During the installation of the Windows 10 distribution kit, the software product is activated, which allows the user to fully use all the features of the operating system. An activated version of Windows 10 makes it possible to avoid such unpleasant problems as periodic sudden reboots, the inability to configure your profile, and a constantly pop-up watermark reminding you of the need for activation. The activated product enjoys official developer support. But sometimes there is such an event as the termination of the activation. This can happen for various reasons, depending and not depending on the actions of the user. Then the question immediately arises of how to restore the failed activation. Until the activation is restored, working with the deactivated version of the system will not be entirely comfortable and correct. It is for these cases that the developer provides a number of specific actions, by performing which you can restore activation.
Why does Windows 10 activation stop working
Unlike previous editions, Windows 10 uses a completely new activation algorithm for the distribution package installed on the computer.
When purchasing a licensed distribution kit in a store and installing it on a computer, the user enters the license key only once. After the first activation, information about the system and its components is stored on Microsoft's activation servers, and in the future, the activation process on this computer will take place automatically during any reinstallations.
If the installation of Windows 10 took place during the upgrade process from the old Windows 7 or 8.1 operating systems, then the Windows 10 installation program checked the current activation status and a digital license was generated on the activation server.
At the same time, a unique computer identifier was created and information about the electronic components of the device was stored. When you reinstall the system, a digital license will automatically activate the distribution. This activation mechanism makes it possible not only to reinstall Windows 10, but also to perform any operations with the hard drive, including formatting. Anyway, the system will be automatically activated at the first start by contacting the activation server.
Despite such a thoughtful activation algorithm, sometimes it fails. In this case, the activation simply ceases to operate and the system begins to be considered deactivated, with all the ensuing consequences.
When the activation is terminated, the message “Evaluation copy. Expires…”, which means. that the version is trial and will expire at the specified time
Unfortunately, the developers of the tenth edition of Windows could not foresee all the situations that affect the activation process and its possible failures. Activation may no longer be considered valid after you reinstall Windows 10, update any program components, or replace your computer's motherboard. These are the most common cases of termination of the activation status of the system.
To return the activation status, the developer has set certain rules for users. In addition, there are additional ways to activate the system.
Activation expired after reinstalling Windows 10
Windows 10 activation is terminated after the system is reinstalled on computers that do not have Internet access, as well as in cases where the connection to the activation servers is lost or the connection to the server fails when the computer accesses the activation servers. In this case, it becomes necessary to repeat the activation process. This can be done in two ways.
The first is using a 25-digit license key obtained when purchasing a Windows 10 distribution in the store.
The second way to go through the activation process again is using a utility designed for digital licensed versions.
Video: Repair Windows 10 activation by phone
Please note that only those users who have already activated Windows 10 with a key or received a digital license when migrating from older editions of Windows can activate by phone.
Activation expired after Windows 10 update
If after installing Windows 10 the option to automatically update the system was not disabled, then all updates that periodically come to the computer from the developer will be installed automatically. When updating, a very important point is a reliable Internet connection. If, however, when updating system files, it was not possible to connect to the Internet, the connection was unreliable or periodically disappeared, or the Microsoft activation servers were excessively overloaded at some point, then a failure could occur, leading to the termination of the activation status, after which the system begins to be considered deactivated.
Restoring the activation status can be done in two ways - using the utility for working with a digital license or using the license key received upon purchase. In addition, it is possible to install a new release of Windows 10 from the Microsoft website.
On the official Microsoft website, go to the "Products" tab In the "Products" go to the Windows tab, in the drop-down menu, select the item Windows 10 and then the item "Switch to Windows 10".
Select the "Upgrade to Windows 10" tab Activation servers store data about the identification status of your computer after the last installation of the system. Therefore, a clean installation will not require you to enter a license identification key. After installation, it is recommended to create installation media on a DVD or USB drive in order to be able to perform a system restore.
Termination of activation after replacing the motherboard
When Windows 10 is first activated on a Microsoft activation server, it is bound to a computer and a unique identifier is created, which allows you to get by with only a digital license in the future and makes it possible to do without a 25-digit license key. Microsoft does not publish the algorithm for generating this identifier anywhere, but it is known that it is tied to the system motherboard. Thus, you can safely replace components such as a video card, hard drive or RAM, if they are installed in the appropriate motherboard slots. If the motherboard is integrated or activation was carried out with an additional network card, then replacing them may cause problems. When replacing the motherboard, it will definitely be considered by the Microsoft activation server as a new computer that is not tied to the installed Windows 10. In this case, you need to contact the hotline or contact Microsoft support. If you have a licensed copy of Windows 10 installed, then the issue will be resolved in your favor.
If the anti-virus program interferes with activation, you can temporarily disable it or add activation files to the anti-virus exclusions.
