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Konstantinos Tsoukalas

Konstantinos is the founder and administrator of Wintips.org. Since 1995 he works and provides IT support as a computer and network expert to individuals and large companies. He is specialized in solving problems related to Windows or other Microsoft products (Windows Server, Office, Microsoft 365, etc.).

231 Comments

  1. Nicolás
    February 27, 2023 @ 3:19 am

    Funcionó perfecto!! Muchísimas gracias, excelente tutorial y guía.

    Reply

  2. lad
    May 14, 2022 @ 2:15 pm

    never normally comment on guides, but this is such a well documented and life saving guide

    thank you so much

    Reply

  3. Terrence
    February 11, 2022 @ 3:05 am

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

    I’m currently studying for my A+ and this was a good hands on real life exercise for me. Appreciate the help seriously!!

    Reply

  4. francis
    January 5, 2022 @ 3:54 am

    Thank you man… You're the best. god amongst men

    Reply

  5. Vane
    December 20, 2021 @ 5:43 am

    Thank you so much I’ve watched tons of videos on youtube on how to fix this problem and none of them worked for me except for this one.

    Reply

  6. Art
    December 16, 2021 @ 1:19 am

    Fantastic step by step guidance with excellent pictures. Saved me plenty of time looking for a solution. Keep up the good work.

    Reply

  7. Roberto
    September 2, 2021 @ 12:49 am

    you saved my life, thanks so much.

    Reply

  8. Mike
    June 10, 2021 @ 6:23 am

    Copying the boot files REALLY saved me! Thank You for sharing!

    Reply

  9. Lui
    January 26, 2021 @ 4:44 pm

    This has really saved my ass

    Reply

  10. anonymous
    December 17, 2020 @ 6:05 am

    Worked like a charm. Thanks!

    Reply

  11. Doug Coggins
    November 18, 2020 @ 7:25 am

    Your system did not work for me. I think that windows has screwed up the hard drive designators. What windows shows in the windows disk management program is different to what shows up on the screen when using the boot manager program. When making the windows program partition shown in the boot manager, "Active , it has no affect"

    Reply

  12. Dani
    October 14, 2020 @ 4:37 am

    Thank you so much!!! I’ve watched tons of vids on YouTube on how to fix this problem and none of them worked except for this one.

    Reply

  13. Luis Castro
    August 23, 2020 @ 8:28 am

    This worked for me in 2020. Only difference was my dish was mbr, but the asterisk was at the front of the row, to the left of the disk name instead of under the gpt column. Thanks!

    Reply

  14. Mehdi
    November 24, 2019 @ 11:06 am

    Thank you very much🙏🙏🙏

    Reply

  15. Vishal
    November 9, 2019 @ 1:05 pm

    Thanks alot BaWa ….. 😍 U save my PC
    Live long …😁😀 God bless you 🙏

    Reply

    • Sainteus
      November 16, 2019 @ 3:41 pm

      Thank you very much it solved my problem. You made my day :)

      Reply

  16. Andile Nkomo
    November 2, 2019 @ 5:49 am

    I have tried different solutions from other sites but none of them work the one on this side. Thanks a lot for saving my pc. Lots of respect!!!

    Reply

  17. Simeon
    October 21, 2019 @ 8:42 pm

    Very helpful guide! Part 1 was what i needed and it worked. The problem was that windows failed to load because couldnt find the operating system on disk. This was caused after update KB4517389 on Oct 21 2019.

    Reply

  18. Shaurya
    October 18, 2019 @ 4:15 am

    Part 1 fix my problem. Thanks a lot to you and world wide web

    Reply

  19. James
    October 3, 2019 @ 4:31 pm

    Changed my bios battery and received this error. Your guide was exactly what I needed. Thank you.

    Reply

  20. Sami
    October 3, 2019 @ 8:29 am

    Thank you very much.☺☺☺

    Reply

  21. qba
    October 1, 2019 @ 6:49 pm

    Thank you very much.

    Reply

  22. Island Tech Support
    September 20, 2019 @ 12:31 am

    Option 1 worked for me, but only after changing from Legacy to UEFI.

    Thanks for the help!!

    Reply

  23. Andrea
    September 18, 2019 @ 2:23 pm

    For Windows 10 mbr partition: simply the best! Thank you.

    Reply

  24. Mehrshad
    August 1, 2019 @ 8:05 pm

    Hi I have tried method 1 twice and it didn't work and the same error showed up after rebooting and My laptop is lenovo ideapad 520 and I have two internal hard drives(SSD AND HDD)in my laptop and there is no device connected to my laptop

    Reply

    • lakonst
      August 2, 2019 @ 9:20 am

      @Mehrshad: Can you unplug the 2nd hard drive and then to try the process?

      Reply

    • Arraf
      August 3, 2019 @ 2:56 pm

      Mehrshad try the second method

      Reply

  25. Yem
    July 28, 2019 @ 8:01 am

    I follow all Part1 step and everything smooth..But, it still got same error on boot.

    Reply

  26. Ben
    July 23, 2019 @ 7:58 pm

    This worked for me(MBR steps), however, my pc is booting from something else(on the same drive) now. Some "C: bootable windows" thing and it takes about 5-10 seconds longer to boot my PC. Are there any further steps to take so that I'm back to booting up directly from my drive C and not this Drive C Windows Bootable thing. Please, thanks.

    Reply

  27. henxy
    July 22, 2019 @ 4:29 am

    terimakasih banyak……….from Indonesia

    Reply

  28. Nihil Ignatious
    July 11, 2019 @ 10:36 pm

    Tht was awesome.
    You are a life saver.
    Almost strtd to reinstall windows….nd then gave a try to this.
    You are a genius
    Thank you

    Reply

  29. Jay St Gelais
    July 10, 2019 @ 4:04 am

    Thank you. I though i was going crazy. I installed windows just fine. After windows update I restarted and then trouble. This got me back in. Thank you so much

    Reply

  30. Alx
    June 24, 2019 @ 9:02 pm

    Mbr fix worked thx!

