Thursday 1 November 2012

Fix a Windows 8 boot issue

This is a little off topic, but I thought it would be useful to post here.

I recently updated my home PC from Windows 7 to Windows 8.  The PC was only a month old, so it made sense to take up the low price offer.

After a couple of days of normal working, it suddenly failed to boot.  The error was saying that there was a missing operating system or the disk had failed.  However, the hard disk diagnostics were saying that there wasn't a problem.

I eventually worked out that this message was actually a red herring.  The PC has the newer UEFI bios so it should attempt to boot directly into the Windows boot manager.  The error I was getting was actually because this wasn't happening and the startup options were falling through (down past CD, USB, etc.) to the legacy disk option.  This obviously wouldn't work because it wasn't set up for it.

Having identified the problem, I then tried to get online and find the fix.  Unfortunately, this wasn't as easy as I expected so this is why I am posting here so that others may find it on Google.

The usual type of fix for this were to boot off the Windows CD and run the Command Prompt and run a command like this:

BCDedit

However, this returned the error:

The boot configuration store could not be opened

This was quite strange.  I could see all the files on my drive and could see that all the partitions that were supposed to be there were there using DISKPART.

Other suggestions were to run this set of commands:


Bootrec /fixmbr
Bootrec /fixboot 
Bootrec /rebuildbcd


One posted suggested that this worked 100% of the time.  It didn't.  I got the error:

The requested system device cannot be found

Other sites suggested that I should make the System partition (the 100MB partition with no drive letter that Windows 8 uses  to store the boot files on a UEFI system) Active using DISKPART.  However, when I tried this I was told that my drive was not an MBR - is isn't, it is GPT.

At this stage, I thought that I should just cut my losses and try a refresh install.  However, when I chose this option, I got the error:

The drive where Windows is installed is locked

Very curious.

Finally found a site that suggested using:

BCDBoot c:\Windows

Now this didn't work either, I got:

Failure when attempting to copy boot files

There was an option to use a /S to specify where to copy the boot files to.  However, I wanted them to be copied to the system partition which doesn't have a drive letter.  So, I used DISKPART to assign the letter Z to volume:

ASSIGN LETTER=Z

Then I could use BCDBoot to run this:

BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f: UEFI

Lo and behold, my system now boots!  To say that I am a bit frazzled, after a couple of days of family members looking at me expecting me to be able to fix this issue, would be a major understatement.

I hope this helps someone.


Stephen Redmond is author of Mastering QlikViewQlikView Server and Publisher and the QlikView for Developer's Cookbook
He is CTO of CapricornVentis a Qlik Elite Partner.
Follow me on Twitter   LinkedIn

142 comments:

  1. Thanks for this post. This helped to solve a similar problem that happened when trying to partition the huge C drive into multiple partitions using EASEUS Partition Manager home edition on Windows 8.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. There is a new version of Easeus which works with Win8 -> version 6.1.1 (version 6.1 caused the problem).

      Otherwise I recovered using Win8 CD and bootrec via command prompt.

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    3. I have the same your issue with easeus partition manager home and win8. How have you solved it?

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    4. Sorry i've removed my post, i used last version (9.1.1 home) and now win8 can't load anymore winload.efi. I'll try your way when i find a win8 dvd.

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    5. Download Win8 evaluation copy from microsoft. Burn it to DVD or make a bootable USB stick.

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    6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    7. Sorry for the typo - should be Easeus Partition manager v9.1.1. as you say. Latest version is now 9.2

      Also remember to remove the DVD or USB stck after you apply the fix and before you reboot (ie force it to boot from rhe partition you repaired).

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    8. Thanks .... My problem resolved too

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    9. Let me just add that in addition to doing the steps above that I needed to run a chkdsk C: /f /x /r to get it running on a Sony SVT21213 system I was working on. It had a failing internal disk that took literally 5 hours to copy with EaseUS to a new SSD due to all the bad blocks. Without the chkdsk it was just spinning its wheels and couldn't find the windows installation on the new drive.

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  2. Hey Harun , seeing that you are through to what is written above and you resolved the problem but i didnt. So if you can help me to solve the same problem with my laptop, i will be much thankful to you.
    But i dint got any CD of windows 8 with the samsung laptop i purchased from USA last month, so if you resolved this issue without any cd please mail me at rish.khurana@gmail.com with the solution or write me your number so that i can contact you regarding this.

    Thanks
    Rishi Khurana

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    Replies
    1. could solve the problem?, also I have a samsung and the same thing happens to yours

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  3. Issue is resolved. Thanks of lot dear IT-Expert..

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  4. Thx very very much. I reinstalled the PC some months ago because of this problem, had no backup this time and wanted to keep the data ^^. Thx again

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  5. hi there im having the exact same issue, what is the exact steps after assigning the system disk the letter z, to run the BCDBoot? When I run the command it shows me the list of options for the BCDBoot tool. Any help please.

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  6. BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

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    Replies
    1. You need to exit out of disk part before running this command.

