Solved Still will not start after troubleshoot options and scannow and dism

Hello, I get the Code I01 Initialisation failed on my daughters laptop at startup and tried all the troubleshoot options except I don't want to completely re-install Win11 as she has not backed up some important files (yes, I know!). Automatic repairs and all the advanced options end up with same result. Tried Command Prompt which goes to X:\Windows\System32 then tried
SFC /Scannow which repairs corrupt files it's found but same Code I01 result after restart, and same again if I repeat this process.
Tried
DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth which gives Error 87
then after some searching tried
DISM /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth which gives Error 3
and unsurprisingly a simple cd C:\ says that drive is locked by bitlocker.

Any potential route forward is welcomed. Thanks

The I01 Initialization Failed BSOD can show up for a few reasons: Problematic hardware. Maybe you've added some new hardware to your system that isn't playing nice with your existing setup. Driver issues.

thanks for your suggestion. No changes to hardware

Disconnect all externally connected devices and try again.

Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following command will fixes errors on the disk and locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.





Please replace partition letter C: with Windows installed partition letter. When the computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment, the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1, 10 and Windows11 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assigned any other drive letter, usually D: drive letter is assigned to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit | find "osdevice" command can be used to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition, the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.





Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

The following command scans integrity of all protected Windows system files and repairs files with problems when possible.




Please replace partition letter C: with Windows installed partition letter. When the computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment, the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assigned any other drive letter, usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit | find "osdevice" command can be used to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition, the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

I would make a usb boot drive of whatever imaging program you prefer and make and image of the system drive before trying anything. In the worsts case scenario you can do a clean install and install all of your programs. then you can do a restore of all of your datata.

I second @Winuser suggestion. Just make sure whatever backup program you use allows for mounting and browsing an image file. Not all do.

Thanks for the suggestions. You are all way, way more knowledgeable than me and I think it will be best to make an image before trying anything as suggested. However, I don't know a) which imaging backup program(s) allow mounting and browsing an image file and b) how to make a USB boot drive of that program. Appreciate advice/recommendation. So far, the information I can find about image backups assumes that I have operational Windows, which isn't the case.
I have found the Microsoft download site and can download a bootable USB of Win11 but I don't think this is what you mean. It can be either "Create Windows installation media" after downloading their mediacreation tool, or "Download Windows disk image (ISO) for x64 devices"

I can't speak for laptops, but, I once had an issue similar whereas my desktop would not boot. I had success after changing my CMOS battery. I'm sure you can find a tutorial about changing the battery on a laptop motherboard. Just a suggestion.

ColinInUK said:

as she has not backed up some important files (yes, I know!).

Click to expand...

If the storage itself (be it SSD or HDD) is not defective, easiest way to recover files from a system where only the OS (Windows) is broken = using an Linux distribution (Ubuntu - for example) - as a Live CD/USB (with Live CD/USB - a common option for most Linux distributions - you can already use the Operating System - "from the USB/CD") - you can already access the Windows Partitions (or partition - if it's just 1 = C:\) - then simply insert another USB (or portable HDD) - where you can copy any important files from the Windows partition. "Sounds" a bit complicated (a bit technical and such) - but it's actually very simple, maybe a straightforward video - can show how simple this really is:


Or at least, that's what i prefer using to recover important files - from systems with a broken Windows.

saltedm8 said:

Try running the DISM command again from the Windows Recovery Environment, not from within the X: drive environment as it operates on a limited capacity. The correct command when using the installation media should be:

Code:

DISM /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Click to expand...

That is not how you execute Dism command from Recovery Environment, that command uses Windows update to patch corrupted system files within Recovery Environment Windows update don't function.

If Windows 10 or Windows 11 has missing or corrupted system files, in this video, i will guide you how to repair the corrupted system files using the DISM and SFC command tools from Windows Recovery Environment.

FreeBooter said:

That is not how you execute Dism command from Recovery Environment, that command uses Windows update to patch corrupted system files within Recovery Environment Windows update don't function.

If Windows 10 or Windows 11 has missing or corrupted system files, in this video, i will guide you how to repair the corrupted system files using the DISM and SFC command tools from Windows Recovery Environment.