Video: Restore Call Activation to Microsoft Support Center
What to do if Windows 10 activation is missing
In the event that the user cannot restore the missing activation of Windows 10 in any way, or he did not switch from the old edition before, but now he finally decided and does not have a digital license, then there are two ways to activate your operating system. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Joining the Insider Program
The Insider Program makes it possible to legally obtain a new edition of Windows 10 without having a digital license obtained when migrating from an old edition of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, or entering a 25-digit license key. The program is designed for preliminary evaluation and testing of a new release of the program. Participants get the opportunity to work with the licensed edition of the program, but it must be borne in mind that the assembly with which the user will work has not been completed and has certain inconveniences in use. The digital license of the test edition will not allow the activation of the system in the same way as the real holders of the license key or digital license. There will often be a watermark at the bottom of the desktop reminding you to activate, and new releases will often arrive that take time to update the system. You can connect the test program from a "pirated" or unlicensed version of Windows 10, when it already starts asking for activation.
To become a member of the Insider Preview program and become a legal user of Windows 10, you must do the following:
You can also connect to the insider program through the official Microsoft website.
The official website of Microsoft Corporation is not very convenient to use, especially when searching for a product. First you need to understand its structure in order to understand where and what to look for.
Video: How to join the Windows 10 Insider Program
Software activation edition of Windows 10
There is another way to activate Windows 10 using a third-party activator. Use it or not, everyone decides at their own peril and risk.
The most reliable and widely known KMSAuto Net activator for Windows 10 really works. Using it is the best solution to activation problems. The legal activator, contrary to popular belief, was created for the corporate segment and is used to activate Microsoft software products.
Using the operating system on your own computer can vary greatly from user to user. Some, having bought a new PC, mainly use the programs and tools built into Windows, as well as the default OS settings. Others work with a variety of third-party applications and utilities, while customizing the system interface to their own liking.
And if in the first case reinstalling the system and several applications is not a difficult task, then in the second, in addition to installing the OS, you will have to re-install all the necessary programs, personalize Windows and other settings. That is why, many users are not eager to do it again. Moreover, the necessary applications may not be at hand, or their settings were made by a specialist, who will now have to be called again.
In general, there can be a lot of reasons not to touch a normally working operating system, but there comes a time when the internal components of your computer begin to become hopelessly outdated and replacing them with more productive hardware becomes an urgent need. And if the installation of a new power supply, RAM, a separate processor or video card can be done relatively painlessly, that is, without reinstalling the operating system, then when replacing a hard drive or motherboard, everything is not so simple.
As you understand, all Windows files are stored on the computer's hard drive, so replacing it leads to an inevitable reinstallation of the system. Although, this can be avoided by first making a full backup of the current OS into an image and saving it on an old HDD or some other storage medium. Then all you have to do is unpack the received system backup to a new disk, and you can continue working in the old Windows using all previously installed programs.
In the case of replacing the motherboard on a Windows PC, the result may depend on many different factors, but the main thing is the choice of the future hardware platform (for example, when changing from Intel to AMD or vice versa, problems are almost inevitable) and the system logic set (chipset). In a word, the more differences the new motherboard has from the previously installed one, the less chance the old system will boot after it is replaced.
Despite the fact that Windows 7 has an impressive database of drivers in its arsenal, it is often impossible to simply change the motherboard and start a previously installed system. This is especially true for those boards that were released much later than the release of the system itself. But they are now the majority, since more than three years have passed since that moment. So the question of how to replace the motherboard on a personal computer with Windows without reinstalling it is still relevant.
Why does a motherboard replacement so often turn into a Windows reinstall? As a rule, the most common reason is the incompatibility of the ATA / SATA hard disk controller drivers already installed in the system with the one that the new motherboard is equipped with. In this case, after replacing the hardware, during OS boot you will get a blue screen of death (BSOD) with a STOP error: 0x0000007B.
The fact is that at boot, Windows simply does not have the ability to change the hard drive controller driver on its own. As a result, the hard drive connected to the new controller with the installed OS is simply not seen by the system, and its further launch becomes impossible.
To avoid this situation, there is a fairly simple solution. Even before replacing the motherboard, start Windows, go to Device Manager, there click on the arrow to open the item IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and remove all installed devices from it.
To do this, right-click on all controllers one by one and select the Delete command in the context menu that opens. If a window appears after that Device deletion confirmation, check the box Uninstall driver programs for this device and click OK.
In some cases, the system will require a reboot to complete the controller removal operation. You should not do this until you have gone through the entire list. Then just turn off the computer and proceed to replace the motherboard. If you nevertheless restarted the PC, then the whole procedure will have to be done again, since Windows will restore all previously deleted devices at the time of startup.
