How to Rebuild the Windows EFI Bootloader Partition (Fix BCD Boot Error 0xc000000f)
Windows Startup Error Code 0xc000000f (accompanied by the blue screen message “Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors”) appears during UEFI boot when the motherboard firmware cannot locate \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD on the hidden EFI System Partition (ESP). This corruption frequently occurs after failed disk cloning, sudden power outages, dual-boot removals, or partition resizing. You can permanently rebuild your EFI bootloader and restore bootability without data loss by booting into a Windows Installation Media USB, using Diskpart to assign a volume letter to the 100 MB FAT32 EFI partition, formatting it, and executing bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI to regenerate fresh boot records.
bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot only apply to legacy MBR/BIOS disks and will return “Access is denied” on modern GPT UEFI systems. Always use bcdboot for modern Windows 11 and 10 installations.Table of Contents
1. Step 1: Boot into Windows Installation Media
- Insert a bootable Windows 11/10 USB drive and power on your PC.
- Press your boot menu key (F12, F11, or Del) and boot from the USB.
- On the Windows Setup screen, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
2. Step 2: Identify and Assign EFI Partition in Diskpart
Launch Diskpart to find your hidden 100MB FAT32 system volume:
diskpart
list volume
// Locate the FAT32 volume (~100 MB, e.g., Volume 3), select it, and assign letter S:
select volume 3
assign letter=S
exit
3. Step 3: Format EFI Partition (FAT32)
Format the EFI partition to wipe corrupt BCD tables cleanly:
4. Step 4: Rebuild BCD Store via bcdboot Command
Regenerate clean UEFI bootloader files from your main Windows OS directory (drive C:):
bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI
Command Prompt will respond with: “Boot files successfully created.” Remove your USB stick and restart your PC.
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What if my Windows partition is assigned letter D: instead of C: in WinRE?
Drive letters frequently shuffle in WinRE. Use dir C: and dir D: to confirm which drive contains the Windows directory, and adjust the bcdboot source path accordingly (e.g., bcdboot D:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI).