    Reply

  31. Francisco
    June 21, 2019 @ 11:01 am

    Mine is saying missing operating system. Pls i need help. Am using elitebook 2530p

    Reply

    • lakonst
      June 22, 2019 @ 9:53 am

      @Francisco: Power OFF your laptop and disconnect any connected USB device. Then power on and try to boot. If you receive the same message enter in BIOS settings and ensure that the disk is recognized there and at boot options the disk is the 1st boot device.

      Reply

  32. Danny
    June 20, 2019 @ 10:13 pm

    Thanks for the information. It works great.. My PC is starting up again…

    Reply

  33. Bob
    June 15, 2019 @ 12:20 am

    You just saved my life

    Reply

  34. Abd
    June 8, 2019 @ 2:32 pm

    Thank you . It worked 💕

    Reply

  35. Sasha
    May 30, 2019 @ 7:06 pm

    Thank you very much. It worked

    Reply

  36. Arjun
    May 29, 2019 @ 10:51 pm

    Thank You GURU!
    It didn't work for 3 times.
    I leave it as it is. Then after few minutes, i gave another try but windows automatically booted overriding USB bootable device.
    And it surprised me. Now it is 3 am here. Finally i am going for bed. Thanks alot to you. World need problem solvers like you. Thank god.

    Reply

  37. Zwerko
    May 25, 2019 @ 5:52 pm

    THANK YOU !!!!!
    I have played with my new SSD and turned on AHCI mode in BIOS, after that it all gone to hell. But luckily I found this page :)

    Reply

  38. Sean
    May 22, 2019 @ 12:49 am

    Awesome! I tried many tools and advice from other sites nothing worked until I followed your instructions to manually fix using PART 1. Fix Boot Files on MBR Partition Table

    Reply

  39. Chris
    May 12, 2019 @ 3:34 am

    The first method work for me, Thank you!

    Reply

  40. IsmailK17
    May 2, 2019 @ 12:54 am

    Thank you so much guys…. Your advice rocks…
    I've a HP Revolve elitebook core i5, 4GB RAM, 128 SSD…
    And i just installed windows 10 1809 RS5 2019, but i forgot to mark the partition C as active…
    So after restarting it… The screen went dark and showed aan error "operating system wasn't found… Blah blah blah!!" at first it really freaked me out but i thought i could use some help from good odd friends…
    Thanks guys

    Reply

  41. François
    April 22, 2019 @ 8:18 pm

    Hi,
    I partially fixed "An operating system wasn't found" thanks to your precious tutorial.

    "Partially" as my computer still wouldn't start Windows after that.
    I usually enter UEFI (by typing Del "to enter set up") and change the order of booting there. But in this case, that wouldn't solve the problem, the operating system still wasn't found.

    That's where I realised I had the possibility to "enter boot menu" straight with F11, which takes me to a list where I'm invited to "please select a boot device".
    Double-clicking on my SSD listed there and there starts Windows.

    Problem is this booting order won't stay. After restarting the computer, the infamous "An operating system wasn't found" is back.

    Any idea what causes this and how I could solve it?
    I don't really understand on what it's booting since I do order the OS to boot on the proper disk.

    My first problem was the OS freezing for no reason, and it then evolved into this.
    And I guess I first need to solve the booting part before running diagnosis (already bookmarked some of your posts) and understand if this is soft or hardware-related.

    I'm running Win 10; MBR table.
    Ran a Malwayrebytes scan, no threats detected.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 23, 2019 @ 9:02 am

      @François: Since you have MBR table, enter BIOS Setup and Set the 'Boot configuration Mode' to 'Legacy' and also Disable the Secure Boot. Save and Exit from BIOS Setup. Then enter in BIOS Setup again and set as first boot device the SSD Drive.

      Reply

      • François
        April 23, 2019 @ 7:33 pm

        Sorry for sounding stupid, but these options don't show on my UEFI screen.
        I remember having dealt with the Legacy/Secure Boot things on a laptop once, but it had a BIOS.
        Here there's no Boot configuration 'mode', only 'Boot Configuration' with the possibility to enable or disable the full screen logo display. And then Boot option priorities. That's it.
        And no option regarding the Secure Boot either.

        I've seen people entering their BIOS while booting on their Windows flash drive > troubleshooting > … > UEFI firmware settings. I tried that just in case, but that option neither shows.

        I thought UEFI was just an upgraded firmware- w/ a nicer interface BIOS. But why it wouldn't offer the same options, I don't get.

        What am I missing?
        Thank you in advance for any other tip.

        Reply

        • lakonst
          April 24, 2019 @ 9:39 am

          @François: tell me the model of your laptop…

          Reply

          • François
            April 24, 2019 @ 4:55 pm

            It's a self-made desktop.
            Motherboard is MSI 970A-G46

            Been working nicely for a couple of years until that.

          • lakonst
            April 25, 2019 @ 9:23 am

            Power On & Press DEL to Enter BIOS Settings and at the 'Boot device priority bar" drag the Hard Drive icon at the left.
            Then click the MSI Settings (at the left) and…
            a. At Boot (1st~9th Boot): Set the Hard Drive as First boot device.
            b. At advanced set the 'Sata Mode'to AHCI
            c. Save and exit and try to boot. If you face the same error then Enter BIOS setup again and set the 'Sata Mode' to IDE.

          • François
            April 29, 2019 @ 6:47 pm

            It's working again.
            (I'm replying here as I can't reply your last answer).

            I went straight to point c. as my settings were already matching your advises before that point.

            Changing to IDE gave me a BSOD / Stop code: inaccessible boot device.
            Changing it back to AHCI also gave a BSOD. Error code: 0x0000001

            I opened the case, verified the cables ; seemed ok.

            I then went back into BIOS, switched to 'Normal' (I was in OC mode before that), also AHCI and rebooted. It started Windows, I could use the computer a few minutes before programs froze again (that's my initial problem) and I had to force the power off.

            Back into BIOS, switched back to OC mode/AHCI and booted from there. All good since then.

