Question Need Help! Please.

[Axk29]

So I have a Windows 10 system.
It's working fine last week until maybe 5-6 days ago where I suddenly got an error of it not booting due to not finding Windows. It suggested I take out all Drives I had and just keep the one with Windows so I did. It worked.

But since then I've been getting Windows Boot Manager. Windows have failed to start. I was able to find a workaround by switching UEFI to CSM. (It was working fine with UEFI until recently). Then booted my OS that way. I was even able to update my BIOS to latest to prepare for a CPU I'm upgrading to.

Finally this morning, maybe it finally broke completely now when I try to boot I get a message "bootmgr is missing" C+A+Del to restart. If I'm not booting it goes to the MSI BIOS loop. I've tried to fix it myself although I'm not sure if I did something wrong and broke it or not.

- I tried going back and forth in the BIOS to enable UEFI again to see if it would work. Paid attention to boot order and such. Same problem. I do have a MBR drive not GPT and Ik I'm suppose to have it on GPT but it didn't really act up until a week ago so I wasn't sure what happened. Not sure if updating BIOS completely broke it but I was able to use it for a couple days and even this morning despite the BIOS being updated.
- Cause I could even access anything Windows at this point, I downloaded a Windows Installation and put it in the USB. Tried repairing it but for some reason it's not really doing anything not sure if it's cuz its on a USB and it doesn't detect my C drive (this is where I have windows installed).
- Googled some more things then tried going to CMD via USB, did bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot (I get access denied here) when I put this command bootrec /rebuildbcd I see Windows installation in the F: drive for some reason when I only have it installed in my C: drive. Oh another thing, at some point, not sure what command I put but even the OS in the USB broke too, it showed the same error I had with my C drive about "Windows Boot Manager. Windows have failed to start" (Had to leave for work after this so I redownloaded the Windows Installation on the USB again.)
- Now I'm kinda out of options, not sure what I did and else I can do. I have important date in my C drive, it is still detectable but Windows just doesn't boot. My final desperation attempt will be getting an SSD(which I do plan on doing regardless) doing a fresh Windows install there and go from here.
- I do wonder what happens if I have 2 windows installations in 2 different drives. Is there a way to like combine them back? I would still prefer if my Windows is in the older C drive I have, is there a way to combine them if I do end up doing the fresh install in a new drive?

Thank you for reading this far. Will be home in a couple of hours to try out some other things. Would appreciate any help I can get. I would also prefer not to lose data in my C: drive as it is important.

System specs
CPU: 12400f -> will be upgrading to 13600k
GPU: 4070 ti GIGABYTE Gaming
RAM: 32 GB Ripjaws DDR4
Motherboard: MSI PRO B660M-A WIFI DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard
PSU: EVGA 750W
Have multiple SSD + HDD: 2 SSD (Samsung EVO 850 and Samsung 970 NVMe) C: and K: 3 more HDD they're old but they are my D: E: F: drive. Used for just storage (not sure why F was detected to have Windows)

 

[Aeacus]

Is there a way to like combine them back?

No.

My final desperation attempt will be getting an SSD(which I do plan on doing regardless) doing a fresh Windows install there and go from here.

This is only viable option.

Data recovery steps:
1. Get any empty drive of your choosing.
2. Remove all other drives from the PC.
3. Connect empty drive to PC and make sure it shows up in BIOS. Also, set it as 1st boot priority.
4. Install Win10 onto it. Guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/windows-10-clean-install-tutorial.3170366/
5. Once the Win10 is installed and you can boot to OS, you can now use your PC.
6. Plug back the old OS drive. DO NOT set it to boot from. Instead, use it as a data drive.
7. Copy/paste personal data from old OS drive to the new OS drive.
8. Do not copy/paste programs. Instead, download installers from the net and install all programs again.
9. Once you've gotten everything needed from the old OS drive, format it. This way, you can use it as additional empty data drive, without corrupted files on it.
10. Plug all your other drives back to the system.
11. And you're golden.

