How to fix Windows 8 boot manager?

Question

Since I have no CD-ROM this is what I did to install Win8:

1. created a partition X: (NTFS) and set it as the ACTIVE ONE, then put the Windows 8 installation files there
2. opened command prompt and entered bootsect.exe /n60 X:
3. restarted my computer, and automatically it booted into the Windows 8 Setup,

4. installed Windows 8 on the partition C: and formatted the partition C:, everything installed and after the installation finished, a multiple choice menu appears that reads:

   Windows 8 Windows Setup

I believe my error was not to set partition C: back as the active one, during the installation process where it asks you in which partition to install. I just formatted C: but forgot to set it as the ACTIVE ONE.

This is how my partitions look:

C:(Boot,Page file,Crash dump, Primary partition)
X:(System,Active,Primary partition) <<< this one became hidden

bcdedit /enum:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
device device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume6
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
integrityservices Enable
default {current}
resumeobject {d83e2461-3627-11e2-b0f9-efb109b9309a}
displayorder {current}
{7619dcc9-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 8
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {d83e2463-3627-11e2-b0f9-efb109b9309a}
integrityservices Enable
recoveryenabled Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {d83e2461-3627-11e2-b0f9-efb109b9309a}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {7619dcc9-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411
-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description Windows Setup
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411
-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
bootmenupolicy Standard
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems No

What I want is to make the X: partition a worthless partition, just containing the Windows 8 installation files, and that everything looks like if I installed from a CD-ROM.

Preferably I would like BCDEDIT commands. Does that mean I have to move the boot files or boot manager into C:?

Answer 1

You'll need to use the bcdboot command to install the boot loader onto the C partition. You can then make the C partition active using diskpart.

bcdboot.exe can be found on your Windows Setup partition. Assign a drive letter to it, or boot to it and go to the command-line repair option. (You can also open a command-line Window from Windows Setup by pressing SHIFT-F10.)

The command is:

bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

The first argument specifies the instance of Windows you want to be able to boot to, and the second argument specifies which partition you want to make bootable.

Since you don't have a DVD drive, I strongly recommend you make yourself a bootable USB stick first (and test it!) in case you make a mistake or something glitches and you wind up with an unbootable HDD.