            So no more "An operating system wasn't found", plus these little back and forth changes somehow solved the freezing problem.
            Future will tell for how long, but it's been good for the last 4 days now.

            Anyway, thank you very much for this amazing assistance. Kuddos all the way to the top from me.
            Wintips is bookmarked now.

            Apr 25, 2019 @ 09:23:33

            Power On & Press DEL to Enter BIOS Settings and at the 'Boot device priority bar" drag the Hard Drive icon at the left.
            Then click the MSI Settings (at the left) and…
            a. At Boot (1st~9th Boot): Set the Hard Drive as First boot device.
            b. At advanced set the 'Sata Mode'to AHCI
            c. Save and exit and try to boot. If you face the same error then Enter BIOS setup again and set the 'Sata Mode' to IDE.

  42. Smart Edos
    April 22, 2019 @ 6:48 pm

    Thanks, you saved me

    Reply

  43. Christian
    April 17, 2019 @ 11:15 pm

    Thanks man! You saved my life!

    Reply

  44. Ricardo
    March 24, 2019 @ 12:38 pm

    You are a bloody hero man. 1st method did nothing for us, but the second method. man. I felt like a hacker and it worked perfectly, thank you so much

    Reply

    • Jim
      March 28, 2019 @ 2:49 am

      110% fantastic, take a bow sir!

      Reply

  45. Borna
    March 20, 2019 @ 2:40 pm

    You're awesome!!!

    Reply

  46. Tom S
    March 18, 2019 @ 12:09 am

    Tried this and I must be selecting the wrong settings as my windows is showing in F: but so are many other things. Additionally I am unable to locate where it is on step 3 as there are 2 spots that are online. Still no fix here

    Reply

    • lakonst
      March 18, 2019 @ 10:47 am

      @Tom S: You see two online disks for these possible reasons:
      1. You have 2 internal disks on your machine (at this case disconnect the NON OS disk before applying the steps in the article)…OR….
      2. The first one is the internal disk and the second one is a USB drive.
      I suggest to read carefully the instructions in order to fix the issue.

      Reply

  47. Brian
    March 14, 2019 @ 7:29 pm

    This never worked in my laptop because Am trying to format it but the moment i selectbthe boot path its giving me a response That operating system is not found

    Reply

  48. Ryzenology
    March 7, 2019 @ 10:37 pm

    Thank you so much. It worked, i'm using the part 1 guidance and the OS is back. Good work.

    Reply

  49. fris
    February 14, 2019 @ 6:58 am

    finally, it's very helping. thansk a lot

    Reply

  50. Chris
    February 7, 2019 @ 2:44 pm

    Thanks for this clear and well-written guide. I got this error when reinstalling from a USB flash drive and was stuck, but following this guide fixed it. It's ridiculous that Microsoft still hasn't fixed this in version 1809.

    Reply

  51. Mohamed Ragab
    February 3, 2019 @ 6:47 pm

    Thanks for everything

    Reply

  52. Robert Morrison
    January 29, 2019 @ 12:50 am

    Best troubleshooting guide I've ever seen. And I've seen A LOT. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Jason H
      February 6, 2019 @ 10:03 pm

      Agree with Robert Morrison. If only they were all like this . Thank you ever so much. This shouldn't be so complicated.

      Reply

  53. Mahmoud Zaki
    January 27, 2019 @ 10:36 am

    Awesome, Worked for me (Repair for MBR volume)

    Reply

  54. Zakki Khan
    January 25, 2019 @ 6:00 pm

    Excellent work done. Hats off and respect.
    Keep sharing such a wonderful tricks.

    Reply

  55. Michael
    January 15, 2019 @ 12:12 am

    wuhuuu, you are my hero!!!
    I crashed my MBR after trying to install Ubuntu with dualboot besides Win10…
    Thank you very very much for this excellent tutorial!

    Reply

  56. Nicholas Hiew
    December 30, 2018 @ 5:52 pm

    Thank you very much.Guide helped me.I had solved my problem.

    Reply

  57. Emmanuel
    December 29, 2018 @ 10:52 pm

    Thanks, it really works

    Reply

  58. Akbar Nurrohman Sidiq
    December 27, 2018 @ 8:01 pm

    Thanks you so much bro. Your tutorial help me ma laptop. Thanks a lot you are awesome

    Reply

  59. Chris
    December 27, 2018 @ 9:16 am

    You are awesome! Thank you very much! I used the MBR path and it worked flawlessly. I just built a new PC and was having issues with it wanting a bootable drive to be inserted. This was even when I had my M.2 containing the OS listed as 1st in my boot priority. However, I could still get it to go to Windows via a work around by booting into my BIOS every startup then exiting without saving changes… worked every time but very annoying. Then, I went to Disk Manager and set my OS M.2 as "active" and that's when I got the error that you described the fix for here.

    Again, I can't thank you enough.

    God Bless!

    Reply

  60. Awais Shah
    December 17, 2018 @ 10:59 am

    Its Work for me, excellent job Bro, Thanks a lot

    Reply

  61. Reejesh PK
    December 13, 2018 @ 6:04 am

    I just had to remove the pen drive that was plugged into my computer

    Reply

  62. Faisal
    November 24, 2018 @ 8:07 pm

    Excellent work bro.
    Work for Me
    Thanks

    Reply

  63. kairu
    November 19, 2018 @ 5:09 pm

    thanx alot for the nice concepts

    Reply

    • Joe
      November 25, 2018 @ 12:56 am

      Fix boot files on MBR works. thank u so much

      Reply

  64. steve lip balm
    November 15, 2018 @ 10:50 pm

    thank you very much for taking the time to write up this tut. i thought my computer was done for but this brought it back to life.

    for the record… when it booted back up i got the windows update screen continuing its update, so thats probably the culprit. im calling it now btw, windows update will be the death of windows. it really is the worst thing about windows and since it doesnt seem like microsoft is ever going to fix it, people are going to switch eventually when crap like this keeps happening

    Reply

  65. Sheldon John M.
    November 13, 2018 @ 11:11 pm

    I love you! I almost spent my rest day fixing the problem. I'm crying right now. Thanks much!

