[SOLVED] Windows 11 will no longer boot from original M.2 SSD ?

[incmachine]

I had Windows 11 installed, booting, and running normally on an m.2 SSD.

I removed that m.2 SSD and installed another one (temporarily) so that I could install Windows 11 on a drive that would later be used on another PC.

Then, I pulled out the second m.2 SSD and re-installed the original one.

Now, I am finding that the original m.2 SSD will not boot.
It goes to the blue Windows screen (troubleshooting, system restore, etc). But the system says it "cannot repair itself" and there is no restore point to access. So, it just goes nowhere and there doesn't appear to be any way to fix it.

I actually got frustrated enough that I put in the Windows 11 install USB and was ready to just re-install Windows. But, at that point, I got a message saying that "Windows 11 is not compatible with this PC."

Of course, I already had Windows 11 running previously (on more than one m.2 SSD), so I am really just confused about what has happened here.

I find it hard to believe that Windows 11 simply disappeared from the original m.2 SSD.
What could have happened?

 

[Colif]

Windows 11 has a feature called Fast Startup that is great for hdd but completely pointless for nvme. The problem is its on by default and with it on, the PC isn't actually off when you turn it off, its sleeping and saves some files to ram so that when you restart they already loaded and pc zooms into action. Not useful on NVME or SSD as they fast enough already.

what might have happened is the boot files on the normal windows m.2 got corrupted when you unplugged pc and m.2 to swap them. I have seen similar before with fast startup.

I can't explain the error about not being compatible, that is pretty random since it was already on PC.

is there anything on m.2 you want to save?
boot from installer

• on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
• choose troubleshoot
• choose advanced
• choose command prompt
• type notepad and press enter
• in notepad, select file>open
• Use file explorer to copy any files you need to save to USB or another hdd

I would clean install and also turn fast startup off
Its not obvious to find in win 11,
search for control panel
Power options
on left hand side, there is a column, choose "Choose what the power button does"
click on change settings that are currently unavailable
untick Turn on fast startup(recommended)
click save changes

 

[incmachine]

what might have happened is the boot files on the normal windows m.2 got corrupted when you unplugged pc and m.2 to swap them. I have seen similar before with fast startup.

Hi, thanks very much for your reply.

I followed your instructions and did a fresh install of Windows 10 (since it's telling me a Windows 11 install isn't possible without secure boot enabled).

First, I reformatted the m.2 SSD from GPT to MBR.

With Windows 10 installed and working normally, I enabled secure boot in the MSI motherboard BIOS settings.

But now, when I turn on the PC, it's bringing me directly back to the blue Recovery screen: "your PC/Device needs to be repaired"

-Press F1 to enter recovery environment (which does nothing if I don't press F11 to enter BIOS, it brings me right back to the same blue screen)
-Press F8 for Startup Settings (does nothing, returns to the same blue screen)
-Press ESC for UEFI Settings (brings me directly to BIOS, but I'm not sure what else to do here...)

Seems like I am caught in a never-ending circle.
Is there any way out of this?

 

[Colif]

Secure boot only works with GPT
So enabling Secure boot isn't going to work

Why did you use MBR? You realize you can't put Win 11 onto MBR?

 

[incmachine]

Why did you use MBR?

When I tried installing Windows 10 again, I got an error message:

"Windows Cannot Be Installed to This Disk. The Selected Disk Has an GPT Partition"

 

[incmachine]

Secure boot only works with GPT
So enabling Secure boot isn't going to work

Update:

I went back and re-installed Windows 10 and then changed the m.2 SSD to GPT. I was then able to re-install Windows 11 and it seems to be working normally. Thank you very much for guiding me in the right direction!

The only thing I am noticing now is that the space on the m.2 SSD seems to be smaller than it was before (256GB now down to 238GB). I also noticed that Windows 11 was installed in two different places. I was able to delete the old Windows 11 installation, but I am wondering if the "missing" space on the m.2 drive is due to the old Windows 11 installation?

I went into Disk Management to see if I could locate the "missing" drive space but I don't see any partitions that seem to account for this.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The only thing I am noticing now is that the space on the m.2 SSD seems to be smaller than it was before (256GB now down to 238GB).

It's all correct.
On 256GB disk you actually do not have 256GB but 256'000'000'000 bytes.
256'000'000'000/1024/1024/1024 = 238.42 GB