Windows 10 - Strange problem where system partition is on secondary media drive instead of C drive
12 replies, posted
With my current setup, I have one hard drive (C) for Windows and software, and a second drive (E) for media. The media drive was very old, so I installed a third hard drive (D) and moved everything from the old media drive to this new one.
Everything seemed fine so I shut down, removed the old media drive, and rebooted - but it wouldn't boot unless the old media drive was installed. So I did some digging and found this:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/18ERGYM.png[/img]
It seems that while the boot partition is on C, the system partition is on E. I have absolutely no idea how this happened or how long it's been the case. Looking in HD Tune I've found that my C drive is not bootable, but my E drive is:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/3zqf5tJ.png[/img]
...
[img]http://i.imgur.com/1a8f3tN.png[/img]
I would like to be able to remove E and continue with C as my Windows/software drive and D as my media drive, but I have absolutely no idea where to start with fixing this. Thanks.
For what it's worth, I found [url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/what-are-system-boot-partitions#1TC=windows-7]this page[/url] where it states:
[quote]System partitions and boot partitions are names for partitions (or volumes) on a hard disk that Windows uses when starting. These terms can be confusing because the system partition actually contains the files used to boot Windows 7, while the boot partition contains the system files.[/quote]
I assume Windows 10 is the same way, so it seems that Windows isn't actually installed on E, just some files that it needs to boot. Still no idea what to do.
my thought would be to create a USB system recovery, remove your E drive, and then run the recovery and do a startup repair that should replace the startup files that were for some horrible reason off on drive E
anyone else?
This can be a bit dangerous, so I'd recommend backing things up first.
Reference:
[url]https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490893.aspx[/url]
[URL]http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html[/URL]
[URL]https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn898490%28v=vs.85%29.aspx[/URL]
You could try the following:
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Trim 100MB off the end of either the Windows or Recovery partitions using Gparted or your preferred partition manager
Create a partition from that 100MB and name it "System"
Boot using recovery media, a windows install disc, "repair your computer" advanced option, or a Windows PE image
Open a command prompt (if one isn't already open)
Use Diskpart to mount the System partition you made and place boot files on it:
[code]
Diskpart
List Disk
Select disk # (Where "#" is the disk number. Usually 0.)
List partition (Look for the partition. Most likely the last partition. Take note of the Windows partition's letter. If there isn't a letter for the Windows partition, you can assign one by repeating the next 2 steps.)
Select partition # (Where "#" is the system partition)
Assign letter=% (Where "%" is an unused drive letter. Ex: "Assign letter=s")
Active (Use this command if you didn't set the partition as active in your partition manager)
Exit (to exit out of Diskpart)
bcdboot [Windows_partition_letter]\Windows /s [System_Parition_Letter] (ex: bcdboot d:\Windows /s f:)
[/code]
Shutdown your machine (If WinPE, you'll need to close or type "exit" into the command prompt window and press your power button once the machine reboots)
Disconnect the drive you want to remove
Start your machine
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I think you can perform those steps inside Windows (don't boot off of anything else).
That seems complicated. It's my understanding that that System files on drive E are on their own partition, it's simply hidden in Windows. If that's the case, couldn't I simply make a new partition on drive C with the same name and copy the contents of it over?
[editline]25th December 2015[/editline]
I will of course try bitches' suggestion first as it seems to be the simplest
[editline]25th December 2015[/editline]
[url=http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/4206-63-win7-boots-drive]Seems like bitches' solution should work[/url] - this is apparently a common problem as, for some reason, the Windows installer will install boot files to a secondary harddrive if one is present.
I won't get around to attempting this for a day or two but I'll report back once I try it. Lesson learned: do not install Windows with more than one hard drive present
I have a similar issue here too after the November update failed a boot folder appeared on my hdd and I cannot delete it.
[QUOTE=gdfsgdfg;49386696]I have a similar issue here too after the November update failed a boot folder appeared on my hdd and I cannot delete it.[/QUOTE]
Yeah it seems by default the windows installer will put those boot files on a secondary drive, because the windows installer is very smart.
I'm guessing because the November update was essentially a windows upgrade instead of a regular update this happened to everyone with a secondary drive. I'm attempting Bitches'/TomsHardware fix, will report back in a few mins.
