[SOLVED] Windows 11 does not boot, straight to BIOS

[Ottis92]

So I have an older SSD (OCZ, 120 GB; had Windows 11) and 2 old HDDs (for data). I decided to buy a new M.2 drive - ADATA XPG Gammix Pro S11 512 GB.

I installed a fresh Windows 11 on the new drive and formated the old one. Then I proceeded to download programs and updated Windows (had a couple of restarts) and everything was OK.

However, when I took out the old SSD (that had the previous Windows installation and later was formated), the computer did not boot up to the Windows like it used to previously. No matter what I did in the BIOS, it just did not boot up and instead with every press of the power on button I just went straight to the BIOS. I then decided to put the old SSD back in the PC, plugged it and... the Windows just booted up.

Any ideas what exactly is causing this situation and how can I fix it so I can take out the old SSD (and use it in a different PC)?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Any ideas what exactly is causing this situation and how can I fix it so I can take out the old SSD (and use it in a different PC)?

Bootloader partition is located on old SSD.
When you install windows, have only single drive connected.
If you don't do that, bootloader can end up on another drive and your windows OS drive doesn't get made bootable.

Fix is - either reinstall windows with only single drive connected or
create bootloader on windows OS drive manually using bcdboot command.

Show screenshot from Disk Management.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[Ottis92]

I think that a clean reinstall as you suggested is the way of least resistance. Thank you!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Creating bootloader manually is faster than reinstall.
Requires couple of minutes compared to full reinstall, windows updates, drivers install, software download/setup.

But do, what seems more convenient for you.

 

[kerberos_20]

you will need to create efi partition on your new drive and copy paste efi content from old drive to new drive

to create efi partition:
open cmd or powershell window with admin rights
type diskpart and press enter
type list disk and press enter
from that list note your new drive number, if youre not sure which one it is, open disk management window (windows key + r and type diskmgmt.msc , disk number are there same)
type select disk n and press enter (replace n with your drive number)
you will need to have atleast 100MB unallocated space on your new drive, if its all alocated, go back to disk management, right click your disk and resize it to have 100MB unallocated space
type create partition efi size=100 and press enter
type list partition and press enter, note number for your efi partition (100MB partition)
type select partition x and press enter (replace x with efi partition number)
type assign letter=a and press enter
type list volume and press enter
from that list note all those 100MB partitions, one of them has Ltr value A, another one will have it empty, note that volume number
type select volume z (replaxe z with that 100MB volume without drive letter)
type assign letter=b and press enter
type exit and press enter

now open file explorer, format drive A and copy paste all content from drive B to drive A, once done, first try if if works
turn off PC and disconnect your old drive
turn on your PC and let it boot
if all done correctly PC would boot to windows (it will probably booot you into recovery mode as BCD file cant be really copied, but you just click startup repair which will create BCD store for you)

 

[SkyNetRising]

you will need to create efi partition on your new drive and copy paste efi content from old drive to new drive

Well - we don't know, if windows was installed in UEFI mode. That's why I asked for Disk Management screenshot.
If it was installed in legacy mode, EFI partition can not be crerated.
Bootloader partition size 100MB may be too small in some situations. Recommended size is 350MB to 500MB.
Copy/paste is not proper way for creting bootloader files. Use bcdboot command instead.

 

[kerberos_20]

Well - we don't know, if windows was installed in UEFI mode. That's why I asked for Disk Management screenshot.
If it was installed in legacy mode, EFI partition can not be crerated.
Bootloader partition size 100MB may be too small in some situations. Recommended size is 350MB to 500MB.
Copy/paste is not proper way for creting bootloader files. Use bcdboot command instead.

windows 11 is uefi only and with bcdboot you cant select drive where your boot files will be
100MB is plenty enough (as MS makes it that big), unless you need it for another efi programs (efi shell, memtest, linux, etc)

 

[Ottis92]

It was installed in UEFI mode. I did a reinstall and everything is OK now. With the previous install, I was not that far into setting it all up so no harm done really. I guess I was hoping that it would be something that I missed in the BIOS settings for example.

I will definitely note down what kerberos has suggested and maybe try that if/when I run to this again. Compared to that (at least from my noob perspective), the reinstall looks like the easier way out

So thank you both again.