Windows 10 2 Disks, 2 Systems

[Charles Hohenberg]

I have 2 SSDs with Windows 8.1 on one. I unplugged this disk and installed Windows 10 on the other SSD. I wanted to plug both in and select the boot disk in Bios so I could boot either windows 8.1 or Windows 10. It works great MOST OF THE TIME. However, I occasionally get the message "no valid operating system found insert valid medium", or something similar, when I try to boot to one of the two systems. It appears that the windows that was up and running wrote something onto the boot sector of the other disk with the other windows system on it. There is apparently no recovery that I know of, just have to reinstall the system. What a pain. Apparently, one system will write on the boot record of the other system disk and corrupt it. UI now keep only one SSD plugged in at a time. Does anyonje know a solution to this?

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Have you tried looking at your system using EasyBCD?
It's a program that lets you easily manage your boot settings.

I found that it may make a difference which OS, you are running it from so you may have to try installing it and running it from from both.

For me it didn't work when running it from Windows 8, but when I did it from Windows 10 as well, it worked fine.
It's possible that what I did it just set both OSes so that the boot sectors matched, because I did it from 8 and then 10.

But I've used it many times over the years, it will at least let you look at what your boot sector is showing.

Link Removed

The edit boot menu tab, lets you decide which OS it will log into by default, and whether to show the boot menu or not, the add new entry lets you add another OS.

https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

If you look at the bottom of the screen on the right and follow the links you will see that they are offering a free boot repair DVD .ISO for Windows 10, which I am downloading right now.

Mike

 

[Charles Hohenberg]

Have you tried looking at your system using EasyBCD?
It's a program that lets you easily manage your boot settings.

I found that it may makes a difference which OS, you are running it from so you may have to try installing it and running it from from both.

For me it didn't work when running it from Windows 8, but when I did it from Windows 10 as well, it worked fine.
It's possible that what I did it just set both OSes so that the boot sectors matched, because I did it from 8 and then 10.

But I've used it many times over the years, it will at least let you look at what your boot sector is showing.

Link Removed

The edit boot menu tab, lets you decide which OS it will log into by default, and whether to show the boot menu or not, the add new entry lets you add another OS.

https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

If you look at the bottom of the screen on the right and follow the links you will see that they are offering a free boot repair DVD .ISO for Windows 10, which I am downloading right now.

Mike

Mike, I could not do this because here is the bad news. I had been running from Windows 10 with the Windows 8 SSD disconnected from the SATA bus. I got brave with the information I received here, plugged in both and changed my boot drive to the Windows 8 system. It booted to Windows 8 just fine. However, upon restart, I got the message "scanning and repairing drive (D:", (the SSD where Windows 10 is located), which it did. I then booted to the Windows 10 SSD and it did that just fine. Thinking that everything was fine, I did an update and restart in Windows 10. Upon restart I get the message "Windows ran into a problem and will attempt to repair". It then goes into the standard choices "refresh, reset etc..... I pick "refresh" (the least intrusive choice) and get the message (looking at it right now) "The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again".
Help! Here we go again! What do I do? How did the boot drive I was just using, and rebooting from, get locked? I did not touch the drive or go to Windows 8, just rebooted. How do I unlock it? Now, when the SSD with Windows 8 on it is unplugged from the SATA interface everything works just fine (my original post). Thin only happens when they are both connected, even if I nothing with the other SSD. How did my active system disk get locked and how do I unlock it? Is there a way to recover now?

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I found this....

Let’s try these steps and check if it helps.

1. Boot up from your Windows 8 disc. (In your case the Windows 10 install disk).

2. Don't click 'Install Now', click Repair Your Computer.

3. Click Advanced Options.

4. Click Other Options.

5. Click Diagnose my PC.

6. Wait for your computer to reboot.

Your computer has now an unlocked hard drive.

If it works it should be pretty easy.
I've never seen this but it seems to be a problem that happens fairly often.

Let us know if this works, if not we'll look for other options.

Mike

 

[Charles Hohenberg]

I think the problem may be an SSD driver issue. This time I went to "Command Line" choice on the "Windows ran into a problem ... error correction" page and did a "chkdsk C:/r". This actually worked, leading me to believe there was a conflicting driver problem between the two SSDs. I will now unplug the Windows 8 SSD from the SATA bus and run the Windows 10 SSD only. I will then try to update any SSD drivers, one system at a time.

Sorry, I did not see your post Mike until I made this one. Anyway, I am back with a good Windows 10 for now and will only do one SSD at a time. Maybe, after I try to update the drivers I will be brave again.