When booting I get error "The system cannot find the drive specified"

[clent724]

I am new to the forum. I just joined because I have a frustrating issue that I cannot figure out. I have a HP laptop with Windows 10 and when I start it up it says Administrator with the spinning wheel and then it goes to a CMD windows and says "The system cannot find the drive specified". I went into recovery and tries just restoring to factory settings but it fails. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Colif]

on another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB << its just a boot disc

try this

change boot order in bios so USB is first, hdd second
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
We need to use the Bootrec.exe tool. Click on command prompt and type in the following commands, one after the other:
bootrec /RebuildBcd
bootrec /fixMbr
bootrec /fixboot
Exit
Now go ahead and reboot your system. In some cases you may need to run some additional commands.
bootsect /nt60 SYS or bootsect /nt60 ALL

it fixes the boot partition so windows can get past where its stuck



Alternate is just fresh install since factory reset fails

if there anything on C you want to rescue, try making this on another PC: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windows-computer/

boot from installer
follow this guide: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html

when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished

On the screen where you choose where to install win 10, if it gives you an error about GPT drives, delete all the partitions on the hdd and press next. If it still gives error, cancel out of the installer and restart PC and start installer again, it will accept next on that screen this time (some PC just need a restart here)

 

[tucsonpcr]

Just for anyone's interest.
Bootrec does NOT work after Windows 10 version 14093

 

[Colif]

14093 was part of version 1607 which is 2 years ago

That doesn't sound right, i have helped people with that advice since that version was released several years ago

there are plenty of examples of other web sites offering those commands this year.

If you still on 1607 you should update to 1803

 

[tucsonpcr]

Not a matter of which version you are on. If you try to rebuild the BCD with bootrec using the Windows RE, it does not work with versions after 14093. You get a cannot find location error.