Boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible

Would say that your boot record needs fixing. Here is a link on how to access and use the proper tool:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392

Hello
I have accessed the CMD page and have entered “Bootrec.exe”
I then cannot enter the other commands. When I enter “/FixMbr” it states “is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.”
I don’t use CMD, so am not sure if I am entering it correctly?

I did try the “bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup” section which seemed to all be accepted.
I have tried rebooting a couple of times and am now met with error message
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe Status: 0xc0000001
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.

I hope I haven’t done anything wrong?! Any suggestions
Thank you

I'm sorry, I did note your minimal experience however the supplied article was not detailed enough. Here is one that is:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/win7-windows-7-mbr,10036.html

Hello,
Thank you for your patience! I followed all the stages in the link of the bootrec methods including the last section of export C: \BCD_Backup steps. I have done many reboots and also tried the windows repair again.
Unfortunately the error has now changed to
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000001
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.
I did not do any steps in changing partitions.

I then searched online for suggestions ( http://www.coderforlife.com/projects/win7boot/restoring_winload/ )tried the attached commands….. Still no luck.
I hope someone has further suggestions! I’ve been careful using Acronis to backup my laptop incase this happened and really hope it can be restored.
Thank you very much.

If you try to run the Windows Repair again using the Windows installation disk what result do you have? Try loading the Windows installation disk repair and running the repair option again, does this run or are you forced to cancel that operation?

I have tried using the Windows installation CD and choosing the repair option. These photos show the results. I have done this repair a few times, but to no avail!
I hope these photos are useful.

I was just now stabbing around with F8 and other keys and have managed to get Windows to run! The CD is in the drive.
It has prepared the device and states that it needs to rebooted. Last time this happened, it still failed to boot afterwards.
My thought is to do a Windows restore to an external drive, then to download something from the web to try to install the "\Windows\system32\winload.exe" or "missing OSloader". (maybe http://www.dlltool.com/articles/fix-winload-exe-0xc-error-codes/ ? Any advice on better little programs gratefully received?!)
Do you have any suggestions of what I could do to help whilst I am in Windows and everything is working, so that it boots again?
I hope this is looking positive.....

I do not think that the winload.exe file is your problem. Not sure about your Windows restore idea, have never tried to do that to an external drive before. From your screenshots you have posted I see that your OS install is on drive D:. Is that correct? Did you install the OS on drive D: or did you restore the backup image to drive D:? I am thinking that your boot files are or maybe were at this point on drive C: but your OS install is on drive D:, if true this is in all likelihood the problem.

I think it is promising that the repair ran again and now wants to reboot. I think it should work now.

EDIT: I also find it interesting that in your original post you show that the Recovery partition has the drive letter C assigned. Do you know how that happened? A recovery partition normally does not have a drive letter assigned.

Can you post a screenshot from disk management. I suspect that the wrong partition was set active.

I have also been reading about the possibility of the drive letter being incorrect. My knowledge isnt enough to know the correct way it should be.
When I restored from Acronis I didnt change drive letters at all, so thought it all should be fine.
When it finishes the windows backup I will continue trying different reboots and will see if it gets any further - with the CD not in the drive.
If this still doesnt work, I think your idea of the drive letters is the cause. Ive just done a screen shot which shows the OS is on C. Is this always the case?
Its the first time ive needed to use Acronis to restore. I have Acronis OEM. Is it a simple(ish) proceedure to do another restore and change the drive letters? How do I know what I should put on which drive letters?
Apologies for my knowledge gaps; im learning fast though!

Concur with Joey, please post of you can.

Hello Joey, Sorry for my question - please can you explain where / how I can find this info? Is it in Windows or pre Windows startup in the BIOS menus? Do I need to use the installation CD?

Click start and type diskmgmt.msc in the search box.

I think this looks to be the cause of issues maybe. Looking at my other screenshots, it says that the OS is on drive D after the Acronis restore.
All the drive letters seem mixed up.

The drive letters that are shown from the bootable environments are like the points on Whose Line is it Anyway, they don't matter :)

Your drive letters look fine from disk management.

Right click your backup file and select mount in the context menu. This will show us which partition was active on the original disk.