And yet, it is not rare that this method will not help you. For example, if the set of system logic (chipset) on the new motherboard will be technologically very different from the previous one. In this case, in order to avoid problems with booting the system, you must generally get rid of all the drivers that can cause them. But how to do that?
In the Windows system, there is one very useful utility that not everyone, even advanced users, knows about. It's called Sysprep and allows you to delete system data from the operating system, including information about installed hardware, as well as user-installed drivers.
Thus, in order to ensure successful booting of Windows on new equipment, it is necessary to clean the OS from old system information using this utility even before replacing components! Also, before running Sysprep, it is better to remove all installed anti-virus programs or disable self-defense in them. This is especially true for Kaspersky Lab products. Otherwise, when you start the OS with new hardware, you risk getting a message: “Windows could not complete system setup. Reboot to resume configuration." Only no reboot will help you. You will have to return the old equipment to its place and do everything anew.
So, to run the Sysprep utility, press the Win + R key combination and in the window that opens Run enter the full path to the executable: "%windir%\System32\sysprep\sysprep". For those who don't know, "%windir%" is a variable containing the path to the folder where the system is installed, most often "C:\Windows". And we use it, because the location of the system folder and its name on different computers can be different.
In the system preparation window that opens, in the options System cleanup action paragraph Switch to the system welcome window (OOBE) leave unchanged. Next, check the box next to the option Preparation for use.
Drop down menu Shutdown options choose a team Shutdown. This is done so that immediately after cleaning the system the computer does not go into reboot, because if it is not stopped in time, the process of initial Windows setup will start and you will have to repeat everything again!
After completing all these simple settings, press the OK button to start the system cleaning procedure. This process is fully automatic and after its completion, the computer should turn itself off. Now you can start replacing the motherboard.
During the first start of Windows with new hardware, the necessary device drivers will be installed and the appropriate entries will be made in the registry of the operating system. You will also have to re-enter your locale and account settings.
Note that when the OS asks for a username, the old account name cannot be entered because it already exists. You don't have to worry too much about this. Enter any name, and after the first login, you can delete the new account and use the old one.
The only inconvenience that may await you after booting the system with new components is the reactivation of Windows. The fact is that a number of versions of this OS are tied to the installed equipment. In particular, the most common legal version of Windows 7 OEM, which is installed on new desktops and laptops. At the same time, activation, most likely, will have to be carried out by phone, since it will no longer be possible to do this via the Internet due to the fact that the system will take your operation for installing Windows on another computer, which is prohibited in this version by the terms of the license agreement.
Strictly speaking, it was originally designed to create a customized Windows image in order to reuse it. That is, simply put, Sysprep is a utility for cloning a prepared OS to other computers. Most often, installing Windows from a pre-generated image is carried out in organizations where the set of basic work applications for employees, for the most part, can be the same.
True, in our time it is not uncommon for situations when there is not one computer at home, but several at once. For example, one desktop PC is used as a multimedia center, another is in a child's room for learning, and a laptop is a parent's business tool. Despite the different purpose of each device, they may well have common software: an operating system, an office suite, a web browser, an archiving tool, an optical disc burning program, various auxiliary utilities, and much more.
In such a situation, it is convenient to have a "standby" OS image, from which, if necessary, you can always install a system with all the main applications. To create it, it is enough to install Windows and all necessary programs once on any computer, then use the Sysprep utility to delete system data as described above. Next, you need to burn the image of the prepared system to a separate medium: a Blu-Ray disc (there simply isn’t enough space on a DVD), an external hard drive, or a flash drive.
The key point here is the fact that the computer to be imaged must be booted from an optical disc or USB drive, but never from the hard drive on which it is installed. If this happens, the process of initial OS setup will start and the whole procedure will have to be repeated again.
You can prepare a boot disk and save the Windows image in the right place using special applications, such as Acronis True Image Home, a paid program, but having a clear graphical interface and all the necessary tools. There are free alternatives, such as ImageX in the Windows PE shell. True, in this case, get ready to work with the command line.
Unpacking the image to the desired (target) computer is similar to removing it using the same programs.
This guide is intended for users who would like to replace the motherboard on their computers without reinstalling the system. In particular, the article may be useful to you if:
- you are about to upgrade your motherboard, but you want to keep your current installation of Windows along with settings and programs without reinstalling them from the very beginning;
- you want to switch the SATA controller mode from IDE to AHCI or RAID (or vice versa) to get better disk subsystem performance.
If one of the scenarios above applies to you, then you should be aware that regardless of your goal - replacing the motherboard or switching the SATA controller to another mode - the result will be the same: a blue screen of death (BSOD) with an error STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE when loading the operating system.
