FIX: ‘bootrec /fixboot’ Access Is Denied In Windows 11

Hello, unfortunately this fix didn’t help. I still get access denied after /fixboot again

This failed to work for me either. Everything seemed to work but the bootrec /fixboot gave the same error..”Access is denied”.

This did not work for me either. All was fine up to the bootrec /fixboot and I received the same “Access is denied”. However, I noticed in the formating process that I had to force access because it said the drive was being used and force an unmounting of the drive.

Everything went smooth until tried to bootrec /fixboot for second time, still gave ‘Access is denied’

Still got msg access is denied. Can you pls further help..??

Also didn’t work for me (trying to salvage an upgrade from 1909 to 2004 gone wrong)

didnt work…people indeed are leaving comments yet no one ‘is helping further’

It worked for me :-)

It worked for me, thanks!

Sorry. It doesn’t work for me

Sorry, whats is EFI partition? In step before assign letter? Should i use C?

I got it to a point it said, “WARNING ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK WILL BE REMOVED.” I didn’t have the nerve. Would that be O.K? The EFI partition didn’t work.

Hi Kapil,
Do I need to insert DVD-ROM for K partition. Actually after running ‘list volume’ command K is already there, representing DVD-ROM.

When performing the last step of step 3 I got the following error: Failure when attempting to copy boot files. Is there something that can be done?

I got the warning All data on non removable drive K: will be lost. Should I say yes or no.

How can u possibly suggest formatting the main windows EFI partition and hope all will be ok afterwords?

I went ahead and did this with the hopes I could later recover data with a data recovery tool. So far, I’m not having much luck. Is there any tools or methods you would suggest to recover data or am I basically starting over?

PLEASE help… did not fix boot. K :bcdboot is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. K:\>bootrec /fixboot. Access is denied. Please next step/options please…

Tried this again, I successfully assigned the Drive letter or mount point and exit Formatted K: /FS:FAT32. Received new file system is FAT32. (I have two FAT32,s and selected the FAT32 with partition, not the ESD-USB FAT32) Stuck @ Enter current volume label for Drive K: (had entered bcdboot C:\windows /s K: /f UEFI and received: An incorrect volume label was entered for this Drive. ) The selected FAT32 has no Label listed??? Please advise. seems so close to a fix boot.

After formatting, a new volume serial number was assigned. Typed in bcdboot C:\windows /s K: /f UEFI and i get an error about “failure when attempting to copy boot files”.

Any suggestions?

Just a guess but have you got “Secure Boot” enabled?

Thank you Kapil – you are right on the ball. As in any programming of sorts we need to re-check eveything step by step (typo’s etc) even if scary and use a bit of common sense e.g. am I sure about the EFI partition of which myself needed to be sure of and yes I googled and found how to check it. It has that identifying GUID code. Then I was able to proceed confidently. Hard part of course was the “WARNING ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK WILL BE REMOVED.” etc. And twice I didn’t proceed form there either. I chickenend out but not yet opting out. And then found myself facing the dreaded bits again. Third time lucky including the “forcing access because it said the drive was being used and force an unmounting of the drive.” By this time too late to turn back I was thinking so it was a big “Y.” Success! Then continued with bootrec steps still getting “access denied” at the fixboot step nevertheless IT WORKED my pc STARTED UP. I guess the fixmbr step was all that was needed for me THANKS AGAIN!!!

If the “access is denied” persists with bootrec /fixboot, than run the command “bootsect /nt60 all” before and it should solve this.

not work for me

worked as far as Diskpart for me when I used List disk I got
Disk 0 Online 119gb free 0 gpt*
Disk 1 Online 931 gb free 0 gpt*
Disk 2 Online 60gb free 20gb

So it would seem OS is on probably Disk 0 for bootup and Disk 1 is data etc – but cannot access or follow any further commands

the MBR option completed successful;ly
the fixboot did not “Access is denied

If I change the C: to K: and then run this: format K: /FS:FAT32 , wont’ I erase the entire contents of the C: drive??

It is stuck in a restarting loop.

