What do I do if I get an "Unmountable Boot Volume" Error during windows startup?

Cause:

1. This issue can be caused by a corrupt boot.ini file.2. This issue can also be caused by a bad hard disk drive

Answer:

Corrupt boot.ini file

1. To resolve this issue you will need to boot into the recovery console.

Windows XP users choose

  • To repair a Windows XP installation using recovery console, press R.

After selecting the installation you will be prompted for the administrator password, enter the password exactly as you would in Windows. If you do not know the Windows administrator password you cannot enter the recovery mode.

Finally after you have entered the password you will be at a MS-DOS prompt similar to the MS-DOS shell window you can get through Windows. However, you will also have access to many additional commands not found in standard MS-DOS mode.

  • Typing in help at the prompt will give a complete listing of all commands available through
    the prompt.
2. In the recovery console type chkdsk /p to check to see if the disk drive is bad or marked asdirty.3. If after performing this check it is unable to locating anything wrong with the hard diskdrive, reboot the computer.4. If after performing this step the computer still has the same issue, reboot the computer andload back into the recovery console.5. Once back into the recovery console type chkdsk /r to locate any bad sectors and recover anydata. If errors are located during the check skip to the next section(Seriously corrupted or bad hard disk drive)6. Once completed reboot the computer to determine if this has resolve your issue.

Note: If after running either of these chkdsk commands your computer is able to successfully boot into Microsoft Windows XP make sure you have all the latest updates for your computer. Also it is always a good idea to back up all your critical data.

Seriously corrupted or bad hard disk drive:

If while running the above steps you encounter errors with the hard disk drive and/or the above steps do not resolve your issue it is likely your hard disk drive is failing or has already failed. To determine if this is the case it is recommended you run the Windows XP setup, delete all partitions, recreate the partitions, format the hard disk drive, and reinstall Windows XP.If errors are encountered during the creation of the partitions or the format process it is likely that the hard disk drive is bad and it should be replaced.
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