Click to expand...

Ahh, yes, my bad,, tired..

saltedm8 said:

Ahh, yes, my bad,, tired..

Click to expand...

No problem!

neves said:

If the storage itself (be it SSD or HDD) is not defective, easiest way to recover files from a system where only the OS (Windows) is broken = using an Linux distribution (Ubuntu - for example) - as a Live CD/USB (with Live CD/USB - a common option for most Linux distributions - you can already use the Operating System - "from the USB/CD") - you can already access the Windows Partitions (or partition - if it's just 1 = C:\) - then simply insert another USB (or portable HDD) - where you can copy any important files from the Windows partition. "Sounds" a bit complicated (a bit technical and such) - but it's actually very simple, maybe a straightforward video - can show how simple this really is:

Or at least, that's what i prefer using to recover important files - from systems with a broken Windows.

Click to expand...

Tried this as it looked simple but Ubuntu said it had a problem - referring to their website they state that it won't work when Bitlocker is enabled which is the case for this laptop, and it seems bitlocker is enabled by default for Win 11 after their August 2024 update. I'll try the backup image route next.

ColinInUK said:

Tried this as it looked simple but Ubuntu said it had a problem - referring to their website they state that it won't work when Bitlocker is enabled which is the case for this laptop, and it seems bitlocker is enabled by default for Win 11 after their August 2024 update. I'll try the backup image route next.

Click to expand...

I can only speak for my PCs, but Bitlocker wasn't enabled by default by an upgrade to 24H2. (I didn't have it enabled prior to the upgrade from 23H2.)

bobkn said:

I can only speak for my PCs, but Bitlocker wasn't enabled by default by an upgrade to 24H2. (I didn't have it enabled prior to the upgrade from 23H2.)

Click to expand...

Definitely enabled as it tells me this every time I restart it and have to type in the 48 character bitlocker key which is a pain. Strangely, I just noticed that in Command mode it says it is version 10.0.22621.0 (which I thought might be Win10 for a minute) but now know that's Win11 22H2. How bitlocker became enabled I have no idea but it was Win10 when new in 2020 and I don't know why but it got upgraded to Win11 at some point.

FreeBooter said:

Disconnect all externally connected devices and try again.

Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following command will fixes errors on the disk and locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.

Code:

Chkdsk C: /r

Please replace partition letter C: with Windows installed partition letter. When the computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment, the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1, 10 and Windows11 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assigned any other drive letter, usually D: drive letter is assigned to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit | find "osdevice" command can be used to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition, the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

Click to expand...

Have tried this. The laptop has no external devices and when booted it gives a choice of Restart (which always fails) or Advanced Options.
Selecting Advanced Options enables me to select Troubleshoot, which has choice of Reset PC (which always fails) and Advanced Options.
Advanced Options arrives at what I think is the Windows Recovery Screen where I select Command Prompt.
After entering the 48 digit code, screen shows
X:\Windows\System32>
Typing DISCPART then LIST VOLUME identifies Vol 0 as Letter C Windows SSD and Vol 2 is Letter D WINRE_DRV
Typing Chkdsk C: /r returns message that file system is NTFS, Cannot run as volume in use by another process. May run if volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume Y/N?

Is the correct next step to select Y?

Execute Chkdsk C: /r /x command The /x parameter will force the volume to dismount first, if necessary.

Chkdsk scanned the file system and found no problems. Then tried
Sfc /Scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=C:\ /OFFWINDIR=C:\Windows
but this
"found corrupt files but unable to fix some of them. For online repairs details are included at windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log".
The referenced logfile for online repairs (over 1 million lines!?) has last dozen lines with latest date/time of 2024-09-29 07:39:15. The result also stated the log contains results for offline files with /OFFLINE flag
I ran the command again and got same result and have noticed the file date is unchanged and so are the lines so I don't think this is the correct logfile and no idea where the log file actually is, if it exists.

You need to execute Dism command and then execute SFC command i have posted a video at post 11 on how to repair system files using Dism and SFC commands.