How to Fix an ‘Inaccessible Boot Device’ Error in Windows 11 & 10

There is nothing worse than rebooting your computer or starting it up and seeing an ‘Inaccessible Boot Device’ error. It’s something most Windows users will have come across at some point or other and sounds serious. Potentially it is, but equally likely is that it’s an easy fix or may need computer repair. The error looks the same on Windows 11 and Windows 10, and the fixes below apply to both. (If yours appeared right after a Windows update installed, start with our dedicated guide to the Inaccessible Boot Device error after a Windows update — that version has its own fix.)

When you see ‘Inaccessible Boot Device’, it means your computer cannot read the Windows partition on the hard drive it boots from. It could mean total hard drive failure. It could also be a simple driver or boot record failure too. Fortunately, a few simple troubleshooting steps can tell you exactly which cause is most likely.

How to fix the ‘Inaccessible Boot Device’ error, step by step

Like many computer troubleshooting tasks, fixing this error is a process of elimination. We begin with the simplest steps and work towards the more complicated. As always, retest between each step and once things are working normally there is no need to continue.

1. Boot Windows into safe mode by using Windows installation media and selecting troubleshoot instead of install. Once Windows is fully loaded, try to reboot as normal. This simple fix addresses more occurrences of this error than you might imagine!
2. Boot once more into Windows safe mode with command prompt and type ‘Chkdsk /f /r’. This will check the disk for errors. Then reboot and retry.
3. Remove any extra hard drives you may have and just boot using the drive with Windows installed.
4. Boot Windows into safe mode, find the IDE ATA/SATA drivers for your motherboard online, download and install. Reboot and retry.
5. Check your BIOS/UEFI settings to make sure the SATA/storage mode matches what Windows was installed with — AHCI for almost all modern systems (switching between AHCI, RAID, or Intel RST/VMD after installation is a classic cause of this error). Also check the computer is set to boot from the drive containing Windows. If your boot drive is not listed in the BIOS/UEFI, check cables and power.
6. Swap cables and power to the boot drive to test for potential failure. If the hard drive isn’t listed in your BIOS, it could have failed. Perform further steps before ordering a new one though, just in case.
7. Boot into the Windows recovery environment (it appears automatically after two or three failed boots, or from installation media via ‘Repair your computer’). Under Advanced options, try ‘Uninstall the latest quality update’, or perform a System Restore to roll back any Windows updates or drivers that may be causing the error.
8. Assuming your boot drive is listed in your BIOS/UEFI, i.e. physically present, try a fresh install of Windows.
9. If your boot drive is not listed in your BIOS, it may have failed. Try another drive in its place to check cable/power/connector. If the other drive shows up, it’s probably drive failure. If it doesn’t show up, try a different IDE or SATA port, cable and power connector. Worse case you may need data recovery from an recovery lab.

Still seeing ‘Inaccessible Boot Device’?

If you’ve worked through these steps and the error keeps coming back, the drive itself is the prime suspect — and every extra forced restart on a failing drive is a chance to lose files. At that point the safest move is to stop and have it looked at. We diagnose Inaccessible Boot Device errors on the bench at our Somerville, NJ shop every week: we’ll confirm whether it’s the drive, a driver, or a corrupted boot record, and get your data off safely first if the disk is failing. Bring it by Dave’s Computers at 75 N Bridge St, Somerville, or call (908) 428-9558. Related reading: what the Windows 11 blue screen actually means and how to check your disk drive’s health in Windows.