From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 2/3/2026 6:52 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:   
   > Ed Cryer wrote:   
   >> Paul wrote:   
   >>> On Mon, 2/2/2026 1:30 PM, Ed Cryer wrote:   
   >>>> Some recent update has crashed one of my Windows 11 systems. I got it   
   fully updated to 30.01.26. Firstly Explorer stopped working; and then the   
   whole system crashed and wouldn't load. I couldn't even carry out a Repair   
   with a Win11 disc.   
   >>>> I rescued the thing with a Macrium Reflect disc, but the problem was   
   there on my latest backup. And so I had to restore to an earlier time, wherein   
   I've paused updates for 5 weeks.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> It's working fine now, but I'd rather have updates working and be up to   
   date.   
   >>>> Could it have been 242H?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> What would you experts do in this situation?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Ed   
   >>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>   
   >>> Normally, one of the stop codes is "Inaccessible Boot Volume".   
   >>>   
   >>> This one reports "Could not mount Boot Volume" which is a different   
   >>> error, and there is no Stop Code number on the screen, making   
   >>> further research rather difficult.   
   >>>   
   >>> Most of the feedback so far on the web, is whining and not useful   
   >>> responses for users such as yourself.   
   >>>   
   >>> The current response from Microsoft, indicates that the December update   
   >>> is what set up the failure chain, and the January update is simply   
   >>> harvesting whatever time bomb December managed to inject.   
   >>>   
   >>> *******   
   >>>   
   >>> I have been known to do a side-by-side install on computers.   
   >>>   
   >>>      +-----+-----------+-----------------+----------------+   
   >>>      | MBR | ESP FAT32 |  Win11 24H2     |  Win11 24H2    |   
   >>>      +-----+-----------+-----------------+----------------+   
   >>>   
   >>> Do that installation with the network cable disconnected, punch the   
   >>> button to delay updates as you see fit.   
   >>>   
   >>> There's no guarantee this will work, but it does leave   
   >>> the install on the left, frozen. Whether any materials   
   >>> in the ESP (system partition, what the OS uses to boot)   
   >>> are sane, who can say, and the side-by-side install   
   >>> may choose to not edit the ESP at all. You may still   
   >>> need to boot from the DVD and use the troubleshooting   
   >>> command prompt, while you rebuild the BCD file.   
   >>>   
   >>> But do I have some fancy step-by-step procedure for this particular mess ?   
   >>> Not really. You could say "not expert enough" or something.   
   >>> But, I can tell you, that I WOULD have something to turn   
   >>> this back into a computer, quicker than you can blink. I can   
   >>> reach across the room, there are at least half a dozen SSDs   
   >>> that will boot this computer right now. I can pour a coffee   
   >>> and go back to web surfing, just like that. That's not bragging.   
   >>> That's a WARNING TO MICROSOFT HOW QUICK THE TRANSITION IS!!!   
   >>> I can be a Windows Free Shop in 3...2...1... Done.   
   >>>   
   >>>     Paul   
   >>>   
   >>   
   >> This is the screen I got;   
   >> https://i.sstatic.net/b5T4o.jpg   
   >> If people are whining about being put in a similar position, then I   
   sympathise with them. Neither F1 nor F8 worked.   
   >>   
   >> Has your web feedback indicated that MS are going to repair the error soon?   
   I don't mind waiting a while until they do so.   
   >>   
   >> The computer involved is a little Geekom mini. And now that it's running   
   again it passes all the usual tests; DISM, sfc and a full 5-item checkdisk.   
   >>   
   >> Ed   
   >>   
   >   
   > Copilot tells me that the likely culprit is KB5074109; and that MS has   
   ongoing problems and is investigating. A fix has not yet been released.   
   > In the meantime he (it or she or they (How the dickens does one address an   
   AI bot?)) recommends the solution I've applied; restore and pause updates.   
   > Alternatively, you can update and then uninstall that KB, and then pause   
   updates.   
   >   
   > Ed   
      
   You have to be careful with the LLM-AI (large language model - not really   
   artificial intelligence).   
      
   When you phrase a question, you have to give it a minimum of information.   
      
   Now that I've written a sample solution in the other post,   
   let's ask the AI for its opinion.   
      
     "My Win11 Home computer will not boot and shows error c000000f as the reason.   
      What do you recommend as a method to fix this ?   
     "   
      
   Part of the CoPilot answer is, to use the Command Prompt from the installer DVD   
   in the Troubleshooting section, and issue   
      
      bootrec /fixmbr   
      bootrec /fixboot   
      bootrec /scanos   
      bootrec /rebuildbcd   
      
   In my case, I erased the BCD file that those commands would "repair"   
   and did this instead. I wanted a fresh clean BCD made from scratch.   
   A scratch cake.   
      
      bcdboot C:\Windows /s W:      # There is a procedure to assign letter W: to   
   the ESP partition...   
                                    # This can also refill the ESP partition with   
   files! Technically,   
                                    # this command adds partition C: as an OS   
   tile in the boot menu.   
                                    # But we're pretending this is a brand new   
   OS, with no files at all.   
      
   We're focused on the same sort of root cause, that the BCD   
   boot menu file (a registry-type file so it is binary), is   
   the cause of the problem. This is not the same as the "cannot mount something"   
   error others are seeing. Yours is not the "January 2026 problem".   
      
   If you feed the AI too much information, instead of correcting you,   
   it sometimes just melds your text right into the answer. That is why   
   we try not to give it too much text to be doing that.   
      
   The hard part, when crafting questions, is giving enough "hints" to   
   constrain the question, without giving so much text it just cheats   
   and feeds your text right back at you. That's bad.   
      
   If I copied "War and Peace" into the question window, it would write   
   a condensed version of "War and Peace" into the answer section :-)   
   But War and Peace would be too many input tokens, so the process   
   would bomb out on a timeout. There are limits to how long your question   
   can be. Including feeding it program source and asking for comments.   
   If you give it the *URL* of a github source file, it can and will read that.   
      
   The AI also suggested running CHKDSK on the partitions, in case   
   there is a problem there. You could do that first if you want.   
      
      chkdsk /f C:   
      
   While occasionally a PC dismounts a volume while a file is open   
   and something gets damaged, that doesn't normally happen. The journaled   
   file systems (C: is journaled) can recover from dirty shutdowns.   
      
   I did not include a CHKDSK step in my answer in the other post,   
   because there is no particular reason to assume it has damaged.   
   Neither would I tell you to run DISM and SFC, because the problem   
   context does not go near those areas.   
      
   To train the AI, a tremendous amount of energy goes into that.   
   When I asked my question above, it was two sentences. During   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)