From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Tue, 2/3/2026 4:10 AM, Ed Cryer wrote:   
      
   >   
   > 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   
      
   That seems to be a slightly different failure than the   
   presumed "gift this month" version.   
      
      Search terms:  windows won't start c000000f   
      
      "The error code 0xc000000f you are experiencing is usually related to the   
       boot configuration data (BCD) file in Windows. It can occur due to a   
   corrupted file,   
       disk write error, power failure, or boot sector virus."   
      
   If you have a Macrium Rescue CD, it has the Boot Repair which you could try   
   out.   
   But because this is a service failure, the Boot Repair function in Macrium   
   does not have the capability to add files to the ESP partition. It generally   
   just issues the usual four commands.   
      
   *******   
      
   Boot the installer DVD for Windows (relatively close to the same version   
   the OS is using), and select Troubleshooting, then Command Prompt. Careless me,   
   I used my 24H2 DVD to fix my 25H2 installation :-)   
      
      +------+-------------+---------------+-----------------------   
   ---------------------+   
      | MBR  | ESP (FAT32) | C: Windows 11 |  System Reserved (winre.wim   
   emergency boot) |   
      +------+-------------+---------------+-----------------------   
   ---------------------+   
                                0x07            0x27 (Hidden NTFS)   
      
   Notice how, the ESP (System) partition, doesn't have a letter. I might use W:   
   for   
   this, but there's a little ceremony to do it.   
      
      W:   
      dir   
      dir /ah    # show hidden items, spot \EFI\Microsoft folder and so on   
      
   If you're booting a Windows installer DVD and using the Command Prompt there,   
   then the sequence goes like this.   
      
      Command Prompt (it is Administrator when you boot the Windows DVD plus   
   Troubleshooting)   
      
      diskpart   
      list disk   
      select disk 0        # Assumes disk 0 happens to be our broken disk   
      list partition   
      select partition 1   # This is the System Partition, we hope.   
      assign letter=W      # Assign a letter to the ESP (change "assign" to   
   "remove" later, to remove that letter)   
      exit                 # Exit diskpart   
      
      W:                   # Now that W: exists, we can have a sniff around.   
      dir   
      dir /ah    # show hidden items, spot \EFI\Microsoft folder and so on   
      
   *******   
      
   OK, so I just trashed the ESP on SSD #6, a Win11 24H2.   
      
   The 24H2 DVD is in the drive, and she's booting up.   
      
   OK, so I do the above diskpart recipe, and made Partition 1 (ESP) into W: .   
   I check and it seems empty (even dir /ah is clear).   
   (The "bootmgr" file may have been firmware and could not be touched.)   
   If you wanted, you could go to W:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\ and do   
      
      ren   W:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD    W:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD.old   
      
   just to ensure it is out of the way when you make a new one.   
      
   Next, I check that C: is really C: right now.   
      
     C:   
     dir   
     dir /ah      # Should see a pagefile.sys , at the very least   
      
   Since W: is the ESP system partition, and C: is the Windows boot partition   
   (the things   
   labeled in Disk Management as being important, we're ready to repair and   
   repopulate   
   all the files in W: . Let's see what happens :-)   
      
      bcdboot C:\Windows /s W:           # This should re-fill W: and put a BCD   
   boot menu file and so on   
      
   Now, we go back to letter W: and look for   
   signs of life, like W:\EFI , W:\EFI\Microsoft, W:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD file   
   (24KB or so), and so on.   
      
   It's all back. Boy, am I glad I packed an extra pair of shorts.   
      
   Since I'm on letter C: now, I can use diskpart, and use the   
      
       remove letter=W   # For the partition 1, selected as before.   
      
   While it isn't necessary to remove W: like that, I do it anyway.   
   It's not persistent when doing it this way, as the mountvol is   
   not receptive to the information at the moment.   
      
   *******   
      
   I have this command in my Notes file as well.   
      
      bcdboot /bcdclean full   
      
   That's for when C: is booted again, and I am interested in removing any   
   other Windows multiboot entries. We don't need this right now, because   
   we scraped it down past the barnacles. (I deleted my BCD for this experiment.)   
      
   We will be interested in reagentc when booted. I guess I should reboot   
   my pig and see if it works. (OMG, it's actually booting...)   
      
      reagentc /info     # Probably disabled   
      reagentc /enable   # Odds not good, but you never know, it might work   
      
   Oh, well, "Operation Failed: 2" but it's not the end of the world.   
   Work for another day. (Will require a PBR Push Button Reset, using the   
   winre.wim on the 24H2 DVD and so on. I'm sick of doing these.)   
      
   Anyway, not a major trauma. But between you and me, there is always   
   the chance that additional issue are present on your disk, and this   
   is just the Google presumption of what it needs.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)