Removed

No, don't do that! Your PC boots from the recovery partition. In Microsoft terminology, this is the System partition. It is currently set as Active; you need to leave it as active. That's where the file bootmgr and the BCD are located.

If you make the C partition active, the PC won't boot.

Edit: This referred to the post above, which has been removed. My comment is no longer relevant.

I have searched my laptop, but I dont have any Acronis software actually installed (like your screenshot).
I only use Acronis OEM on a USB stick. When I right click on the properties of the tib file, it doesnt give me any options to mount. Please could you advise what I need to do to find these details? Thank you.

Hi Joey, I have searched my laptop for a method on how to find this mounting information. I think I will have to reboot from Acronis and see if there is a section within the program. Just wanted to try everything possible before rebooting as I dont know if Windows will run again!

Mike,
Open an administrator command prompt and type

bcdboot c:\windows

This command will copy boot files from the Windows directory to the active partition and set the currnetly loaded operating system as the default boot option.

This should ensure that Windows will continue to boot. You should disconnect all other drives and remove discs from the optical drive to prevent the system from trying to boot from those devices first on your next reboot.

I have just tried this. Thanks for the clear details, but unfortunately there is a failure when attempting to copy boot files. Oh dear, any ideas? I still havent exited windows and rebooted yet.

You ran the command prompt as a standard user instead of as an administrator. You need to right click the cmd.exe and select run as administrator in the context menu.

Thanks for the clear info. I have done this. CMD stated boot files were sucessfully created.
When rebooted, it still reads
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000001
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.
It never proceeds past this screen.
I have tried to reboot whilst stabbing F8, but this doesnt work either.
When Windows was running, I didnt try running any downloads of reloading winload programs etc.

Sorry to hear that Mike. I don't know what else you can try.

You may just need to perform another recovery from your original backup to get you back to square one and try again. What concerns me is that True Image 2010 was the first version to support Windows 7. If your True Image OEM is based on a version prior to 2010, then it may not be able to properly handle backing up and restoring Windows 7 partitions.

If you try another recovery make sure you check the box at the top next to Disk # above the check boxes for the individual partitions. If you created a disk mode back up the next step will change to "Destination of Disk #" and this may resolve all of your boot problems. If the next step is "Settings of Partition #-#", then you will most likely be back in the same condition as when you completed the first recovery.

Mike,

Sorry to hear that you have been unable to resolve your problem.

Since all your attempts have failed thus far I revisited all of your posts and took note of the following

Back in post #4 of this thread where you were attempting to correct your winload.exe problem I notice you were running the command prompt on drive D: Your Windows Disk Manger screenshot shows that the OS is in fact on drive C: Since all else has failed and as Joey states above your option to start again looks eminent you may wish to try running the winload.exe command in post #4 again only changing the drive to C: instead of D:. At this point it certainly could not hurt anything.

Hello, Thanks so much for the comments. I have tried many more reboots, some in safe mode. I haven’t been able to run windows again. I tried the winload.exe command in post #4 again only changing the drive to C: instead of D:, but this didn’t work. I’ve also tried many more windows repairs.
I have been trying other things too such as clicking on the load drivers button as attached. I don’t know what this leads to and have no idea what to select. What it does show, I think, is that there is a clear miss match in drive letters. Is there anything I could try in this?
I’m guessing the next step is to try another Acronis restore.
I have also attached the steps that I can select. I only have this version of Acronis OEM Build 8.202 on a USB stick.
These are the only actions I believe I can take in Acronis. Looks like the main factor is that Acronis wants to restore the OS on the D drive?
So, is there anyone who could answer my plea?!
Is it possible that I can 'cross map' what the Acronis tib file has stored the drive letters to different drive letters when restoring the image?
Do I need to purchase a different version of Acronis? Would this work with a tib file created on Acronis OEM Build 8.202?
When the laptop did once load, all the files and programs were exactly as I when I backed up the computer. All I think I need to do is get the drive letters correct?
Obviously my knowledge is very limited -I don’t know this for sure and would welcome thoughts please!