    Reply

  66. George
    November 10, 2018 @ 11:25 pm

    Can only say wow for the tutorial… It worked like a charm. God bless you 👍🙏😇

    Reply

  67. alvin suemitsu
    October 26, 2018 @ 10:13 am

    thank you so much! it was a lot of help

    Reply

  68. VERSA
    October 15, 2018 @ 4:28 pm

    Thanks
    After shutting downs somtimes my pc would not start windows, this solved my problem and have a great day. Thanks for your assistance. Peace

    Reply

  69. Luis
    October 7, 2018 @ 7:36 am

    Thank you!! That fixed my problem

    Reply

  70. Bruno
    September 28, 2018 @ 6:50 pm

    Thank you, it was absolutely helpful!

    Reply

  71. mohamed
    September 12, 2018 @ 1:29 am

    really I love it thanks for As

    mohamed from egypt

    Reply

  72. ehsan
    September 3, 2018 @ 6:35 pm

    tanks😘

    Reply

  73. rahim
    August 25, 2018 @ 1:50 pm

    My pc is bootig in UEFI safe mode and it doesn't allow any external media to boot.what to do?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 5, 2018 @ 10:17 am

      @rahim: Follow the instructions from this article to create an UEFI Boot media and to apply the recommended settings in BIOS in order to boot from the UEFI USB flash drive.

      Reply

  74. deep
    August 13, 2018 @ 4:33 pm

    thank you soo much :D :)

    it works nd i worked with me as welll :D

    i should leave some good comments for u as it helped me :D :D

    thanks again :) :)

    Reply

  75. Mark Appelhof
    August 11, 2018 @ 4:37 am

    i was hopeful that this was going to fix my problem. but instead got your pc needs to be repaired message. the operating system couldn't be loaded because the system registry file is missing or contains errors
    file:\windows\system32\config\system
    error code: 0xc0000225

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 5, 2018 @ 10:20 am

      To fix error 0xc0000225 follow the instructions from this article

      Reply

  76. Ssr
    August 4, 2018 @ 3:36 am

    Thanx bro.

    You save me from my dad.

    Reply

    • deep
      August 13, 2018 @ 4:32 pm

      haha :D

      Reply

  77. James Fairchild III
    July 28, 2018 @ 12:55 am

    Thanks to your assistance with this article I was able to resolve the operating system not found on my network computer system this morning instead of having to reinstall everything again, ordered a backup server external drive to help with all system backups… Kudo's from an A+ Certified Tech that never has encountered this issue before….

    Reply

  78. Hamza
    July 23, 2018 @ 8:29 pm

    Man you are a life saver! Thanks to you I fixed my laptop without losing data.

    Reply

  79. BlueKnight
    July 23, 2018 @ 1:35 am

    Thank you, you really saved me with this!
    I really didn't know what to do without this article!

    Reply

  80. Steve
    June 30, 2018 @ 11:53 am

    Great guide many thanks, saved me pulling out all hair

    Reply

  81. Manuel
    June 2, 2018 @ 3:53 pm

    You saved my life! It works for a MBR partition.
    Thanks a lot! Have a nice day!

    Reply

  82. Mehul Jariwala
    May 8, 2018 @ 7:05 pm

    Thanks you brother
    Working like Cham..!
    Great men…🙋👌

    Reply

  83. Kosala
    May 6, 2018 @ 8:08 pm

    Worked like a charm. Thanks a lot for this. I tried multiple tools before but failed while this worked pretty well

    Reply

  84. Mazran
    May 5, 2018 @ 3:59 am

    Thakyou so much bro

    Reply

  85. NZEE
    April 25, 2018 @ 7:33 pm

    It worked! and still, I'm kinda curious. How does it happen? and how does that fix it? Do you mind give me some answers here? Thanks.

    PS.You're awesome!

    Reply

  86. Alina
    April 20, 2018 @ 11:23 pm

    It really worked. I had a problem with selecting the volume containing system files but somehow I found it and boot successfully. All thanks to you!

    Reply

  87. Massimiliano
    April 19, 2018 @ 9:36 am

    Thank you a lot,
    it was quite complicated but following your guide step by step I fixed it!
    Thank you a lot. Maiby could you ad the write directly in the guide the link to download the windows installer?

    Thanks!!!

    Reply

  88. Jozef
    April 10, 2018 @ 3:42 pm

    It helps me a lot! Thank you good ghost O:) :)

    Reply

  89. NAMAN GUPTA
    April 4, 2018 @ 3:54 pm

    in my case it is mbr type. i have followed everything step by step carefully and got the same messages as you have in your screenshots, but still i am getting the same error "An operating system not found………..".
    i have used all of the bootrec options also.
    Please help me i have very useful softwares in it

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 5, 2018 @ 11:12 am

      @NAMAN GUPTA: Try the following: Enter into BIOS and change the SATA mode to AHCI (or IDE) & also disable the Secure Boot . Then apply the instructions on the article again.

      Reply

  90. Nick
    March 23, 2018 @ 5:27 am

    I have 4 partitions in my system. Among these C:\ is my system disk. Now I am unable to opening my windows. When I was unistall Reboot Restore Rx then problem start. Now as per your instruction I did all above method but not success then I open notepad through cmd and I found new disk Boot X. There is windows file but not show windows in other drive. Windows must be in drive c but not show system ease. What to do ?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      March 23, 2018 @ 6:24 pm

      @Nick: Drive X is the drive which contains the Windows installation media. Read carefully and apply the instructions in Method 2.

      Reply

  91. Iga
    March 18, 2018 @ 8:12 pm

    I went through ten different tutorials and this was the only one that could really help me! I got my computer working and and all my documents were saved. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    Reply

  92. Daupaloffer Styles
    February 26, 2018 @ 6:10 am

    Thanks, you saved my life!

    Reply

  93. Robert
    February 25, 2018 @ 8:18 pm

    worked for me, thanks a lot mate!!!

