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December 18th, 2017 13:00

How to add Windows Boot Manager into boot sequence in BIOS?

Hi

After a failed windows update, I am not able to boot my laptop.

Finally, after being passed from one agent to another during some hours today, I was eventually forwarded to a 14th person at Dell, who was the right kind person to help me with my problem. Hurah!

But we could not find a solution.

During the call, I had to delete the Windows Boot Manager that figured in the sequence, and which was not working. And then to add it again.

So far so good.

I added WINDOWS BOOT MANAGER after clicking on $boot (after choosing one of my partitions).

But it then showed up as WINDOWS BOOT MANAG

I tried again Windows Boot Manager

which, again, came up as Windows Boot Manag

Two letters missing... So this is not working, and computer still doesn't boot into OS.

Any idea how to add Windows Boot Manager correctly?

by the way, I found this file bootsector.bak - is this of any use to restore my boot sector??

Would be great to get some help. I am on that issue full time since 3 days now, and can't even do my normal job. 

Thanks a lot!!

Windows version:  10.0.16299.15 Inspiron 3437

4 Operator

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14K Posts

December 18th, 2017 15:00

Take a look at the suggested answers in this thread.  The interface is a bit different, but the file you need to select should be the same: en.community.dell.com/.../20013288

 

(edited)

134 Posts

December 18th, 2017 22:00

Ohh Yeahhh thank you -- this looks exactly like what I need.

BUT

I do not understand what to do *shameonme*

When I try to add a new boot option, it does only ask for a name, nothing else. i mean how do I go to point b/ and c/ ?

Tonight I run the bootrec.exe

FixMbr : was executed correctly, but didn't help.

FixBoot : access denied!

ScanOs : no windows found (huh!)

But it must be somewhere my windows install... It could successfully restore my restore point. How could it possibly do that without windows?

Another question I ask myself, why do I see partition 1 2 4 5 6 7 but not 3?? Just wondering.

I also called microsoft, but I lost the guy when the call got disconnected.

3 days full time trying everything.

Will go and ask in the other treat :-)

Thanks a lot!!

Chris

134 Posts

December 18th, 2017 23:00

Finally I found the file!!! Hura!!

OMG it's booting!!!!

Just... I am not able to enter my pin code now. but huge progress !!!

I think it changed the keyboard setting or something... so the pin I enter is not correct

4 Operator

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14K Posts

December 19th, 2017 06:00

Congrats on getting that working!  I was going to say, your "Select Media File" screenshot already showed the interface where you needed to select the bootloader file.

What is this PIN code you're talking about -- BitLocker?  The BitLocker PIN prompt allows you to press a key to reveal what's being typed, so you can try that if you're worried it's not interpreting your keyboard correctly.  Or you can press Esc to switch to entering the Recovery Key instead of a PIN.  Or maybe it's actually prompting you for your Recovery Key rather than PIN in the first place?  It's more likely that you're being prompted for something other than what you're providing than that your keyboard layout suddenly changed, after all.

134 Posts

December 19th, 2017 07:00

Hello

Thank you so much for your help. 

In fact I had a pincode issue, because I had set the boot option to safe mode in command prompt, and so, when it finally booted, it was looking for my microsoft password. I could solve this, and also find out how to get out of the safe mode, I was stuck in.

Now I contacted Microsoft in order to know how to prevent this issue to happen.

The mess started after a windows update install failed 

I had set windows updater to MANUAL but it just does not care. I have a metered connection, but since creator, that doesn't matter. It always downloads whatever it finds, installs it and even restarts without asking.

I asked Microsoft what means "manual"... they were not able to respond.

I now disabled all updates, but this is not the right solution either. I would like to see what updates are available, download them manually from the windows catalog, and install them correctly when it's the right moment.

Seems impossible now. :emotion-7:

4 Operator

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14K Posts

December 19th, 2017 07:00

The only way to get manual updating now is if you have Windows 10 Pro (not Home) and use Group Policy Editor, where you can set a policy that will allow you to see what updates are pending before you even tell your PC to download them.  You cannot however pick and choose which updates you want; you have to take them all, so the only control you have is when they're downloaded.  If you don't have Pro, your only option is to set your active hours to make sure that updates don't try to install during that period, and Windows supposedly tries to determine whether you're actually using the PC before automatically restarting even during that time, but updates will still get downloaded automatically.

I'm surprised that the metered connection isn't being respected, but that could be a result of switching to cumulative updates rather than individual updates.  Previously, critical security updates would always be downloaded, even on metered connections, but now I guess if the cumulative update contains a critical security update, it would get downloaded as well.

134 Posts

December 19th, 2017 07:00

Thanks for this information.

That's terrific, so it is impossible now to turn off automatic updates. I am on a metered connection and have 20 Gigs per month available. So I don't want that microsoft eats up my data and restarts and kills my machine randomly.

Well, I will let it turned off completely and hope for the best. It actually can't be worse not to install updates, than killing my computer while installing the updates.

However, MS sent me this link on how to disable updates. But it looks way too complicated and risky to  me. I am not tech savvy enough to process this whole thing.

support.microsoft.com/.../how-do-i-reset-windows-update-components

4 Operator

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14K Posts

December 19th, 2017 08:00

That's not how to disable updates; that's how to RESET updates, if you can't get them to download or install properly.  You definitely do not want to bother with all of that.

I personally would strongly advise AGAINST disabling updates by stopping Windows services.  I could understand your frustration if you were only occasionally on a metered connection and didn't want updates to install in that situation, but if your primary Internet connection is metered, then you should really consider Windows updates as part of your regular Internet activity that you pay for.  Updates should be a priority in today's security landscape, not an afterthought for whenever you might find yourself on an unmetered connection.  Although the cumulative updates are quite large when downloaded via the Microsoft Catalog, when your PC downloads them through Windows Update, it only downloads the portions that it needs based on the previous cumulative updates it already installed, so if you're basing your decision on the size you see in the Catalog, that's a mistake.

134 Posts

December 19th, 2017 10:00

Thank you

I get your point but the automatic updates fail 90% of time (I have a long list of failed updates in my historic) and after each failure it downloads it again. So that my bandwidth is always taken by these updates.

And you know, 20 Giga per month isn't a lot, and I would prefer to use it to work, rather than dedicate it to windows.

And I just spent 3 whole days on repairing my computer after a corrupted update, windows launched without my permission Friday night (KB405454517).

My husband never runs updates (he only upgraded to win10 once), and he never has any problems, while I am in big troubles all the time, crushing one of my computers almost every week. I feel like I don't do anything else than solve computer problems.

And no, it does not download only what it needs through the download manager, it downloads a lot of stuff for applications I even don't have installed.

Once it tried for a whole week to download an update for AMD64 although my Dell has Intel i5.  I had a very hard time to get rid of this one. lol

134 Posts

December 19th, 2017 10:00

That said, you saved my day!!! :-) My dell is running again

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