Mike,

Given your limited experience level and the fact that your efforts have proven ineffective as well as ours I am attaching a couple of links that could provide an easy solution for you. I do not usually recommend other pay for products or services however, in this case I think it warranted. You can attempt to perform the restore operation again from scratch if you prefer and that may just work. The links below are provided without endorsement by myself or Acronis and should be used at your sole discretion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEHOlQt7jbg

https://neosmart.net/EasyRE/

Mike:

True Image has the ability to update BCD entries when restoring, but it is only coded to handle the simplest of systems. If you have a multiboot system or one with a manufacturer's recovery partition, it sometimes doesn't handle those correctly. I would be interested in seeing a copy of your BCD in case it is something simple and easily fixed. If you want me to take a look, do the following:

1. Boot your PC from the Windows Installation DVD or any version of WindowsPE and go to a command prompt.
2. Plug in a USB hard disk or USB flash drive.
3. Using the command prompt, figure out the drive letter of the flash drive. Let's call it "F" for sake of illustration. If you happen to have a WindowsPE disk with A43 file manager on it, the graphical file manager will make this process easier.
4. Enter this command:

bcdedit /enum all > F:\bcd.txt

The above command will copy the contents of the BCD to a text file on drive F:. Change the drive letter F: to whatever letter is assigned to the USB disk.

Then attach the file to your next reply.

From reply #26, do not be confused by drive letters. They are not absolute identifiers but rather are assigned by whichever version of Windows is running. What you observed does not mean that your main installation of Windows is on drive D. When you successfully boot into it the drive letter will be C. But when you view the disk from other environments, like the installation DVD or WinRE, that operating system can call it by any letter it wants. Drive letters are relative; not absolute.

Thank you all for the responses.
I have looked at the ‘easy’ recovery download software. It seems ok, and could work, however would like to try anything else before going down this route if possible.
I have obtained this BCD txt file as suggested. This was done after a few days of trying numerous things on the laptop. I can try another restore from acronis? Maybe it will read different details in the txt file? Do the details within the txt file seem OK?

Mike:

Your BCD looks the way that I would expect to see from WinRE (the Windows recovery environment). WinRE would assign drive letter C to the active partition (your recovery partition) and the next primary partition would get drive letter D (the Windows partition). These letters appear correct in the BCD.

I think the problem may be that your main Windows installation has assigned drive letter C to the recovery partition. Normally this partition should not have a drive letter if it is to be hidden from the user, or should have some letter other than C. If you could boot into Windows then it would be easy to fix by using Disk Management console to remove the drive letter from the recovery partition. However, it is possible to do this from a command prompt on the installation DVD.

Boot the Windows installation DVD, go to a command prompt and type these commands in sequence:
diskpart
list disk -- from the disks listed, find the one that is your main hard disk. I'll assume disk 0 in this illustration
select disk 0
list volume -- from the list of volumes, find the one corresponding to the recovery partition and note its volume number and drive letter. Also find the volume number and drive letter for the Windows partition. I'll assume volume 1 and drive letter C for the recovery partition and volume 2 and drive letter D for the Windows partition for the sake of this illustration
select volume 1
remove letter=C
select volume 2
remove letter=D
assign letter=C
select volume 1
assign letter=D
exit

Then try rebooting into Windows. This will either fix the problem or it won't have any effect. If the diskpart command only changes the drive letters as seen by WinRE then it won't do anything. However, if it changes the assignments in the Windows registry then it might.

If this doesn't work then there is another approach. You would use WinRE to "mount" part of the registry (HKLM) on the Windows partition and change the drive letter assignment in the registry key "Mounted Devices". Let me know if the first approach works. I won't be able to get back to you until later tonight but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Well, I have tried these steps and think that I entered everything correctly. I have attached the details.
When I rebooted the laptop, it still comes up with the error
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000001
I am certainly willing to try your next suggestion. Do please explain the steps in beginners terms and I will give it a try! Many thanks!

Mike,
I think your best bet at this point would be to perform another recovery and start over. After looking over all of your posts, I'm very concerned about the commands you performed from the link you used in post #4. The commands in that link delete the bootmgr and winload.exe files!!

Your True Image OEM is based on a very old version of Acronis. The latest it could possibly be based on is True Image 11 and I'm afraid that is your biggest issue. True Image 2010 was the first version that supported Windows 7 and it is two versions later than True Image 11.

