-IKB). The boot manager does not start, there’s an endless loop of restarting and displaying the Lenovo screen again and again. To resolve
this issue, I created a Windows 10 bootable USB to access repair tools etc. to see if they could help or not. I have already tried the following:

1) If I go to Startup Repair, it “logs” an error in the SrtTrail.txt file that there is a version mismatch and hence Startup Repair could not repair the PC. Most probably its because I had the latest Insider
build installed and the bootable USB was of a slightly older version. I wonder if I can get a .iso of the latest build to resolve this issue.

2) If I go to “Reset” system, it says that the drive where Windows is installed is locked. Please “unlock” the drive and try again. How could I possibly unlock it, when it won’t even start. I can’t access the
safe mode either.

3) I had created restore points earlier, to which I tried restoring to however, I received an error code 0x80070091. Afterwards I googled around and tried a few scripts (similar to those mentioned in this link System Restore Failed and Did Not Complete Successfully with Errors in Windows 10 - EaseUS)
and the error changed to “An unspecified error occurred during system restore (0x80070780)”.

4) I finally narrowed down the problem via Command Prompt (when starting using a bootable USB and going to command prompt) to certain files and folders which “can’t be deleted”. I tried pretty much all techniques
I could think of. These files were in the folder “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps”, one of them belonged to MS Office and another related to Lenovo. I have tried the following:

• Tried deleting the folder (and individual files), upon trying to delete a folder I get the message “The directory is not emply” and upon deleting a file I get “The file cannot be accessed by the system” and for other similar commands I also got an error
  saying “The file is being used by some other process”.
• Tried renaming the folder
• Tried changing access permissions (using takeown command etc. and retried the above)
• Tried moving the folders to another drive so that System restore could work for the C: drive
• Tried opening the folder etc. None of the above seems to work.

5) I have also tried “chkdsk” and “mbr” related repair strategies, none seem to work. Apparently, all is good based on the result of “Check Disk”.

Assuming a “Clean Install” is out of the question, what else could I do to repair / restore to a restore point?