Question BIOS may be corrupted (Closed, Unsolved?)

[Enjou]

So, Yesterday, I decided to try my hand at dual-booting Linux on my machine. I'd been running AtlusOS 11, a fork of Windows, which really doesn't function any different - just gets rid of bloatware.

Anyway, I couldn't boot to Linux from a USB because I used the wrong installer, so I formatted the drive and downloaded the Live version. I restarted my laptop for some reason, I forget why, and it gave me a BSOD that said I couldn't boot to windows. I changed my boot order in BIOS to use Windows Boot Manager first, instead of the USB. This didn't work, and I got the BS two more times. I found a fix to restore the EFI partition on my system Drive. Part of this fix had me associate a drive letter to this partition (K: in this case). However, it was around 2:00 am and I was tired, and had forgotten to anneal the drive letter from the partition - as it had been originally. Now, my device doesn't detect any bootable media, and using an installation disk doesn't show my system Drive, only an External SSD I use for Steam. Using DiskPart in the WRE only reveals the boot usb and the external drive, not the system Drive. BIOS sees the drive, though - Samsung NVME, 512 GB, all that. My question is, is there a way to remove the drive letter from the partition so I can at least get my bootloader back? Or am I just screwed?

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

bootrec /scanos?

 

[Enjou]

bootrec /scanos?

Still nothing, same as yesterday.

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Let's just try creating a new BCD manually from scratch.

bcdedit /createstore bcd
bcdedit /import bcd
del bcd
bcdedit /create {bootmgr}
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=E:
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
bcdedit /create {default} /application osloader
bcdedit /set {default} device partition=C:
bcdedit /set {default} path \Windows\system32\winload.efi
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=C:
bcdedit /set {default} systemroot \Windows

Then bcdedit to view and verify.

 

[Enjou]

bcdedit /create {default} /application osloader

This just says the entry identifier is invalid. I checked the syntax and it doesn't look like anything's missing. I tried osloader in lowercase and all caps, since it's in caps in the help menu.

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

This just says the entry identifier is invalid. I checked the syntax and it doesn't look like anything's missing. I tried osloader in lowercase and all caps, since it's in caps in the help menu.

Omit {default} from just that line, run it, then do bcdedit /default {<GUID>} where "GUID" is the text it gives you. Also, does your ESP contain any files or folders at all?

 

[Enjou]

Omit {default} from just that line, run it, then do bcdedit /default {<GUID>} where "GUID" is the text it gives you. Also, does your ESP contain any files or folders at all?

This is a stupid question... What's an esp..?

Side note, this worked, but now any /set request is met with "The Request is not supported"

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

This is a stupid question... What's an esp..?

The EFI System Partition, I've been calling it by the mountpoint we gave it: "E:". What is the output of these:

dir E:
dir E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot
dir C:\Windows\Boot
dir C:\Windows\Boot\EFI

C:\Windows\Boot\EFI and E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot should look the same minus the BCD.

 

[Enjou]

The EFI System Partition, I've been calling it by the mountpoint we gave it: "E:". What is the output of these:

dir E:
dir E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot
dir C:\Windows\Boot
dir C:\Windows\Boot\EFI

C:\Windows\Boot\EFI and E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot should look the same minus the BCD.

Okay yes, they all have files. E:\...\Boot and C:\...\EFI are full of them, the later displaying a LOT of locale data for languages.

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Okay yes, they all have files. E:\...\Boot and C:\...\EFI are full of them, the later displaying a LOT of locale data for languages.

Okay, good. That means that we should hopefully be good in that department, and just need to finish fixing up the BCD.

 

[Enjou]

Okay, good. That means that we should hopefully be good in that department, and just need to finish fixing up the BCD.

OK thank God. Still having issues, though. I'm getting variations of this;

X:\Sources>bcdedit /set {default} device partition=C:

An error has occurred setting the element data
The request is not supported

And I get this same error for all subsequent requests

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

OK thank God. Still having issues, though. I'm getting variations of this;

X:\Sources>bcdedit /set {default} device partition=C:

An error has occurred setting the element data
The request is not supported

And I get this same error for all subsequent requests

Find the value of identifier under Windows Boot Loader in bcdedit /enum all /v then do bcdedit /default <identifier> where "identifier" is the one you just read off including the curly brackets.

