Won't boot from SSD but shows OS running off of SSD?

[psychopyro88]

So somewhat recently i got an m.2 ssd and put it in my pc and followed someone else's instructions and ended up with a fresh windows install on the ssd and was told thats just how its done. Anyway after coming to terms with this and getting all my settings back and what not, now i wanted to clear my HDD for more room.

Here's the problem i cant wipe the HDD cause its still using part of windows from it? Even though i had been booting off the SSD. well now in the bios the ssd is the only option in the Boot Order but will not boot from it. Boot Override had Hdd so i booted from that and it works but in disk manager it shows its using the OS from the SSD? im just so lost and frustrated. So basically as it is right now, very time i turn on or restart i have to manually override to boot from HDD because the SSD is the only option in the Boot Priority Options. But once it does boot up its running the OS and correct User from the SSD.

 

[CountMike]

If you disconnect HDD, does it still BOOT from SSD ?

 

[Solandri]

This is a change Microsoft made starting with Windows Vista (or maybe it was XP). Previous versions, you could only install Windows on the boot drive. Newer versions of Windows can be installed on any drive. If the OS drive is not the boot drive, it puts info on the boot drive's boot sector saying "the boot OS is on drive n, partition m." The computer will boot, see that boot sector, then continue booting from drive n, partition m..

While that's useful, especially if you multi-boot different OSes, it can also create the situation you're encountering. Where your OS drive becomes unbootable because you remove or format a different drive. To prevent this, you should have changed the BIOS to make the M.2 SSD the boot drive. But even that is not reliable, so the recommendation is that when you install the OS, you should disconnect all drives except the one you want to install Windows onto.

It can be tricky to fix after the fact. Try creating a Windows install DVD/USB. Then disconnect the HDD from the computer (so the SSD is the only drive). Boot off the install media, and try running a repair on your boot drive. If you're lucky, it'll be able to write to the boot sector of the SSD to make it bootable without the HDD. I'm not sure if it'll work though because a proper installation of Win 8/10 creates a small partition (about 250 MB) before the OS partition. I'm not sure how vital that partition is.

 

[psychopyro88]

If you disconnect HDD, does it still BOOT from SSD ?

No if i disconnect the HDD it will not boot.

 

[psychopyro88]

This is a change Microsoft made starting with Windows Vista (or maybe it was XP). Previous versions, you could only install Windows on the boot drive. Newer versions of Windows can be installed on any drive. If the OS drive is not the boot drive, it puts info on the boot drive's boot sector saying "the boot OS is on drive n, partition m." The computer will boot, see that boot sector, then continue booting from drive n, partition m..

While that's useful, especially if you multi-boot different OSes, it can also create the situation you're encountering. Where your OS drive becomes unbootable because you remove or format a different drive. To prevent this, you should have changed the BIOS to make the M.2 SSD the boot drive. But even that is not reliable, so the recommendation is that when you install the OS, you should disconnect all drives except the one you want to install Windows onto.

It can be tricky to fix after the fact. Try creating a Windows install DVD/USB. Then disconnect the HDD from the computer (so the SSD is the only drive). Boot off the install media, and try running a repair on your boot drive. If you're lucky, it'll be able to write to the boot sector of the SSD to make it bootable without the HDD. I'm not sure if it'll work though because a proper installation of Win 8/10 creates a small partition (about 250 MB) before the OS partition. I'm not sure how vital that partition is.

I made windows installation media on a usb and booted from usb but it will not repair windows. I also tried making the SSD active in the disk manager place and it even say Boot under the SSD. So your saying it basically has some info on the HDD that it has to check before continuing to boot from the SSD? i really dont want to have to install windows Again and redo all my stuff, particularly with my super slow download speeds. But will i even be able to wipe the SSD at this point? Since the SSD is the only one i can select as a boot option, even though it only boots from HDD via override? Again it would have be great if i had been told how to do this correctly the first time around this is very depressing.

 

[Solandri]

Try a manual repair if the automatic repair didn't work. Make sure the HDD is disconnected while you do this.

https://neosmart.net/wiki/bootrec/
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-rebuild-the-bcd-in-windows-2624508
https://neosmart.net/wiki/bcdedit/

If that doesn't work and you've got an external drive with sufficient free space, you may be able to

■Clone the OS partition from the SSD to the external drive.
■Shrink the cloned partition on the external drive by about 10 GB (so it'll fit on the SSD when you copy it back later).
■Wipe the SSD and install a fresh copy of Windows on it (this time making sure you first disconnect the HDD).
■Clone the OS partition you moved to the external drive back to the SSD, overwriting the freshly installed copy of Windows.
■ Boot off the install media and run a repair to make your cloned OS partition boot correctly. (This step might not be necessary.)
■Expand the OS partition to use any remaining free space.

That should get your SSD configured properly so it's bootable by itself, while preserving your current Windows installation so you don't have to configure it and reinstall all your programs again.

 

[psychopyro88]

Try a manual repair if the automatic repair didn't work. Make sure the HDD is disconnected while you do this.

https://neosmart.net/wiki/bootrec/
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-rebuild-the-bcd-in-windows-2624508
https://neosmart.net/wiki/bcdedit/

If that doesn't work and you've got an external drive with sufficient free space, you may be able to

■Clone the OS partition from the SSD to the external drive.
■Shrink the cloned partition on the external drive by about 10 GB (so it'll fit on the SSD when you copy it back later).
■Wipe the SSD and install a fresh copy of Windows on it (this time making sure you first disconnect the HDD).
■Clone the OS partition you moved to the external drive back to the SSD, overwriting the freshly installed copy of Windows.
■ Boot off the install media and run a repair to make your cloned OS partition boot correctly. (This step might not be necessary.)
■Expand the OS partition to use any remaining free space.

That should get your SSD configured properly so it's bootable by itself, while preserving your current Windows installation so you don't have to configure it and reinstall all your programs again.

Well the bootrec/fixmbr command did not help. the bootrec/rebuildbcd found 1 installation but when i hit Yes to add installation to boot list it said "the requested system device cannot be found" I did both of these processes with the HDD unplugged so that only the SSD and the USB install media were the only drives attached. i think i give up on this though. I'm going to buy a new HDD and transfer as much of my game libraries as possible then remove it and nuke the whole computer i guess. Will making a recovery drive help at all? Like what all will that restore once i have a fresh install of windows?

 

[CountMike]

Use Macrium Reflect free for that operation and for future backups.

 

[Solandri]

Will making a recovery drive help at all? Like what all will that restore once i have a fresh install of windows?

A normal recovery partition will not help, as it just creates a copy of Windows as if it were freshly installed (same thing as installing it).

A custom recovery partition will let you keep your installed programs, but not your data (I'm not sure about settings). It'll save you the hassle of reinstalling all your programs. You'll have to decide if the effort is worth it. Personally, I think the suggestion I made above to clone the OS partition to another drive, reinstall Windows on the SSD, then cloning the OS partition back would be easier. But I haven't actually tried that myself so can't predict any problems you might encounter. I have used the custom recover partition method, and it does work.

https://win10.guru/create-a-custom-windows-10-factory-recovery-partition/
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/106215-factory-recovery-create-custom-recovery-partition.html