0xc000000f
Windows
Critical severity
Boot Error 0xc000000f — “An Error Occurred While Attempting to Read the Boot Configuration Data”
The Windows Boot Manager can’t read the BCD store, so the PC won’t start. Often a damaged BCD or a changed boot order.
Last reviewed 2026-08-29 by the Tech Issue Guide team.
Symptoms
- A blue recovery screen: “Your PC needs to be repaired … Error code: 0xc000000f.”
- The PC boots to the BIOS or a “no bootable device” message intermittently.
- It started after a power loss, cloning the drive, or a failed update.
What causes 0xc000000f
- The BCD store is missing or corrupt.
- The boot order in UEFI/BIOS points to the wrong drive.
- The EFI system partition was damaged or not copied during a clone/migration.
- Early signs of a failing system drive.
How to fix it — 3 steps
- Boot from Windows installation or recovery media → Repair your computer → Troubleshoot → Command Prompt.
- Rebuild the boot files with bootrec (command below), accepting when it asks to add the installation to the boot list.
- In UEFI/BIOS, set the correct Windows drive as the first boot device, save and restart.
Terminal / CLI command
bootrec /fixmbr && bootrec /fixboot && bootrec /scanos && bootrec /rebuildbcdIf “bootrec /fixboot” returns Access Denied on a UEFI system, run: bcdboot C:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI (S: = the EFI partition you assign with diskpart).
How to confirm the fix: The PC boots straight into Windows with no recovery screen across several restarts.
Prevent it from coming back
Use a UPS to avoid power-loss corruption, and when cloning a drive make sure the EFI system partition is included.
Frequently asked questions
Will rebuilding the BCD erase my files?
No. bootrec only rewrites boot records. Your Windows installation and data are untouched.
“The requested system device cannot be found” — now what?
Use diskpart to list volumes, assign a letter to the FAT32 EFI partition, then run bcdboot as in the note above.