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  7. I may have a similar problem viz: I installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview over my Dell install of Win7 on my Inspiron Duo. Didn't like it so used EasyBCD to change the Boot.ini to roll back to Win 7.On reboot, it won't to anything. BIOS via F2/F8 or F12 to boot to USB or CD/DVD is there but I have no Restore Media apparently its only available in the USA not here in UK. Just comes up with a blue screen - Windows Recovery Environment
    Your PC needs to be repaired
    The Boot Configuration Data File doesn't contain valid information for an operating system.
    File: \Boot\BCD
    Error Code; Oxc0000098
    I've tried using BartsPE to see if I can repair the Boot.ini but I just get a BSoD same when trying to boot from an XP CD. Feel totally stuck, any help really needed alec.moores@talk21.com Thanks.

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  8. Thanks a million. I had migrated a new Win8 from 500GB HD to 256GB SSD using clonezilla, after creating appropriately sized partitions manually with gParted. Could not boot even with USB recovery stick + the various options it provides (autorepair, restore image, etc). I didn't have to jump through quite as many hoops as you did; what actually worked for me was this:
    Bootrec /fixmbr
    Bootrec /fixboot
    Bootrec /rebuildbcd

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    Replies
    1. This worked for me as well. I was cloning one laptop to an identical one with many partitions using Clonezilla. I got error 0xc0000225 until I did the bootrec sequence.

      For the record, after booting up, Win 8 ran 99% fine, although one of the partitions got detected as a normal logical partition instead of a boot partition somehow. Still, it worked out.

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    2. @ modan, I tried entering the Bootrec /fixmbr
      Bootrec /fixboot
      Bootrec /rebuildbcd commands but i don't know what to do after that. Please help me. Email utjavara@gmail.com

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  9. You saved my a.. from reinstalling, thanks.

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  10. I have the same your issue with easeus partition manager home and win8
    using Win8 DVD go to command prompt
    and write:
    "BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI"
    but don't accept "Z"
    How have you solved it?

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    Replies
    1. ghablesh bayad az disk part beri "ASSIGN LETTER" koni ke begi felan partition ro be onvane z beshnase

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  11. I am running a 2009 HP XW4600 workstation with 4gb of ram and a fixed disk (to boot from) and a 2,7 TB raid setup for data.

    I had Windows 7 running on G: drive and an old XP-64 bit installation on my C: drive. I decided (masochist) to install windows 8 onto the C drive. I had the disk which I ordered from NewEgg. With a rebate it was cheaper than the online choices that are well documented.

    It went very well for Windows 8 BUT I did not get the dual boot option I wanted.
    I went into the Disk Management program and noticed that the G: drive was no longer active.
    Stupidly I thought that I needed to activate it. WRONG. My system would then not reboot at all and I got the message:
    "NTLDR is missing
    Press any key to restart"
    Apparetnly whatever boot drive you are not using is marked inactive and that will break everything if you make it active.

    I then spent about an hour trying various things and finally tried your three commands.
    This, by the way, was a record for solving a boot problem. Usually it takes days and days.

    Bootrec /fixmbr
    Bootrec /fixboot
    Bootrec /rebuildbcd

    This worked but I seem to get a character based Windows program choice and then
    I got a more modern set of choices but Windows 8 choice just seemed to cycle again and again.

    I then tried the Automatic repair option

    On reboot it hung at:
    Attempting Boot From CD-ROM.
    so I changed the boot order but of course it should have moved past this and gone onto the next device which was the hard Drive.
    This appears unrelated to the other issues and may be a problem with my BIOS and computer


    Then it displays
    Windows Boot Manager
    a text based boot manager

    If I choose Windows 7 Professional it goes straight to Windows 7 Professional

    If I choose Windows 8 Pro it goes to Windows 8

    So still some questions - why text based boot menu versus graphical.
    But overall VERY HAPPY I found your tips.

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  12. You have to specify sources - see on http://www.boyans.net/RepairWindows/The_drive_where_Windows_is_installed_is_locked.html

    Previous comment deleted as cannot be edited.

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  13. I am writing just to thank you for this article. This helped to solve my issues 100%. If i knew you in real life, I'd buy you a beer=)

    I ran this on an Acer V5-571 running windows 8.

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  14. Thank You Stephen Redmond you saved me....

    I have new lenovo G580 with window 8, when I partition the huge C drive into multiple partitions using EASEUS Partition Manager an error occured when I restarted to apply changes :

    Recovery

    Your PC needs to be repaired

    The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contain errors.

    File :\windows\system32\winload.efi
    Error Code : 0xc0000225

    I have searched a lot on Google and found you, your post on blog helped me thanks...

    1. Press Shift + F10 when you are at the Install Windows screen, The elevated command prompt at boot will now open.

    2. Type DISKPART command

    3. Enter Command LIST VOLUME, note volume no...

    4. Enter Command SELECT VOLUME "no" (eg1,2,3) mine was 3

    5. Enter Command ASSIGN LETTER=Z and EXIT

    6. Enter Command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f: UEFI

    7.Exit and restart.

    Thank GOD....

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    Replies
    1. i am also having same problem.. and i did as U've said but at last it says 'failure when attempting copy boot files"
      actually from where we are supposed to copy boot files??? do i need to have windows 8 cd for what you have said??

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    2. Thank you so much! I fixed my sony vaio notebook. Thank you, you are my hero! :)

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    3. Correction: note /f without colon

      6. Enter Command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

      Thanks

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    4. Failure in copy files is amsg cmg for me i had selected c folder which has windows8 files plz help me

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    5. Thanks so much I was pulling my hair out on what I thought was a quick project (migrating to an SSD)

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  15. i have a new hp windows 8 and whenever i turn it on it says starting up reapair and it just stays there what should i do if i dont have the repair and rebuit disk

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  16. @MPatilGOA
    i did exactly as u said, but it not resolved. the same problem persists.

