Windows – How to fix Windows 10 “The boot configuration data for your PC is missing or contains errors”

boothard drivelaptopwindows 10

Problem:

Screenshot1

  • My laptop [Acer Aspire VN7-592G] doesn't have an optical drive, so Windows 8.1 was installed via an external DVD drive; upon finishing the installation, it was not removed as the first boot option in the BIOS and while I believe this is a non-issue, could this be the cause?

Chronology:

  1. After installing Windows 8.1, I discovered this laptop's driver support is for Windows 10 only, and after upgrading to Windows 10, everything appeared fine
  2. 1st Reboot: Weird Windows 7 logo screen appeared, followed by the BSOD above
    2nd Reboot: Windows 7 logo screen and BSOD
    3rd Reboot: BSOD with error code0xc000000f: 
    Your PC needs to be repaired

File:   \boot\bcd
Status: 0xc000000f
Info:   The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors.

You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media.
  3. I created a bootable USB to perform a clean install of Windows 10; everything went fine, reboot was okay, and I used the laptop for 12hrs before turning it off
  4. Upon turning it on, the Windows 7 logo and BSOD were back with error 0xc000000f
  5. I used the bootable USB to run a quick repair and it booted to Windows 10 successfully

Questions:

  1. Is this a hard drive error that can be fixed via Automatic Repair or should I use my warranty?
  2. How can I permanently fix this issue so it doesn't occur again?
  3. How do I check the health of my laptop's hardware, as Device Manager showed no issue before this error occured?

Best Answer

A few suggestions:

  • Don't use your HDD for booting your system, as you can make a bootable USB for loading any OS you want to boot
  • Change the boot order, placing USB as first, then boot your system
  • In the Windows installer, choose the option to format your old drive before starting the install

You can use different methods for USB boot:

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