SOLVED Can't get out of dual boot

jwm

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I have Windows 10 and 8.1 dual booted but I’m having trouble removing 8.1. 10 is on a Seagate 2TB HDD, and 10 is on a Samsung 2TB HDD. Both are SATA and my motherboard is BIOS. As long as the Samsung (8.1) is drive 0 and is boot’s first choice, all is well. I get the option to select either OS, and either one can be made default.

In attempting to remove 8.1 I have tried several things like making the Seagate drive O, removing power from the Samsung, swapping boot choice, but always fail and I continually get, “an operating system wasn’t found” no matter the disk or boot sequence, except the one above.

Included are jpg’s of disk management while in Windows 10, both disk and volume views.

Any suggestions on how to decouple 8.1?

win 10 disk mgmt disks.jpg


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Trouble

Noob Whisperer
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It's difficult to tell much from your images as certain portions are cropped, but....
It looks to me like you only have one actual "System" partition. Regardless of what the label says, I only see the one that is actually reporting as "Healthy ("System", Active, Primary) and I suspect that that is the one that contains the boot config (BCD data) files to support either or both OSs booting.
Just a guess.
Maybe Saltgrass will happen along and have a different take on the situation. He seems to have the magic when it comes to resolving such things.
 
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Right now, according to your attachment, you are booting Disk 1 which starts the OS on disk 0.

Since you don't label which OS is which and both drives are 2 TB, is it hard to tell exactly you current situation.

In order to contain boot files, the partition has to be Active, so either one of the two may contain some type of boot files although only one will have the Dual Boot configuration.

For testing, I would suggest you disconnect each drive in turn to see what happens. A drive being drive 0 just means it is on the first SATA connector. The important configuration data is which drive is listed as Primary in the bios. Either drive can be set to boot but if you do an install the Primary drive is very important.
 
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jwm

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Thanks for the replies.

Sorry about the lousy attachment. I thought I had entered both volume and disk displays, but didn't notice the cropping. Hope these will be more meaningful.

Frankly I am confused about the boot process and where boot data is stored, as well as drive, volume and partition labeling. You can see that both disks contain two "primary" partitions each, with disk 0 containing "boot", but no "boot" in disk 1. I assume that means the boot data is in disk 0.

It's disk 0 which contains 8.1, and is the drive I'd like to remove, format, and use somewhere else ... but I can't make the PC boot into 10 (Disk 1) without having Disk 0 powered and in the first boot order. Actually, this BIOS table calls for boot order 1 thru 7, and my first boot is the CD/DVD drive, with Disk 0 in the second boot order, and Disk 1 in the third order.

It seems to me that I need to get boot data into Disk 1 but I'm not certain of that, nor do I know how if that is the case.

Also I'm including the two pictures as thumbnails, assuming you can enlarge as needed. If not, let me know. (I'm new to this forum)

win 10 disk mgmt volumes .jpg win 10 disk mgmt disks.jpg

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System is where the boot files are. It must be active on a MBR system. Since you have two active partitions, either one might contain boot files, but your attachment shows you booting to Disk 1.

Boot is where the OS files are which is odd but Microsoft set it up that way. Both of these designations can change depending on how you boot. If you boot into Windows 10, the boot partition should move to what is E in your attachment.

Did you try the suggestion to disconnect one drive and then boot to the other? Windows 8.1 might boot with just that drive and Windows 10 might boot with just the second drive connected. If it does than you can remove the Windows 8.1 boot option from the boot menu. If you can't boot with one drive connected, then it may not have boot files or those boot files are pointing at the other drive.

The reason we suggest disconnecting secondary drives is because you may not be setting the bios correctly to boot to just the one so the other interferes with the observed result.

Can we assume you have upgraded your system from Windows 7 to 8 then to 10?

When you disconnect a drive and reboot, after booting without it the bios switches that drive to primary an it becomes the first boot priority. When you reconnect the other drive, it is automatically secondary. As I mentioned, Disk 0 and Disk 1 don't really mean anything related to booting.

Are you sure you know which drive Windows 10 is on? If you were running Windows 8.1 when you made the attachment, then it is on Disk 0.

Edit: And what is the situation with the Virtual DVD?
 
