LFC

Deep dive video on a custom build not booting due to bootmgr not found error. Below are some time stamps to key locations for 'quick fixes' but if you don't know what you're doing, it's important to understand the reason for this fault as well as knowing how to resolve it.
8:50 - Backup with with Drive Snapshot
32:15 - The Quick Fixes
37:16 - Vanilla Install, Restore Win Partition Only method

[@Adamant_IT]

This video's picking up views again, so here's a pinned comment: As a lot of people in the comments have noted - and I've learned since doing this repair - the likely issue with being unable to do bootrec /scanos or /rebuildbcd is that it's a Legacy windows install and my flash drive was booted in UEFI mode. You can boot a Win 10 flash drive in Legacy mode as well if you disable UEFI in the BIOS, or select it from the boot menu, and this will likely solve the problem. Another possible fix is to format the 'system' partition at the start of the drive to erase the boot manager altogether, and then there won't be any write-protection blocking stuff. If all else fails though, the strategy I use in this video is still an option.

[@JonathanGray89]

FYI, I would never consider it an option to install a copy of Windows just to use the bootloader. It's actually not that difficult to create the system partition from scratch. With a freshly formatted system partition it's basically just a matter of running a bcdboot command, then rebuilding the BCD (after running the fixmbr and fixboot commands if necessary). I don't think running fixboot would even be necessary since it seems like the bcdboot command takes care of pretty much everything. Also I see the partition is already set as active so I can't even imagine what fixboot would do at that point, now that I think about it.

[@johno9163]

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to find this channel. I have learned so much more in just a short time. And I have been working with computers for nearly 20 years. Thanks for the extremely well done and informative videos!

[@dilbyjones]

Dudes are cool ‘ smart

[@spacecy]

+1

[@nettyvoyager6336]

@@spacecy you will not learn anything from him he does it all arse about backward what is a 2 min job he makes 3 days for no reason !

[@roger_985]

That trick of restoring just the main partition on top of a fresh install of windows is genius! Fixing boot manager problems almost never works and using this method seems to be the most efficient solution I've ever seen. The best part is this one method can solve multiple different boot manager, or active system partition problems that prevent windows from booting. I will use this technique in the future. Great video.

[@green122s]

Really well-organized and informative video. Have gone through many of your videos lately and find them lots of fun and well planned. Thanks for all of your hard work!

[@PoeLemic]

This is very helpful. I just wish I'd been able to watch you years ago and learn this more quickly, than having to go through it 5 to 10 times until I learned what you are teaching.

[@0flyswatter0]

You injecting that old Windows partition into the new one was a DUH! moment for me. Thanks!

[@Zippyblack]

I love all of your videos man. Love knowing how to fix any problems I'm gonna come across with computers!

[@dilbyjones]

Zippyblack yep

[@chipblood]

I've been addicted to your videos. So much great information and your style is laid back and fun. I've learned a ton from watching you. Thank you so much! Health and longevity to you my friend.

[@mike5058]

I'm a fairly new subscriber and have burned through several dozen videos in a few weeks. Very informative. I come from the automotive diagnostic world and I really appreciate your systematic approach to everything you diagnose. Keep up the great work.

[@johnhagen31]

Absolutely fascinating, great reference material - thank you! I always appreciate your work but this one is massively useful.

[@elizabethtorres6069]

At frame 2:10, I paused the video and took a guess at the drive, memory or another underlined problem that only Graham can find. Today I definitely learned something new. Love watching you work and me trying to figure out what it could be. There is something relaxing about fixing, repairing electrical devices and someone doing it as well. Thank you for today's video.

[@LetsFixSomething]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, experiences and your methods you use to make repairs done easier! Best Regards from Greece, stay safe 🙏

[@techluvin7691]

Yup, a quality channel. Straightforward and to the point with no flair. Love the fact that he mentions all the tools he uses.

[@MatrixGaimz]

I don't even have this issue but this was a learning experience for me! I learnt tons. Shall watch your content more than I have in the past from now on.

[@goldfishapps]

Your an amazing teacher. I think poeple will learn from you so easily because of your clear style of communication.

