There are no errors more disruptive than Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) errors. One such BSOD error is INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE error. It can appear when you start Windows after upgrading to Windows 10.
If you’re getting this error, then read on.
In this post we’ll show you five ways to fix the error.
- Disconnect external devices
- Start Windows in Safe Mode and then restart your computer
- Uninstall the installed packages
- Disable your antivirus software
- Update faulty or outdated drivers
Fix 1 – Disconnect External Devices
You may get this when an external device is incompatible with your system. Therefore, if you’ve plugged in external devices, such as a hard drive, then unplug them. This solution typically works after you’ve reset Windows 10 or when you’re upgrading to Windows 10.Fix 2 – Start Windows in Safe Mode & Restart Windows
Many users have said they were able to fix the problem by starting windows in Safe Mode and then restarting windows in normal mode. We recommend you give this solution a try if the previous solution didn’t produce the desired result.Here’s how you enter Safe Mode in Windows 10 if you can’t boot normally:
- Make sure your computer is turned off
- Press the power button to power on the computer. If you see the Preparing Automatic Repair screen, go to the step 3
- If you didn’t see the Preparing Automatic Repair Screen the first time you power on Windows, then press power button until your computer shut down on its own. Now power on and power off your computer like this two more times till you see the Preparing Automatic Repair Screen.
- Wait for Windows to Diagnose your PC
- Click the Advanced Options button in the Startup Repair window
- Click Troubleshoot when you are asked to choose an option
- Click Advanced Options in the Troubleshoot screen
- Click the Startup Settings option in the Advanced options screen
- Click the Restart button
- Press the number 4 key on your keyboard to boot in Safe Mode
Here’s how to enter Safe Mode when you’re able to start windows normally:
- Press Win + R keys simultaneously on your keyboard
- In the run dialog box, type msconfig and then press OK
- Click Boot in the System Configuration window
- Under Boot options, click Safe boot
- Click the OK button
- You’ll be prompted to restart Windows. Click the Restart button
Solution 3 – Uninstall installed packages
Installed Windows packages may also trigger this error. If Windows Update is configured to automatically install updates, you will not receive a notification when a Windows package is installed.To resolve the issue, uninstall the package after whose installation you started getting the error. If you’re not sure about this, the best thing to do is to uninstall all recent packages.
Here are the steps you need to follow.
- Make sure your computer is turned off
- Power on the computer by pressing the power button, then press down the same button for about 5 seconds till the computer shuts down. Repeat the steps till you’re able to see Preparing Automatic Repair
Note: The whole purpose of the above-mentioned step is to access the Preparing Automatic Repair screen. In the event of Windows not booting properly, this particular screen comes up and then Windows tries to solve the issue on its own. In case the screen comes up the very first time you power on computer, you don’t need to press the power button further.
- Wait untill Windows diagnoses your computer
- Click the Advanced options button to access the Windows Recovery screen
- Click the Troubleshoot button in the Windows Recovery screen
- Next, click Advanced Options
- Click Command Prompt
- You’ll need to check the drive on which you’ve installed the system. To find this, run the dir command. If you’re aware of where Windows is installed, skip this particular step. In the image shown below, Windows is on C drive
- Run the following command to find the packages installed on your system (In the command below, X stands for the drive that has Windows on it)
- Now you’ll be able to see all packages that were installed. Locate the one that’s triggering the error by checking the installation date, and then uninstall it. If you aren’t sure about the problematic package, uninstall all recently-installed packages.
- Use the following command to delete the package
The package name show in the above is just an example; you will need to replace this name with the name of the package that you are uninstalling. That said, many users have said that this particular package was responsible for the error in their case. If you have this particular package, it may be a good idea to uninstall it before removing any other packages.
The uninstall process may take several minutes, so be patient.
- Restart windows after you’ve uninstalled the packages. Now check whether the issue is fixed.
If not, move on to the next step.
Step 4 – Update outdated or faulty drivers
Did you know that faulty drivers, especially faulty graphics card drivers, can trigger the titled error?Therefore, we recommend you to update your device drivers. The easiest and the fastest way to do this is by using a driver update tool.
Automatic driver update tools offer many benefits, the most important ones being:
- You can update device drivers automatically
- The software scans and updates all outdated or missing drivers at one go
- The tool picks the right drivers for your device and operating system, so you won’t have to worry about installing an incorrect driver by mistake
- Automatic driver updates are 100% safe
Driver Updater is one of the best driver update tools out there. Outbyte Driver Updater will give you access to a database of over 1 million drivers. It will regularly scan your PC, suggesting new driver versions to install. Driver Updater contains drivers for a variety of Windows devices. With just one click, you can update drivers in your system.
Step 1
Click here to Install and launch the app
Step 2
Scan all devices
Step 3
Install or update drivers automatically
Step 5 – Disable your third-party antivirus software
Sometimes, third-party antivirus software may cause this error. If nothing else has worked, temporarily disable your third-party antivirus software, and then check if that fixes the error. If it does, you should consider switching to another third-party antivirus software or using the built-in Windows Defender.
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