How to Fix Unmountable Boot Volume?

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nakano

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I was surfing the Internet one day when my computer jammed up. I restarted it, and when Windows was loading, a blue screen popped up saying unmountable boot volume and a few different options appeared. I tried to run in safe mode but the same problem again occurs.

Unmountable Boot Volume

What on earth should I do next?

  • 0
    I am having this same problem and get all the way to my recovery cd blue screen and on the bottom, in white, it says "examining 238418 MB Disk 0 at ID 0 on bus 0 on iaStor..." but it never goes anywhere. I have left it run like this overnight thinking that maybe it takes time but I have had no progress. — sweetcav
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pccare_himanshu

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Here are the steps to troubleshoot this kind of problem:

  1. Boot from the CD

  2. On the welcome to the setup Screen press "R"

  3. It will show you some options to boot. We have to enter that digit which has c:\windows in front of it. For example:

     1. c:\windows
 2. d:\

    In this kind of case, we have to press 1 and hit enter.

  4. It will prompt you for administrator's password. If you set a password please enter it and hit ENTER after it, or, if you don't know the password for the administrator's account you can try to hit enter without any password (By default it is blank).

  5. When you are on c:\windows prompt type chkdsk /p. It checks the performance and errors on the hard drive. If there are errors after completing the scan it can show you the volume has one or more errors OR the volume appears to have unrecoverable errors.

  6. If you get the volume appears to have unrecoverable errors there are very less chances that you boot into same operating system back but if you get the volume has one or more errors you can try to fix the error.

  7. To fix the errors type: chkdsk /r. This command will try to fix the errors and when this command completes then type: chkdsk /p again to check if the errors removed. After this type EXIT and it will reboot your system and try to boot.

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    I had to fix a customer's computer just last week with that exact same error message. Yes, chkdsk fixed it for me. Additionally, if it does not, go back to the recovery console and run fixboot, I didn't see any mention of that in that yet. Good luck! — Borrow -A- Geek
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    When exactly do you press R to get the DOS prompt? Do you have to go through all the floppy disks first or do you just run the check when the blue windows setup screen comes up? I have followed the automatic setup that the windows setup is doing and it goes through all the floppy disks and then once they are done that same blue screen comes up but this time the unmountable boot volume just isn't there. So What do I do? — jnbsball
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    It is pretty much at the beginning of the installation. You will have a screen that looks similar to this. That is when you will press the R key. — grinch2171
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    I am sorry but my cousin is having the same error, I was wondering if I would be able to use any type of Windows CD to use chkdsk or does it have to be the exact Windows version? I am wondering because my cousin does not have his Windows cd and I only have the Windows XP home edition sp2 CD laying around at my house. — WaeHaKe
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    Before I do this to fix my computer, does it delete all of the files that I had on it before? It only acted like this after a program called "Personal Antivirus" installed itself onto my computer. It blocked everything and after two days I got this error message. I already had a virus scan program on it and it never detected anything. My brother's computer and my mom's has also been acting strangely and somewhat like mine did before it had this problem. What should I do and can somebody please tell me if it will delete everything on the computer? Oh, and when I put in the floppies, what will happen? — stellaweaver42
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    This fix will not delete your files. It scans your drive for errors and repairs system files. fixboot will correct a corrupted boot.ini file so Windows boots where it should normally. And you shouldn't need or use floppies. You need the Windows XP/7/10/11 installation CD to get to the recovery console. If you are unfamiliar with doing this kind of thing, you should try to find a friend or a family member who is. Although this is a simple recovery method for experienced users, you do have the potential to screw up your computer if you really don't know what you are doing. — Mark Bowker
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    The blue screen keeps coming up with unmountable boot volume. I put in my Windows installation CD and tried to start the computer in safe mode. Unfortunately, I can't get to the windows setup screen so I cannot enter R for repair. What happens is after trying to start Windows the blue screen comes up again with the same unmountable boot volume message. Does anyone have any recommendations? I am considering just scrapping this computer and buying another one as soon as possible so if anyone has any recommendations that would save me a lot of money! — tpulas
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    Even when I put the windows XP cd in, it still just goes straight to the blue screen after I enter safe mode. I can't enter the windows setup screen and I don't have any opportunity to enter any commands. — tpulas
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    Ok, that's a problem, lol. Try using your Windows XP cd. This time, when coming to the screen where you should press R - press "Enter" instead. This will bring you to a screen that shows a message stating: "previous installation of windows detected, would you like to repair this installation?" or something to that effect. On that prompt, repair the current installation. This won't delete your files or installations of your programs but will restore windows back to its original state. After which you'll need to install windows updates as well. — mindfullsilence
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    What tpulas needed to set his PC's BIOS to boot from the cd-rom drive instead of the hard drive. That is why it kept going to the bluescreen instead of Window's setup. — blakhatt
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    I have tried CHKDSK but keep getting redirected to SCANDISK, which I ran and no errors were found. However, at the DOS prompt, when I issue the C: DIR command, no directories are showing and only a few files are displaying, one of them being SCANDISK. How come I can't get to my WINDOWS directory? Is it toasted? This is a bit scary. Any suggestions are appreciated. — cslmc
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    I'm having the same problem on my desktop. I have finally got to the blue screen where I enter R for repair, but for some reason, it is saying that I don't have a hard disc drive. I have the Windows CD in the drive, can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong? — Texannette
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    Me too! My screen shows my D drive as the only option to repair. It's like it cant find my C drive! Please help. 😕 — BIgK in CA
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    I only have a "Reinstallation Disk" from Dell. Will this do the same thing as the Windows Disk? — DonutUK
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    I have the same problem but I don't have the CD recovery disc. Would formatting the hard drive be a solution? — stefan0s++
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    If you have no CD recovery disc, then reformatting would not be a solution. That would leave you with a blank hard drive that would be of no use except perhaps a slave drive for file storage. — Mark Bowker
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    What do you suggest then? I don't care if I lose my files, because I use this PC only for getting online. The important files are on another PC. — stefan0s++
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    You could format but as ATNO stated, you will need an install disk, which you would need to purchase. — grinch2171
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    Do you have a recovery partition? Most computers these days come with one when purchased through an OEM. — Mark Bowker
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A4

a4asit

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There are a few commands you can try in Windows Repair Console to try and repair your disk boot record:

fixmbr
fixboot

both of them will ask for confirmation. When asked press Y. After that do a chkdsk /f command and I think it will solve your problems. If your disk still shows errors after that, its possible that the hard drive is going bad or is already bad.

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    I would really appreciate some help with the same unmountable boot volume error. I have changed the boot order so that I boot to the Windows XP CD, when the CD loads I get a blue screen with the heading 'Windows Setup' with a grey bar along the bottom first saying 'press F6 to install SSIC drivers...' then 'press F2 to run automated system recovery' neither of these options when pressed seems to do anything. After a few seconds, the setup starts to load numerous different files until I am 'greeted' with another blue screen asking me to select which partition I want to set up windows XP on and then how I want to format the partition. I really do not want to lose all the files on my PC and therefore would like to know if and how I can proceed to perform the chkdsk of fixboot commands. — c3callaghan3
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    Don't press either. Follow the six steps in these instructions. The pictures show you exactly what you should see. When you get to step six and are at the command prompt type fixmbr. You'll get a warning. Just accept it and reboot normally. — Mark Bowker
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    I think what he is talking about above is that he is not getting the option for the repair console. He's not getting the options listed to him like what is posted above. It's totally bypassing this particular option. It's doing the same thing for me, and I can't quite figure it out. — renmar
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