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  17. Thanks a lot! I ran into this problem after resizing the Windows partition!
    Apparently, we need to tell the SYSTEM partition to pick up boot files from C:\Windows (again) since it cannot find the correct Windows partition on its own!

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  18. Many thanks for your post and I can give you suggestion that if you follow the bellow link I hope you can take more important information about your problem.

    Windows 8 post

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  19. Thanks ever for your post, it help to me a lot and
    On a machine with Windows 8 64 bits preinstalled System, is right as my result : Booting outside installed system, USB stick, DVD Windows 8 installer, elevated command promt /
    DISKPART
    LIST VOLUME
    SELECT VOLUME Nº (X)
    ASSIGN LETTER=Z ( doing this to the only one partition that does not have letter assigned, partition type ESP (hide)
    EXIT from DISKPART
    At the Promt :
    x:\.................Enter Command
    BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f: UEFI
    but i need to give that when i try need to modify
    to :c:\Windows /s Z: /f UEFI, note /f without colon, that worked for me after bad issue repartitioning the system disk.
    Thanks a lot

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    Replies
    1. NOT (BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f: UEFI)

      IS

      BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

      Delete
  20. Hi, after this above i look for some help, i have a preinstalled Windows 8 64 Bits laptop, with all above mentioned UEFI stuff, and by imcompatibility issues with a required software with 64 bits systems, i try to look how i can made the next ( it is a new adquired laptop so i need preserve all things about Warranty periode ).
    I want to have present Windows 8 64 Bits and prebooting stuff untouched ( not really, is better say modified but as the properties it have now ) and a Windows version 32 bits 8 or 7 togheter booting, ( dual boot ) but i meet as i know for now with the 32 bits incompatibilty on UEFI / GPT preboot environments, what i should to do?, which ways i have to get it? any help will be very appreciated.

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  21. Same here-corrupted boot after I run Partition Master.
    Instructions did not work until I saw Pc Luiton-s post, i.e. it should be
    BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI
    Difference: f is without colon (:)
    That worked and PC booted, but I was getting a screen where I had to choose between 2 win8 installs. one of them worked, the other did not.
    After getting to the desktop, I went to msconfig/Boot and removed the useless 2nd entry.
    Now it's booting normally. Only trace the problem left is ~500MB unallocated space on C: drive.
    Thanks a lot for your help (It was my boss'es PC - had to be fixed!)

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  22. This was the most accurate page to solve my problem on the whole Internet !! Thank you Stephen.

    Using EaseUs Partition Manager 9.1.1 Home Edition when resizing the C: I got an intempestive "Windows Automatic Update" when shutdowning, and could not reboot.

    Don't know if it was the combination of the resize with the update, or a real bug into 9.1.1 Home Edition version of EaseUs.

    I had to use install and download ADK from Microsoft
    Web site on another machine in order to be able to generate
    a bootable CD with a WINPE environment compatible.
    http://msdn.microsoft.com/fr-BE/library/hh825494.aspx

    I have installed it on a PC with similar architecture, and x64 CPU,

    Baiscally, I was able to create a bootable CD (not USB flash however I had tried) using the copype command to create first the structure

    Copype amd64 s:\winpe_amd64

    and the

    MakeWinPEMedia /iso s:\WinPE_amd64 s:\WinPE_amd64.iso

    to create the image as described on
    http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/hh825109.aspx

    and burn it on a CD

    Then I was able to boot from CD, in WinPE environment
    and apply the trick described originally by Stephen Redmond.

    Be careful that you have first to use diskpart
    and within diskpart do the selection of the hidden
    partition where the EFI stuff is.

    Inside diskpart
    do

    list volume
    select volume "number of the partition where EFI is"
    assign letter=Z
    list volume
    # would have the letter in front now
    exit

    At the WinPE prompt the disk Z: is now accessible
    and you can access the files located there and see their content if needed.

    After that I did the command
    BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

    (careful no ":" behind the f like was erroneously mentioned
    on the original article)

    And it worked !!


    I could reboot, EASUS message comes on saying the resizing
    was complete, then the 2nd reboot occured and the automatic
    update went on with the growing % up to 100%.
    And after that I could log in and access all my data back !


    Be careful sometimes when playing with the firmware boot options, choose Win8 if you have EFI, but careful to go in Security and allow some "unsecure boot"... as my Ubuntu was still not signed, otherwise you can be stuck and could need to open your box and remove the battery to access again to the setup. "rEFind" is also a nice stuff to put in the EFI if you want to have an elegant boot selector.


    Good luck to all the unfortunates who will have to pass through the same pain... anyway, from the moment I was able
    to chain the actions, it didn't took me more than one hour
    to get it back, but before that I had to dig a lot before
    knowing that THIS page IS THE ONE to follow !

    Thank you Stephen, I hope my comments will help too !
    Feedback very welcome !

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  23. Well, looks like I am the strange one. Like everyone this problem is caused by Easeus, I followed the procedures and am finally able to see the busy polka circles when I turn on the system, but every time I boot I encounter "Easeus partition master boot" and the system restarts. It keeps rebooting every time and the system never fully boots. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? Easeus have identified the problem and they recommend connecting the HDD to another system and deleting the EPMBatch.ept from windows folder. Any ideas?

