Windows unbootable after installing Paragon (trial) HDM

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Level 1

8 points

Windows unbootable after installing Paragon (trial) HDM

I'm running High Sierra alongside Windows 10 using Bootcamp. During the installation of the trial version of Paragon Hard Disk Manager on the Mac I received a message saying that the Windows boot manager ( or something like that, I can't remember exactly unfortunately ) needed repairing to which I said OK. Before I got round to creating any backups I tried to boot into Windows but got the message No Boot Device available. After starting Paragon HDM again once back in the Mac I can see the option to Correct Bootcamp Boot Record in the EFI, Bootcamp and unnamed NTFS partitions or Correct boot.inior BCD files in the Apple partition. Does anybody know which one I should choose in order to retrieve Windows ? If you need any further information please don't hesitate to ask.

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 7, 2020 5:45 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 10, 2020 3:59 PM in response to Cloggyjohn

Reboot and hold Alt/Option. Do you see Windows as a selection? If yes, select it and try to boot from it.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 7, 2020 12:11 PM in response to Cloggyjohn

Paragon HDM shows GPT and MBR for the disk. Can you uninstall all Pargaon software temporarily, and post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

You may need to temporarily disable SIP.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 7, 2020 7:18 AM in response to Cloggyjohn

What is the year/model of your Mac (do not post the serial number)?

Paragon HDM and Paragon NTFS conflict with the native Apple utilities, and are not recommended.

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Answer 4

Cloggyjohn Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 10, 2020 4:13 PM in response to Loner T

Yes that worked ( although, after selecting the Windows option, it did seem to take longer than normal to start booting up but that it did and the main thing is that Windows is recovered without having to re-install it ). Many thanks for your help, much appreciated.

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Answer 5

Cloggyjohn Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 12, 2020 10:50 AM in response to Areyou486

Hi Areyou486, I think when you go to the discussion it takes you to the end of it ( Page 2 of 2 ), you need to go back to the beginning of page 1 to see the entire discussion. Hope the solution helps you.

Btw, once the problem was solved I re-installed Paragon HDM but this time didn't get to repair the Windows boot option and, fortunately, I could still boot into Windows. Unfortunately when trying to create a backup of MacOS and Windows ( under MacOS ) I got the message that AFPS wasn't supported (!!) so I decided to dump Paragon HDM.

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Answer 6

Mar 12, 2020 8:13 PM in response to Loner T

This has happened to me and now the drive seems to be messed up. I tried wiping the drive and reformatting, but even booting to the catalina installer now is super slow. I am attempting to reinstall catalina and although it appears to be working it seems super slow. I am at a loss who badly the Paragon software has seems to mess up an otherwise smooth upgrade. Any advice regarding saving the drive would be very much appreciated...

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Answer 7

Mar 13, 2020 4:51 AM in response to Cloggyjohn

OMG! I was worried about my main machine, because I installed the Paragon software on there. it is running El Capitan. I decided should remove the paragon software, which I did, then I decided I should clone (restore) both my boot and files partition, in case things went sideways...

Using Mac Disk utility I attempted to restore them, but the restore failed and both now are showing disk0s2 and disk0s3 instead of the disk labels! I tried to repair them, but attempts immediately failed. Ugh, I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach... I am terrified to do anything now and am absolutely desperate to get them back.

Please, please oh gods of MacOS, help me! I am a foolish user and promise to NEVER do stupid things like this again. I also promise to initiate an immediate time machine backup process, which I foolishly passed over in a rush to accomplish other things....

I am resolved to not do anything until I hear back here, as I am hoping against all odds that I may be able to save them using the method shared earlier in this thread. Loner T, can you please help me?

I am thinking perhaps uninstalling the paragon software was what caused the restore to fail and the drop of my drives... thinking, I should reinstall the drivers on another install of El Cap and try to repair them... Then I think, "stupid user" be patient and wait for some qualified help...

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Answer 8

Mar 13, 2020 5:01 AM in response to Areyou486

PS: I am now trouble shooting from a Yosemite install on an external USB drive. Currently restoring a fresh install of El Cap to new SSD, in an attempt to limit screwing anything else up. Plan on continuing the trouble shooting from the fresh SSD...

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