[@supremelawfirm]

Really clear, super accurate presentation here! FYI: we struggled with drive images that were being corrupted while they were being written. Fast-forward to the solution: an upper region of Corsair DDR2 had failed after several years of flawless reliability. I should have checked that much sooner. The way I discovered that failed RAM was this: I upgraded the motherboard BIOS, and the default setting DISABLED QUICK BOOT. In that POST mode, it tested memory thoroughly and I noticed that it stopped short of enumerating the total amount of RAM installed. AHA! I replaced that old DDR2 with brand new G.SKILL, and our original problem was fixed. Bottom Line: switching the motherboard BIOS to SLOW BOOT MODE could be a quick and useful way to check RAM. And, you were absolutely correct to recommend that RAM be tested separately.

[@dcfuelbrother5914]

Great Video, great content, you got a real talent explaining these topics on your channel. Been fumbling with PCs since 20 years and still learning as things evolve. Wish I had seen this video 1 year ago when my server died just as seen here with a Bootmgr error (most likely the SSD went kaputt). Subscribed! Keep it up, cheers from Germany.

[@jeremyschaefer2178]

Hi Jeremungo here from the US. Like your channel. Currently watching all the episodes as I just found your channel. Good job explaining things, I don't think I could tell people so well myself even though I have the knowledge.

[@PantherDave]

I just discovered your channel, and I'm loving it! I work on computers for a living myself. Many of our techniques like this are the same, but you explain it very well and I know I'll learn something. My only suggestion here is I would want to run chkdsk and sfc on the main system partition because there's a good chance there's some filesystem damage there as well. Anyways, keep up the great content!

[@hadireg]

that last technique is awesome... good to know when the quick fixes fail. recommended to know what win previously installed... just in case. Thanks for sharing mate! cheers!

[@tonyweavers4292]

Brilliant video, thanks. Over the years I've encountered BOOTMGR problems and always struggled to fix it without a full install. I mainly use Ubuntu now, but occasionally have a need for Windows.

[@AyFrame]

Great video, well presented and understandable, thanks for taking the time to make and upload much appreciated

[@smiths7317]

I had similar problem, but windows would say there are missing files, and then the system would enter windows recovery which then restarted the system, and said bootmgr is missing,and spent hours running round in circles trying to diagnose,and fix the problem. I tried re-building the BCD, but the error messege was still present, and did everything under the sun but would not budge at all! Resorted backup everything up using utility, and then re-install windows on the drive, and then restore everything back onto it. Which actually worked very well! Thanks for doing this video, has been great help! ~Stay Safe!

[@joenathan8262]

I know this video is pretty old now, but if you read this, please try using "bootrec /RebuildBCD" from CMD. This has always worked for me and, while I'm sure there will always be those that require that last option (which was brilliant btw) I think you might be able to streamline a few repairs this way. Anyway, thanks for the content! Love your channel! You were my first exposure to board repair. Thank you for doing what you do! Wish you well

[@TimBoundy]

The section where you talk about your recovery tool seeing 4 partitions but disk manager only seeing 3 and there being no pattern - disk manager is seeing the GPT partitions. Your recovery tool is likely also seeing the MBR protection partition that tells legacy tools that don't understand GPT not to overwrite the GPT data. The original install used MBR legacy boot, the new install uses UEFI/GPT.

[@Oniraz]

Very thorough troubleshooting. Phenomenal!

[@DJaquithFL]

Excellent information and tutorial. I've been watching many of your videos and it's it's like a "who's done it." While I'm reasonably good with computers, it's always fun to watch people's solutions. You've got me thinking about getting a BIOS flashing tool. My general "home" setup is an SSD for replaceable data AKA boot drive (OS, Apps, replaceable data), RAID 1 (documents, media, system backup, etc) and a Synology NAS. Thankfully I learned this lesson well. Very early on.

[@jonathanlilje6869]

Thank you Thank You THANK YOU! I have been looking for a solution like for soooo long. I am so grateful for this video!

[@drsmith3411]

Super excellent! Glad I found you, Now off I go to try it myself. Thanks!

[@asherperlmuter]

To fix the "access is denied" issue at 34:53 after /fixboot, run: "bootsect /nt60 sys" (without quotes) And then rerun /fixboot

[@CoMmAnDrX]

That doesn't always work. I've had to completely rebuild the EFI partition via diskpart in most cases.