    Thanks

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  24. Well I fixed that problem by going to windows folder and using command "del /A:H EPMBatch.ept"

    My next restart wasn't smooth. Had to go back to use BCDboot command again (by changing the letter back to Z). But now I am facing another issue, every time I boot, I am given two boot options of windows 8 (from drive 3) and Windows 8. Only boot from drive 3 works. Don't know how to fix this one... :-S

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  25. Well, I self-helped this time. Went to MSConfig and then to Boot tab. I had two options 1. Windows 8 (C:\windows) : Current OS; Default OS
    2. Windows 8 (\Windows)

    I selected the second one and pressed delete and restarted. Problem solved.

    I hope this will not cause complications in the future.

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    Replies
    1. i have the same problem i hope it will not cause complication in the future too

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  26. You save my life! :D
    The problem are other.. but this command help me very much!

    (sorry for my english.. im italian)

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  27. Thanks to this post, I was able to recovery my "win 8" partition and boot from it in my really new dell 3521. It´s working now and i´m happy, but the recovery partition isn´t more accesible and I can´t stop thinking how will be re install a licensed win 8 without DVD an without recovery partition. Some of you with the same Problem? Suggestions?

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  28. This post is really Great, Thank you Stephen for this blog. I have solved my Laptop boot problem by following steps, But one mistake I have done at step 3 for selecting volume. I have selected USB disk volume instead of C drive OS volume. Therefore now my Machine start only from USB drive support. :(

    Could you please help me how can i make revert my changes and Boot only from my C drive only. Today i will do fresh copy of New USB setup and will try for same thing with C drive volume this time. I will keep posted the updates.

    1. Press Shift + F10 when you are at the Install Windows screen, The elevated command prompt at boot will now open.

    2. Type DISKPART command

    3. Enter Command LIST VOLUME, note volume no...

    4. Enter Command SELECT VOLUME "no" (eg1,2,3) (This volume should be C drive OS volume no)

    5. Enter Command ASSIGN LETTER=Z and EXIT

    6. Enter Command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

    7.Exit and restart.

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    Replies
    1. I do same what you do but my network and wlan not working after do this step. what can i do my laptop is lenovo g580 core i 5. Also other software can't work and all services are disable.

      Delete
  29. you safe my life thanks its so helpfull

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  30. Saved my a.. once again. Can't belive my boot stuff failed twice on the same machine... Thanks again

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  31. If your Windows computer is still refusing to boot normally, you may want to use any third party software solution like Kernel for windows data recovery software to repair booting error and recover complete backup from the windows hard drive. The software also support windows 8 with (32 Bit and 64 Bit).

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  32. Thank so much Stephen, My win 8 boot problem has been resolved, That's a great post.

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  33. Thank you - I've been battling with this issue for a week and followed the same steps as you to finally achieve a resolution.

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  34. Thanks you - I was facing windows 8 boot problem for a long time...But as soon as I red your article I understood problem..


    Visit my site windows-8-support

    Thanks & Regards

    Alex walker

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  35. thank you very much you saved my data

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  36. I dont know how to and how much to thank you, stephen. the seller said he'll have to send my laptop to company for repair as i did't have any backup. i just followed the steps by prashant deokar (very easily explained)and i got my laptop bak in an hour. Thank you guy's. keep up the good work

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  37. I have a Lenovo Yoga 13, windows 8 GPT UEFI system with 7 partitions. Can I delete all the partitions except windows 8 then move and resize and then be able to boot windows 8 by using info discuss above? What would I do?
    thanks
    Ron

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  38. When I run command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI
    I got : Failure when attempting to copy boot files
    You can help me ?
    Please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have the same problem :((((

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Three persons needed help in reading the ORIGINAL article so I help by copy and paste here, hope this helps 3 of you:

      Article showed: issue:

      I got:

      Failure when attempting to copy boot files

      Article showed: solution:
      There was an option to use a /S to specify where to copy the boot files to. However, I wanted them to be copied to the system partition which doesn't have a drive letter. So, I used DISKPART to assign the letter Z to volume:

      ASSIGN LETTER=Z

      Then I could use BCDBoot to run this:

      BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

      Lo and behold, my system now boots!

      Good luck to many of us and please continue to help others. Thanks

      Delete
  39. hey, i have a sony vaio E series SVEE15128CNS with a pre installed win8, 750 hd space, and 4 gb ram, and hav been facing the same prob. and the new thing is that when i insert a dvd to boot it from that it says "Operating System Not Found" nor can i access the command prompt by pressing "shift+f10" ... plz can any1 help me.. do rple soon..

