Bootcamp: unable boot with Windows partition. Gone from bootscreen. help!

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LeslieKZC Author

Level 1

4 points

Bootcamp: unable boot with Windows partition. Gone from bootscreen. help!

Dear All,

I am a Windows user, and I have a 2016 MacBook Pro 13 inch that I have been running windows boot camp since day 1.

I run a small business and I use it mainly for work.

It has never given me an issue till date.

I had some issues with my wifi drivers due to a windows update earlier today, and I decided to go to boot camp to download and install the older drivers.

I rebooted into MacOS, and launched bootcamp.

I selected Action>download windows support software and it asks me to select location, and I accidentally clicked on my BOOTCAMP partition.

The next thing I knew, a message greeted me saying that it was formatting my partition.

I panicked and cancelled the window immediately.

I checked Finder and was relieved to see that my BOOTCAMP drive was still there, including all my work files.

However, when I rebooted and pressed the "option"key, the option to boot into windows was gone.

I went back into Mac, and updated the system, and next I upgraded my macOS from 10.12 to 10.14.6 Mojave, which I thought might help but it didn't.

I went to disk utility and noticed that its mounted.

However, its Owners: Disabled

I was desperate, I googled for a fix and tried resetting rebooting, PRAM, SMC, and using Winclone software to make EFI bootable. However, it simply stays on the page after pressing" make EFI bootable", with no prompt, and owners remain disabled, its not working.

Lastly, I also tried startup disk. When selecting the Bootcamp as the Startup Disk, error message says:

“You can’t change the startup disk to the selected disk.

The bless tool was unable to set the current boot disk.

How can I fix this?

This is super urgent because my Windows partition contains a lot of important work documents and software.

I am in the midst of backing up all my documents to an external hard drive.

I am not very tech savvy, please let me know the steps to fix this in the simplest terms.

Thank you!

I have enclosed screenshots that might help.

Windows, Windows 6

Posted on Apr 17, 2020 6:10 AM

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Answer 1

LeslieKZC Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 17, 2020 9:29 AM in response to LeslieKZC

Next, I read online that I could possible fix this by booting windows from a USB and fixing some boot files. I tried have downloading a copy of windows and installed it on usb from these instructions:

https://medium.com/@isonno/how-to-repair-recover-a-mac-running-bootcamp-ba5afa663050

I am able to boot from it, but it seems that I am unable to detect other partitions apart from my USB drive.

I have used commands like

DISKPART

LIST DISK

LIST VOLUME

and all I see are is my usb drive

I think my problem is similar to this discussion, except I can't seem to find my hard disk partitions when booted: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8495221?page=5

Does anyone know how to fix this?

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Answer 2

LeslieKZC Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 17, 2020 1:09 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I am able to see all if not most of my windows files, and I have since backed them up to an external drive.

I have followed the other discussion that you managed to solve: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8495221?page=5

and I have realised that using the USB boot, LIST DISK and LIST VOLUME, I am unable to see my bootcamp and other partitions, apart from the usb boot itself.

Can you boot back into macOS and then we can look at the partitions and headers, before we start try to correct booting.

Sure, just tell me what to do and what commands to run :)

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Answer 3

LeslieKZC Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 19, 2020 12:48 AM in response to Loner T

Hi Loner, just to give you an update, I finally fixed the issue and got my Windows back, with all my software and documents.

Heres what I did.

I installed Paragon hard disk manager (10 day free Trial) and used it to create a backup image of my BOOTCAMP drive
I used Boot Camp Assistant to reformat my BOOTCAMP partition and reinstall windows.
After a new copy of windows was installed, I went back into macOS and restored the backup image of the BOOTCAMP drive in (1).

After the above 3 steps, everything seems to be working fine again. I am now able to boot into both windows and macOS with all my files and softwares intact.

Thanks for the help!

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,520 points

Apr 17, 2020 11:54 AM in response to LeslieKZC

I do not recommend using bcdboot. We should stick to bcdedit.

Can you boot back into macOS and then we can look at the partitions and headers, before we start try to correct booting.

If you make changes with Winclone, it can make your problems worse.

Are you still able to see all your Windows files via macOS Finder?

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,520 points

Apr 18, 2020 7:16 AM in response to LeslieKZC

My recommendation is to let you backup/copying finish, remove the current installation of Windows, re-install it, and re-install your application software. It is unfortunately, tedious, but safer in the long run. If your Winclone backup is from a working Windows installation, you may to consider a test restore as another option.

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