The cause of this annoying incident is the inability of Windows to find proper drivers for the SATA controller. Fortunately, the problem can be worked around, thereby avoiding reinstalling Windows. To do this, you just need to “tell” the operating system to use the standard SATA controller driver at startup, and the registry editor can help us with this.
To make the appropriate changes to the Windows Registry, simply follow the instructions below.
Before we begin, please review the information in the two points below, as one of them determines your course of action:
1. The motherboard has not been replaced yet, so Windows boots normally. In this case, you need to make changes to the registry in a normal Windows working environment and only then proceed to update the motherboard.
2. The operating system won't boot because you've already installed a different motherboard, or because you changed the SATA mode in the BIOS. In this case, you will have to use the offline registry editor.
Registry change before motherboard upgrade (Windows boots fine)
These instructions are only for those who have Windows starting normally because the motherboard hasn't been replaced yet. If you already have another card installed and Windows won't boot, then follow the instructions in the next section of the article.
So, turn on your computer in normal mode and then open the Windows Registry Editor. To do this, press + R, type regedit, press Enter.
Inside the registry, follow (in the left pane of the window) this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
In the right pane of the window, double-click on the parameter start and change its value to 0 (zero). Then click OK.
Now do the same in the following registry branch:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide
If you are using RAID (otherwise skip this step), then you need to make the same modification in this section:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorV
That's all. Your machine is now ready to be upgraded. Shut down the computer, install a new motherboard and connect all the necessary components to it. Then start the system, enter the BIOS and set the ATA mode (IDE-ATA, AHCI or RAID) or leave the default value. Windows should start without problems. When the operating system finishes installing the controller driver, continue installing drivers for the remaining devices on the new motherboard.
Windows won't boot: Editing the registry with an offline editor
Use this instruction if the operating system does not boot because you have already replaced the motherboard, or changed the SATA controller mode in the BIOS.
In this case, you need to use the offline registry editor. For this task, I prefer to use the recovery environment, which can be accessed, for example, using the disk to install the operating system.
To open the Registry Editor using the installation DVD or USB drive, follow these steps:
Boot your computer using the installation disc. You may need to select DVD/CD or USB as the first boot device in the BIOS settings. For this:
- turn on the computer and press the DEL or F1 or F2 or F10 key to enter the BIOS (the BIOS entry key depends on the computer manufacturer);
- inside the BIOS menu, find the Boot Order option (this option is usually located inside the Advanced BIOS Features menu);
- in Boot Order, select CD/DVDRW or USB (depending on what type of media the Windows installation files are on) as the first boot device. Save your changes and restart your computer by pressing F10.
After rebooting, the computer will start booting from the installation disk.
After booting up, on the very first screen, click "Next" and then select "System Restore".
If you have Windows 7, in the recovery options window, click Next, and on the next screen, launch a command prompt.
If you are using Windows 8.x or Windows 10, then you need to select "Diagnostics" -> "Advanced Options" -> "Command Prompt".
At the command line, type regedit and press Enter.
In the registry editor, select the branch HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, and on the File menu, click Load Hive.
Open the drive where the operating system is installed.
Navigate to the Windows\system32\config directory, select the file system and click "Open".
Enter a name for the section (for example, Offline) and click OK.
Often, after replacing the motherboard or changing the operating mode of the hard disk controller in the BIOS settings (Raid, Compatible, AHCI, Native SATA), the system boots up as usual, the initial splash screen appears, then a reset, information about the BIOS POST, and again, the boot starts with the same extension. This is usually due to the fact that the system was unable to load the boot device driver and a critical error occurred (Boot device not available)In order to get accurate information about a critical error instead of rebooting, you must disable the automatic reboot mode in the Windows bootloader menu. This can be done if at the very beginning of the download press F8 and select the boot option - Disable automatic reboot on system failure
When booting in this mode, if a critical error occurs, the so-called "blue screen of death" of Windows will be displayed on the monitor screen or BSOD - B lue S Creen O f D eath. This term arose in the days of the first operating systems of the Windows family, due to the fact that information about critical errors was displayed on a blue background. Such an error cannot be corrected by the means of the OS itself, and to minimize the loss of user data, its operation stops abnormally. Causes of critical errors can be hardware failures or malfunctions, errors in system components, driver errors, or lack thereof for critical devices.
Critical error STOP: 0x0000007B Inaccessible Boot Device, which occurs when replacing the motherboard, or changing the mode of operation of the hard disk controller, occurs either because the new controller is not recognized by the system as, exactly, the hard disk controller, or it is not possible to start the driver that can serve this controller.