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    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Alex S said...My friends,
      Good educated guess are 3 reasons related to BIOS:
      Reason 1: In BIOS, your system is setup to not allow you to boot from DVD (I have seen this in laptop, there is a special line that does not allow booting from DVD (for security reason. For this case, fix BIOS to allow booting from DVD.)
      Reason 2: In BIOS, your system is setup to boot first from HARD DISK, not from DVD. For this case, fix BIOS to boot first from DVD.
      Reason 3: In BIOS, your system is setup to boot EFI mode, which may not allow booting from DVD. In this case, turn off EFI mode and allow booting from DVD (some computers us the term “LEGACY BOOT” for booting with NON-EFI way). Remember that after you are done with DVD, to boot test your work with EFI hard disk, you need to turn on EFI mode and turn off “LEGACY BOOT.”
      To get into BIOS, after pressing power on, right away, try pressing:
      F1, or
      F2, or
      F10, or,
      F11, or
      F12, or
      Del

      To get into BIOS, try pressing:
      Function + F1, or
      Function + F2, or
      Function + F10, or,
      Function + F11, or
      Function + F12, or
      Function + Del

      (That's my trick to get into BIOS, each computer is slightly different. The time I spend to search Internet for the correct button for my specific computer is almost the same time I spend to try 12 different keys. Often, after trying F1 or F2, I got in already.)

      In summary,
      Try to get into BIOS.
      Look around inside BIOS, find BOOT ORDER, make sure DVD is allowed.

      Note: in some computers, to boot from DVD, I had to: NOT allow "SECURE BOOT" AND "EFI BOOT"
      and
      allow "LEGACY BOOT".

      Then, after using DVD, to boot from HARD DISK, I had to allow "EFI BOOT" and NOT allow "LEGACY BOOT". (Sometimes, after using the DVD, I forgot to turn on EFI mode, I got error message because computer could not find boot items of the boot chain.)

      Good luck and please keep sharing. Thanks.
      26 February 2015 at 20:47

      Delete
  40. thank you very much,Thanks a zillion.You saved me .Actually EasyBcd screwed up

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  41. I have been having the same problem with Win8 that's plagued everyone else who ended up here: "Bootmgr is missing."
    I followed the same troubleshooting sequence you followed: bootrec /rebuildbcd yields "The requested system device cannot be found." I can't Refresh the install because the drive is "locked". I can't even reinstall Win8 from scratch because "The disk selected is of the GPT partition style."
    Then I used diskpart to assign a letter to the hidden directory, ran BCDboot c:\windows /s z: /f UEFI (I also tried /f ALL) and got the message that boot files were successfully created. Great! I found new BCD files in z:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot and one in z:\Boot along with some backups. So far so good, except that after all this I still get the "Bootmgr is missing" message. Should these newly created files be copied anywhere else? Are there other files that might need to be fixed before or after running BCDBoot? I should add that Tech support at Microsoft was absolutely useless, telling me that Boot Manager is not a Windows creation, but comes preinstalled on the disk drive and I should contact the drive manufacturer. Really?

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    Replies
    1. My friend, you wrote:
      "The disk selected is of the GPT partition style."
      That means to me you have: Disk with MBR partition style.
      For that MBR style, my personal computer does not need separate UEFI partition.
      For that MBR style, BCD is in the same partition with Windows.
      In same with Windows, try looking for BCD at ROOT (meaning look not in any folder).
      type
      dir c:\bcd
      hopefully you will see BCD. If not, try:

      In same with Windows, try looking for BCD at folder called c:\boot
      type
      dir c:\boot\bcd
      hopefully you will see BCD. If not, make new BCD. (The internet has many resources for learning to make new BCD.)

      Another reminder: Most of the time, BCD is hidden, to un-hidden everything (including BCD), get to folder, then type
      attrib –r –s –h bcd /s (then press ENTER)
      (What's that for? to change ATTRIBUTES of BCD files so you can see and fix it:
      -r means TURN OFF READ-ONLY status, then you can work with BCD
      -s means TURN OFF SYSTEM status, then you can work with BCD,
      -h means TURN OFF HIDDEN status, then, you can see BCD.
      bcd is the filename of the BCD file you need to find, no extension, just plain bcd
      /s means you want to apply your command to all sub-folders.

      This will un-hidden all possible bcd files (then you can re-hide them later with command attrib +r +s +h bcd /s (then press ENTER)

      (Real life: In 1 MBR-hard-drive, I have 4 separate partitions (primary): first partition is DOS tool, 3 more partitions with 3 INDEPENDENT EXACT COPIES of Windows 8. In MBR hard disk, each Windows 8 is now working by itself, no need for other EFI partition. (Easy to clone into image. That's a different topic which you should be very familiar with if you like the concept of photocopy machine.)

      Good luck and please help others. Thanks

      Delete
  42. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The 3 bootrec commands worked. Worth your weight in gold, man!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Helo all,
    Seems with daily change in technology it is always better to search the internet first before trying anything old ;-). Anyways i also learned the hard way and ended up with same errors in my new HP 15e001ax laptop. finally was able to get it started by using the 3 bootrec commands and did a successful boot. Thanks to the author and everyone in the comments section. I was trying to get 250 GB for my C and got it. now for about the other 600GB allocation which is right now in no mans land, how should i proceed in order to avoid a repeat of this error. Please advise.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Thanks a huge lot Stephens. Your post was really helpful. I have been searching for a solution since the last two days after I corrupted the partition table on my sony vaio ultrabook while trying to create additional partitions with Easeus Partition Manager.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Thank you so much! Saved my new laptop!

