# All of a sudden can't boot into Windows?



## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

I turned my computer off Friday, was away for the weekend, and all of a sudden upon turning my computer on Sunday night it couldn't load Windows and got into a loop of going into Automatic Repair and being unable to repair and boot. I then manually selected to boot from my SSD (where Windows is installed) and it has the error

```
error: file '/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
Entering rescue mode...
grub rescue>
```
I had installed and deleted Ubuntu as dual boot forever ago. I guess it just didn't fully uninstall grub or something. I've been powering off and on just fine for months and months though. 

I've tried everything to fix this. Using my Win8 disc I can get into command prompt and do all the bootrec commands. This seems to work but restarting just has the same error. I've tried doing Automatic Repair but it says it can't automatically repair. I've tried doing Refresh PC, but that says the drive where Windows is installed is locked. I've tried doing Reset your PC but that says Unable to reset your PC A required drive partition is missing. I've checked in command prompt if that SSD is not read-only. I've tried booting from an Ubuntu USB and running various commands there that I've found online. Nothing has changed the situation.

I've tried everything that I can find, but I can't fix this. I don't even know what could have happened since it was powered off all weekend. :banghead:

Thanks ahead.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Can you access the Windows OS at all?

Start at step number 3, then make your way to step number 4 and report back what you see:

How to Diskpart Erase/Clean a Drive Through the Command Prompt


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

```
Disk ###      Status      Size       Free      Dyn      Gpt
Disk 0        Online      111 GB    0 B                   *
Disk 1        Online      931 GB    2048 KB
Disk 2        No Media     0 B        0 B
```
Windows is on the 111 GB SSD.


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Can you boot to Windows? Or does that error always show?

With your Windows CD, you should be able to enter recovery mode then access the partition manager. Then check to see if there are nay left over files from the other OS.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Disk 0 should be 100 MB's or so and have your Boot file on it, but it is much larger then that and probably still has the Grub Boot loader. 
You can boot off of the Windows Disk and after choosing your language, choose *Repair Your Computer. *


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Can you boot to Windows? Or does that error always show?
> 
> With your Windows CD, you should be able to enter recovery mode then access the partition manager. Then check to see if there are nay left over files from the other OS.


I can't boot into Windows at all. I've tried booting into safe mode but it has the same problem. Is there a way to go into partition manager through command prompt?


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

Have you tried reinstalling Ubuntu then seeing if you can boot into Windows? If you can then you might be able to completely uninstall all the Ubuntu files, including the bootloader and rectify the problem.


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

MPR said:


> Have you tried reinstalling Ubuntu then seeing if you can boot into Windows? If you can then you might be able to completely uninstall all the Ubuntu files, including the bootloader and rectify the problem.


No, I have not tried that yet. Would I have to reinstall Ubuntu or could I just do this from the Ubuntu Live USB? How would I uninstall the bootloader and everything from within ubuntu?


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

I tried running this (found elsewhere) in command prompt:

```
bcdedit /store c:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD /set {default} loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS
```
But I get this error:

```
The boot configuration data store could not be opened. 
The system cannot find the file specified.
```


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

I also just tried running (for the billionth time):

```
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec/rebuildbcd
```
The first 2 completed successfully. The last one found 1 Windows installation (previously would find 0). It then asked if I wanted to add the installation to the boot list. I chose yes, then it said 

```
The requested system device cannot be found.
```


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

I tried running:

```
bcdboot c:\windows /s s: /f UEFI
```
since Windows is on an SSD that is set up as gpt.

It ran right and seems to have helped. Now when I boot into my Windows USB via UEFI, when i try "Startup Repair" it actually detects my OS and has me select Windows 8.1 as the OS i want to repair. Same thing with "Refresh PC". However, "Refresh PC" asks me to insert my recovery media and when I do that (either CD or USB) it just says that it is invalid.


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

The Invalid Media error appears to be a very common one but I've not seen a definitive answer to why it occurs. However, you might want to read this:

Reset or Refresh Windows 8 PC without Any Installation Media


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## sollared (Apr 28, 2015)

With finals starting in a couple days, I decided to quit wasting time trying to fix it and just clean and reinstall Windows. I've got my personal files and games on a separate hard drive so I'll just have to worry about drivers and settings and I can get back to studying.


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