"How could this Y2K be a problem in a country where we have Intel and Microsoft?" - Al Gore

Recovery - Your PC needs to be repaired

By Cedric F. Jacob
2017-04-28

After restarting my PC this morning, I was greeted by a blue screen, telling me, that my boot configuration was missing or contained an error. I was shocked. I had not encountered this error message before and was not quite sure what to make of it.

Looks worse than it is

Was my hard-drive broken? Did I loose all my code? How much work did I loose? How much was on my git? And why oh why did I not set up my NAS server as planned. All these elaborate plans on how to manage my data backups... and I never had the time.

I instantly picked up my phone and did some research. First off: Most likely, all your data is fine and it won't be too much of a hassle to fix this and get you back on track.

How to fix it

Luckily for us, this is very straight forward process. Simply follow the 14 steps below.

Step 1

You will need your Windows installation media to take care of this. This might be a DVD or USB-Stick. If you do not have your Windows installation media ready, simply visit Microsoft's website and download it.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7

Step 2

Once you have your DVD or USB-Stick ready, connect it to your troubled system and reboot. I had to press F11 while rebooting. Some people may have to press F12 to bring up the boot menu. If in doubt, simply google the right key for your make or model.

Step 3

Booting from your Windows installation media should bring up the Windows Setup. You may need to choose your language and keyboard settings before clicking on Next.

Step 4

Instead of clicking on Install Now, you should find and click on the Repair your computer button in the left lower corner.

Step 5

Choose the option called Troubleshoot.

Step 6

Select the option Advanced options.

Step 7

Click on Command Prompt.

Step 8

Now type Bootrec /fixmbr and press the Enter key.

Step 9

Next up you will need to type Bootrec /fixboot and press Enter again.

Step 10

Type Bootrec /scanos , press Enter.

Step 11

One last time, type Bootrec /rebuildcbd and press Enter.

Step 12

Type A and hit Enter.

Step 13

Close the command prompt by clicking on the X button.

Step 14

Click on Continue and the system should boot up again.

What did I learn?

Blue screens scare the sh*t out of me. Luckily, this time, it was a simple fix and I got away easy. What did I learn? Backups are important and setting up my NAS server just jumped to the top of my TODO-list.

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