Bootcamp BCD corrupt?

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Level 2

332 points

Bootcamp BCD corrupt?

Hi! I am having an issue with my MacBook Pro Retina 15" Late 2013

I'm currently dual booting the computer via Bootcamp with OS X El Capitan/Windows 10. However today when I booted into Windows, I got what looks like a BSOD telling me my BCD is corrupt. A picture of what the screen looks like is attached below.

As the picture states below, the screen claims that "The Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information.

File: \BCD

Error code: 0xc0000034

I have tried numerous things such as running Startup repair from a recovery flash drive, however whenever I run it, it says "Startup repair could not repair your computer" Is there a way to fix this issue? It seems to be a major issue with Bootcamp that the BCD gets randomly corrupt as this is NOT the first time this happened. I've gotten this same exact error 2 times in the past, 2 times on Windows 8.1, and now I am getting the same exact BCD corrupt error again on Windows 10. In the past I was able to solve the solution temporarily by completely wiping the bootcamp partition and reinstalling windows from scratch. However this only worked for a short while and it's a huge pain since I lose everything I had on Windows everytime...

There must be a solution to this without having to reinstall Windows every time! I have searched online for this issue and couldn't find anyone else having the same issue as me! Is this a hardware fault with my mac and something I should take my Mac to the Apple Store for repair before my warranty runs up? (I have about a month left on my 1 year warranty)

Any help is greatly appreciated! As you can imagine, I am quite frustrated by this since I lose everything on windows every time this happens and I am forced to reinstall Windows which is a pain, and if I am traveling and this happens I am out of luck as I probably won't have a flash drive with Windows on it at the time. Thanks!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), Late 2013 i7 16GB ram 512gb GT 750M

Posted on Dec 16, 2015 4:56 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 16, 2015 5:27 PM in response to sebster101

1. Can you verify that the Microsoft partition exists on your Mac EFI partition. Please see the third page of - Can't resize Macintosh HD partition as a reference.

2. Bootrec.exe can be used to rebuild the BCD. Please see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/927392 and https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg441289.aspx (do not delete the shared partition).

The challenge is that the BCD in the EFI partition is on a shared EFI partition. OS X can modify the partition, as can Windows (BCD). This leads to corruption issues.

On a Late 2013 MBP, I have W8.1 installed with EFI and using it's own separate MSR partition, separate from the Mac EFI partition.

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Answer 2

sebster101 Author

Level 2

332 points

Dec 19, 2015 8:30 AM in response to Loner T

Hi, I've just tried using the Bootrec utility as instructed by the link you provided above, however when I run the Bootrec.exe /RebuildBCD command, it throws an error as shown in the picture below.

I also tried removing the Microsoft folder and contents I found in the EFI partition on my Mac after following your directions, however all this did was remove the ability to boot up into Windows. When I hold down alt now when booting the mac, I no longer see Windows as an option to boot from. I tried running the Bootrec command again from the Windows 10 USB however it gives the same exact error as shown above in the screenshot, no different.

Is there a way I can rebuild the BCD so I can get Windows working again? Also if possible, can you tell me how you got Windows installed via EFI on your Mac using its own separate MSR Partition? This would be useful in the future so that OS X doesn't mess with the Windows EFI files and cause the BCD to become corrupt.. Thanks and hope to hear back from you soon!

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 19, 2015 9:56 AM in response to sebster101

From X: can you run diskpart and check if any volumes are read-only? Please see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766465%28v=ws.10%29.aspx?f=255&MSP PError=-2147217396 for the attributes sub-command within diskpart. If the EFI partition is read-only, you will need to make it read-write. C: should also be made read-write.

To install Windows using a dedicated MSR, you need to create Free Space partition which the Windows Installer will split it into MSR and MSD.

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