    ReplyDelete
  46. I had cloned a drive before sending a laptop back for a warranty repair. They wiped the drive so I had to copy the cloned data back, but then it would not boot. I finally got to a place and tried:
    BCDBoot c:\Windows
    and it said something about being successful, and then it booted up. Thanks for the help.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Hello, please I need your help, my windows 8 laptop keeps crashing and windows 8 won't start after using AOEMEI tools to give my c: drive more space. I just get a blue screen saying "your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart, we're just collecting some error information, and then we'll restart for you". This keeps going and going in a loop. It's been going for 2 hours. Please what can I do. My laptop is brand new, I just had it for 4 months. It's an ASUS N56V. I don't have the windows 8 CD

    ReplyDelete
  48. I am considering trying this solution - I have a Win 8 64 bit laptop that was fine till I took the Win 8.1 update pushed to me. I have managed to resolve almost everything, but booting is still odd. If I have the BIOS set to UEFI boot, the machine will not boot at all; if I set it to UEFI and CSM auto, then when I boot up and hit no keys it tells me NTLDR (!) is missing. If I hit F4 while booting, it says Invalid Recovery Area and then boots fine. In Disk Management it says the BIOS is in Legacy mode, but if I look around in my system I only see EFI stuff... I am afraid to try your solution while I await the recovery disks from Samsung, in case it hoses it. I guess if I can't restore because I get the Locked error, I'll try this! Would that be your advice? Thank you for this post, after a week of googling I finally found it.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Awesome Thanks you are King (Windows Life Saver)......

    ReplyDelete
  50. Great man! It worked for me just Fine! You saved a lot of my time. Thank you for this post

    ReplyDelete
  51. Hi some of all above steps i used like below which worked for me without installing again Windows 8. Thanks guys!!.

    1)
    Get Windows 8 Evaluation Copy, load it into DVD

    Repair Computer

    Go to Advanced Options, Command Promt

    Bootrec /fixmbr
    Bootrec /fixboot
    Bootrec /rebuildbcd

    At this point you notice windows might moved to another drive mine moved to D drive

    2. Type DISKPART command

    3. Enter Command LIST VOLUME, note volume no...

    4. Enter Command SELECT VOLUME "no" (eg1,2,3) mine was 3 (has to select Fat 32, don't put quotations)

    5. Enter Command ASSIGN LETTER=Z and EXIT

    6. Enter Command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

    Some one said:
    Well I fixed that problem by going to windows folder and using command "del /A:H EPMBatch.ept"

    I done above by using Ubuntu flash drive, go to windows folder search EPM Batch.ept, move to trash
    Go to trash Delete it.

    Restart PC.
    Now after boot goes to Note. wait for a while.

    your PC will Back !!!

    we might miss remaining partition currently.
    go computer management in control panel to get it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sorry not clear after step 6.

      after step 6 rebooting PC will goes to boot and say says "EASUS Partion Master Boot" and keeps rebooting.
      to avoid this we have to delete EPMBatch.ept in windows folder.

      Delete
  52. Hello,

    I followed the above steps from 1 to 6. No success. I did notice that none of my partitions were FAT 32. They were all ntfs.
    Please note I am a novice and have no idea about partitions etc.

    Can someone please look into this issue and help.
    Gurpreet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I managed to sort the issue, it related to the partitions. I found the following video. Need to be very patient with the instructor:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulc31TXlBf0

      Delete
  53. I am very happy I found this site (thanks Google.. but don't get a big head over it).. I worked for 3 days trying to restore my daughters laptop. Unfortunately, her Asus recovery partition did not work as expected, but this fixed everything. I only had to run
    Bootrec /fixmbr
    Bootrec /fixboot
    Bootrec /rebuildbcd
    and it was off and running...wooohooo!!

    ReplyDelete
  54. THANKS, I LOVE YOU MAN;))))) Super

    ReplyDelete
  55. Hi!

    Thanks Steven for the excellent guide. Most guides are outdated and refer to a MBR.BIOS setup. This is useful for using diskpart with UEFI GPT setups.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I also got the "failure when attempting copy boot files" error.

    This was due to me accidentlely selecting the primary windows partition and giving that drive the letter instead of the SYSTEM partition which contains the bootloader.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Thank you very much. I was trying every method available on internet, but nothing worked. Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  58. I have the same problem, Partition with EASSUS. I was follow all the steps, but my VAIO SVF14213CLB don´t save the changes that i make whith "Command Prompt". I enter each command and appears to have been successful, but when reboot, did not effect. What was the problema???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i used the Command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI in every partition Fat32 and windows now can start. Now my problem is that the partition for RECOVERY, WINDOWS 8, and SONYSYS are now PRIMARY PARTITION, and can't be used for recovery. How can i assign like RECOVERY PARTITION???

      Delete
  59. Can't THANK YOU enough! EaseUs Partition Manager copied everything but no boot. I fixed the drive letters with diskpart, and finally found your magical command that restored booting.

    ReplyDelete
  60. For a few more details, see also the website
    http://www.fixedbyvonnie.com/2013/12/how-to-repair-the-efi-bootloader-in-windows-8

    ReplyDelete
  61. Thank you so so much... duno what I did but I followed ur instructions and it works! x

    ReplyDelete
  62. I'm having boot problems, similar to what's described in the post. I used BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f: UEFI and it worked, but after restarting my computer it I can't access the recovery usb with Windows 8 (that let my use the command prompt) any longer. I can only access bios (UEFI), but that isn't very helpful. I have tried changing boot order, but no success. Now it seems that I can't do anything with the laptop, not even reinstall windows 8. Suggestions?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Okay, so I went into bios and changed boot mode from UEFI to Legacy and now the recovery usb with Win 8 starts. Seems that I'm able to restore/reinstall the OS now at least.