[@asherperlmuter]

@@CoMmAnDrX it has yet to fail me

[@Appri]

can't believe I didn't find htis earlier, I had to just copy over files manually to a new windows install.

[@donaldfilbert4832]

Superb !! God knows I have mucked about trying to do this several times before !! Thanks for the roadmap !!!! ;)

[@HangingWithDan]

Very informative and lots of knowledge. Well done! I work with computers as well, so hearing about all these other free software's I can use to fix future builds or computers for other people is great! Thanks Adamant IT! P.S. You should have more subscribers ;)

[@Ottonic6]

After running the fixboot commands etc... and restarting, a lot of times it will boot (the first time) into Windows, but after going into Windows then restarting from there it will fail. It happened to me. But you didn't try it again so we'll never know with your example. I'm glad you didn't stop there cause I needed what came next... Thank you!

[@deesoundrecordingstudio9739]

thanks, the best windows fix ive ever seen. instead of looking for ever on Microsoft web site and dodgy help sites. im keeping this for future reference cheers

[@wasupwitdat1mofiki94]

That was very interesting. Thanks for spending your time to educate us. I hope I never have to do this but one never knows.

[@Pflanzenritter29-old]

Macrium Reflect is also an excellent choice for image backups or drive cloning. It has an outstanding GUI.

[@Pflanzenritter29-old]

@Data Land Atleast from a normal consumer standpoint it was super easy to use and worked without any issues for me!

[@Saabjock]

Great video...very good explanation as well.

[@rolfsinkgraven]

Just found this video, it was a life saver thnx great solution.

[@Roc_City_PC]

the extra partitions usually indicates that you loaded windows in uefi so youll have an efi part. if loaded in legacy youll just have your sys res, main and recovery part.

[@Ashkalun]

36:50 Now THAT is a classy desktop background!

[@cecilandrews1875]

Excellent video,most helpful.

[@Neelfy01]

Excellent video Adam Even though I have fixed things like this before its always great to see how to do it more effectively and efficiently. Of course hoping not to have problems to have to do this in the first place (touch wood) :-D Thanks and More videos like this please ;-)

[@martinnash007]

Very interesting and informative. I had this exact same problem recently with a clients PC and in the end it resulted in a reinstallation of Windows. I wish I had known about that snapshot utility as I had to manually restore the clients data and programs. The end result was the same, it just took a little longer.

[@garrygemmell5676]

Just use Hirens boot cd for diagnostics if you dont have a spare pc! Hard drive docks with usb and esata are a lifesaver! Love the channel dude much more interesting, professional and far less pretentious than Linus!

[@Kallekringla3]

Wow. I really learned some things here! Thank you!

[@ReaperOfHarts]

You have given me 3 essential tools already. I know your mbr fix is going to come in handy i have already had to nuke my pc a few times and im planning on using snapshot to keep regular backups

[@xdmkii]

That MSI startup screen is hideous. BTW enjoying your videos and learning about these computer things.

[@platterjockey]

Thank you sir! I learned stuff I never knew before!

[@howtochannel3522]

Thanks for this video You make thing very easy to be learned.

[@magrathean0]

Incredible channel. Thank you

[@maciejszajnicki4479]

This is pure gold. Thanks!

[@Lardzor]

@47:10 you talk about the partitions created by the Windows installer. Those are because you used DiskPart to clean the partition scheme from the destination disk. Windows created a new partition scheme, and it defaulted to the newer GPT scheme. The EFI and 16MB Reserved partitions are needed with the newer more modern GPT partition scheme. The original Windows drive used an MBR partition scheme which does not need the EFI and 16MB Reserved partitions. That's why your backup doesn't include those. If you wan't to replicate the original partition scheme. Then use Windows Drive Manager to convert the GPT drive to MBR. Then install Windows with a drive that has been pre-designated as MBR. EDIT: One of the main advantages of the GPT partition scheme is being able to create partitions larger than 2TB. This was an MBR limitation.

[@BWGPEI]

There is more than one way to skin that Windows cat, but the sure fire method is my favorite as well. Thank you from Canada!