    Reply

  94. HP sys
    February 8, 2018 @ 11:58 pm

    This helped me a lot! MBR fixed perfectly! thnx in a milion

    Reply

    • Blade
      February 17, 2018 @ 10:58 pm

      You are the King!!!!
      My problem started when I allocated new volume on hard drive and reboot PC.
      This helped me (BTW I did not believe :) ).

      Reply

  95. mzvfdjsgvfvu
    February 7, 2018 @ 4:46 pm

    Thanks :) It WOrked ,GReat

    Reply

  96. amir
    February 4, 2018 @ 12:02 am

    hi
    i created multiboot dvd with wintohdd and this erro came up.(create 2 partition ,one for boot,one for iso's and its own boot) as i follow you tutorial,there was "windows" mentioned..as this has no windows,so how to proceed to solve this problem dear?
    thank you

    Reply

    • lakonst
      February 4, 2018 @ 11:42 am

      @amir: Change the Boot Mode to LEGACY & Disable the SECURE BOOT in BIOS Settings and then apply the procedure again.

      Reply

  97. Samet
    January 7, 2018 @ 1:23 pm

    Thank you million times. You saved my time. <3 <3

    Reply

    • Mo
      January 18, 2018 @ 11:55 am

      Thanks! This helped me out a lot. The startup repair never works.

      Reply

  98. Minhaj
    January 7, 2018 @ 4:34 am

    Thank you so much
    It worked for me
    You're a life saver

    Reply

  99. Jake
    December 29, 2017 @ 4:31 am

    I need some help… I followed the directions but it says PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable. And PXE-M0F: exiting intel boot agent

    I have Windows 10 on the USB flash drive and followed the directions here but cannot seem to figure it out…

    Reply

  100. Yhoga Kafi
    December 23, 2017 @ 6:26 pm

    thanks man, you’ve just saved my life. GOD BLESS YOU

    Reply

  101. Larry
    December 11, 2017 @ 11:49 pm

    Your instruction did the trick!! Thank you !!

    Reply

  102. daniel
    December 9, 2017 @ 9:38 pm

    You, my friend, are a legend!
    I tried hours of other fixes for this and yours was the one to work.
    Thank You!

    Reply

  103. SomeUnknownDude
    December 2, 2017 @ 10:50 am

    Thank you so much. Seriouly I appreciate this BIG TIME. Awesome bllog, keep up great work guys!

    Reply

  104. Randy
    November 21, 2017 @ 6:37 am

    Hey Lakonst, I received the "blue screen of death" and decided it was best to just reset the PC. Halfway through the process, the program just finished and stated it couldn't finish. Kept getting the "operating system wasn't found". I have came across your guide and still nothing. Startup repair does not work(it won't even start the process). My disk is healthy per the HD TUNE you recommended. The partition table is MBR and when following the steps provided i get a "failure when attempting to copy bot files". I tried to adjust the SATA mode is set to AHCI and can not adjust. BCDEDIT shows "the requested system device cannot be found". Also seems like this hard drive has 3 disks on it(SYSTEM, HP_RECOVERY & OS) model # WD5000AAKX. Please help!!!!! I have run out of options!!!

    Reply

    • lakonst
      November 21, 2017 @ 9:53 am

      @Randy: Why you cannot change the SATA Mode? What is the Motherboard/Computer Model?
      Anyway, If the installation is not finished and the disk is healthy, then maybe the RAM or the VGA is damaged. So, first Check RAM for problems and – if you own a desktop – replace your Graphics Adapter. Then re-download a windows 10 installation media and burn it to a DVD or USB and use that media to perform a fresh Windows 10 installation.

      Reply

      • Randy
        November 22, 2017 @ 5:08 am

        Well when I go into the Hewlett-Packard Setup Utility, under the "storage options" It doesn't let me switch between different types of STAT EMULATIONS.

        Motherboard is an ANGELINO2-UB – Computer model is HP TouchSmart 320(it's an all-in-one monitor/pc)

        I will check the ram problems as recommended.

        Reply

        • lakonst
          November 22, 2017 @ 10:25 am

          @Randy: I think that you cannot change the SATA MODE in BIOS settings for the disk controller, because on some HP computers these settings cannot be changed (locked), and normally either AHCI or RAID is enabled by default depending on model. So, contact your computer's manufacturer to find more about this issue.

          Reply

      • Randy
        November 22, 2017 @ 5:15 am

        Also, when I boot with the usb, its showing "bootmgr is missing"

        Reply

        • lakonst
          November 22, 2017 @ 10:33 am

          @Randy: "bootmgr is missing" error means that your system cannot find a properly configured device to boot from (the boot sector is damaged or missing). Try to install Windows 8 or 10, from a DVD installation media.

          Reply

  105. mokone
    November 10, 2017 @ 12:55 am

    What if when I boot the laptop it doesn't read the OS in the disk?Please help

    Reply

    • lakonst
      November 10, 2017 @ 1:14 pm

      @mokone: What is the error you receive?

      Reply

  106. Chhatrakamal Boruah
    October 31, 2017 @ 6:33 pm

    I fixed it…..But can it happen again??

    Reply

    • Arraf
      August 3, 2019 @ 2:41 pm

      Yes it may happen just be careful not to copy all files of a drive to another hard drive

      Reply

  107. Mo Trice
    October 29, 2017 @ 4:16 pm

    Guide worked perfect for me! Thanks!

    Reply

  108. Milad
    September 7, 2017 @ 4:08 pm

    Hello tanks for your site
    I have problem
    When i active (( DISKPART> active ))
    It said (( virtual Disk Service Error:
    The Specified partition type is not valid for this
    operation))
    I dont know what mean that

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 7, 2017 @ 5:18 pm

      @Milad: 1. Download and burn GParted partition manager to a CD 2. Boot from GPated CD 3. Mark the Windows partition as "Active" in Gparted interface. (Right click on the Partition that you want to set as active > Manage Flags > Boot)

      Reply

  109. brane
    September 6, 2017 @ 6:10 pm

    awsome! it worked by me! (part 1)

    Reply

  110. inmer
    August 12, 2017 @ 3:04 am

    yo reset mi computadora y se apago pero cuando encendio salio ese mensange .No se encontró un sistema operativo Intente desconectar las unidades que no contengan un sistema operativo Pulsar Ctrl + Alt + Del para reiniciar
    COMO SOLUCIONO ESO. ?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      August 13, 2017 @ 9:57 am

      @inmer: If the OS disk is recognized in BIOS Setup, then repair the boot files using method 2.

