Can't boot to Win8

I wanted to expand my OS partition, as I notice 64 bit requires a lot more room, so I used Partition Magic from my backup hard drive to delete the preceding FAT32 partition, which couldn't be read by Win8, anyway. Unfortunately, this somehow messed up my boot, and I can no longer open Win8. I tried the repair, through the Win8 DVD, but it said it was unable to repair as the drive was locked. How can I repair my boot for this OS?

 

Can you delete C partition using your bootable USB drive, reformat all free space in NTFS, and reinstall Windows 8?

 

I suppose I can, but is there no way of fixing the boot, so I don't have to do 960MB of updates before I can download Win 8.1?

 

Also, though win8 seems to allow you to uninstall the APPS, they are still on the drive. When I attempt to delete them from my other drive, I am refused, as they are protected files. Can these be removed from my computer?

 

That's beyond my capabilities for the moment, but in my opinion, I think it would be better to bite the bullet and start all over again.

Wait and see what the others have to say first.

 

Barry, do a Google on W8 Hard drive is Locked. You're not on your own with this one.
There seems to be a bug with W8/8.1 which causes the bootmbr to not function and you go through a "loop" of W8 telling you to get the Administrator to unlock the drive.
The only choice is to re-install from scratch.
I'm talking from experience. Been there - done that. Neil.

 

Did you try this solution, Neil?

Windows 8 hard drive lock solution​

 

OK, I did a fresh install and then downloaded 1GB in updates. When the computer restarted I got the same old NTLDR missing, so no boot, again.

James, none of those options are available to me, so I'm looking for something new. I'd hate to spend every day reinstalling Win 8.

 

Were you able to format all free space (including the deleted partition) in NTFS before re-installing Windows 8?

I noticed you made an ISO of your Windows 8 DVD. Did you create the ISO from your troublesome DVD drive? If so, maybe some of your ISO files are corrupt.

 

James, That guys solution didn't work for those who placed comments. The only option was displayed on the screen view - Refresh - and then load all your personal software again and the Updates.
I still had to Download W8.1 Update all 3.63GB's.
There has to be a bug causing this. My installation is an Upgrade of W8 Pro and I thought it was the Upgrade only that was affected. Look on Google and it's Full versions and OEM's that people are experiencing this problem with.
I was wondering if my problem was caused because I have 2 other Hard Drives connected - one with Vista 32bit SP2 and the other has W7 Pro 64bit SP1.
I have disconnected the power to those 2 drives and will see if this W8.1 will continue to run on it's own.
I was going into BIOS to change the Drive boot order and thought that because all 3 drives were operational there may have been a reason for it.
Fingers crossed - it's working fine at the moment.
Barry, as I've stated, I did the Refresh option which loaded W8 only. This took about 1 hour and then I had to visit WU and then do the W8.1 Update.
You have to have your DVD in the ROM drive while this Refresh is carried out. Neil.

 

I cleaned my DVD burner and have been using that. I'm doing another fresh install right now. I'm thinking of doing 8.1 before all the other updates, as I assume many are already in 8.1. I read somewhere a particular update is necessary to download 8.1, but I can't find that, now. Do you know what KB file needs to be downloaded first? I thought Win 8 was stable but just weird to navigate. I never realized the headaches it would cause.

 

Barry, When you go to the Store or WU for the W8.1 update - it asks if you have ALL the updates installed first.
I think I pushed this for a third time before it started downloading the 8.1 update. Neil.

 

The necessary update to download 8.1 is KB2871389.

 

I can't understand all these people claiming that WinXP is broken, yet Win8 is garbage. I did another fresh install and then updated to Win 8.1, with no problems. I then installed Office 2007 and did the updates for that. When the computer restarted, I ended up with NTLDR missing, again!!@!@!@!@

There has to be a way to fix the boot without going through all the trouble of reinstalling and ending up with the same problem. Does Microsoft offer assistance on new purchases? Win8 is a real joke. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

 

Hi Barry, I see you're getting the "loop" problem. You can open a Command, but you can't give it Administrator Rights. DUH!
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2871389

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/why-can-t-find-update-store

My latest install is fully operational with 8.1 and MS Word Pro 2007 so I'm hoping all the "bugs" have gone to sleep for good.
Apparently getting Windows Store to work relies on an empty cache (see links). Neil.

