So i decided to turn off my computer at night. everything was working fine that day. until i turned it back on, i noticed it kelt saying repairing computer for a few minutes. i decided to do bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no and turns out it says missing winloader.efi. i dont have a recovery disk and also wouldnt want my computer to have to be reset. if its the only solution i guess i will, and learned to safe recovery disks from now on.
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@comcomcom1, If you can get VeraCrypt installed on another hard drive running Windows, then you can access your problematic hard drive if you put it in an enclosure. I would try opening up VeraCrypt, then assigning a drive letter to each of the partitions on your problematic drive - the boot partition, the 16MB partition after that, then each of your data partitions, and the recovery partition. Then, using Macrium Reflect running inside Windows, I'd make an image of each partition. Then, I'd find some way to write back each partition in order using Macrium Reflect, to a new hard drive. Everything would not be encrypted, though. Macrium Reflect running inside Windows will see the partitions, but I think at least the data partitions will be encrypted.
Last edit: DDD 2025-02-07
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@comcomcom1, I was wrong. Macrium Reflect can't recognize the drive that Veracrypt assigns a letter to. :( I'm not quite sure what to do, honestly, except copy all your files off, then copy them to a new system. I suppose you could use Clonezilla to at least copy the partitions to a new device. The boot partition would be unencrypted, but might still have the VeraCrypt bootloader, but you would just press Esc upon the password prompt. The 16 MB partition wouldn't be important. You'd have to format the data partition on the new drive, then copy all your files over. And then I think the rescue partition would also be unencrypted. But make a forensic backup before trying it out. When I mentioned Macrium, that would have to be used in forensic mode under Advanced Options, or an exact byte copy.
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So i decided to turn off my computer at night. everything was working fine that day. until i turned it back on, i noticed it kelt saying repairing computer for a few minutes. i decided to do bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled no and turns out it says missing winloader.efi. i dont have a recovery disk and also wouldnt want my computer to have to be reset. if its the only solution i guess i will, and learned to safe recovery disks from now on.
i also saw some other posts saying its mostly in acer manufactures but mine is msi
@comcomcom1, If you can get VeraCrypt installed on another hard drive running Windows, then you can access your problematic hard drive if you put it in an enclosure. I would try opening up VeraCrypt, then assigning a drive letter to each of the partitions on your problematic drive - the boot partition, the 16MB partition after that, then each of your data partitions, and the recovery partition. Then, using Macrium Reflect running inside Windows, I'd make an image of each partition. Then, I'd find some way to write back each partition in order using Macrium Reflect, to a new hard drive. Everything would not be encrypted, though. Macrium Reflect running inside Windows will see the partitions, but I think at least the data partitions will be encrypted.
Last edit: DDD 2025-02-07
@comcomcom1, I was wrong. Macrium Reflect can't recognize the drive that Veracrypt assigns a letter to. :( I'm not quite sure what to do, honestly, except copy all your files off, then copy them to a new system. I suppose you could use Clonezilla to at least copy the partitions to a new device. The boot partition would be unencrypted, but might still have the VeraCrypt bootloader, but you would just press Esc upon the password prompt. The 16 MB partition wouldn't be important. You'd have to format the data partition on the new drive, then copy all your files over. And then I think the rescue partition would also be unencrypted. But make a forensic backup before trying it out. When I mentioned Macrium, that would have to be used in forensic mode under Advanced Options, or an exact byte copy.