At the very beginning of the operating system boot process, there are no drivers in the computer’s memory, including those that provide work with the hard disk, and special BIOS routines are used to perform I / O operations (to work with the hard disk - interrupt functions INT 13H functions 41h - 49h and 4Eh for LBA addressing). Hard drive data is accessed not through device drivers, but through calls to BIOS routines that allow the boot loader to perform standard disk I/O operations. So, for example, to read sectors of a hard disk, an interrupt is used Int 13h function 42h- extended reading. Function 42h transfers sectors from a given disk area to a memory buffer. Before calling an interrupt, the following values must be written to the registers:
In AN - the value of the extended reading function is 42h;
In DL, the drive number;
In DS: SI - the address of the disk address packet ((Disk Address Packet), which contains the information necessary to search for and read data from disk media and place the results of the operation in RAM.
Then the command to call the interrupt is executed INT 13h. At the same time, the BIOS subroutine takes control, which reads data from the disk and transfers them to RAM in accordance with the parameters of the disk address package. According to the result of the operation, function 42h returns in the AH register a sign of successful (or unsuccessful) operation. Interrupter INT 13 the program again receives control and processes the received data. That is why the system starts to boot and runs normally for a while. The BIOS interrupt call allows the bootloader to perform the necessary I/O operations, including keyboard, display, and file system operations. However, at a certain stage of loading, the search and reading of drivers that ensure the operation of Windows begins, since the BIOS itself does not use BIOS interrupts to perform I / O operations. Loading into memory and initialization of drivers and system services begins, information about which is stored in the registry key
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
Each driver has its own key, which contains the parameter start A that determines at what point in the system boot process this driver or service is loaded and initialized. The Start parameter can take the following values:
0 - BOOT - the driver is loaded by the bootloader.
1 - SYSTEM - the driver is loaded during kernel initialization.
2 - AUTO - the service starts automatically when the system boots.
3 - MANUAL - the service is started manually.
4 - DISABLE - the driver is disabled.
At the boot stage, low-level device drivers are read and initialized from the system disk, whose Start parameter is equal to 0
, including the drivers through which the Boot Device will be accessed. Thus, the system must determine the parameters of the boot device and load the driver it needs. If the parameters of the boot device cannot be determined, or it is impossible to load the required driver, the system cannot continue, and it ends with a critical error that the boot device is not available (stop 7B).
When replacing the motherboard with a different type of motherboard, the hard disk controller, from the point of view of the operating system, will become a different, new device. During the boot process, Plug-n-Play (PnP) devices are identified by the system using a special code (PnP-ID), depending on the chipset on which the device is assembled, or chipset (chipset), and the new HDD controller, assembled on a different chipset will have a different ID. If the system "knows" the new PnP-ID of the HDD controller, and there is a driver to service it, then the motherboard will be replaced without any problems. Otherwise, the ID of the HDD controller unknown to the installed system will not allow it to load the driver required for operation. In other words, to get rid of a critical error Stop 7B you need the system to classify the new hard disk controller as a disk device class and be able to load a driver to service this class.
In light of the above information about the Windows boot process, there are 2 options for solving the problem:
Make the system work with the new hard disk controller using standard drivers from Microsoft.
- add a new hard disk controller driver from the hardware manufacturer to the non-working system.
The first option is much simpler, safer, and can be easily done by simply importing a few keys into the registry of a broken system, for example, using a rescue disk. Microsoft DaRT, its predecessor ERD Commander or any other tool based on the Windows Preinstall Environment (Windows PE).
The second option is a little more complicated, since it requires not only adding an identification entry for the HDD controller, but also associating the appropriate driver with it, as well as ensuring that it is loaded and initialized.
One way to resolve stop error 7B is to perform the following steps in sequence:
Switching the controller, if necessary, in the BIOS settings of the motherboard to the compatibility mode (Compatible Mode) with a standard IDE controller
Usually, this is done in the configuration section of the hard disk controller and can have different settings,
Controller Mode: Compatible
Configure SATA as: IDE
SATA Operation as ATA
AHCI Mode: Disabled
SATA Native Mode: Disable
Using standard drivers from the Windows distribution to boot the system.
Usually, this does not require any special effort, except to check a few values of registry settings.
Windows 7 and older operating systems have standard drivers not only for compatible mode (ATA, IDE), but also for advanced mode (AHCI-Advanced Host Controller Interface), which allows you to use a simpler method for fixing the Stop 7B error based on enabling advanced mode operation of the hard disk controller in the BIOS settings (SATA AHCI) and changing the startup mode of the standard driver.
Eliminate stop error 7B using standard drivers from Microsoft.
There is no standard driver that supports SATA AHCI controllers in Windows XP, so the hard disk controller must be set to IDE (ATA) compatible mode, but if Stop 7B error occurs in this mode, then the reason may be either use in the system (up to replacement of the motherboard) a non-standard driver from the manufacturer of the hard disk controller, or the impossibility of recognizing the new controller at the boot stage, which is not surprising for an outdated OS.The Windows XP distribution kit includes standard drivers for working with IDE (ATA) HDD controllers (atapi.sys, pciide.sys, pciidex.sys, intelide.sys), which can be used for any IDE-compatible disk controller, ensuring its recognition in as a standard IDE controller.