 

[Enjou]

Find the value of identifier under Windows Boot Loader in bcdedit /enum all /v then do bcdedit /default <identifier> where "identifier" is the one you just read off including the curly brackets.

And this says the system couldn't find the store - which is weird, because it should've been able to if all the previous commands exited successfully, right?

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

And this says the system couldn't find the store - which is weird, because it should've been able to if all the previous commands exited successfully, right?

Uh, yes. What does bcdedit /store E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD give?

 

[Enjou]

Uh, yes. What does bcdedit /store E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD give?

Store could not be opened, cannot find file specified...

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Let's start over.

cd /D E:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot
del BCD
bcdedit /createstore BCD
bcdedit /store BCD /create {bootmgr}
bcdedit /store BCD /set {bootmgr} device partition=E:
bcdedit /store BCD /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
bcdedit /store BCD /create /application osloader
bcdedit /store BCD /default <identifier>
bcdedit /store BCD /set {default} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store BCD /set {default} path \Windows\system32\winload.efi
bcdedit /store BCD /set {default} osdevice partition=C:
bcdedit /store BCD /set {default} systemroot \Windows

Where you set identifier as described previously.

 

[Enjou]

Store could not be opened, cannot find file specified...

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
Identifier - {bootmgr}
Device partition=G: (Or E:, in your examples)
Path -\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
default - {default}

Windows Boot Loader
--------------------
Identifier - {default}

 

[Enjou]

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
Identifier - {bootmgr}
Device partition=G: (Or E:, in your examples)
Path -\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
default - {default}

Windows Boot Loader
--------------------
Identifier - {default}

All that being said, still getting the same errors from earlier, despite the Bootloader Identifier being made

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

All that being said, still getting the same errors from earlier, despite the Bootloader Identifier being made

After starting over? It seems to be working on my machine. The same errors as in "An error has occurred setting the element data. The request is not supported."?

 

[Enjou]

After starting over? It seems to be working on my machine. The same errors as in "An error has occurred setting the element data. The request is not supported."?

Yeah, it's perfectly fine until I try to set the C: partition, and then it all goes awry

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Yeah, it's perfectly fine until I try to set the C: partition, and then it all goes awry

There must be something wrong with how it's mounted. Try \Device\HarddiskVolumeN instead of C:where "N" is the volume number of your Windows partition listed in list volume in diskpart. I think it should be 4 judging from before.

 

[Enjou]

There must be something wrong with how it's mounted. Try \Device\HarddiskVolumeN instead of C:where "N" is the volume number of your Windows partition listed in list volume in diskpart. I think it should be 4 judging from before.

More of the same.

G:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\> bcdedit /store BCD /set {default} device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume0

Error occurred while trying to reference the specified entry
The system cannot find the file specified

I STILL can't imagine why this is happening

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

More of the same.

G:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\> bcdedit /store BCD /set {default} device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume0

Error occurred while trying to reference the specified entry
The system cannot find the file specified

I STILL can't imagine why this is happening

It's showing "The system cannot find the file specified" even after creating it from scratch? Does bcdedit /store BCD give anything? It could also be that you didn't do the bcdedit /default as otherwise {default} will not exist. You can try using the identifier from before.

 

[Enjou]

It's showing "The system cannot find the file specified" even after creating it from scratch? Does bcdedit /store BCD give anything? It could also be that you didn't do the bcdedit /default as otherwise {default} will not exist. You can try using the identifier from before.

Yes;

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
Identifier.        {bootmgr}
Device.            Partition=G:
Path.              \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
default.           {GUID from earlier WAAAY too long}

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Yes;

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
Identifier.        {bootmgr}
Device.            Partition=G:
Path.              \EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI
default.           {GUID from earlier WAAAY too long}

Just try using the whole GUID instead of {default}.

 

[Enjou]

Just try using the whole GUID instead of {default}.

Nope, still not working. "Cannot find the file specified"