I can’t get advance repair screen in any key combo method screen is black Lenovo desktop computer help is appreciable

unable to format, volume to big for fat32

I got to bcdboot C:\windows /s k: /f UEFI
And it said An incorrect Volume label was entered for this drive

i would be very cautious about following this advice. anytime you format a drive make sure you know what drive you are formatting. I never did see Kapil respond to a question asked as to what is the EFI drive. in fact I never saw Kapil respond to any questions really. I only saw responses to replies that “worked”. again, make sure you are formatting the right drive or else you might lose data

so I was a little premature in my comment above. i was able to follow the instructions provided while in front of the affected computer and was able to determine the efi volume. These instructions were pretty much spot on except I still got the “access denied” error when running “bootrec /fixboot” I ran the “bootrec /rebuildbcd” and it worked. upon reboot my windows 10 started. thanks for posting this

GabeL – thanks this worked for me

This did not work

Did this and bootrec /fixboot for still gives ‘Access is denied’ and I seem to be way farther down

Thank you Kapil Arya and also GabeL.
My feedback:

When doing “bootrec /fixboot” still have “access is denied”.
Then I’ve run “bootsect /nt60 all” and again “bootrec /fixboot” and runs successfully.

@JoaoFRA – I can confirm this worked for me as well. I have a bitlocker enabled C:\ drive. Running “bootrec /fixboot” would provide the “access is denied” error. After running “bootsect /nt60 all” then re-running “bootrec /fixboot” it finally provided the output of “The operation completed successfully.” On re-boot it asked for my bitlocker key. However unfortunately, after restarting, it still failed to boot with error “INACCESSIBLE BOOT DEVICE”

Hi, this did not work for me. I have this problem: Malware changed all my files but most notable changed Boot drive X: to always host malicious files even when using command line and selecting D: drive media it will revert to using Boot X: and is bootstrapped. The drive X: is not visible anywhere I have seen outside of the boot menu with alternative media. Not in diskpart or anywhere and I’m not sure where the data is being stored for it. Oh also this drive is write protected so I am unable to make changes to it. How can I fix this issue if it is write protected and the bootrec commands will not work thank you.

no where is shows name EFI partition. it doesnt show. ( therefore he didnt show printscreen) urs all bullshit here

So finally was able to get through all the steps but I’m still getting the same error srt\srttrail blah….. thx for your help tho. Can you come over and fix this damn pc for me! 😢 jk

this did not work for me. Admittedly, bootrec /scanos returns 0 windows installations. Please see my post for help below in Microsoft’s support community:
answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_11-wintop_update/windows-11-22h2-caused-boot-process-to-fail/897bdb13-b461-4b90-be9b-4229353dad84
Got to this process from hwww.kapilarya.com/fix-windows-10-master-boot-record-corrupted
I’m lost.

Hi – didn’t work. Got to K:\>bcdboot C:\windows /s K: /f UEFI.
Got: “Failure when attempting to copy boot files”. What now? I’m out of my league and comfort zone here.
HELP please??

(I can’t access my email, so………..)

I followed these instructions and although I still got Accessed Denied, I restarted and it did some disk checking and then bored into Windows. Thank you for the help.

I didn’t understand most of that. I’m not very good with computers and this is all new territory for me. Could you break it all down to me in layman’s terms please. Actual step by step. I’m really confused right now.

Thanks it worked for me. Once I found run the command “bootsect /nt60 all” in the comment area.

The volume label for me was DATA if that helps anyone

If you still have access denied, try to disabled safe boot optional in BIOS. Then just start the system and it should load. After it boots to the os, just power off pc, go to bios again and enable safe boot option. It should also work now

This did not work for me, I still get access denied and I’m still hung “preparing windows” before getting a blank screen and no windows.

Did not work for me. Followed all the steps and everything worked as it was stated but once the boot files were successfully created and I tried to run bootrec /fixboot -> still gave me the same error “Access Denied”

It made my PC worse following the directions. Now i have a blue scree with only RECOVERY ad that my pc needs to be repair.

Error code : 0xc000000f

very sad