In rare cases, BSOD 7B may occur under Windows Vista / 7 due to the impossibility of recognizing the HDD controller as a hard disk controller by PnP ID. In this case, just like for Windows XP, it is necessary to ensure that the disk controller is recognized by its PnP. But most often, the reason for stop error 7B for these OS is that the standard driver that could be used has settings that do not allow it to be used at the boot stage (which will be discussed below).
First, some theory. Information about devices known to the system is created based on .inf files when new hardware is installed and is stored in the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\
Therefore, the solution to the problem of correctly recognizing the disk controller is as follows:
Determine the ID of the new hard disk controller.
- make, based on the identifier, changes in the registry of the system terminating with the error "Stop 7B" entry, allowing the use of standard drivers from the Windows distribution. In other words, indicate to the system that the device with such and such a PnP-ID is a standard ATA hard disk controller.
To solve the problem, we need any program that allows you to get a PnP device identifier, for example, in the case of Windows XP -
This utility has been developed for a long time, and before the advent of Windows Vista, it was perhaps one of the simplest and most convenient software tools for determining PnP identifiers. However, at the moment, the utility is outdated, does not work in the environment of Windows Vista and older operating systems, as well as in the environment of emergency recovery disks based on Windows PE2 and later (ERD Commander versions older than DaRT 5.0). As a modern alternative to the program, it is preferable to use a universal and portable program that runs on any Windows OS, including Windows PE, such as the utility from NirSoft DevManView, designed as an alternative to the standard Windows Device Manager:
The Devmanview utility does not require installation in the system and can be used in any OS of the Windows family from Windows XP \ 2000 to Windows 10. And as a means of working with a non-bootable system, you can use a boot disk or flash drive based on Windows PE, the most convenient is a disk created by Microsoft Dianostic and Recovery Toolset ( DaRT), formerly known as ERD Commander (ERDC).
ERD Commander was specially developed by Winternals Software as a convenient disaster recovery tool ( E mergency R epair D isk-ERD). After the acquisition of Winternals Software by Microsoft, ERDC became part of an optimization package called Microsoft Diagnostic and Recovery Toolset (MS DaRT or DaRT). However, among specialists, the old and now unofficial name is often still used - ERD Commander ( ERDC):
DaRT 5.0 - ERDC 5.0- for Windows XP
DaRT 6.0 - ERDC 6.0- for Windows Vista
DaRT 6.5 7.0 - ERDC 6.5 7.0- for Windows 7
DaRT 8.0 - ERDC 8.0- for Windows 8
DaRT 8.1 - ERDC 8.1- for Windows 8.1
DaRT 10 - ERDC 10- for Windows 10
Each release of MS DaRT allows you to work with the Windows OS corresponding to the bit depth (32 or 64).
A detailed description of ERD Commander and practical instructions for working with different versions are given on the page
MS DaRT (ERDC) is a Windows PE-based shell (Windows PE2 or later for Windows Vista and later) that allows you to boot from a CD or other removable media, connect to a problematic Windows and get convenient access to it. components - file system, system log, registry, drivers and services, etc. The recovery environment provides the user with a set of software tools (Tools) with which you can access many of the resources of the connected Windows in the same way as when it was normally loaded. It is possible to use Explorer, view system logs, disable or enable services and drivers, work with the registry editor, change local user passwords, securely destroy data on the hard drive, and so on. In addition, in the DaRT (ERD Commander) environment, it is possible to execute almost any portable program (or a program for which the absence of some entries in the Windows registry that are executed during application installation is not critical).
Programs DevManView(devmanview.exe) and (APciInfo.exe) can be run in the ERD Commander environment without the need to install the application. APCIinfo - Only in 32-bit environments for Windows XP or earlier operating systems. The APCIINFO archive contains the utility itself and the drivers required for its operation. After downloading, you need to unzip the contents into a folder whose name does not contain Russian alphabet characters and write it to some media, such as a flash drive, in order to be able to run the utility after loading ERDC. The media must be connected to the computer when the download starts. The DevManView archives contain the executable and help information and are used similarly without installation.
Correction of error Stop 7B for OS Widows XP /2000
If there is no suitable edition of ERD Commander, then it is quite possible to get by with any boot disk based on Windows PE, which will be discussed below.
After selecting the system, the ERDC user shell is entered and tools for working with it become available through the button menu start
Run Advanced PCI Info Utility (executable module apciinfo.exe) via "Start" - "Run". The utility will display a list of PCI devices
VID is the manufacturer's identifier ( Vendor ID), column DID- device ID ( device ID). Column device name is the name of the device assigned by the operating system, in this case, ERD Commander "om.
