\Boot\BCD error
Hi
I am getting this message after a crash on my computer. To be precise:
File: \Boot\Bcd
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
It appears when I boot up, no blue screen, just black and then this. I can avoid it by placing the Vista disc in my DVD drive and then not hitting a key to boot from CD, but if the disc isn't in the drive, I get this error. It's a new computer, I've been adding programs, and it all seemed to be going ok then the system froze in the middle of reading an email. I eventually hit reset and that's when the problem started. I've tried fixing it by booting from the disk and using the 'repair' function, but it doesn't detect any error.
Any suggestions?
Answers
Hi Annie,
Thank you for the reply.
First please help confirm the following two points:
1. When did the issue begin to occur?
2. Have any changes been made on the computer recently, such as an installation or upgrade?
3. Running or installing what product caused the system to crash?
Based on the current situation, I suggest trying the following steps to troubleshoot the issue.
Method 1: Startup Repair from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
============================================
1. Insert the Windows Vista installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next.
6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on Repair your computer.
7. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
8. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Startup Repair.
Method 2: Rebuild BCD
============================================
1. Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
7. Type BOOTREC /FIXMBR, and then press ENTER.
8. Type BOOTREC /FIXBOOT, and then press ENTER.
9. Type BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD, and then press ENTER.
Method 3: Use the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to run System Restore
============================================
1. Insert the Windows Vista installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next
6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on System Restore.
7. Follow the System Restore Wizard instruction as usual and choose the appropriate restore point.
8. Click Finish to restore the system.
Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Tim Quan
Microsoft Online Community Support
- I fixed it but still don't know what caused it -- therefore don't know how to avoid it again. I detached two drives and sure enough, the third drive had the OS on it, so it got assigned "C." Then the Vista Repair disk immediately found a "problem" and offered to repair it. It did ... then I plugged the other drives back in and everything was back to normal.
Very odd and a little troubling ... especially if the OS hadn't been in the first partition.
All Replies
Hi Annie,
Thank you for the reply.
First please help confirm the following two points:
1. When did the issue begin to occur?
2. Have any changes been made on the computer recently, such as an installation or upgrade?
3. Running or installing what product caused the system to crash?
Based on the current situation, I suggest trying the following steps to troubleshoot the issue.
Method 1: Startup Repair from the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)
============================================
1. Insert the Windows Vista installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next.
6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on Repair your computer.
7. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
8. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Startup Repair.
Method 2: Rebuild BCD
============================================
1. Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
7. Type BOOTREC /FIXMBR, and then press ENTER.
8. Type BOOTREC /FIXBOOT, and then press ENTER.
9. Type BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD, and then press ENTER.
Method 3: Use the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) to run System Restore
============================================
1. Insert the Windows Vista installation disc into the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time and currency, and a keyboard or input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, choose the drive of your Windows installation and click Next
6. At the System Recovery Options Dialog Box, click on System Restore.
7. Follow the System Restore Wizard instruction as usual and choose the appropriate restore point.
8. Click Finish to restore the system.
Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Tim Quan
Microsoft Online Community Support
- I have the same problem. The solution doesn't work because there is no operating system listed in the System Recovery Options Box ... load drivers doesn't work because no drivers are available ... and the Choose A Recovery Tool page starts by saying "Operating system: Unknown on (Unknown) Local Disk."
Here's an oddity. The system has somehow switched all my drive assignments. Windows, installed on C, is now listed on E. A data drive (which used to be E) is now C. Former D is now F. Former F is now D. (Three physical drives. Unfortunately, I canm't remember which two are on a single drive.) All my drive labels are correct and the files in them seem intact. (I found all this out by searching for drivers.)
So the question for me probably is: How to I restore my drive assignments? - I fixed it but still don't know what caused it -- therefore don't know how to avoid it again. I detached two drives and sure enough, the third drive had the OS on it, so it got assigned "C." Then the Vista Repair disk immediately found a "problem" and offered to repair it. It did ... then I plugged the other drives back in and everything was back to normal.
Very odd and a little troubling ... especially if the OS hadn't been in the first partition. I had the exact same thing happen to me. After I unplugged the other drives, restarted, and booted from the setup disk, Vista automatically fixed the problem.
bob-k_ wrote: I have the same problem. The solution doesn't work because there is no operating system listed in the System Recovery Options Box ... load drivers doesn't work because no drivers are available ... and the Choose A Recovery Tool page starts by saying "Operating system: Unknown on (Unknown) Local Disk."