I do wonder what happens if I have 2 windows installations in 2 different drives.

Nothing. One drive, where OS is booted off, acts as a system drive. While 2nd drive acts as a data drive.

In my systems, i have two OS drives hooked up. 1st one is the main C:/ drive, that i boot off. 2nd one is 1:1 clone of OS drive, with bootable OS on it. That, just in case something happens with main OS drive and i need to access my PCs.

Actually, it already happened once and i was able to easily recover my system.
Namely, initially, i had OS on 960 Evo 500 GB NVMe SSD. I bought 970 Evo Plus 2TB and made 1:1 clone to it, while keeping old 960 Evo and 2nd bootable drive.
Sadly, within 30 days of usage of my 970 Evo Plus, it completely died and system automatically booted off from 960 Evo. I RMA'd the dead drive, got brand new replacement, made another 1:1 clone and now, 2nd 970 Evo Plus i have, have worked ~4 years without issues. But i still keep my old 960 Evo hooked to the system, as redundancy.

 

[Ralston18]

If you can boot the system then open the Disk Management window.

Expand the window so all can be seen.

Take a screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com) > New Post.

Is all important data backed up?

 

[Aeacus]

Oh, forgot to add;

You can easily change drive letters from Disk Management. So, even when new, empty drive shows up as D:/, you can change it back to C:/ (if Win installer doesn't do it for you). Same with all other drives actually. You can assign any free drive letter to them.

E.g let's say you have old OS drive as D:/ and another data drive as E:/, but you want to switch them. Then, just set the old OS drive from D:/ to e.g J:/, data drive from E:/ to D:/ and old OS drive to E:/.

E.g in my system, drive letters are:
C:/ - OS drive
D:/ - data drive
E:/ - 1:1 clone of data drive (backup drive)
F:/ - ODD
G:/ - 9in1 card reader
H:/ - 9in1 card reader
I:/ - 1:1 clone of OS drive (backup, bootable drive)
J:/ - 9in1 card reader
K:/ - 9in1 card reader
M:/ - removable USB drive (for my USB thumb drive)

 

[Axk29]

6. Plug back the old OS drive. DO NOT set it to boot from. Instead, use it as a data drive.
7. Copy/paste personal data from old OS drive to the new OS drive.

6. What do you mean by DO NOT set it to boot from? Like put the old OS down in priority?
7. Personal data are the ones in Desktop/Documents and stuff right? Just making sure.

9. Once you've gotten everything needed from the old OS drive, format it. This way, you can use it as additional empty data drive, without corrupted files on it.

I want to use the old OS drive as the main drive. since it is only 500GB and the new one I'll be getting will be 1TB, I'd prefer it having the OS and maybe some other stuff

 

[Axk29]

If you can boot the system then open the Disk Management window.

Expand the window so all can be seen.

Take a screenshot and post the screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com) > New Post.

Is all important data backed up?

I'll try to boot it up. But no luck when I left home this morning, I'll prob try the other SSD as a OS first then go from there. Important data aren't really backed up since it kind of broke suddenly so I didn't really anticipate it.

 

[Axk29]

Oh, forgot to add;

You can easily change drive letters from Disk Management. So, even when new, empty drive shows up as D:/, you can change it back to C:/ (if Win installer doesn't do it for you). Same with all other drives actually. You can assign any free drive letter to them.

E.g let's say you have old OS drive as D:/ and another data drive as E:/, but you want to switch them. Then, just set the old OS drive from D:/ to e.g J:/, data drive from E:/ to D:/ and old OS drive to E:/.