[editline]25th December 2015[/editline]
Bitches' solution didn't work - the Windows 10 repair tool just says it's unable to repair my Windows installation. The Tom's Hardware solution didn't work either: the same tool never recognized that the BCD was missing. The fixmbr and fixboot commands didn't seem to do anything.
I've yet to try Rand0mNumber's suggestion as it seems risky and I'm not willing to try it unless I'm ready to reinstall Windows if something goes bad. Honestly, I'll likely just fix this by reinstalling Windows anyway - this time with only ONE drive connected.
In the meantime my PC just beholden to this random 1tb hard drive that does nothing but make the whole thing work.
Anyone know what using the repair media's "restore system" function does? Is it essentially the same as doing a clean install of Windows? If it preserves my settings and installed software I might give it a shot with my E drive disconnected to see if it writes new boot files.
[editline]25th December 2015[/editline]
[url=http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/241974-system-wont-boot-after-removing-second-hard-drive-efi.html#post2026366]I found this post that seems to offer relevant advice - opinions?[/url]
I know that's for Windows 7 and not 10 but I assume it's the same.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;49386026]That seems complicated. It's my understanding that that System files on drive E are on their own partition, it's simply hidden in Windows. If that's the case, couldn't I simply make a new partition on drive C with the same name and copy the contents of it over?
[/QUOTE]
I think so. Personally, I prefer checking out fresh boot files using bcdboot when repairing a machine. The partition is not assigned a letter, that's all.
If you create the partition and the copied files fail, you could try a System Repair and see if it detects the System partition on C:. Might just work.
EDIT:
A better approach for your case might be to use EasyBCD ([URL]https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/basics/changing-the-boot-partition/[/URL]).
Create that 100MB partition on C: and use EasyBCD to do the rest.
EasyBCD seems like a really good solution. Is it safe to give it a shot, or is data loss a possibility?
Also, does it matter where the partition is on the drive? I can make a 100MB partition at the end of the drive in Windows but if it [i]has[/i] to be at the start of the drive I'll need to use something like gparted.
It's about the same risk as my initial method. You're messing with the bootloader. Windows will be intact, but what loads Windows will change ([URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOOTMGR[/URL]). Your machine appears to be running a MBR partition scheme as it is missing the "EFI System partition" ([URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_System_Partition[/URL]) and is probably running a legacy BIOS (or UEFI in legacy mode).
The partition order shouldn't matter. Your machine will boot from whatever partition is marked as "active" and only one partition can be marked as "active" at any given time. ([URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record#System_bootstrapping[/URL])
I haven't seen a MBR partition layout with the System partition not as the first partition, but given the above, I don't believe it matters. To be sure, you could spin up a virtual machine, install Windows, and move the System partition around. If that turns out well, you can proceed on the real thing. Otherwise, you may have to move a lot of data around by putting the partition at the beginning of the drive.
I'm pretty sure I'm running UEFI in legacy mode, for some reason. In researching this issue I came to realize that with my hardware I [i]should[/i] have an EFI System Partition, as to why I don't, I don't know. Does it matter in the long run? If so, is there a way to switch it? I assume I'd have to switch the disk from MBR to GPT, necessitating a reformat, correct?
If that's the case I might just solve this once and for all by reinstalling Windows entirely (with only one drive attached, this time). Would it matter if I had a GPT disk as my boot/Windows/software disk and an MBR one as a secondary media drive?
Get this
[url]http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html[/url]
You can do all that stuff no need to format.
You probs need to set it as active which you can also do.
If you have a motherboard that can only enable certain features you need in UEFI mode (ex: PCIE M.2 NVMe SSD support), this might be a good time to switch. Aside from that, there's no reason to. There should be a setting in your BIOS to toggle legacy mode.
MBR and GPT can coexist (assuming your OS is GPT aware). GPT is only really needed if you have a drive larger than 2TB or boot using UEFI. My PC has its first drive as MBR with the second as GPT on a legacy BIOS system and everything's fine. Going from MBR to GPT and vice versa will require reformatting as you're changing how partitions are defined.
Couldn't find anything that would necessitate switching to UEFI mode so I just left well enough alone and ran EasyBCD, told it to make C: my new boot drive, and it went ahead and did it. Shut down, removed the old one, checked the boot order in the bios, and everything booted up fine. Looks like that's all that had to be done.
Thanks.
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