Here's an oddity. The system has somehow switched all my drive assignments. Windows, installed on C, is now listed on E. A data drive (which used to be E) is now C. Former D is now F. Former F is now D. (Three physical drives. Unfortunately, I canm't remember which two are on a single drive.) All my drive labels are correct and the files in them seem intact. (I found all this out by searching for drivers.)
So the question for me probably is: How to I restore my drive assignments?
Where are the drivers for my harddrive located? I have the same problem of Vista not being able to locate the drivers, so I need to locate them manually, right? So, where can they be found so I can continue restoring my computer?Method 2: Rebuild BCD
============================================
1. Put the Windows Vista installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when the message indicating "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD …". appears.
3. Select a language, a time, a currency, and a keyboard or another input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
7. Type BOOTREC /FIXMBR, and then press ENTER.
8. Type BOOTREC /FIXBOOT, and then press ENTER.
9. Type BOOTREC /REBUILDBCD, and then press ENTER.
Best regards,
Tim Quan
Microsoft Online Community Support
hello
I have a similar problem.
I have installed vista ultimate 64 on my new computer three day ago. Everything was fine. I installed some programs and stuff and then restart the computer. When it was starting this error message came up:
File: \Boot\Bcd
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
Im able to fix this problem by inserting my vista dvd and the system recognize and fix the problem by himself. Then vista works for some time. Let say when I restart it again the 4th or 5th time (depends) The error pops up again! It is very annoying!
I tried your method 2 (above) and on the command rebuildbcd I got the message that no os is installed on the disk!
Also when I start the program Vistaboot Pro it shows this message:
VistaBootPro has detected that Vista is either not installed or is
installed on a hidden drive. You may experience minor problems using
VistaBootPRO and/ or making changes to your BCD Registry.Dont know if this have anything to do with my problem?
What is wrong?
Could this be a hardware problem?
What can I do?
- does anyone know how to fix it without the disk. i bought the laptop and it came with vista already installed. i don't think i have the disks. is there anyway possible to do so without the disks? if so please help
- http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD
gl/hf
I have a similar problem.
I have installed Vista Home Premium on a pc that is about 16 months old. When it starts i receive the following:
File: \Boot\Bcd
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.
When I try method two bootrec.exe does not find my Vista installation.
When running bootrec /rebuildbcd i recieve the following
________________________________________________________
X:\sources>bootrec /rebuildbcd
Scanning all disks for Windows installations.
Please wait, since this may take a while....
Successfully scanned windows installations.
Total identified Windows installations: 0
The operation completed successfully.
________________________________________________________
Is this normal?
I am having similar problems. For the past few weeks, my computer would shut down very soon after boot up but evetually would work just fine so last night I decided to do a system restore thinking I may have changed something that shouldn't have been changed. During the system restore the computer shut down again and brought me to a screen that said Insert Windows Installation Disk, run repair, etc... File: /boot/bcd error. Well I didn't have the disks since I bought a pre-made computer so I put in the Recovery CD and nothing, it kept bringing me back to the same screen. At this point I went out and bought a brand new version of Windows Vista Ultimate thinking I would just overwrite everything and start fresh, well putting in that CD brought us back to the exact same screen and yes, we were booting from the CDROM.
We thought maybe something was corrupted on the harddrive so we bought a new harddrive... new screen, but now a new problem, great! Now it says to boot from a bootable device as if its not reading the CDROM.
My question is, is the /boot/bcd file a motherboard issue or a harddrive issue or memory or etc? I would assume since I can get to the BIOS and Boot sequence menus and its running a memory check on boot up that the motherboard is fine but before I basically went out and bought all new parts to find the solution I would ask what would cause this issue to begin with? Please help!
- Everyone is asking the same question, but are NOT getting the answers they want to hear. What is causing this to happen?? We got the answer to basicly to reboot the system. How we avoid the "\boot\bcd" screen again??