      Delete
  63. thanks this helped me a lot.
    but what worked for me is this
    http://itsolutionsblog.net/solution-to-your-pc-needs-to-be-repaired/comment-page-3/#comment-7155

    ReplyDelete
  64. Thank You Stephen Redmond!

    ReplyDelete
  65. Thanks big time, this worked for me after my Pc refused to boot after uninstalling Asus Suite III. One strange thing thing though; once back in Windows I discovered that all my previous System Restore Points were no longer available.

    ReplyDelete
  66. It worked for me. My w8 isBOOTING NOW.You are the beeeest MAN. I have spent two days trying to fix this problem. The problem happen after trying to uninstall ubuntu. I am so happy now. Thank you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  67. Thank you. Solved my problem :-)

    ReplyDelete
  68. Hey man you are great. Your suggestion helped me in solving the boot issue in windows 8.1. Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  69. Dr. Olorun Oduduwa I love to be on your testimonial page to spread my happiness. Your hard work and effort is greatly appreciated especially from me. My boy-friend is back home. We are back together. He pick me up from my station today. I haven't saw him in 6 month. I wasted so much time with other spell casters and should have stuck with you originally. You are a truly gifted spell caster and I just wanted to take the time to show how you and tell the world how grateful I am"thanks to Dr. Olorun, contact him if need his help on how to bring back your lost husband or boyfriend to your heart again on; Olorunoduduwaspiritualtemple@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  70. Hiking is a great pastime hobby for outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy being close to nature. thanks share the post Hiking shoes reviews

    ReplyDelete
  71. I have just purchased an ASUS X750JA-DB71 with 16GB Ram, 250GB SSD/1TB HDD, Blu-Ray except it locked up on some updating cycles to error code 0xc0000225 "Your PC needs to be repaired" "A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed". I can only get to the BIOS. I am not able to get to a prompt, Boot from CD or any other recognizable process. I do have some sort of capability to edit my boot options in the BISO but do not know the syntax or how to identify the DVD drive for booting my optical. Any help to get to the bootable CD function or to recover my new laptop. How to educate myself on Boot Option protocol and scripting of the path, device, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Thank god for this.
    This should be higher up in google when searching for this problem.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Please help! I have same problem as everyone else, but I can't even access windows security recover mode. My pc still ends up on error screen even if i hold down f8 or f9 on boot. I can only access the UEFI Firmware Settings. Please help :-)

    ReplyDelete
  74. After trying all the things on other sites, you solution worked for me:

    After using DISKPART to define "z", I used your command:
    BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

    ...which created a new option when booting (annoying), but this new option booted!

    I was able to set this new one to "default" and have it auto-choose it via the Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup Shutdown.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  75. Win 8 boot error kode: 0xc0000225. I solved the problem by set bios settings to default. Then reboot and back to bios to change boot order to normal "before boot issues came". I could not even boot from dvd - usb. Bios default settings was a solution for me.

    ReplyDelete
  76. For me this worked using a Recovery flash drive memory stick I had made:

    With the flash drive plugged in:

    Start the pc > repeatedly tap esc > choose f9 Boot Device Options > choose: USB Hard Drive (UEFI) > Press enter > wait a minute or so > Choose language (and if applicable keyboard layout) > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command prompt > type in:

    bootrec /rebuildbcd

    Press enter and wait a while > When it says the operation was completed successfully type:

    exit

    (If the command prompt hasn't closed click on the top right corner x and after it closed choose: Continue Exit and continue to Windows 8 (or 8.1).

    I hope this works for you as it did for me.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Found many solutions online, but faced all the same obstacles as you. This post finally saved my day. I am not even remotely sure what went wrong or how this worked, but Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  78. man, really thank you. U saved my day!

    ReplyDelete
  79. I'll just add my thanks to all of the others. Lot's of other threads out there, but assigning the drive letter to the System partition was what I needed to do...

    ReplyDelete

  80. Works smoothly.

    Thanks man

    ReplyDelete
  81. Thanks man.. it worked in the first attempt itself.. after running the three bootrec commands.. thanks a lot..

    ReplyDelete
  82. If you're getting this error: Failure when attempting to copy boot files
    Try this sequence:

    First:
    BCDBOOT d:\windows /s d:

    Then:
    BCDBOOT c:\windows /s c:

    Finally:
    BCDBOOT c:\windows /s c: /f UEFI

    Worked for me.
    Thanks for the post.
    My laptop: Asus n550jk
    My windows: 8.1 Pro (on drive c)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After got "Failure when attempting to copy boot files", I ran the 3 boot commands:

      Bootrec /fixmbr
      Bootrec /fixboot
      Bootrec /rebuildbcd

      and then restart my machine. However before getting the Login Screen, it says "EaseUS Partition Master Boot Mode" and it reboots again (infinitly).

      As suggested by the EaseUS support (http://forum.easeus.com/viewtopic.php?t=36606) I tried to delete the EMPBatch.ept with this command:

      C:\Windows\systems32>cd c:\windows

      c:\windows>del /ah EPMBatch.ept

      Then restart my machine. And voila, it's working! Thanks for all the input guys! :D
      My laptop: Lenovo Ideapad
      My windows: 10 Basic

      Delete
  83. Incredible the hoops we have to jump through to switch out to a ssd. thanks for your info. Perfect...

