CMD won't switch from c: to d:

Question

My dad's Dell Optiplex 9010 has Windows 10 as his operating system. He said it was acting weird so he restarted it. When it rebooted, it came up with the error message bad_system_config_info. It then restarts, tries to repair itself, then brings up the options to restart or advanced options. I looked up a YouTube video (because I know nothing about software) and he goes into the command prompt, and switches from c: to d:. When I try to do the same, it says "The device is not ready." Like I've said, I have no idea what I'm doing. I read that it's because the CD drive isn't active. I tried putting a random CD in but it didn't work. Can someone please explain what I'm doing wrong! EDITED TO ADD: My dad bought a USB drive by EZALINK with windows 10 loaded on it, but it can also be used to boot the system so we can access the internet. EDITED TO ADD: I tried the CD prompt listed in the comments, but it still says "The device is not ready". Please dont get this question closed by saying it's a duplicate. All the command prompts that have been suggested are not working.

Answer 1

The BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO BSOD is generally displayed due to BCD store corruption. To resolve:

• At the WinRE command prompt (what you're currently booted to), issue the following commands:
  1. bootrec /fixmbr
  2. BIOS only (i.e. non-UEFI): bootrec /fixboot
  3. bootrec /rebuildbcd
     • If it finds a Windows install, press Y, but if it doesn't, that's fine too.
  4. Reboot by closing the command terminal

If that doesn't fix the issue, please leave a comment and I'll add to the answer, as I don't want to list multiple troubleshooting steps if you don't need them

---

I only know of two other things that can resolve this BSOD if Automatic Startup Repair failed to, but first, just to ensure this isn't filesystem corruption, check the drive for errors:

• chkdsk c: /offlinescanandfix
  • Where c: is the partition Windows is installed to

If chkdsk identifies and fixes any issues, reboot, then re-run the bootrec commands above, otherwise:

• System Restore: From the WinRE command terminal, issue: rstrui.exe
  • Due to the way in which Microsoft changed how auto restore points are created in Windows 10, there may be no recent restore points you can restore to.
    
    

• Restore the Registry from the backup Windows maintains, then reboot:

  # Where C: is the drive letter for the partition Windows is installed to 
  #-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  
    # Backup the current system registry stores:
      ren C:\Windows\System32\config\DEFAULT DEFAULT.old
      ren C:\Windows\System32\config\SAM SAM.old
      ren C:\Windows\System32\config\SECURITY SECURITY.old
      ren C:\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE SOFTWARE.old
      ren C:\Windows\System32\config\SYSTEM SYSTEM.old
  
    # Copy over the backups:
      copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\DEFAULT C:\Windows\System32\config\
      copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SAM C:\Windows\System32\config\
      copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SECURITY C:\Windows\System32\config\
      copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SYSTEM C:\Windows\System32\config\
      copy C:\Windows\System32\config\RegBack\SOFTWARE C:\Windows\System32\config\
  

  • Microsoft disabled the system registry backup feature in an update a few months back, so these backups may no longer exist on your PC

If these don't work, reinstalling Windows will likely be the only option left.