- Proposed As Answer bydbeachy1 Saturday, September 19, 2009 8:15 PM
- In my case (Windows 7), the root cause was that the BCD file was moved (by defragmentation perhaps???) to an area on the boot disk beyond sector 2,147,483,648 (the maximum 32-bit signed value), and Windows couldn't access it at boot time (that's the "a requested device is inaccessible" error). In my case at least, the solution was to force the data for C:\Boot\BCD to reside on a sector within the two-billion-sector boot-time limit:
1. Boot into Windows recovery mode and bring up a command prompt.
2. cd \Boot
3. If you tried startup repair already (which I'm sure you did), your original BCD file was renamed to BCD.Backup.0001. In my case, the data in BCD file was still perfectly fine -- it just needed to be accessible by the Windows loader (i.e., within the boot-time sector limit). What you want to do is locate an existing file that was installed at boot time, and therefore is certainly within the two-billion-sector limit, *AND* has enough space to contain the BCD data: 32K or greater in size. I chose to use memtest.exe, so that's what I'll describe below.
4. Make a copy of your original memtest.exe: copy memtest.exe memtest.exe.org.
5. Copy your renamed BCD file to memtest.exe: copy BCD.Backup.0001 memtest.exe. Windows will reuse the existing sectors in the destination file if it can, and since memtest.exe is larger than 32K (the size of BCD), the entire BCD file will fit in memtest.exe's original sector space.
6. Now rename memtest.exe.org memtest.exe. What you have done in effect is move memtest.exe to another area on the disk and use memtest.exe's original sectors (which are inside the boot-time sector limit) to hold your BCD file.
7. Now ALT-TAB back to the repair options GUI and run startup repair again (you may not need to do this if your original BCD data is still OK, but I did it anyway); the repair step should work this time and the system should reboot.
8. The system should boot normally now! :)
That worked for me, and I was about at my wit's end! That's a nasty bug that Windows should fix -- it should "lock" the boot-time files and not allow them to be moved beyond the two-billion-sector-limit accessible the boot subsystem.
One final note: whichever file you choose to reuse (memtest.exe in my case) will end up being moved to a different sector range, which will quite possibly be beyond the boot-time sector limit. If that happens, memtest.exe would not be accessible by the boot subsystem (just like BCD was not). So you may want to pick a different file to reuse, but whatever file you choose must already reside within the first two billion sectors on the disk and be >= 32K in size.
The real fix is that Windows should lock the boot-time files to be within the two-billion-sector limit so that the loader can always access them! This is a really nasty bug. I'm just glad to have my system back!
I have a similar problem.
I have attempted to install Vista business 32 on a HP DV6426 laptop after 8 failures with upgrades to home premium SP1. When I reboot the system
File: \Boot\Bcd
Status: 0xc000000f
Info: An error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data. appears
Now what?
Is it poosible to wipe the HD clean and start over? If so, how?
Thanks, JC- Found the problem. There was a directory with OS files that I was unaware of. Did a format at the command prompt, then Vista installed.
- what happens if i dont got my cd to boot back the setup i only have a utility cd which let me open a program to at least get e mail and try to get some help with out it i would not have no internet connection so if u can help maybe i need to fix a sector or something please get back to me as sooon as possible i would like to get this resolved with out a cd ....
- Tim...you are a genius!!!! #2 worked out perfectly for me. You just saved me from a major beating by my father. I was using acronis os selector(that is supposed to have vista compatability...I mean for 699 bucks I should sue them for false advertising. But back to the point) acronis wasn't detecting vista on boot so I disabled it and was unable to boot vista. I had tried to boot startup repair on my dell's recovery partition but the recovery partition wouldn't boot by pressing f8 at the bios. I was worried about all of my files and the state of my 1000 dollar laptop...then I came across this website on my blackberry and tried #2 out...and boy was I glad I did. After those commands windows booted right up! I was on the ground praying to god to thank him on my knees for finding this page. I have bookmarked this page and also have made a big homescreen link on my blackberry in case I ever need It again. Thank you so much for your help!!! -Thomas Anthony Fabrizio- -TAFProjects-
- Proposed As Answer byscorpion123h Thursday, November 05, 2009 2:02 PM
I got almost the same problem
i got vista and it says \boot\bcd
0xc00000e9
i/o error
and i cant find my harddrive
can you help- what if you dont have a that boot disk??
i have vista 32bit and that same File:Boot/BCD problem or whatever also appeared...
ive tried downloading a boot disk from:...
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+from+the+DVD
gl/hf
- but the link dsnt even exist...
i would very much apreciate your help...thxx - Hi Tim
Thanks for that help,
Just wondering about number 2 to fix this issue.
If I do this, will I lose any data? Thanks,
Bens_Dream
EDIT:
I start my laptop up using F11 repeatedly on the startup screen (Purple Packard Bell screen). Will I lose any data since getting this error when I finally boot up my laptop normally?
Thanks again.
