Solved Is it possible to recover the boot files after the EFI system partition was formatted?

XxXxX · Dec 3, 2024

questions.
do you have a live Linux USB > with persistence <
this can be done with Rufus.

do you have access to a working/booting system with Windows 11.

if the answer is yes to both then we shall continue.

##
use the live Linux USB to boot into the working copy of Windows
open nautilus > as root < browsers to the Windows EFI/BOOT partition and copy all the files on to the live Liunx USB persistence partition.
close everything done and remove the live Linux USB.

##
on the system with the NON working Windows 11 use the live Linux USB to boot.
again open nautilus > as root < and copy the files from the persistence partition to the 'formatted FAT32' EFI/BOOT partition.
close everything down and restart into the BIOS and reset the boot order for that system.

##note
unless you have a working system with Windows 11 this will not work.

best of luck, Steve ..

Corner1220 · Dec 3, 2024

PerpetualCycle said:
Have you made backups?

Nope~

Matthew Wai · Dec 4, 2024

Corner1220 said:
Nope~

Mr. Zhang, you should always back up the EFI system partition, as you have installed more than one OS.
I have backed it up, as I have installed three OSes on the same system drive.

Matthew Wai · Dec 4, 2024

Corner1220 said:
Thank you WAI

On Windows forums, they call me Matthew rather than WAI.

Matthew Wai · Dec 4, 2024

In post #15, "system A" and "system B" refer to "Deepin OS" and "UnionTech OS" respectively.
Both are Chinese distributions of Linux.

Matthew Wai · Dec 4, 2024

SIW2 said:
Sounds like you might be using linux grub.There is a bootable tool that should be able to add your windows partition to the boot menu.

The problem is that the "Microsoft" folder does not exist on his EFI system partition.
On Linux, you can add a boot entry simply by running a command providing that the corresponding folder exists on the EFI system partition.
The following screenshot shows the folders on my EFI system partition.

Almighty1 · Dec 4, 2024

In addition to using Macrium Reflect, the other way to fix this is make a USB Bootable Flash Drive and put Sergei Strelec's WinPE mentioned by @spapakons on it either as a ISO under VenToy and then boot Sergei Strelec's WinPE and use EaseUS Partition Master in the Hard Drive tools section and then look for the Boot Repair option which will take a few minutes to fix the problem.

Matthew Wai · Dec 4, 2024

Corner1220 said:
A few days ago, my computer has installed system A and windows 11. I can boot into either of them. the efi patition is correct.

Then, I don't want to use system A any more. I want to switch system A into system B.

I admit that I am being pedantic about grammar.
When you are referring to the past, you should use the simple past instead of the simple present and the present perfect so as to avoid misunderstanding or confusion.

SIW2 · Dec 4, 2024

Matthew Wai said:
The problem is that the "Microsoft" folder does not exist on his EFI system partition.

In that case some kind of win11 winpe which contains bcdboot.exe should be able to create it.

Doesn't need to be particularly fancy. The standard boot.wim from ms installation media should do.

If it is booted in efi mode and there is only one esp partition the command bcdboot windowsdriveletter:\windows should suffice

check which letter winpe has assigned to the windows partition

e.g. bcdboot c:\windows

zbook · Dec 4, 2024

If the startup repair fails it typically creates a file: srttrail.txt > post a share link

Please take pictures of any findings during the troubleshooting as needed> post images or share links

Matthew Wai · Dec 4, 2024

Let's wait for Mr. Zhang's response to the suggestions.

zbook · Dec 8, 2024

Please report the progress.

Matthew Wai · Dec 9, 2024

No progress has been made.
Perhaps Mr. Zhang has decided to abandon Windows and use only Linux.

zbook · Dec 9, 2024

ok

FYI: Microsoft finally deprecated the WMIC command

Script portions are no longer producing results in some threads.

This is the work around:

Add or Remove WMIC command Feature in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to add or remove the WMIC optional feature for all users in Windows 11. The WMI command-line (WMIC) utility provides a command-line interface for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). WMIC is compatible with existing shells and utility commands. The WMIC...

www.elevenforum.com

Corner1220 · Dec 17, 2024

不知道AI翻译功能怎么样，是不是能帮我们更好地沟通交流，如果朋友们觉得语法有不理解的地方，我再常使解释一下。
I'm not sure how effective the AI translation function is. Can it help us communicate better? If friends find any grammar points difficult to understand, I'll explain them again.

非常不好意思，我最近在忙其他的事情，还出差在外地了。我担心我的技术不过关，导致弄着弄着，连Linux都进不去了，那样我最近的工作就无法开展了。大家能这样帮助我，是我在中文社区很少见到的，非常感谢！我后面空闲的时候，再尝试一下。
I'm deeply sorry. I've been occupied with other matters recently and am currently away on a business trip. I'm concerned that my technical skills might not be up to the mark, which could lead to me being unable to access Linux, hindering my recent work progress. It's rare for me to find such assistance in the Chinese community. Thank you very much! I'll give it another try when I have some free time later.

Corner1220 · Dec 17, 2024

Matthew Wai said:
No progress has been made.
Perhaps Mr. Zhang has decided to abandon Windows and use only Linux.

Matthew先生，您先忙自己的工作，我目前先使用中国UOS系统，确实能解决不少问题。嘿嘿，其实您是UOS公司的开发者吗？感谢您一直以来的积极协助。
Mr. Matthew WAI, please continue with your work. I am currently using the Chinese UOS system, and it has indeed solved many problems. Hehe, are you actually a developer from UOS company? Thank you for your continuous active assistance.

Matthew Wai · Dec 17, 2024

No, I have nothing to do with the company.

dacrone · Dec 17, 2024

easiest way would be to create a tiny partition (say ~70gb) and install windows on that. that should recreate the boot menu itself. once working again you can just delete that partition and reuse the space where desired (extend whichever partition you want)

another option to try is easybcd via hirensbootcd. that should also be able to recreate it fairly easily.

Matthew Wai · Dec 17, 2024

dacrone said:
easiest way would be to create a tiny partition (say ~70gb) and install windows on that.

If the above has been done, Linux will possibly fail to start.

dacrone · Dec 17, 2024

Matthew Wai said:
If the above has been done, Linux will possibly fail to start.

I’ve done it more than once with Win 10 and Linux dual boot without issue. Obviously I cannot say with 100% certainty for anyone else. Just an option.

Solved Is it possible to recover the boot files after the EFI system partition was formatted?

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