Double-click to call up the properties of the selected device.
The hard disk controller in this example has Vendor/Device ID - 8086/7111.
Usage DevManView even simpler than that and also allows you to determine the PnP ID of the hard disk controller:
The hard disk controller in this example has Vendor ID / Device ID - 8086/24D1.
Knowing the values of the PnP device ID, you can make an entry in the section CriticalDeviceDatabase registry of the problematic system, indicating that this device belongs to the class of hard disk controllers. This action is easiest to perform by creating a .reg file, for subsequent import into the registry, with the following content:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
"Service" = "intelide"
"ClassGUID" = "(4D36E96A-E325-11CE -BFC1-08002BE10318)"
Devices in Windows are divided into classes, for example - a class of video devices, printers, modems, network adapters, etc. Any device must belong to some class. Each class is identified by its unique class ID, or GUID- a globally unique identifier. The list of classes of standard Windows devices is given
Registry key name pci#ven_8086&dev_7111 corresponds to the PnP ID of our hard drive controller, and the value ClassGUID indicates that the device with the given PnP ID belongs to the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) controller class. The class identifier is written as 32 hexadecimal digits enclosed in curly braces. After adding such an entry to the registry, the system loader will be able to determine that the device with Vendor/Device ID equal to 8086/7111
is an HDD controller, and will load a standard driver for it intelide. There will be no Stop7B error.
In order not to type this data manually, you can use the contents of the pnpid.reg file, which I placed in the utility archive. You can edit its contents using the ERDC notepad ("Start" - "Notepad")
You only need to correct the PNP identifier to the one that will be obtained using the Advanced PCI Info utility or the DevManView utility. The "Service" string defines the driver that will service the device. The driver file must exist in the directory \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS and be efficient. The "ClassGUID" string must indicate that the device with the given PnP-ID belongs to the hard disk controller class.
Entries have been added to the top of the pnpid.reg file to ensure that the standard or most common drivers are used. If there is no entry for the required PnP-Id, you will have to add it, or correct an existing one.
To check the availability of drivers in the system, you can use the service and driver manager included with ERD Commander. Runs through the menu "Start" - "Administrative Tools" - "Service and Drivers Manager"
To import data into the registry of the problematic system, launch the ERDC registry editor through
Start - Administrative Tools - Regedit
In the ERD Commander environment, the registry editor will not work with the registry of the ERDC itself, but with the registry of the system that we connected in the login window when loading ERD Commander. The import will be done into the registry of the non-booting system and, on reboot, the new hard disk controller will be correctly recognized as the hard disk controller.
The pnpid.reg file mentioned above has entries to add standard drivers pciide.sys, intelide.sys, atapi.sys. These files and the pciidex.sys file must be present in the drivers directory \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS. Usually, with a standard installation, they are present there. If not, you can take it from the distribution kit or from the directory of a similar OS.
Correction of error Stop 7B for operating systems Windows Vista, 7,8,10
Usually, the “blue screen of death” with the error code STOP 0x0000007B “INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE” does not appear under standard Windows settings, and the system automatically reboots on a critical error. For Windows 7-10 operating systems, in the vast majority of cases, the problem of a critical STOP 7B error when replacing the motherboard or changing the operating mode of the hard drive controller is easier to solve than in the case of Windows XP. Usually, HDD controllers are correctly recognized as hard disk controller class devices, but often, standard drivers are either disabled or set to start mode. after download completed. The order in which the drivers are started is determined by the parameter start, stored in the registry for each of them. To initialize the driver during the boot process, this parameter must be equal to 0 . As part of modern Windows operating systems, there is almost always a set of drivers that provide standard work with hard disk controllers as in advanced mode. AHCI, as well as in the standard IDE, but the parameter start for them 3-4 matters, i.e. the driver is started manually (Start is 3) or disabled (Start is 4).
Example Registry Entry for Standard SATA AHCI Controller Driver msahci with parameters that are created during the installation of Windows7 (registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\Current ControlSet\Services\msahci):
"Group"="SCSI Miniport"
"ImagePath"=\SystemRoot\system32\drivers\msahci.sys
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000003
"Start"=dword:00000004
"Type"=dword:00000001
Starting with Windows 8, the standard SATA AHCI controller is named storahci Therefore, you need to work with the section
The Microsoft Standard SATA AHCI Driver parameter set may differ in different versions of Windows, but the setting start is mandatory for all, without exception, component drivers stored in the Windows registry. Meaning start determines at what stage of loading and functioning of the system each specific driver will be loaded. As mentioned above, the driver having the parameter start equal to zero is loaded by the bootstrapper.