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jwm

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boot manager.jpg boot loader.jpg boot loader 2.jpg Thanks again for the reply.

System is where the boot files are. It must be active on a MBR system. Since you have two active partitions, either one might contain boot files, but your attachment shows you booting to Disk 1.

Boot is where the OS files are which is odd but Microsoft set it up that way. Both of these designations can change depending on how you boot. If you boot into Windows 10, the boot partition should move to what is E in your attachment.

Did you try the suggestion to disconnect one drive and then boot to the other? Windows 8.1 might boot with just that drive and Windows 10 might boot with just the second drive connected. If it does than you can remove the Windows 8.1 boot option from the boot menu.

When I do this, I get “An operating system wasn’t found. Try disconnecting any drives that don’t contain operating systems. Press ctrl + alt + del to restart.”

The reason we suggest disconnecting secondary drives is because you may not be setting the bios correctly to boot to just the one so the other interferes with the observed result.

In the above test, the following was verified prior to start:

Bios shows disk recognition as follows, ide master – not detected (nd), ide slave – nd, sata1 – Seagate, sata2 thru 4 – nd, sata5 – cd/dvd, sata6 – nd.

Boot sequence, 1st – cd/dvd, 2nd – Seagate, the rest -nd


Can we assume you have upgraded your system from Windows 7 to 8 then to 10? Yes.

When you disconnect a drive and reboot, after booting without it the bios switches that drive to primary an it becomes the first boot priority. When you reconnect the other drive, it is automatically secondary. As I mentioned, Disk 0 and Disk 1 don't really mean anything related to booting.

I’m sorry but I can’t relate this explanation to the problem … but it’s not your fault … I’m not very nimble in the booting maze. Hope the attached BCDedit pictures taken in Windows 10 will tell you something. Can you tell me which disk is “HarddiskVolume4” in the Boot Manager ?

Are you sure you know which drive Windows 10 is on? If you were running Windows 8.1 when you made the attachment, then it is on Disk 0.

The attachment was made using Windows 10.

And what is the situation with the Virtual DVD?

That was an external drive I had temporarily connected at the time.


boot manager.jpg boot loader.jpg boot loader 2.jpg

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Perhaps you could try booting into your install media. Work through the process until your are at the window where it has the option to repair your computer, then select repair start up:
  1. Put the Windows 10 Installation DVD media into the drive ND BOOT. Obviously you have the DVD as your boot option. But Watch for the “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD” message.
  2. On the "Install Windows" screen, make the usual selections for language, time, and keyboard, click “Next”.
  3. On the next screen, click “Repair Your Computer”. NOT "Install now"
  4. In “System Recovery Options”, select which operating system you want to restore if any are listed. (Windows 10)
  5. Click “Next”.
  6. The “System Recovery Options” screen shown below will open.
  7. Select “Startup Repair” or whichever option you wish to apply.
 
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Since it looks like Windows 10 is on Drive 0 have you tried disconnecting drive 1? If there are boot files on that drive it may boot. If not, try following davehc's suggestion but leave the other drive disconnected.

You might label your OS partitions to avoid confusion.

If you want the entire BCD file, type the following command and it will place a file on your desktop which you could attach if you wanted.

bcdedit /enum all > %userprofile%\Desktop\bcdtext.txt

EDIT: Because of the configuration of the drive currently for Windows 10, you might think about doing a clean install on that drive so it can set up the partition configuration it likes.
 
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jwm

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Perhaps you could try booting into your install media. Work through the process until your are at the window where it has the option to repair your computer, then select repair start up:
  1. Put the Windows 10 Installation DVD media into the drive ND BOOT. Obviously you have the DVD as your boot option. But Watch for the “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD” message.
  2. On the "Install Windows" screen, make the usual selections for language, time, and keyboard, click “Next”.
  3. On the next screen, click “Repair Your Computer”. NOT "Install now"
  4. In “System Recovery Options”, select which operating system you want to restore if any are listed. (Windows 10)
  5. Click “Next”.
  6. The “System Recovery Options” screen shown below will open.
  7. Select “Startup Repair” or whichever option you wish to apply.
This results in a message: An operating system was not found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system. Press ctrl+alt+del to restart.
 

jwm

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Since it looks like Windows 10 is on Drive 0 have you tried disconnecting drive 1? If there are boot files on that drive it may boot. If not, try following davehc's suggestion but leave the other drive disconnected.
Using the Windows 10 install ISO to boot, with 1 disconnected I get, "An operating system was not found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system. Press ctrl+alt+del to restart."However when I disconnect 0, I get the Recovery screen telling me the PC needs to be repaired. Using the F9 key and selecting Windows 10, I get the Recovery screen again ... but when I select 8.1, I'm able to get the OS.