      Reply

  111. adam
    August 3, 2017 @ 10:26 pm

    Thanks a lot it worked for me

    Reply

  112. Giovanna Ortega
    August 1, 2017 @ 1:56 am

    Muchas gracias!! You did my day :) Your last comand didn't work for me so I use:
    bcdboot c:\Windows /l en-us /s S: /f ALL It's the same o I will have some problems later?

    Reply

  113. Jack
    July 27, 2017 @ 3:08 pm

    Thanks a lot man. You saved my pc?????

    Reply

  114. Much Thankful
    July 27, 2017 @ 12:44 am

    Thank you so much!!! I'm one of those people you saved. :)

    Reply

  115. Oh yeah
    July 18, 2017 @ 5:17 pm

    Thank you so much. It worked! You saved me from crappy microsoft support page!

    Reply

  116. Biplav Poudel
    July 6, 2017 @ 10:07 am

    Thanks man ! U saved my day.

    Reply

  117. LaQuetta G
    July 3, 2017 @ 8:36 pm

    A few days ago, my computer crashed. These instructions were crucial to me getting a diagnosis and ultimately getting the computer back online. Thank you so much!!

    Reply

  118. Oliver
    June 30, 2017 @ 11:13 pm

    Help needed, Got stuck at PART 1. Fix Boot Files on MBR Partition Table:
    When I got to enter "3. Active" , I got an error message.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      July 1, 2017 @ 9:09 am

      @Oliver: What error?

      Reply

      • Oliver
        July 2, 2017 @ 3:43 am

        "Virtual Disk Service error:
        The specified partition type is not valid for this operation."

        Everything went through without any problems until reaching here.

        Reply

        • lakonst
          July 2, 2017 @ 9:22 am

          @Oliver: 1. Download and burn GParted partition manager to a CD 2. Boot from GPated CD 3. Mark the Windows partition as "Active" in Gparted interface. (Right click on the Partition that you want to set as active > Manage Flags > Boot)

          Reply

  119. mohawkade
    June 29, 2017 @ 7:53 am

    You sir are a bloody life saver, many thanks

    Reply

  120. Dan.L.E
    June 26, 2017 @ 5:04 am

    excelente tutorial me funcionó a la perfección en windows 10 luego de haber eliminado una partición por error desde ubuntu… muchas gracias

    Reply

  121. Lauren
    June 24, 2017 @ 11:19 pm

    After typing select volume 5 and then active I received the following:
    "DiskPart has encountered an error: The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error. See the system log for more information."

    Everything was working perfectly up to that point. We sold our computer to someone who somehow wiped the hard drive and without a disk could not restore. I went to Best Buy and bought a new Windows 10 Home Full Version. I cannot seem to install the new version no matter what I've tried. Please help.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      June 25, 2017 @ 10:00 am

      @Lauren: If the drive is wiped you have to re-install Windows, but I think that the Hard drive is damaged. Replace the hard disk and try again.

      Reply

  122. Gilberto
    June 13, 2017 @ 10:35 pm

    Saludos Desde Panamá Y Gracias Por La Guìa…Si Funciona

    Reply

  123. Ramakrishna
    May 27, 2017 @ 4:49 pm

    Thanks buddy
    Thanks a lot

    Reply

  124. Hector flores
    May 26, 2017 @ 8:26 am

    Thanks a lot! Muchas gracias, has dado en el clavo con la solucion.
    Thank you

    Reply

  125. Michelle
    May 20, 2017 @ 9:07 am

    Seems to have worked for me, thanks so much!

    Reply

  126. jon beekeeper
    May 9, 2017 @ 12:11 pm

    I think I need help. After i type "bcdboot X:\windows /S X:" this message appears:
    BFSVC Error: Failed to set element application device. Status = [c00000bb]
    BFSVC Error: Failed to populate BCD store. Status = [c00000bb].

    Reply

    • lakonst
      May 10, 2017 @ 10:24 am

      @jon beekeeper: Try the following:
      1. Boot using EFI (Not Legacy) from a Windows installation media at the same edition and bit version as the installed Windows (e.g. Windows 10 Home 64-bit)
      2. Go to command prompt
      3. Type bcdedit
      4. Notice the drive letter of OS partition (e.g. "osdevice——partition=D: ")
      5. Then type in order:
      diskpart
      list volume
      6. Find out the EFI volume (its about 100MB).
      7. Select the EFI volume (e.g. Volume 1) and assign to it a drive letter (e.g. Z:) by using the assign command:
      select volume 1
      assign letter=Z:
      5. Type: exit (to close diskpart)
      6. Type the following commands to examine yor disks for errors:
      chkdsk D: /R
      chkdsk Z: /R

      7. After CHKDSK go to EFI drive (e.g. Z:)
      8. Type the following commands in order:
      attrib -s -h \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD
      del \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD

      9. Then give this command:
      bcdboot D:\windows /s Z: /f UEFI
      10. Close all windows and reboot. Good luck!

      Reply

      • Jon beekeeper
        May 11, 2017 @ 9:15 pm

        Wow, I don't know how to thank you sir. You are amazing!

        Reply

  127. Abrar Rais
    May 6, 2017 @ 8:31 pm

    Thanks a lot.God's will help you..
    Its works…

    Reply

  128. Isaiah Miller
    May 4, 2017 @ 8:59 am

    I've tried every possible thing. Time after time I get your PC couldn't start properly and then I need to use recovery tools. What do I need to do? This is my pc for school and everything in between!