    ReplyDelete
  84. My HP Pvilion X2 was updating to Win10 and suffenly I got the message "Restoring previous version of windows" and then screen blanked out. When I tried booting up, I got the 0xc0000225 error message. Since mine's a hybrid tablet, I can't use any other media. Customer support directions didn't work and they've asked me to take the device to the service centre. Any help would be much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I worked on mine for 4 days and was fixing to give up when i ran across this post. It worked!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  86. Hi Stephen, You posted the solution to your problem 1st November 2012 and it obviously has helped a lot of people from all the comments you have received so well done on that. It has helped me too and I felt compelled to leave a thank you and a description of how your solution also helped me with a slightly different problem.

    I am running Windows 10 Pro, I upgraded from Win 8.1 Pro. I had turned off UEFI boot for the hard drive to fix a problem my son was having with DEP (another story). So my computer was bootong up in Legacy (normal) mode without any problems. But then I needed to have the system boot up in Safe Mode to check something and I had set this up in msconfig and then did a system restart. On restart I got the message:

    When I boot my Windows 8 laptop (see details below), it displays this message:

    Recovery

    Your PC needs to be repaired

    A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed.

    Error code: 0xc0000225

    [text saying I should use recovery tools on my installation media to fix the issue. ]

    Press Enter to try again

    Press F8 for Start-up Settings

    Press Esc for UEFI Firmware Settings

    If I press Enter or F8, the central part of the message changes to:

    The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.

    File: \Windows\system32\winload.efi

    Error code: 0xc0000225

    I googled the error and most answers/solutions said to use bootrec to repair which meant you needed a system disk to boot into Recovery mode and execute some commands such as;
    Advanced Options -> Command Prompt
    bootrec /scanos
    bootrec /rebuildbcd
    bootrec /fixmbr
    bootrec /fixboot

    My problem was, this was a recent upgrade so I had no win 10 disk to boot from. I also had no system image and no restore points because my boot drive is a SSD. I really needed a solution.

    So I thought I would boot from my Win 8.1. disk and try and enter the Recovery that way. Good plan I thought, but my computer just would not boot from the CD. Eventually I realized my error when I was looking at the boot options and saw that my DVD/CD was trying to boot using UEFI mode so I changed that to Legacy and was able to boot.

    Once I was in Recovery I opened up Command Prompt then changed the drive letter to C by typing C: enter

    I then followed your steps as follows;

    Type DISKPART command

    3. Enter Command LIST VOLUME, note volume no...(I selected the volume that said system 100MB which had no drive letter)

    4. Enter Command SELECT VOLUME "no" (eg1,2,3) mine was 3

    5. Enter Command ASSIGN LETTER=Z (command was executed successfully) type EXIT then

    6. Enter Command BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f UEFI

    7.Exit and restart.

    On restarting I first went into the BIOS and made sure my hard drive and DVD/CD were set to boot using UEFI mode then saved the settings and rebooted. I crosed my fingers and toes and waited.

    The system came up with a blue screen showing a selection to either startup as Win 10 or Win 8.1 - Win 10 was set as default and set to boot within 30 secs. I manually selected Win 10 and I was at the login page. Then Windows booted as if nothing was wrong. I then opened msconfig and deleted the reference to Win 8.1 and restarted the computer and it came up immediately to my login page and Windows once again started perfectly.

    So once again thank you, your solution worked for my circumstances and will now help someone else when they find your post.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Fantastic! This sorted my problem perfectly, thank you for putting in the hours to find this solution, and then to post it for others to find.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Thanks. Assigning the drive letter is required to fix a UEFI boot using the install disk in repair mode. MS Technet didn't mention that.

    ReplyDelete
  89. I had the same issue as the OP, and the final step did the trick! To those who are looking for the fix, look no further.

    ReplyDelete
  90. I have no words. I spent 12 hours to solve it...just thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Thank's a lot man. You've save my time. I've spent 3 days trying to fix this problem. Thank you one more time.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Ho man, thanks for figuring this out for, as it seams, a busload of victims. It saved me. Wished this would have shown up first during my desperate endless google sessions

    ReplyDelete
  93. "BCDBoot c:\Windows /s z: /f: UEFI" Rulez !!!!
    Thanks Stephen

    ReplyDelete
  94. Many years on, but still your post is helping people! Thanks mate, was baffled by inability to fix booting UEFI Windows 8.1, then found your post.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Currently having this same problem. Unfortunately, my computer did not come with the system disks. Any ideas? I saw an earlier post with the same problems, but didn't quite understand the resolution. Any help would be great.
    Thanks. Cari

    ReplyDelete
  96. I am not sure how to reboot my laptop, it is different
    x:\windows\system>
    can someone help please! thank you :)

    ReplyDelete
  97. You are AWESOME! Thank you so much!! I don't know how this worked, but it did. Thank you!!

    Just to clarify a bit, when you do the ASSIGN LETTER command, I used the 100mb partition to assign Z to. So I selected the 100MB partition and then assigned as Z, then did the BCDboot command. Worked great!

    ReplyDelete
  98. I deleted system reserved and now im facing this issue...plzz help me..!

    ReplyDelete
  99. Lifesaver! Had the same issue, the solution worked. Thanks a ton for posting this.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Life saver!!!
    Thanks man for sharing, God bless you!

    ReplyDelete

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