Fix the Windows 10 Automatic Repair Loop when Startup Repair Fails
Windows 10 has an automatic repair tool. If you fail to boot to your desktop three times in a row, or one too many times out of order, Windows 10 may attempt to run a repair on your system. Windows 10 can, on its own, fix problems with the OS that are preventing it from running smoothly or from starting but the tool isn’t infallible.
Windows 10 automatic repair tool
The Windows automatic repair tool is not the same as the reset option that gives you an almost fresh installation of the OS. Instead, it fixes whatever may be causing frequent crashes on your system, or what might be preventing certain features from working as well as trouble with the system starting.
The failed repair can give you several different messages;
- bootrec.exe /fixboot access is denied Windows 10
- log file c /windows/system32/logfiles/srt/srttrail.txt Windows 10
- Windows 10 automatic repair failed
- Windows 10 automatic repair your pc did not start correctly
Regardless of what type of message you’re getting when the repair fails, there are a few boilerplate things you can do to fix it. Before you dive in though, you should try running the repair one more time but remove all storage devices and peripherals that you can. If it still doesn’t work, try the fixes below.
Automatic Repair Couldn’t Repair your Windows 10 Computer [FIXES]
1. Rebuild the boot configuration data (BCD)
Before you proceed, make sure you have a device on hand that you can follow these directions on. Your system may not have access to a browser while you execute these commands. Disconnect/remove all removable storage/devices e.g, drives, CDs, SD cards, phones, etc.
- On your desktop, open the Start menu and click Power.
- Hold down the Shift key and select Restart to boot to the troubleshoot menu.
- On the Troubleshoot screen, go to Advanced Options>Command Prompt.
- In Command Prompt, activate the disk partition tool with the following command
diskpart
- The command will return all disks currently connected to your system. You should only see one but if you have both an SSD and an HDD on your system, you should be able to pick out which is the SSD from its size. Select it with the command below (replace the number with the number for the disk the previous command returned).
select disk 0
- List partitions in the disk with the following command
list partitions
- Select the partition that Windows 10 is installed on (replace the number in the command below to match it).
select partition 0
- Run the following commands, one-by-one.
active extend filesystem exit
- Next, run the following commands one at a time.
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd bootrec.exe /fixmbr bootrec.exe /fixboot
- Restart the system.
2. Check disk for errors
You only need to run one command from Command Prompt and you can do this from the desktop or the troubleshoot menu. It’s up to you and what you have access to.
- Open Command Prompt with admin rights (from desktop), or select it from Advanced Options>Command Prompt on the troubleshoot menu.
- Run the following command.
chkdsk /f /r C
- When the command is complete, restart your system.
3. Repair Windows image
- Open Command Prompt with admin rights and run the following command.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
- Allow the command to complete. It can take 15-20 minutes. Try booting now and the automatic repair will either go away or it will be able to repair your system and then take you to your desktop.
4. Fix Device Partition and OSpartition values
By default, when you boot to your desktop, Windows 10 looks for boot information in certain drives. The drives that it will look for boot information in are preset but they can be changed. A repair may fail if the drive that Windows 10 is looking for boot information in, isn’t the one where it’s actually stored. Fixing it will fix the automatic repair errors.
- Open Command Prompt and run the following command.
bcdedit
- Look up the values for the device partition and osdevice partition under Windows Boot Loader . It should be set to the C drive which is where Windows is normally installed. If you know for a fact that your Windows drive is a different one, run the commands below to change the value for both the device partition and osdevice partition. If the command tells you that some other partition is set as the device partition and osdevice partition when it should be the C drive, use these same commands to fix it. All you have to do is change the drive letter to match your case.
bcdedit /set {default} device partition=c:
bcdedit /set {default} osdevice partition=c:
- Restart the system.
Conclusion
Windows 10 automatic repair will run when it detects your system is having problems. It may not be apparent that the OS is in trouble. In fact, many users shut their system down normally and when they next boot it, they’re met with the automatic repair tool. In cases like this, the repair shouldn’t take too long but the chance that it fails is still there. You can try shutting the system down and booting again to see if you can get to a desktop and troubleshoot the problem. As a last resort, you may have to do a fresh install of Windows 10.