That may tell you something about this problem, but for me it at least confirms that 10 is on 0 and 8.1 is on 1


You might label your OS partitions to avoid confusion.
I would be glad to if you will tell me how.

If you want the entire BCD file, type the following command and it will place a file on your desktop which you could attach if you wanted.

bcdedit /enum all > %userprofile%\Desktop\bcdtext.txt

EDIT: Because of the configuration of the drive currently for Windows 10, you might think about doing a clean install on that drive so it can set up the partition configuration it likes.
With all the trouble I have experienced since downloading Windows 10 I'm very reluctant to do a clean install. Having said that, I'm wondering about using a portable drive to transfer my working 10 to the portable, format the drive, and transfer the OS back ... but I'm pretty sure that would buy me more grief.

 

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The bottom line for you since the boot files are on the drive you want to reformat is to reinstall on the correct drive or use something to put the boot files on Drive 0.

The Startup Repair is one way which should replace those files and another way is to use the bcdboot or the bootrec /rebuildBCD command to place the boot files on that drive. If you want to try, let us know.
 

jwm

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The bottom line for you since the boot files are on the drive you want to reformat is to reinstall on the correct drive or use something to put the boot files on Drive 0.

The Startup Repair is one way which should replace those files and another way is to use the bcdboot or the bootrec /rebuildBCD command to place the boot files on that drive. If you want to try, let us know.

Thanks, that sounds like something I would like to try. And if you wouldn't mind, educate me a bit regarding boot. I thought both disks had MBR at the beginning of the disk, and once BIOS decided which disk was the boot choice, it sent control to that MBR.
 
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The bcdboot command is the easiest way to put the boot files where you need them. It may not, however, set up your recovery options.

The Bootrec /rebuildBCD command will set up the recovery options but it may need a prior BCD file in order to complete.

The Startup Recovery options, if you remove the other drive may work but might also say no installation was found because there is no BCD file already present.

So, you can start with the Recovery options and then depending on what may or may not work, resort to placing the boot files manually and try running the other ones after that is done.

You can run bcdboot while booted into Windows 10 without disconnecting the other drive. If you are in the same configuration as the first attachment shows, you can use the command below from an Administrative Command prompt.

bcdboot C:\Windows /s D:

Once you run this command you should be able to remove the other drive and boot into Windows 10.

The system boots in stages with one part pointing to the next part. I don't have the specifics but the BCD store tells the system how to start the OS.
 

jwm

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The bcdboot command is the easiest way to put the boot files where you need them. It may not, however, set up your recovery options.

The Bootrec /rebuildBCD command will set up the recovery options but it may need a prior BCD file in order to complete.
Couldn’t run this, and couldn’t find it in the Windows 10 CMD boot listings.

The Startup Recovery options, if you remove the other drive may work but might also say no installation was found because there is no BCD file already present.

So, you can start with the Recovery options and then depending on what may or may not work, resort to placing the boot files manually and try running the other ones after that is done.

You can run bcdboot while booted into Windows 10 without disconnecting the other drive. If you are in the same configuration as the first attachment shows, you can use the command below from an Administrative Command prompt.

bcdboot C:\Windows /s D:

Once you run this command you should be able to remove the other drive and boot into Windows 10.
This is exactly what was needed. Thank you! All is exactly as I was attempting to do … now to get back to fighting Windows 10 without dual boot distractions.

The system boots in stages with one part pointing to the next part. I don't have the specifics but the BCD store tells the system how to start the OS.
Thanks, I'll do some more studying on the subject.
Just a side-note … our Oregon shores contain saltgrass, and from now on I’ll not say “Damned stuff!” as I pass through it on my way to the ocean … instead I’ll say, “Bless Saltgrass on the Windows 10 Forum”. I very much appreciate your sticking with me and solving the problem.
 

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