The Windows 10 Inaccessible Boot Device error is not something we ever want to see when we boot a computer. It means Windows cannot access your boot drive for some reason. It can be caused by software or a hardware failure but there are a few things we can do. So if you need to fix the Windows 10 Inaccessible Boot Device error, read on!
The Inaccessible Boot Device error is caused when Windows cannot read or access the partition it boots from. This can be caused by drive failure or file corruption. Let’s look at file corruption first.
Fix Windows 10 Inaccessible Boot Device errors
There are a series of actions you can take to troubleshoot these errors. Try each in sequence and then reboot and retest. If it doesn’t work, move on to the next. If it does, no need to continue.
1. Boot Windows into Safe Mode from your installation media. Once in safe mode, reboot back into normal mode.
2. Boot Windows into Safe Mode from your installation media and select Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Type or paste ‘Chkdsk /f /r’. Allow the process to complete and any file repairs to be made.
3. Re-install your IDE driver while in safe mode.
4. Go into your BIOS and ensure your boot drive is set up correctly. It should be AHCI for an SSD or IDE for an HDD.
5. Boot into Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options and select ‘Last known good configuration’ and restore.
6. Swap SATA or IDE cables for known working ones.
7. Swap the power cable feeding your boot drive with a known working one.
8. Boot Windows into Safe Mode from your installation media and select Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Type or paste ‘bootrec /rebuildbcd’, then ‘bootrec /fixmbr’, then ‘bootrec /fixboot’.
9. Reinstall Windows 10.
I left the ‘bootrec’ commands until last because they can cause issues of their own. Considering the step after that is to reinstall Windows 10, you don’t have much to lose at that point!
Configure Windows 10 with these tutorials:
How to enable support for legacy file shares
How to change owner of file, folder, drive, or registry key in Windows 10
How to run the SFC Command at boot in Windows 10
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