Making SSD bootable - Windows 11

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timmmay

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#310936 1-Dec-2023 16:30

I've just swapped my OS drive for another drive. I installed W11 on the second NVMe drive, confirmed it all worked, then wiped the old drive. Now the computer won't boot even though one of the nVME SSDs has Windows 11. The disk has no unpartitioned space.

Updated: The new drive has no EFI / boot partition. I'd appreciate suggestions how to create one, which will likely involve repartitioning the disk. For now I'm doing a backup of my disk with Macrium so that if things go wrong I can likely recover it.

Updated again: following this reddit post.

Behodar

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#3166833 1-Dec-2023 16:33

In the XP days there was a "FIXBOOT" command. I have no idea whether it still exists, but might be worth a shot.

timmmay

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#3166834 1-Dec-2023 16:37

Behodar:

In the XP days there was a "FIXBOOT" command. I have no idea whether it still exists, but might be worth a shot.

Not that I can find. I tried the Windows 11 USB "fix boot problems", but that didn't do anything. I think I have to create a boot partition / boot loader. I think this might be a better guide with multiple options.

ANglEAUT

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#3166839 1-Dec-2023 17:08

timmmay: ... I installed W11 on the second NVMe drive, ...

Did you do this with the old drive still powered on & enabled in the BIOS? If yes, that is your most likely reason for the current pickle.

Try something like ???

disabling / removing original drive
booting of the installation media
choose advance options
Fix boot problems

The Easus link looks way to involved, but correct.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

timmmay

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#3166892 1-Dec-2023 17:16

I've found a useful reddit post I'm following :) In short:

Boot into dos using the Windows 11 installation USB
Follow the instructions in the reddit post. This shrinks an existing partition creates the EFI partition which can be anywhere on the disk.
Rename the partitions using assign / remove commands as in this webpage