I recommend you perform another recovery and select the sector-by-sector recovery option. This may or may not make a difference since you didn't create a sector-by-sector backup, but if it results in the used sectors being restored in an order that is closer to your original disk it might just boot.

It may also be worth downloading a trial of True Image 2015 and perform the recovery from its rescue disk. You don't have to install the program. Just request a trial serial and register it to your Acronis account. Then you can download the rescue media from your account and burn it to a cd to boot your laptop. If Windows fails to boot after recovery, create another BCD.txt file for Mark to look at before trying any other commands.

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/personal/pc-backup/

https://kb.acronis.com/content/4828

Mike:

Joey made a good point that I missed. In your post #4, I saw your screenshot and didn't think that your command deleted anything. But I failed to go to the link on the "Coder for Life..." website, where the article you were following had you delete the file "winload.exe". This article was next going to have you copy the file winload~1.exe to winload.exe. In my systems, the only files in \Windows\System32 that are named "winload" are winload.efi and winload.exe. So that command would have failed, and from your screenshots, it did indeed fail. So now you are left without the file that starts Windows, namely winload.exe.

If this is what happened, then try replacing the file with one from your installation DVD. Actually, when you enter the recovery environment on the DVD, the file can also be found in the temporary ramdisk (X: drive) at X:\Windows\System32\winload.exe.

So boot from the DVD, go to a command prompt, and since WinRE identifies your Windows partition with drive letter D:, enter the following:

d:
copy X:\Windows\System32\winload.exe D:\Windows\System32\winload.exe

This will replace the Windows OS Loader with a fresh copy, and if that was all that was missing, then you should be able to boot. If that wasn't everything, then we'll go from there. My next suggestion would be to try Joey's advice about performing another recovery.

Ok, so, I have tried Marks suggestion of
copy X:\Windows\System32\winload.exe D:\Windows\System32\winload.exe. When I started the laptop it made no effect and was the same error
File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000001

I then tried Joeys suggestion of an Acronis recovery by sectors, however whichever option from active, primary or logical, it would not let me proceed as it stated there wasn’t space on the destination drives.
I therefore did a complete full recovery to start again. Attached is the outcome. Back to the start! I inserted the installation CD, ignored windows asking if I would like it to repair startup problems, then went into CMD and obtained the attached BCD.txt file.
This isn’t a simple problem!

Mike:

In your third attachment "acronis_partitions.jpg", which partition was it that you restored as active? The recovery partition or the Windows partition?

I couldnt select any of these options apart from the RECOVERY partition (which lets me put it on drive D on the next screen.)
All the drives were greyed out when I pressed NEXT
These are the screen shots of what I tried to do. Maybe im not very clear in explaining this. Sorry.

Mike:

You should do a complete disk restoration, not individual partitions. Besides the checkboxes next to the partitions in your backup there is a checkbox at the top of the screen for Disk 1. Uncheck the individual partitions and select the entire disk instead. This should result in a restoration of all of the partitions with the same layout as when you created the backup. The fact that you cannot select a partition to restore that is the same size as the existing disk partition tells me that TI is detecting a difference in size between what's on disk and what's in the backup image. I suspect that may be due to the fact that the OEM version of TI that you have uses the older partition layout standard from XP and pre-dates the newer partition layout standard adopted when Vista came out.

HOWEVER, I see that you did try a complete disk restore in your original post, and it didn't work out. The comment in your first post about "Freefall Data Protection Software" is concerning and I suspect that it is may somehow be involved in this. http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/vectors/2008_freefallprotection.pdf
According to the Dell white paper, they would have supplied you a disk with the freefall sensor (accelerometer) built into the hard disk, and perhaps the error message results because the disk signature of the new disk differs from what the system expects. So restoring the disk signature may be necessary to avoid conflicts with the Freefall sensor firmware or software.

I cannot remember if the older versions of TI have the option to restore the disk signature. If yours does, be sure to check this box upon restoration. If not, take Joey's advice in reply #32 and do the restoration with the newest version of TrueImage as he describes. When you do the restore, restore the disk; not individual partitions, and restore the disk signature.

