EFI File missing or corrupted

[HansJansen]

Hi, first post here...

Somewhere during the spring update of Windows10 something seems to have gone wrong. I have made up my Omen into a dual-boot system, with XUbuntu Linux as my primary OS; hence the delay in my taking any action regarding this problem.

The Linux system boots up and works splendidly, just as in the ~18 months before. However, when I now select the Windows bootup, I immediately get the following (black) screen. Windows does not even get a chance to start up, and thus I cannot try the repair function in the W10 installation image I downloaded from Microsoft.

Does anybody know anything about this problem, and how I can get rid of it?

Thanks for any help!

Hans.

[WAWood]

@HansJansen

There are a couple of likely scenarios here -- either of which could be the case.

First, the boot loader records could have become corrupted. If that is the case, the Windows OS is still there but you can not boot to it and the PC does not see the OS, as a result. This is something that with a second PC (used to download stuff and create boot media) can be repaired with a little work.

Second, the OS could have been corrupted to the point it will no longer initialize properly. This is much more serious and would required reinstalling the OS.

Let's deal with the first one and hope that fixes your PC.

You will need to create Boot Media using a working PC -- as there is no way to repair this on your current PC.

Macrium Reflect is a free tool that can be used to image and restore PCs, but it also has an option to create Rescue Media (in disk or USB form) that can then be used to Repair your PC.

It is available from here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

What I recommend is the following:
a) Download and install Macrium Reflect (MR)
b) Use the option to create a boot USB stick or CD
c) Boot your PC from the MR media and select the option to repair the Windows Boot

If that does not work to get Windows booting again, then it means that the Windows OS files have become corrupted, and the only way to "fix" that is to create Win10 install media and reinstall the OS -- and that will corrupt the dual-boot situation in the process.

[HansJansen]

Hello WAWood,

Thanks for your comment on my question. However, I cannot use any solution needing a running Windows system on this computer, as I only get the black screen I showed in that post.

So I think I will have to re-install Windows10 from scratch, either from the downloaded Windows installation ISO, or using the HP restore pack.

Do you know if this will leave my personal data (on a separate partition) intact? And, seeing that I have reduced the Windows system partition in size, to make room for my Linux partition, will that also NOT be changed back to the factory-installed size?

Last but not least, will I need to reactivate the Windows installation, and if so, where do I find the product code etc.?

Thanks again!

Hans.

[WAWood]

@HansJansen

To answer your questions ...

1) Reinstalling Windows will erase the contents of the OS partition for certain. Whether or not it will affect or corrupt other partitions is not know for sure.

2) Restoring from HP media starts by reformatting the ENTIRE disk, removing ALL the partitions, recreating them, and repopulating them. So any such restore will wipe out the Linux install.

3) Since your PC is already running Win10, when you reinstall, if there is a step to enter the product key, choose the option to SKIP that and continue.  When you finish the reinstall and get back online, Win10 should reactivate automatically -- provide you install the same version of Win10 that is currently on your PC.

[HansJansen]

Thanks; then I will try the reinstall first. I'll let you know how this evolves...

Hans