Missing operating system error when installing windows 10 bootcamp to external SSD

I tried using search, but it can't find any BCD file anywhere.

I also checked various locations and found nothing.

I have tried removing the internal windows and booting from the external previously too, and I still came to the same error

UPDATE:

I figured out a method that seems to work.

I booted to Windows on my internal hard drive and used WintoUSB software to clone the operating system. It lets you clone it either physically from the disk, via an iso image or via the disk. It didn't seem to work properly when I did a physical clone, but cloning from disk to USB worked fine.

Then if you install windows on the disk, it will load fine but you won't have any of the bootcamp drivers and no way to access the files. To fix this, boot back onto the internal windows, copy the files over to the hard drive, and then reboot from the external drive.

I think this software is essentially an alternative to the 'Windows to Go' application, offered to those with an Enterprise edition.

Seems to work for mac though.

Thanks for the reply, yes that is what I have been doing.

I have followed the instructions by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SxA_OsPEgk.

However, I have previously attempted to use Windows and CMD to do the same thing. I have also tried installing using tutorials involving parallels. However, they all ultimately end in this same error.

iMac 21.5 inch late 2012.

Sorry, I got the error wrong on this thread. It says 'Error loading operating system'

Originally I had the missing operating system, but using WinClone to make it legacy bootable fixed that. So its recognised it, and appears to be booting from it, it just can't load the operating system.

Im not sure its a WinClone problem as I have also tried this method using Windows to clone it as well.

I'm connecting via USB 3.0 and its a seagate 256gb external SSD I am using.

It didn't seem to like the /store function, but here is what I managed to get up:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /store C:

The boot configuration data store could not be opened.

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit

Windows Boot Manager

--------------------

identifier {bootmgr}

device partition=C:

description Windows Boot Manager

locale en-US

inherit {globalsettings}

default {current}

resumeobject {5039b7c5-e5a6-11e6-8fe6-9cb51718576c}

displayorder {current}

toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}

timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader

-------------------

identifier {current}

device partition=C:

path \Windows\system32\winload.exe

description Windows 7

locale en-US

inherit {bootloadersettings}

recoverysequence {5039b7c7-e5a6-11e6-8fe6-9cb51718576c}

recoveryenabled Yes

osdevice partition=C:

systemroot \Windows

resumeobject {5039b7c5-e5a6-11e6-8fe6-9cb51718576c}

nx OptIn

C:\Windows\system32>

Also, if I click computer, it just shows the external SSD as a removable disk, and says its needs formatting before I use it, even though it is NTFS format. However, I ran diskpart and it shows up fine.

My output is:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /store E:\boot

The boot configuration data store could not be opened.

The system cannot find the file specified.

C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit /store C:\boot

The boot configuration data store could not be opened.

The system has attempted to load or restore a file into the registry, but the sp

ecified file is not in a registry file format.

C:\Windows\system32>diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 6.1.7601

Copyright (C) 1999-2008 Microsoft Corporation.

On computer: AARON-PC

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt

-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---

Disk 0 Online 931 GB 0 B

Disk 1 Online 223 GB 0 B

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> list partition

Partition ### Type Size Offset

------------- ---------------- ------- -------

Partition 1 Primary 200 MB 512 B

Partition 0 Primary 223 GB 201 MB

DISKPART> list volume

Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info

---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------

Volume 0 D Macintosh H HFS Partition 871 GB Healthy

Volume 1 C BOOTCAMP NTFS Partition 59 GB Healthy System

Volume 2 E RAW Removable 200 MB Healthy

DISKPART>

Disk 1 is the external SSD

Is that what you meant by Boot?

I can't get it to point to the external disk, it is recognising it as a RAW format. Even though in OS, I formatted it as MS-DOS and it now reads as NTFS

Thanks again 🙂

My output is:

Aarons-iMac:~ AaronGoff$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 935.3 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 64.0 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *240.1 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 239.8 GB disk1s2

Aarons-iMac:~ AaronGoff$ df -h

Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on

/dev/disk0s2 871Gi 172Gi 699Gi 20% 45095155 183260587 20% /

devfs 184Ki 184Ki 0Bi 100% 636 0 100% /dev

map -hosts 0Bi 0Bi 0Bi 100% 0 0 100% /net

map auto_home 0Bi 0Bi 0Bi 100% 0 0 100% /home

/dev/disk0s4 60Gi 27Gi 33Gi 46% 119397 34301551 0% /Volumes/BOOTCAMP

/dev/disk1s2 223Gi 17Gi 207Gi 8% 61368 216820900 0% /Volumes/BOOTCAMP 1