I tried to delete my system reserved partition in Windows 10 in order to just boot from my main partition, C. I used EasyBCD to delete the partition, and then tried to use AEOMI Partition Assistant to add the now unallocated space to C:. Here's where everything went wrong:
AEOMI had to reboot to add the space. It failed, and the computer rebooted, but now says "No operating system detected."
Attempted solutions, in chronological order:
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I tried using a Windows USB install drive to do a startup repair. It wasn't able to do so, so I tried resetting the PC. When I select "Keep My Files", it tells me it can't because "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again."
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I researched this problem, and tried to make the partition where windows is installed active (per the process described here).
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This didn't do anything at all, so I tried running BootRec on the main partition (/FixMbr, /FixBoot, /ScanOS, and /RebuildBcd), but it didn't do anything either. BootRec says it can find any instances of Windows installed on any drives. I know my Windows information is intact though because I can find it in CMD in my C:\ directories.
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I really don't want to lose this information; I do have a fairly recent backup that wouldn't be a total loss, but I would rather not format the disk and start over. At one point I did try to do a fresh install, just out of desperation, but that didn't even work; when I went that route it said "Unable to reset your PC. A required drive partition is missing."
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I did try to run chkdsk /f, and sfc /scannow, but since the drive is apparently read-only and/or locked, they couldn't do anything. (Chkdsk found no corrupted sectors anyway). I don't know why everything says it's locked or read-only though, because when I check the drive and volume attributes in DISKPART, it says that nothing is read-only…
What should I try next?
Best Answer
I did something similar a few weeks ago on my workstation except I had deactivated the partition. The reason why BIOS (or UEFI) cant find Windows is because you deleted the bootmanager to start it. While all the main system files are on the C:\ drive, the boot programs are located in the System Reserved Partition. Has been that way since 7 and as early as Vista for Bit Locker functions. I solved my problem by reactivating the partition, but in your case, even if the main partition is't encrypted, is to reinstall Windows entirely after doing a back up of the files you want to keep using a LiveCD Linux distro to access the files (you won't be able to do this easily if the partition is encrypted). It sucks, but sh*te happens.