[@WTFShelley]

@33:26 anyone else notice the directory called "shitposts"........i see you are a man of culture too

[@stevesales4263]

Brilliant video. Thank you.

[@coniferviveur3788]

Excellent presentation.

[@BP-sf7br]

Only one word... Excellent...👍👍👍

[@ProtekNickz]

Great work, i usually just restore a boot copy from a clean working image i previously have backed up.

[@bardos]

another great video tutorial, thx

[@TheOliveboy93]

Meanwhile my Kingston SSD coming up on 7 years

[@gpowerdragon9852]

Amazing teacher this guy he is pretty easy to follow the slow talking is doing it well

[@PapaMav]

Great vid. Thank you. I hope never to have to, but know where to go if I have this problem !

[@davidgriffin79]

Interesting and very useful; thanks.

[@CedrickSamolot]

Loving your videos...just curious as to why you didn't use a Linux USB flash to fix the bootmgr after you wrote the image onto the new drive instead of using windows?

[@sidneysnottley6414]

Great vid - Great channel .. Many Thanks.

[@ChaoticEnigma92]

@2:07 this man said "commit sudoku". I can't🤣

[@garyr7027]

I like back to the floppy days when you could put a startup disc in and do command prompts to fix MBR issues... that was fun. Last time I had a MBR error was on windows 7, can't even recall how I fix it, but I'm 99 percent sure I used a spare machine to do it, as I always had more than one build laying around. I haven't done without PC parts since the day I got my first 98 machine. Real handy to have around when diagnosing parts.

[@Anxel]

"Commit sudoku" Glad someone else uses that too.

[@Blueballon]

this i had much use of, thank you :D

[@madarameikkaku5144]

I love your videos, they are so interesting and you explain everything very clear. I'm building a new pc and I'm planning to move from a HHD to an SSD. I have windows installed on the HDD. However, I'm planning to have Windows on the SSD, and as I want to keep the HHD I was thinking to install first Windows on the SSD and then plug in my HDD and delete the partition which has the old Windows on it. Do you think that this is going to generate some kind of issue? Thanks.

[@spex357]

Excellent info.

[@Marcolfx]

I loved that phrase "bootmgr doesn't commit sudoku on its own" :D

[@LiorChuna]

wow, thanks, very smart way to rescue a damaged windows.

[@stub1116]

Really good video.

[@kenjunge2768]

Nice work!

[@arthurdanielles4784]

Talking about partitions and how strange it is re windows allocations it amuses me to see you install as D - I remember back in the earl 2000s trying to install a CD drive on an XP system that had Drive C Hard disk Drive D Hard disk and CD rom? Uhh E? NO! It would not recognise the CD rom unit and I spent literally HOURS trying to figure what was the problem? ☺☺Oh yes wonderful MS ☺☺ removing the D hard drive and the system instantly recognised and installed the CD rom unit. Re installing the extra hard disk and its drive letter changed accordingly. A lesson never forgotten !☺☺☺

[@LordRaven256]

At the start of the video after you described the error I was like: "Yep, the hard drive is busted". I've seen this many times - it's almost always the boot drive going bad.

[@ProximoNovio]

The quick fixes actually always work even with errors

[@Fox420]

28:40 A handy way around this cloning onto a larger drive problem, is to boot into linux and use Gparted, that way you can move the restore partition to the end of the drive and expand the main partition into the empty space between. no need to kill partitions just because windows sucks at editing partitions properly hah. cool vid tho

[@TheSauronchik]

Great video! Now I gonna buy new SSD, because mine is about to die about... yesterday xD Will use this image snap whatever program.

[@Pochaco2007]

When you right click on the start menu, you can go straight to the disk management. It's the 7th option from top to botton.

[@TrialMacameau]

One tool I use the most for knowing how much life left is on my drives is HDD Sentinel.

[@peterpiper2908]

This is good, I like the clean install for the boot and restore of the main windows partition from the image. The only thing I was thinking was although there was clearly damage to the boot partition, how do you know that there was not more subtle damage to other partitions? It could potentially cause programs to not run or crash. I would have tried to just pull off any important documents and images the customer wanted to keep and gone for the full clean install on the new SSD. It is more work, but it would be clean and would give peace of mind that OS and program files were clean. Maybe this is an option you give to the customer?

