How to reinstall Windows 10 on locked drive?

Kathryn247

Hello,

tl;dr: how can I reinstall Windows 10 when it says the drive is locked?

My son built a computer for me years ago when I was playing RPGs, now I want to update it for graphics editing (adobe illustrator, etc). It had an AMD Ryzen 7 1700x processor that wouldn't work with Windows 11, so I got a Ryzen 7 5800X, updated my BIOS, and installed the new Ryzen.

Then I got the 0xc000000e error, and it told me I need to reinstall Windows 10. I have a usb with the Windows 10 install files and changed the BIOS to boot from it, but it said the Windows drive is locked. That screen says to press Enter to try again or Press F8 for Startup Settings, but neither key actually does anything. Then in a minute the computer turns off.

How bad is this?

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

You're trying to a clean install, correct? Were you booted into the installation media when this error occurred? If not, you'll need to boot into it an do a custom install, wipe the drive from there.

Boot Menu keys:

ASUS - F8

MSI - F11

ASRock - F11

Gigabyte - F12

Kathryn247

Thank you - it's an ASUS. Will that wipe the whole drive?

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

That would, if you're looking to repair it there are some other options with trying to repair the boot sector. That should get you back to the stop code, then we'd need to try to figure out what the issue there is and see if it'll get into audit mode. I was going to post some instructions, but we'd need additional information first. Boot to the media. Do Shift+F10, type Diskpart, enter. List disk, enter. List vol, enter. Screenshot what you see and post it here.

Kathryn247

Hi - thanks, I'm back and this is all I'm doing for the rest of the day...

I booted to the Windows 10 usb and this was as far as I got. Shift-F10 didn't do anything.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

You need to select Windows Setup (64-bit) to boot into the media first. But lets try something else. Locked drive is most likely caused by the TPM not being cleared after the CPU swap. Follow the instructions here to disable TPM so that we can at least try to boot: https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1047459/

Kathryn247

okay, I did that and it rebooted to windows boot manager

Kathryn247

Loading files... select language etc., now it's at Windows setup - install now or Repair your computer

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Let see what it does without TPM enabled. Remove the Windows flash drive and try to boot. See if you get a stop code error again first.

Kathryn247

I got the 0xc000000f error again

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Alright. Boot to the USB flash drive, 64 bit. Then Shift + F10.

Diskpart, enter.

List Disk, enter,

List vol, enter.

Need those screenshots.

Kathryn247

I also need to clean my screen. Thank you. You are hero. :)

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Looks like Disk 0 is your windows drive and the Windows partition is H:. Lets make sure.

Select disk 0

list part

What do you see?

Kathryn247

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Alright, it's kind of confusing. The 440GB partition should be windows but it's labeled as Storage. Do you recall your C: drive showing up as 'storage' in Windows?

If not, lets poke around and figure it out. Do:

exit

C:

dir

(screenshot)

H:

dir

(screenshot)

Should show us the root structure and tell us more.

Kathryn247

Kathryn247

My son set all of this up ages ago and I didn't pay much attention at the time.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

This is kind of a mess. H: is your Windows partition. It's on Disk 1. Your system partition is on Disk 0. This is something you tend to see when drives get cloned. Lets try this.

select vol 3

assign letter=S

bootsect /nt60 H: /force

bootrec /rebuildbcd

Stop and let me know if you see an error.

Kathryn247

It didn't recognize the bootsect command.

after

DISKPART> bootsect/nt60 H:/force

it gave me a list of valid commands

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

bootsect/nt60 H: /force

My mistake. Space between H: and /force.

Kathryn247

same result

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

bootsect /nt60 H: /force

My mistake again, I didn't see it. Space after bootsect, after /nt60, and after H:.

Kathryn247

Kathryn247

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

bootsect space /nt60.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Exit, enter

Then: bootsect /nt60 H: /force

Kathryn247

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Y, enter.

Kathryn247

operation completed successfully

H:\>

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Kathryn247

Alright, reboot and see what we have.

Kathryn247

did I want to leave the windows usb in?