E.g in my system, drive letters are:
C:/ - OS drive
D:/ - data drive
E:/ - 1:1 clone of data drive (backup drive)
F:/ - ODD
G:/ - 9in1 card reader
H:/ - 9in1 card reader
I:/ - 1:1 clone of OS drive (backup, bootable drive)
J:/ - 9in1 card reader
K:/ - 9in1 card reader
M:/ - removable USB drive (for my USB thumb drive)

Doesn't that break file pathings for programs? If I change the letters?

 

[SyCoREAPER]

If the boot manager is missing, the easiest thing to do is install Linux as a Dual-Boot, let it discover Windows and use its (Linux's) boot manager. After that you can repair or better yet just recover what you need and reinstall Windows.

 

[Axk29]

If the boot manager is missing, the easiest thing to do is install Linux as a Dual-Boot, let it discover Windows and use its (Linux's) boot manager. After that you can repair or better yet just recover what you need and reinstall Windows.

I have 0 experience with Linux so you're gonna have to walk me through that or at least lead me to the right direction of where to find information to do that.

 

[Aeacus]

6. What do you mean by DO NOT set it to boot from? Like put the old OS down in priority?

Yes. Either put it way back in boot priority, or don't include it at all in boot priority list in BIOS.

7. Personal data are the ones in Desktop/Documents and stuff right? Just making sure.

Yes.

Also any other saved files of projects/images/videos you may have on your old OS drive (may not be located under Documents).
E.g Steam and it's games, namely game screenshots are located elsewhere, than in Documents folder. Same may be with game save files, if game doesn't have cloud saves.

I want to use the old OS drive as the main drive. since it is only 500GB and the new one I'll be getting will be 1TB, I'd prefer it having the OS and maybe some other stuff

It is unknown why your OS got corrupted. Could be drive failure. So, i wouldn't risk it using OS on it again.

But if you must, then steps would be;
9. Once you've gotten everything needed from the old OS drive, format it. Then, either install Win10 back to it (starting from step #2) or make 1:1 clone of current OS drive. If the old OS drive is Samsung, you can use Samsung Magician to easily clone the OS over.

Doesn't that break file pathings for programs? If I change the letters?

Off-drive shortcuts would be affected. E.g shortcut on your desktop that should open folder on D:/ but when you change the drive letter to E:/, you need to modify the shortcut.

Win would default the install drive letter to C:/. So, there would be no actual need to change OS drive letter.
But programs installed may also act up.
Further reading: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/change-a-drive-letter

I have 0 experience with Linux so you're gonna have to walk me through that or at least lead me to the right direction of where to find information to do that.

Guide here: https://pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

I used the very same guide years ago, to make live, bootable Linux Mint on my USB thumb drive. I keep it around as last resort redundancy, whereby i can use it to boot into any PC of my choosing (PC doesn't even need to have SSD/HDD for me to operate the PC).

 

[SyCoREAPER]

I have 0 experience with Linux so you're gonna have to walk me through that or at least lead me to the right direction of where to find information to do that.

Most user friendly approach is Ubuntu, IMO crap OS but new user friendly. Download the ISO from their site.
Make a bootable USB drive with the ISO with Rufus.
Reboot with the drive in.
Follow each step one at a time. It's a lot like Win 10 or 11 setup but with a nicer GUI.
(This is where things probably changed since I last dual booted) Eventually it will either say it detected an OS and ask if you want to keep it or will say your about to delete your Windows and if you'd like to dual boot instead.

Someone else more up to date on current dual boots can probably better help but that's the jist.

 

[Aeacus]

I'll add my 2 cents about using GNU/Linux distro;

Dual-boot is viable if one only has single drive and no other option to add 2nd drive to make the clean Win install on new drive (e.g PC is laptop or one doesn't have money for 2nd drive).

In other use cases, including currently the one here, it would be easier and safer to use 2nd, physical drive, where to make new, clean Win installation. This way, all the data on old drive is kept safe until data recovery step (actual copy/paste of the files). Moreover, it is unknown why the OS failed. Could be drive failure and trying to install GNU/Linux disto onto it, may completely brick the drive. If the GNU/Linux distro installation actually succeeds, that is.