[@dnakatomiuk]

I've never managed to get it to fix itself from Windows 98, XP all through to Windows 10. If I have issues I just restore and image I make each month. I'm still rocking a Crucial M4 128gb SSD from 9 years ago and it's got a broken connector it snapped off in the sata cable. I did replace it with a Crucial 240gb but when building my new Ryzen build it kept BSOD with the 240gb but the 128gb it didn't. So the 240gb is now a gaming drive Is that GPU in the correct slot x16 thought they always are at the top of the slots

[@jamesdean5418]

mate you are fantastic!!!!!!!!!

[@dmatthews251]

What is the brand of cordless screwdriver you use and where did you get it? Does it stand up to the rigors of bench work?

[@changhsieh459]

Is it possible to restore boot manager from another machine? Since it is such a low level function. Or is it built specific?

[@aguiristante]

Very good. Thank you

[@badejong]

Great tutorial and diag. I would appreciate it if you create links to the programs you are using to fix issues. It will be helpful.

[@claytonbivens4941]

what's another image software that you use currently or do you still use the snapshot software?

[@geraldharkness8830]

great tutorial

[@marcellipovsky8222]

The same problems can happen while cloning a larger drive to smaller SSD. The new drives partition has to be able to boot so it must be ACTIVE While in the repair CMD enter "diskpart" (in this case the drive is 0 list disk select disk 0 list part select part 1 active exit Then use following commands: BootRec /FixMbr BootRec /FixBoot BootRec /ScanOS BootRec /RebuildBcd the Access denied issue, if I remember correctly, you have to disable the secure boot in the BIOS or try to switch to Legacy instead of UEFI. After you fix things, you can revert the BIOS settings.

[@Adamant_IT]

Active shouldn't matter on Windows 10 because it's all GPT these days - only MBR has an Active partition IIRC... However, may help people in Win 7, and rest of that is solid advice 👌

[@marcellipovsky8222]

@@Adamant_IT it sure will help if you upgraded your old windows 7 to windows 10. Thats what I've done a lot the past 6 months.

[@Ivansgarage]

Love your videos, what is the easiest way to clone a hard drive, wanna go from a spinning drive to SSD... and is it easier just to use a second computer so windows is not running.... ie: USB to USB Thanks

[@jamesester7334]

any newbies building a system, ALWAYS disconnect any other hard drives PRIOR to installing your Windows installation on the BOOT SSD. The OS does have a habit of putting the BOOTMGR on one of the other drive(s), I assume related to what order they are showing in the BIOS, so if your mechanical hard drive is device 1 in BIOS then that may have BOOTMGR put on it, if it fails or is formatted then missing BOOTMGR occurs. Once Windows has finished installing, run updates until it is up-to-date, switch off, plug your other drives back in, then run disk management when you reboot back into Windows.

[@dainipeagram4837]

Does SUDO work from a windows flash drive? If so, it might fix the access denied issue?

[@garyhart6421]

I had that on a Clone of my main SSD drive --- fixed it but it now is counting down the activation timer (not accepting the original key ? Win 7 out of date ?).

[@arthurdanielles4784]

Wasn't the older computer boot manager files known as 'config.sys' ?

[@chrishexx3360]

I always disconnect any other drives when running the Windows Installer. I never trust it to put all the relevant partitions on the drive you want.

[@gulam82]

this is difficult with NVMe drives that are hidden away behind other components

[@crylune]

@@gulam82Not an issue on NVMe only SATA drives

[@fido139]

I've been using SSD's for years now, nary a glitch yet. Personally I recommend Samsung SSD's.

[@emptyplanet]

yeah Samsung is a master in term of reliability and speed

[@pig12900]

bought a samsung ssd and life couldnt get better mate

[@amyfranchuk6704]

Samsung is good if you’re willing to pay about 1.5x what they’e worth. I’ve never had a problem with any WD drive, and they’re much more reasonably priced for their performance.

[@AJ-hn8qw]

been running a samsung m.2 950 pro. non stop since sept 2016

[@jordanranstead3016]

SK hynix is good too

[@nikhilchaudhary7706]

How do you screen record while the system was not haveing any os? I'm a learner and found your way of organizing things and data well-managed.