Restore boot data on C drive from backup image

S

Seatree74

Member
Hello, I've messed up my PC using EasyBCD and command line (this cmd in particular: bcdboot X:\windows).
I have a backup image of the first system installation I had done (software used is EaseUS Todo Backup). So on the backup image there are 4 partitions: EFI Partition (99 Mb), System Recovery Partition (450 Mb), MSR (16 Mb) and Primary Partition (C drive, Windows 10).
I have removed from my PC all unnecessary systems partitions and kept the first system I had installed (Windows 10). So on my PC there are now 4 partitions just like in the backup image. Now I need to restore all boot data from the backup:
-I should be able to restore the entire EFI Partition
-System Recovery Partition and MSR should be unchanged, right?
-I don't want to restore entirely my primary partition or mess up again rebuilding BCD. Can I just copy boot files from backup to C drive on my PC (for exemple C:\windows\system32\winload.efi)? Which files should I copy?
 
There is no problem using bcdboot on your (clearly UEFI) PC, but care must be taken to run the version of the command that will copy *both* BIOS and EFI bootmgr loaders.

The important parameter is "/F ALL" and must be included to ensure that the boot files needed to boot regardless of whether your PC is currently booted as BIOS/EFI or you want to later boot it as BIOS/EFI. Using this command (and it can be run offline, say from Windows PE or the Windows setup/recovery environment) you can restore your boot files without restoring the entire partition:

Code: 
bcdboot X:\Windows\ /F ALL /l en-us /S S:

X:\ is the drive to copy *from* (and it's literally X:\ when booted into a recovery CD) and S: is the destination. Destination here is not the destination Windows drive but the destination boot drive. If omitted, it will default to the system EFI partition. I do not know how that plays when booted from removable media, so I would not omit it.
 
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Hi mqudsi, thanks for your reply. From my bad experience with bcd I understand that there are two places for boot data: the EFI Partition and some files/folders in C:\Windows. I need to restore them both from my backup because my actual EFI Partition and files/folders in C:\Windows are "corrupted". I think bcdboot X:\windows is only for restoring EFI Partition (rebuilding it from files/folders in C:\Windows) and I think I can just do that simply restoring EFI Partition from my backup image. How can I restore those mysterious boot files/folders in C:\Windows ? In other words, how can I go back to my previous boot condition, exactly as it is in my backup?
 
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