    Reply

  129. Eivind Håve
    April 24, 2017 @ 1:43 pm

    I tried part one but when I write bcdboot e:\windows /s e: it says failure when attempting to copy boot files. Is my drive damaged? And also when I try to check where windows is with Dir e: the windows 10 comes up another place than for you, it comes almost at the top saying: volume in drive e: is windows 10. The problem came after I tried to reinstall windows

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 24, 2017 @ 4:32 pm

      :Eivind Håve: To find the Windows drive letter:
      1. Open command prompt as Admin
      2. Type BCDEDIT
      3. Look at the "osdevice" line the partition LETTER (e.g. "partition=C":)

      Reply

  130. Zharra
    April 12, 2017 @ 3:18 pm

    can't see the "System" in any partition :(

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 12, 2017 @ 4:49 pm

      @Zharra: Commonly the System partition is the largest partition in size.

      Reply

  131. Sasko
    April 11, 2017 @ 6:20 pm

    Worked for me. But I was confused in 1.Part, 5's subpart – "select disk x" – I thought x was a partition and couldn't find it, but it meaned a whole hdd.

    Reply

  132. omar
    April 7, 2017 @ 10:31 pm

    it's work
    Many thanks

    Reply

  133. Mark
    April 7, 2017 @ 5:07 pm

    Boot files are on MBT Partition Table. I typed almost all dir and it says it cannot be found. I tried BCDEDIT and it says:"The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The requested system device cannot be found." Help?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 8, 2017 @ 9:00 am

      @Mark: 1. Open DISKPART tool and type this command: list volume
      2. Note the drive letter of the largest partition in size. This is probably the Windows partition.
      3. exit DISKPART tool and follow the rest steps in guide.

      Reply

  134. hendrik
    April 5, 2017 @ 5:41 pm

    terima kasih sangat membatu saya

    Reply

  135. Joel
    April 4, 2017 @ 7:22 pm

    When I type in ren BCD BCD.bak on Part 2 It responds with the system cannot find the file specified

    Reply

    • lakonst
      April 5, 2017 @ 8:44 am

      @Joel: Probably you have chosen a wrong drive to assign the drive letter. Please follow the instructions from the start!

      Reply

  136. Alex
    April 4, 2017 @ 3:40 pm

    It help me for the first time. Part1
    But after I try to create safe point on my PC it stack and same error appears on startup.

    Now Part 1 not helping((
    No errors during the process described in Part1.
    But still wasn't found(((

    Reply

    • Alex
      April 4, 2017 @ 3:44 pm

      Check bios and found the problem.
      Some how hard drives change their priority, and OS drive was off.
      All OK now. F@king Window laptops)

      Reply

  137. Abiaz
    March 27, 2017 @ 1:59 pm

    I tried method 2.
    But when i finished step 9 thn type
    cd/d S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\
    It says the system cannot find the path specified. I assigned the letter succesfully.
    Can anybody help me with this? TIA

    Reply

    • lakonst
      March 27, 2017 @ 3:04 pm

      @Abiaz: there is a space between cd and /d : cd /d S:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

      Reply

  138. Ozair
    March 16, 2017 @ 8:43 pm

    How should I reboot after closing all windows when done with codings? ( Hp Pavilion. Notebook)

    Reply

    • Ozair
      March 16, 2017 @ 8:55 pm

      I have got windows 8.1 will this still going to work?

      Reply

      • lakonst
        March 17, 2017 @ 6:00 pm

        @Ozair: Yes it works!

        Reply

    • lakonst
      March 16, 2017 @ 8:56 pm

      @Ozair: Power Off and Power On the machine.

      Reply

  139. Zorbin
    March 15, 2017 @ 10:48 pm

    OMV….TY TY TY!!! I had to guessimate on somethings, for I have 2 disks, nothing saying System, but figured it out. I lost my OS when was resetting my older PC (giving it to my oldest son). I did the resetting, just fine, but got a message saying not all of my personal information was removed and to do a reset again. I did it, and after it was done, that is when got the "message" I had tried everything, that I knew what to do, but with no luck. Thank goodness I found your post. The computer is working and my "Insane Elephant Eye" is gone.

    Reply

  140. Mostaque
    March 7, 2017 @ 2:42 am

    Thanks man,it saved my sleepless night

    Reply

  141. Mostaque
    March 6, 2017 @ 7:41 pm

    Everything went good .but at the result it was same popup…an os not found……

    Reply

  142. FRPC
    February 19, 2017 @ 6:42 pm

    Man, what a guide. I was going nuts with these, considered even wasting my SSD. I've had tried so many fixes and none had worked.
    thanks a lot!

    Reply

  143. Hammer
    February 10, 2017 @ 10:52 pm

    Thank you! It worked beautifully! Good work!

    Reply

  144. Asadullah Armaan
    January 31, 2017 @ 2:32 pm

    It says A duplicate file name already exists, or the file cannot be found, when i enter ren bcd bcd.bak. Can you please tell me what's the issue? It's my second time applying the same method within a week. Last time it worked properly.

    Reply

    • lakonst
      January 31, 2017 @ 5:48 pm

      @Asadullah Armaan: There is already a file named as "BCD.bak", so try to rename the BCD file with another name: e.g. BCD1.bak
      (At this case the command should be: ren BCD BCD1.bak )

      Reply

  145. Luis Gomez
    January 22, 2017 @ 5:11 am

    Man, today, you're my hero! I spend almost two weeks trying to find the solution with no success. Until now… Now im happy!!!

    Reply

  146. Syed
    January 19, 2017 @ 9:07 pm

    Thanks a lot bro you did it love you

    Reply

  147. Blackwater4
    January 1, 2017 @ 12:52 pm

    Hello…I can't speak good English..I have one problem with my pc..so I have do format for everything and I w8 100% for 3 hours…so now I press turn on and is show me …
    Welcome to asus motherboard make disk for bos menu.
    A) make intel 32 bit xp/vista/win? Raid/AHCI Driver disk
    B) make intel 64 bit xp/vist/win? Raid/ACHI drive dick
    C) freeDos comand prompt

    Help

    Reply

    • lakonst
      January 1, 2017 @ 3:21 pm

      @Blackwater4: If you have formatted the disk, then you must boot your computer from a Windows installation 8 media (USB or DVD) and install Windows again.

