after cloning, you should take out the hdd, then go to bios and set up the ssd as os drive. make sure sata operations in bios is set to ahci, and make sure the boot order is pointed to the windows boot manager. assuming your laptop comes with w10, it should be running uefi bios.

by now your laptop should be able to boot up normally.

this is a weird case. usually for cloning all i did was what i mentioned, i.e. clone the original os to ssd; shut the laptop down; take out hdd (so that the laptop has only ssd); boot into bios to ensure boot order is pointed to ssd (uefi bios; secureboot on; sata operations is ahci; csm disabled); save the settings and reboot. the laptops will boot normally.

i suspect something is wrong with the clone on your ssd. did you do diskpart > clean to clean up everything on your ssd before each attempt? if not, try do that, i.e. take out the hdd; boot into os installation screen with your usb bootable; press shift+f10 to bring up command prompt and do diskpart > clean; close the prompt and proceed with fresh installation. a fresh installation always works if the installer files are all good. since the hdd is taken out, it will not interfere with bcd related stuff, and everything will be installed on the ssd.

after making sure a fresh installation can be done and laptop can boot successfully with it, shut down the laptop, install the hdd, readjust boot settings, reboot with hdd, do a diskpart > clean on ssd again (be careful and select the right disk to do clean in diskpart), and try cloning again.

which plextor ssd are you using?

diskpart > clean clears not only all partitions, but visible and hidden settings on the disk that we might overlook sometimes (such as disk type).

afaik not really. diskpart > clean clears everything literally, making the disk like new and untouched (sort of) as a secondary disk, you will need to reinitialize it with disk management.

ok you wiped disk every time before your next attempts. it might be too much but that should work too.

can the ssd work normally as a secondary disk? (meaning booting into hdd then try using ssd as a secondary storage for files); or do you have a compatible pc to test the ssd?

sorry but i'm out of ideas. i had to use fresh installation to check if clone had issues. usually with the right bios settings, and fresh installation done properly, everything will work as is. however in your case, even in a single-disk configuration, fresh installation failed with bcd errors. it might really be the ssd already.

that means the ssd is fine. (i.e. bios/os detects it properly; it can be used without issues). however, we still got stuck with a fresh installation in a single-disk configuration that caused bcd errors (which i find it weird, because i never encountered fresh w10 installations with bcd errors in different systems, with different ssds before)

as a last attempt, https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-so...ows-10-8-7.html

more specifically, have you tried bootrec /rebuildbcd?

try these steps (starting from step.5 since you already reached step.4): https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-rebuild-the...windows-2624508

best of luck.

edit: if the bcd error is the same for your clone and fresh installation, then you can use the same fix for your clone.

This post has been edited by horns: Feb 28 2018, 03:01 PM

sorry i didn't relate both the articles that i linked for you and caused such confusions. there are commands in the second link that are supposed to be used in case you encountered access issues. i will try to make it more clear for you.

you should follow step 2.1 Use diskpart to repair Windows 10/8 UEFI in https://www.easeus.com/partition-manager-so...ows-10-8-7.html

- Insert Windows 10/8.1/8 installation disk or installation USB into PC > Boot from the disk or USB;
- Click Repair your computer or hit F8 at the Install now screen;
- Click Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt；
- Type below command and hit Enter each time:
diskpart
DISKPART>
sel disk 0

- When the message "Disk 0 is now the selected disk" shows up, type:
list vol
- diskpart will now show the full list of volumes on your PC. here you need to find out two things: actual windows installation drive letter, and the efi volume number. find UEFI volume from the list (usually it's FAT32 formatted, and it's labelled as System in Info column). (in this example we use Volume 2; replace the actual volume number based on your system); for the actual windows installation drive letter, it's in the column Ltr with the Info Column labelled as Boot. in this example, we use C:\

- Type below command and hit Enter each time:
sel vol 2
assign letter=G: Note: G shall be a unique drive letter which is not already in use in your system; use other driver letter if necessary;

- When the message "DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point", type below command and hit Enter each time:
exit

- now, the boot folder is supposed to be in one of the locations below:
cd /d G:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\ or
cd /d G:\Boot\ or
cd /d G:\ESD\Windows\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

- Note: G is the drive letter you signed to UEFI partition with the command assign above; remember to replace G with the actual UEFI’s partition letter that you have assigned.
- once you're in the right boot folder:
bootrec /fixboot
ren BCD BCD.bak
bcdboot C:\Windows /l en-us /s x: /f ALL

Note: C:\ above is supposed to be the drive where your Windows 10/8.1/8 is installed on; remember to replace the drive letter with the actual one for your windows installation.

- You can also run:bootrec /rebuildbcd > hit Enter;
- Type: exit in Command Prompt > Restart PC.

edit: all commands are in green. with this manual process the bcd error thing should be fixed.


This post has been edited by horns: Mar 1 2018, 02:13 AM