Hello Mark, Thank you for your very detailed explanation. I am realising how complex these things are!
I have downloaded a free trial of True Image 2015, but have not opened the application. Please could you or Joey clarify a little further?
Joey states that I don’t have to actually install the application?
I’ve searched on the Acronis site for how to request a trial serial and register it. Which file name should I search for, how do I do this? (sorry)
I have installed the isorecorder program and presume that I make a bootable iso disk when I have the correct file.
Thank you!

I'll defer to someone else about the serial number issue. Apparently, trial versions do not have a serial number so you can't register them on the Acronis web site. If you can't register them you can't access the download for the ISO. Can someone else clarify how to do this?

The only out that I see is if you have another computer available. You could install the trial version of TI 2015 on the other computer, use the Bootable Media Creator to make a recovery ISO, and go from there. The trial version has limitations: https://kb.acronis.com/content/48254 but should let you restore.

Sorry Mike, in the previous versions you would have received a trial key to register under your account which would have given access to more downloadable content. In the 2015 version you will have to install the trial program on another computer to create the bootable rescue media. Here is a link with instructions on creating the rescue disc once the program is installed.

https://kb.acronis.com/content/48338

OK, so I have used TI2015 to do a restore. I have attached screen shots of the selections I made.
The results are different to as before. After restarting, it briefly attempts to start windows, then goes into the screens as Ive shown attached. I heve gone into CMD to get another BCD file for Mark.
Im wondering the problem is the drives etc still being on the wrong letter. I know the photos arent too clear. Before recovery it does say that the OS will be placed onto C (i think). I ticked the disk signature box.
Oh well. Is there anything that jumps out or am I at the end of trying things possible?

I don't think the drive letters shown in the bcd file are the problem. Keep in mind you are looking at the bcd file as it exists when booted into WinRE. WinRE and WinPE will often assign drive letters differently than Windows. You can easily see if the letters are correct. At the command prompt in WinRE, issue the following commands:

D:
cd \
dir /p

You should see the folders of your Windows system on the screen one page at a time as you repeatedly hit the enter key.

Now enter the following:

C:
cd \
dir

You should see a folder called Recovery.

If that is what you see, your drive letters are correct.

Now enter the following:

D:
cd \Windows\System32
dir /p

Hit the enter key repeatedly until you get to the files starting with win. Can you see if winload.exe is present? If it is, you may need to go to Dell for help. The OS could be tied to the original disk and just restoring the original disk signature is not enough. Only a guess on my part, but Dell should be able to tell you if that is the problem.

Mike:

Mustang is correct - the drive letters are not the issue here. They are correct when viewed from WinRE and consistent with what is seen in the BCD when viewed from WinRE.

In looking at your pictures, you did the restore correctly. TI identified each partition that was being restored and it restored them in the proper order.

But I am very concerned at the memory error message that was produced by Windows startup repair. Could it be possible that you have a memory issue? Go back to the Windows installation DVD and when you get to the "System Recovery Options" screen, run the Windows Memory Diagnostic and see what it tells you.

Hi, these are my findings:
I have done everything Mustang suggested and have seen that the winload.exe.does exist. See attached.
I have run the windows memory diagnostic. It completes and says that there are no errors, but never reboots to show the results. It just starts the cycle of the error stating that the memory could not be read.
Im certainly out of thoughts!?

Mike:

What setting do you have in the BIOS for disk mode? Is it IDE, AHCI, RAID ??
By any chance did this get changed when you installed the replacement disk?

As Mark suggests, you should try IDE and AHCI for the SATA mode configuration in the BIOS. If neither works, you are pretty much out of options with that disk.

If I were you, I would try this with the new disk in the computer. Use the Dell recovery CD/DVD to set the computer back to its factory condition. Follow it through until you have a functioning Windows 7 system that can reboot. Then try to restore only the C drive Windows partition from your Acronis backup. Don't restore the MBR or the disk signature. If that doesn't work, you should contact Dell for help.

Hello, So finally I have my laptop back in a working state. I had to abandon using Acronis to restore the image and just started from scratch with a fresh windows installation.
What a shame! Thank you everyone for your advice and help. I learned a lot.
I will look into purchasing a new version of Acronis so that I can now re-back up my laptop.
Is there a particular version that I should use? Im just a simple home user with one laptop and a desktop.
All the best.
Mike