 

[Axk29]

It is unknown why your OS got corrupted. Could be drive failure. So, i wouldn't risk it using OS on it again.

But if you must, then steps would be;
9. Once you've gotten everything needed from the old OS drive, format it. Then, either install Win10 back to it (starting from step #2) or make 1:1 clone of current OS drive. If the old OS drive is Samsung, you can use Samsung Magician to easily clone the OS over.

Yeah I'm not sure why it got corrupted to begin with. Tho I have an idea on maybe why, cuz I did replace my MOBO and CPU about 2 years ago since my old one stopped working and I don't remember ever reinstalling the OS. I kinda just plugged and played it, not sure if that could be the issue? Also when it said Windows failed to boot, it said something about a recent hardware or software change might be the cause. but it's been 2 years so I'm not sure. also maybe the BIOS update also messed it up?

Also when I'm installing it to a new drive how would I know if it's GPT or MBR so I can use UEFI as I'm also thinking of moving to Windows 11 since 10 support is gone in Oct 2025. Tho I'm not completely sure as to what the difference is.

 

[Axk29]

Most user friendly approach is Ubuntu, IMO crap OS but new user friendly. Download the ISO from their site.
Make a bootable USB drive with the ISO with Rufus.

ISO are disc images no? Would I need a disc for that to burn it in and also a disc drive? I was not aware USB can do that as well.

 

[Aeacus]

I kinda just plugged and played it, not sure if that could be the issue?

That's a bad idea and asking for trouble. So, it most likely was this.

Also when I'm installing it to a new drive how would I know if it's GPT or MBR so I can use UEFI as I'm also thinking of moving to Windows 11 since 10 support is gone in Oct 2025.

Win11 does not support MBR at OS drive. So, GPT is only option.

Win11 install guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/windows-11-clean-install-tutorial.3831442/

Tho I'm not completely sure as to what the difference is.

Further reading: https://www.howtogeek.com/193669/whats-the-difference-between-gpt-and-mbr-when-partitioning-a-drive/

GPT is modern and has better redundancy than MBR, among other things.

ISO are disc images no?

Basically - yes.

In actuality, it is a form of file archive (similar to *.zip, *.rar, *.7z).

Would I need a disc for that to burn it in and also a disc drive? I was not aware USB can do that as well.

No need for ODD and discs, since you can "mount" the *.iso file with proper software as well.

E.g Daemon Tools is one such program that spooked the system and made any *.iso file to appear as legit physical disc, once the *.iso file was mounted.
But Rufus, Universal USB Installer, Windows Media Creation Tool, etc, are used to take the data from *.iso and put it into bootable format on USB thumb drive, so that one can use USB thumb drive to install OS.

Due to this, discs (CD/DVD) and disc readers/writers (ODD) are now obsolete. Since now, you don't need to have ODD. USB thumb drive will do.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

I'll add my 2 cents about using GNU/Linux distro;

Dual-boot is viable if one only has single drive and no other option to add 2nd drive to make the clean Win install on new drive (e.g PC is laptop or one doesn't have money for 2nd drive).

In other use cases, including currently the one here, it would be easier and safer to use 2nd, physical drive, where to make new, clean Win installation. This way, all the data on old drive is kept safe until data recovery step (actual copy/paste of the files). Moreover, it is unknown why the OS failed. Could be drive failure and trying to install GNU/Linux disto onto it, may completely brick the drive. If the GNU/Linux distro installation actually succeeds, that is.

I think that may be a good call. @Axk29 there's no way for this to not sound condescending even though I don't mean it to. People have different strengths in life, tinkering isn't one of them lol but I don't blame you. Linux is about as fun as vasectomy as a birthday present.

A second drive would be best at this point. That said, I sure hope you didn't have bitlocker on that drive and if you did that you have the key saved somewhere other than said drive....