Cloned SSD to M.2 won't boot - "A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" Error 0xc000000e

[McSteebs]

So I cloned my Samsung Evo 850 using EaseUs Todo Backup to an ADATA m.2 NVME drive. I restarted my computer and set my bios to the new m.2 as the priority boot drive. My computer has been booting fine all week through this method until I decided to wipe my old EVO 850 drive (the source of the clone) since everything seemed to be running peachy. Here's where the issues began...

After reformatting the EVO 850, I tried shutting down my computer and it kept logging me out and logging me in - it wouldn't let me shut down. Finally, I went into control panel and turned off "fast boot" and then it shutdown. I turned my computer back on only to be met with the dreadful error:

"A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" Error 0xc000000e

All I can assume now is that although I was booting into windows through my m.2, my secondary SSD was somehow being pointed to during boot and when I reformatted, it screwed everything up. I did have two boot managers in my bios before reformatting (one for the EVO SSD, the other for the ADATA M.2). If it's worth mentioning too, there's two ADATA M.2 boot managers that show up in my bios but both lead to the same error above.

Thoughts on how to best fix this? Thanks.

 

[Snipergod87]

Try a windows repair, beyond that you may need a reinstall.
We always recommend before formatting the old drive unplug it first and make sure everything works as expected.

 

[McSteebs]

Try a windows repair, beyond that you may need a reinstall.
We always recommend before formatting the old drive unplug it first and make sure everything works as expected.

I read this on another forum and am wondering if it's a viable solution?

"I ran into this same issue cloning my OS drive to a new SSD and was able to resolve it.
I noticed I had two Windows Boot Manager listed that pointed to the original drive.
1: I downloaded BootIce v1.3.4 by Pualy.
2: I went to the UEFI tab>> Edit boot entries button
3: There were two Windows Boot Manger listed in the listbox on the left, they both pointed to the same hard drive.
4: I selected one of them and changed it to point to my new SSD>> Click Save current boot entry button. 5: When I rebooted and went into the BIOS i was able to change the boot priority to the Windows Boot Manager of the new drive.
Success! I am now typing this from the Windows 10 loaded from the new SSD."

 

[captaincharisma]

thats what it sounds like. when you were imaging the M.2 drive was your secondary SSD still connected?

 

[McSteebs]

thats what it sounds like. when you were imaging the M.2 drive was your secondary SSD still connected?

I'm not sure I understand. I had to have it connected for it to be cloned. What do you mean exactly by imaging?

 

[captaincharisma]

thats what it sounds like. when you were imaging the M.2 drive was your secondary SSD still connected?

I'm not sure I understand. I had to have it connected for it to be cloned. What do you mean exactly by imaging?

sorry i meant to say cloning imagining is kind of the same thing., if you still had the secondary SSD still connected after cloning it to your new SSD then booting back into windows it does sound like it was using your secondary drive as your OS drive and not your new one

 

[McSteebs]

thats what it sounds like. when you were imaging the M.2 drive was your secondary SSD still connected?

I'm not sure I understand. I had to have it connected for it to be cloned. What do you mean exactly by imaging?

sorry i meant to say cloning imagining is kind of the same thing., if you still had the secondary SSD still connected after cloning it to your new SSD then booting back into windows it does sound like it was using your secondary drive as your OS drive and not your new one

I was able to boot into both drives separately when choosing them in the bios. It would automatically change the Cdrive to either the m.2 or EVO 850 based on which one I booted into. Both worked great at booting into windows on their own until I formatted the secondary EVO 850.

 

[captaincharisma]

thats what it sounds like. when you were imaging the M.2 drive was your secondary SSD still connected?

I'm not sure I understand. I had to have it connected for it to be cloned. What do you mean exactly by imaging?

sorry i meant to say cloning imagining is kind of the same thing., if you still had the secondary SSD still connected after cloning it to your new SSD then booting back into windows it does sound like it was using your secondary drive as your OS drive and not your new one

I was able to boot into both drives separately when choosing them in the bios. It would automatically change the Cdrive to either the m.2 or EVO 850 based on which one I booted into. Both worked great at booting into windows on their own until I formatted the secondary EVO 850.

in that case windows likely rewrote something because you have 2 separate windows installs. when cloning it is recommended to disconnect the source drive before booting afterwards

 

[McSteebs]

thats what it sounds like. when you were imaging the M.2 drive was your secondary SSD still connected?

I'm not sure I understand. I had to have it connected for it to be cloned. What do you mean exactly by imaging?

sorry i meant to say cloning imagining is kind of the same thing., if you still had the secondary SSD still connected after cloning it to your new SSD then booting back into windows it does sound like it was using your secondary drive as your OS drive and not your new one

I was able to boot into both drives separately when choosing them in the bios. It would automatically change the Cdrive to either the m.2 or EVO 850 based on which one I booted into. Both worked great at booting into windows on their own until I formatted the secondary EVO 850.

in that case windows likely rewrote something because you have 2 separate windows installs. when cloning it is recommended to disconnect the source drive before booting afterwards

So besides reformating what are my options? Is windows repair really only the last option?

 

[Vicentola]

Try a windows repair, beyond that you may need a reinstall.
We always recommend before formatting the old drive unplug it first and make sure everything works as expected.

I read this on another forum and am wondering if it's a viable solution?

"I ran into this same issue cloning my OS drive to a new SSD and was able to resolve it.
I noticed I had two Windows Boot Manager listed that pointed to the original drive.
1: I downloaded BootIce v1.3.4 by Pualy.
2: I went to the UEFI tab>> Edit boot entries button
3: There were two Windows Boot Manger listed in the listbox on the left, they both pointed to the same hard drive.
4: I selected one of them and changed it to point to my new SSD>> Click Save current boot entry button. 5: When I rebooted and went into the BIOS i was able to change the boot priority to the Windows Boot Manager of the new drive.
Success! I am now typing this from the Windows 10 loaded from the new SSD."

Hey, I'm having exactly the same issue you had getting an error message as windows won't boot after cleaning my old HDD. I had it cloned to a new SSD I bought and the computer did boot when I physically removed the HDD (before I had it cleaned) and booted from the SSD only.

I would like to try the solution you posted, but I don't know how to do it since my PC won't boot. How do you install and run BootIce on a computer that is not booting?