      Reply

  148. Sakari Hast
    December 29, 2016 @ 12:38 am

    When i run the command bcdboot C:\Windows /S C: it says Failure when attempting to copy boot files. What do i do ?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      December 29, 2016 @ 10:11 am

      @Sakari Hast: I suppose that you have typed the command wrong or your hard disk is damaged.

      Reply

      • Sakari Hast
        December 29, 2016 @ 1:35 pm

        I wrote the command right but if my hard disk is damaged how do i repair it ?

        Reply

        • lakonst
          December 29, 2016 @ 2:39 pm

          @Sakari Hast: First of all, connect the hard disk (if you can) to another working computer and diagnose it for problems by using the instructions in this article: How to Test and Diagnose Hard Drive (HDD) for hardware problems.
          If the disk is damaged, then you have to replace the disk.

          Reply

  149. Mats Gårdstad Friberg
    December 28, 2016 @ 1:05 pm

    Great and Good guide. Many thanks

    Reply

  150. Taoofeexs
    December 22, 2016 @ 8:13 am

    It's Work
    Thx wintips

    Reply

  151. Ben
    December 12, 2016 @ 5:31 am

    I love you and may the breeze fall forever favorable on your decendants. Part 1 worked like a charm. Funny only having this issue with power outages and an ssd

    Reply

  152. Dhruivn
    December 6, 2016 @ 8:04 am

    PART 1. Fix Boot Files on MBR Partition Table

    Worked like a charm. thank you. wish you the best for everything.

    Reply

  153. Rick
    November 24, 2016 @ 4:58 am

    Excellant!! Thank you very much.

    Reply

  154. digvijay
    November 21, 2016 @ 6:14 pm

    How can repair without USB or dvd

    Reply

    • lakonst
      November 22, 2016 @ 1:20 pm

      @digvijay: You cannot.

      Reply

  155. xxxbma
    October 31, 2016 @ 6:36 am

    Ive tried in every way to solve this problem, but ended up stuck in the same point. My solution was replacing the fucking sata cable!! Ive bought a new one out of frustration and worked just fine, installed win10 in 5'. (sorry for typing mistakes)

    Reply

  156. Ahmad
    October 26, 2016 @ 10:42 am

    I put all letters to find my 'dir' but it cant be found!! Help me!!

    Reply

    • lakonst
      October 26, 2016 @ 11:08 am

      @Ahmad: To find the drive letter of Windows 1. Open command prompt as Admin 2. Type BCDEDIT 3.Look at the "osdevice" line the partition LETTER (e.g. "partition=C":)

      Reply

    • Ahmed jaan
      October 26, 2016 @ 8:52 pm

      Dir C: or dir e: or f

      Reply

  157. SR
    October 20, 2016 @ 5:38 pm

    Just shut down the computer, and then turn it back on, and click F4. You will know the rest.

    Reply

  158. Taffy
    October 14, 2016 @ 9:34 pm

    Method 2: just what I needed. Thank you so much

    Reply

  159. Olaf
    October 8, 2016 @ 8:01 pm

    This method helps me. ….. "PART 1. Fix Boot Files on MBR Partition Table"
    Thank you. (thumb up)

    Reply

  160. matt
    September 28, 2016 @ 7:19 pm

    method one got me up and running again. thanks

    Reply

  161. Roland Hernandez
    September 26, 2016 @ 9:05 pm

    So as for my question does anyone have any ideas?

    Reply

  162. Tomfred
    September 25, 2016 @ 9:03 pm

    I Did everything right, But it didnt work. It still says "An operating system wasnt found…"
    Do you have an idea how to fix it?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 26, 2016 @ 1:11 pm

      @Tomfred: Backup your files (by attaching the disk to another working system) and then re-install the OS.

      Reply

  163. hussein
    September 23, 2016 @ 3:18 pm

    thank you it soled the error

    Reply

  164. likando
    September 13, 2016 @ 7:26 am

    How do I reboot a Dell latitude 13 after closing all windows….help please

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 13, 2016 @ 8:43 am

      @likando: Press Power button for 10 sec to Shutdown the computer. Then Power it up again.

      Reply

  165. Taku
    September 1, 2016 @ 2:36 am

    how do you close the diskpart tool

    Reply

    • lakonst
      September 1, 2016 @ 10:17 am

      @Type EXIT and press Enter.

      Reply

  166. Muchsinul Khuluq
    August 26, 2016 @ 12:27 pm

    Really helpful :)

    I was face this error and when i follow your guide its work at all :)

    Thank you wintips

    Reply

  167. Syazwan
    August 19, 2016 @ 5:17 pm

    After i enter the 'bcdboot D:\Windows /S D:' it did't show boot file successfully created but it show "failure when attempting to copy boot files"how do i fix this?

    Reply

    • lakonst
      August 22, 2016 @ 11:43 am

      @Syazwan: Probably Windows were installed in another disk.

      Reply

    • Alvin Velasco
      February 8, 2017 @ 3:04 am

      Guide helped me.

      Thank you!

      Reply

    • Zwt
      November 18, 2017 @ 12:50 am

      I can't find the correct directory with the windows folder. I've typed "dir a" through "dir z" and get the same message every time. It says "File not found. Volume in drive X is Boot. Volume serial number is XXXX" Any idea what I should do next? Thanks!!

      Reply

      • lakonst
        November 18, 2017 @ 10:14 am

        @Zwt: Try the following: Enter BIOS Setup and if the SATA Mode is RAID set it to AHCI and try to boot. If the boot fails, then set the BOOT TYPE to LEGACY and try to boot again. If fails again, then boot from the Windows installation media and find the Windows drive letter by following the below steps:
        1. Open command prompt as Admin
        2. Type BCDEDIT
        3. Look at the "osdevice" line the partition LETTER (e.g. "partition=C":)
        4. Follow the instructions in the tutorial to fix the partition table.

        Reply

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