Troubleshooting Windows 8
Troubleshooting Windows 8
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As you might have experienced , many times we get into condition that , we are not properly able to boot into windows . There could be numerous reasons for the same. The common issues includes BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) , Missing or Corrupted System files , Incorrect Drivers installed and so on.
In such circumstances , let's first of all start with basic troubleshooting tests. Whenever you install any software or drivers for a newly purchased hardware , it first saves all the registry settings to the system while the system shuts down and then , if that driver is not compatible or if wrong settings are made in registry , it renders your system not to turn on properly or does gives an errors upon the screen . Here , in this case , the very first thing you needs to do is , to boot your system into 'Safe Mode' . This is the mode which a system uses in order to start your system with minimum support of drivers. In this mode , you can either uninstall higher version of driver installed or can install the correct drivers for the trouble causing device. This is the first basic step which one should follow while troubleshooting the issue when you find an error with wrong registry settings.
To know about , 'System Restore' in 'Windows 8.0' , you may refer following link to understand what exactly is 'System Restore' and how to resolve an issues with the help of it.
Working with System Restore
Along with this , you have many number of troubleshooting tools which Microsoft itself provides. Following are some of these tools :
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The above steps do works well when you are able to boot into Windows however, in some cases when you are not able to get into Windows , then that time you might have to go for the following options.
Working with System Restore
Along with this , you have many number of troubleshooting tools which Microsoft itself provides. Following are some of these tools :
- Last Known Good Configuration .
- Safe Mode.
- Recovery Console
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The above steps do works well when you are able to boot into Windows however, in some cases when you are not able to get into Windows , then that time you might have to go for the following options.
- Backing up and Restoring the System State Image.
- Image 'Reset' and 'Refresh'.
- Backing up and Restoring the System State Image :-
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- Image 'Reset' and 'Refresh'.
In order to get to know more about Image 'Refresh' and 'Reset' , you may refer this link.
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In Windows XP , the bootloader file is 'ntldr' whereas in Windows 8 , this file is name as 'bootmgr'.
Usually , 'BCD' file is located on the hidden system partition at C:\boot\bcd The location for 'bootmgr.exe' is found in C:\ and that too is a hidden file .
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Structure of BCD File
A boot entry generally consists of following four elements .
Working with BCDEdit.exe
As like in 'Windows 7.0' and 'Windows Vista' , 'Windows 8.0' too uses make use of 'BCDEdit.exe' file which do edits a file named 'BCD.exe' to manage boot loader menus and entries . BCD is an acronym for 'Boot Configuration Data' .
Along with BCD , 'BCDEdit.exe' do requires a boot loader i.e. file that contains necessary information that instructs the system how to load the selected operating system. This file is refereed to as 'Boot Loader' and is named as 'bootmgr.exe' .As like in 'Windows 7.0' and 'Windows Vista' , 'Windows 8.0' too uses make use of 'BCDEdit.exe' file which do edits a file named 'BCD.exe' to manage boot loader menus and entries . BCD is an acronym for 'Boot Configuration Data' .
In Windows XP , the bootloader file is 'ntldr' whereas in Windows 8 , this file is name as 'bootmgr'.
Usually , 'BCD' file is located on the hidden system partition at C:\boot\bcd The location for 'bootmgr.exe' is found in C:\ and that too is a hidden file .
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Structure of BCD File
A boot entry generally consists of following four elements .
- Identifier :- An identifier is a code name enclosed in curly braces which tells us how the system has named the boot entry .
- Device :- The device is the name of the drive which the system will use to boot the boot entry .
- Path :- Location of the device where the bootloader file is found .
- Description :- The friendly name given to our boot entry .
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Command-Line options with BCD
In order to view all the necessary information , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit
In order to change the display description which is presented while operating system selection menu , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit.exe /set {current} description "Microsoft Windows 8.0"
Syntax :
bcdedit
In order to change the display description which is presented while operating system selection menu , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit.exe /set {current} description "Microsoft Windows 8.0"
In order to backup the 'BCD.exe' file , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit.exe /export c:\bcdbackup
The above command do backs up the original 'BCD.exe' file so that if in case , your system is not bootable , owing to wrong entries in the file , you may restore the file you backed up above.
In order to import the above backed up file , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit.exe /import c:\bcdbackup
The import process is required to be carried out when something goes wrong with actual 'BCD' file .
As you might have noticed , that when we install 'Windows XP' on a system which already has newer version of operating system installed , then it skips the newer version of the operating system and continues to load 'Windows XP' only.
So , you might be thinking of the fact , that where the newer operating system has gone ? In such case , the operating system as well as all the associated files remains on the drive itself with the only difference being that , it just erases the entry for newer operating system.
In this case , what you can do is , manually edit the 'Boot.ini' file and add an entry for newer version of operating system .
Click here to learn how to edit the 'Boot.ini' file .
Else , what you can do is , boot your system using 'Recovery Disc' you created . Here , select to choose 'Troubleshoot' option . Here, you needs to navigate to 'Command Prompt' and specify the following commands in order to add an entry for 'Windows XP'.
- bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Windows XP Professional"
- bcdedit /set {ntldr} device partition = F:
- bcdedit /set {ntldr} path \ntldr
- bcdedit /displayorder {ntldr} /addlast
Syntax :
bcdedit /timeout X
where , X - Interval in seconds.
In order to change the display order of the operating system , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit /displayorder {UUID} /addfirst or /addlast
In order to change the current default operating system , specify the following command .
Syntax :
bcdedit /default {UUID}
In order to create a new entry for "Windows XP" , specify the following command as ,
bcdedit /create {ntldr}
In order to delete an entry created , specify the following command as ,
Syntax :
bcdedit /delete {ntldr} /f
Instead of following and remembering all the above commands , you can achieve the same means by installing the 'EasyBCD' setup . Click here , to download the setup for 'EasyBCD' . But , if you're working as an IT Engineer , it's better idea to be familiar with the above commands.
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