 

Who is the manufacturer of the HDD and what model number is it. You may have to write zeros to the drive(zero out the drive) with the manufacturer's HDD tools.

 

I called Microsoft. I can't say their tech operators have any experience actually working on any computers, but this is what I was told. XP & Win 8 have different types of boot mechanisms, and they are incompatible with each other. Therefore, you can't dual boot with a computer having separate hard drives with XP on one and Win 8 on the other. I have deleted the XP partition from my backup drive and formatted that space, attaching it to my son's computer using an IDE to USB adapter. Now, I'll replace the hard drive into my computer and see if I can get Win 8 to install properly on each drive. I'll keep you informed as to the results.

More information: Microsoft definitely doesn't care about the end user. It is possible to download 8.1, once KB2871389 has been downloaded and installed, but it is downloaded to the store's cloud, not my computer, so there is no file I can save and put on a disk for future use. MS says I have to buy an 8.1 key in order to be allowed to have an ISO of 8.1. This makes no sense to me. Once a computer has been altered into 8.1, it should have the ability to reinstall directly as 8.1, or at least allow a disk for making the upgrade easy. It should be simple to slipstream 8.1 into 8.0 and make an ISO, but MS could care less about the convenience for the customer. While I'm on my bandwagon bashing MS, having preinstalled APPS that can't easily be removed from my computer is definitely only thinking about MS, not the end user. I did find directions on how to take ownership of those files and delete them, but I have to have a functionally stable computer to even test that procedure.

 

Is there a special procedure to dual boot two hard drives on one computer, both with Win 8?

When my computer starts, I'd like the option to choose which drive to open.

 

Apparently it isn't necessary to do a clean reinstall when you get an NTLDR missing boot problem. Just replace any XP OS with Win8, and the other OS will still be fully functional. I do wish I could access it without having to pull the power from my other hard drive, though. Any suggestions?

 

I wonder if Bill Gates would trust one of his technicians to do brain surgery on one of his family members.

OK, here is the latest from the Expert Microsoft Technician (confirmed by his supervisor): Neither Win XP nor Win 8 have ever been capable of being dual booted. I guess I've been living in a fantasy world for all these years, thinking I was able to choose which drive I wanted to open on my computer. Though I thought I was doing this, I now find out I couldn't have done that. I wonder what I should do with my son's computer, as it still thinks it is living the fantasy and capable of triple booting (two OS installations on one drive and one on the other).

When I go into Computer Properties - System Protection - Advanced - System Startup, only one Windows 8 shows (I guess had there been two, I could have dual booted, like in XP). When I go into Disk Management, one OS drive shows Healthy (System, Boot, Page file, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition). The other OS drive shows Healthy (Logical Drive), but my partition for added storage shows Healthy (Active, Primary Partition). I'm sensing this is the problem, with the wrong partition showing as Active, Primary, but I don't know how to change this. Disk Management doesn't seem to give that option. Mr. Expert MS Tech says if I opened up the other drive (by changing the order of starting HDDs in the BIOS) the other drive would show the same as this drive does. The only way I can access the other drive is to unplug this drive (then the other one opens normally).

My second question to Mr. Expert was whether I could change the download location for IE, and he said that wasn't possible. I told him I'd just use Firefox and Chrome, which do allow for that, and he said it wasn't possible with those browsers, either.

My third question was whether it would be possible to download an ISO of 8.1 with an 8.0 product key, something the last Mr. Expert said was impossible. This Mr. Expert said it can be downloaded at windows.microsoft.com\en-US\windows-8\upgrade-product-key-only?woldogcb=0. He said I could call back, if it doesn't allow me to download it with an 8.0 key, and Microsoft will give me an 8.1 key. I'll give it a shot, after I finish downloading 8.1 from the Store, as I've already downloaded 30% of that.

Any comments or suggestions on these?