As you can see, in this example, the parameter start equals 4 - which means the driver is disabled. Even with a healthy device and a driver installed on the system, the bootloader will not be able to start it, because it only loads drivers with a Start parameter of zero, and the system will end with a “blue screen of death” STOP 0x0000007B “INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE”. Even if the driver is not disabled, but its startup mode is set to a value such as "Automatic" or "Manual", Windows cannot boot further. It is for this reason that the Stop 7b critical error most often occurs when changing motherboards on computers with relatively new versions of Windows. If the system has a standard SATA AHCI driver from Microsoft, it cannot be started by the bootloader if the driver from the manufacturer was installed before the motherboard was replaced, and the standard one was disabled, or its startup mode was changed. However, the driver msahci.sys for Windows 7 or storahci.sys for Windows 8 and older, will boot successfully if its setting is start has a value equal to 0 . Therefore, in order to get rid of the critical error Stop 7B in the vast majority of cases of replacing the motherboards of computers running Windows 7 and later, it is enough to change the parameter start standard AHCI driver. If the system could be booted, at least in safe mode, then such a task would be solved without the slightest effort, but the error Stop 7B occurs much earlier than the initialization of the safe mode (as well as any other) begins. That is, changing the parameter start problematic Windows registry must be executed from some other system. This is quite easy to do using the Windows PE-based Rescue Disk Registry Editor and, in particular, using the same ERD Commander (MS DaRT). In cases where you have a boot disk or flash drive of the MS DaRT version (7.0-10) corresponding to the Windows you are using, you can even do without editing the registry by setting the startup type Boot (Bootable) for driver msahci or driver storahci through the "Computer Management" menu, and the "Service and Driver Manager" section. You can use registry editing in the MS DaRT environment by setting the value of the parameter start equal to 0 .
To enable driver download mode, for example msahci, you can do without MS DaRT (ERD Commander), for which it is enough to boot into any OS with the ability to edit the registry, for example, in Windows PE from a CD or flash drive. You can even, temporarily, connect a disk with a problematic Windows to a working computer and manually fix the Start parameter using a regular registry editor regedit.exe
The standard Windows registry editor allows you to work not only with the data of "your" registry, but also process files that are the registry of another operating system. For this
Boot into another operating system with the ability to launch the registry editor.
- Start the registry editor.
- In the left part of the window, where the registry tree is displayed, click on the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key.
- On the menu Registry(In other versions of the Registry Editor, this menu item may be called " File") select command "Load Hive".
- select bush system on a drive with unbootable Windows (a file named system without extension, which is located in the \windows\system32\config folder).
- Press the button Open.
- In field Chapter enter a temporary name that will be given to the loaded hive in the Registry Editor tree. For example, 123
.
After pressing OK, select the section with the assigned name 123
and find subsection \SYSTEM\ControlSet00x\services\msahci in case of “repairing” the blue screen of Windows 7 and \SYSTEM\ControlSet00x\services\storahci in case of Windows 8-10. As ControlSet00x, you need to select the section with the maximum value x, i.e. if the registry section connected to the editor contains ControlSet001 and ControlSet002, then you need to edit the driver parameters in the section \SYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\msahci
After changing the parameter start, on the left side of the Registry Editor window, select the mounted hive ( 123 ) and execute the menu item "Unload Bush". Changed parameter value start equal to 0 will be stored in the registry of the problematic Windows.
In cases where enabling the driver startup mode msahci or storahci Windows bootloader did not allow to get rid of the blue screen Stop 7B, you can try to set the parameter start set to zero for the following drivers:
atapi
dataport
pciide
intelide
iaStorA
iaStorF
iaStorV
Loading an extra driver is not a serious problem with Windows and in reality does not affect its operation in any way. Although, to save resources and reduce boot time, it is advisable not to include extra drivers. After the Stop 7B error has been resolved, the list of actually used drivers can be viewed in the device manager, and unnecessary drivers can be disabled (Start=4) or switched to manual startup mode (Start=3).
If you are not skilled enough to work with ERD Commander, or if you are having difficulty finding the right driver, you can use a very simple technique:
Booting on a new motherboard in any system where it is possible. As a last resort, you can even temporarily install Windows on another partition or drive connected to this HDD controller. Then you need to export to the section content file
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase
The contents of this section will give a list of PnP identifiers, among which there will necessarily be one that corresponds to the HDD controller of the installed system.
Also, you can determine which drivers service the hard disk controller.
Loading into ERDC and importing data from the file created in the previous paragraph into the registry of the problem system. In case of using msahci.sys, storahci.sys, iaStor… drivers for Windows 7-10, it is necessary to check or change the parameter start
After the Stop7B error is resolved, the additionally installed system can be removed by first configuring the system bootloader to boot the corrected Windows by default.
And, the problem is solved quite simply if you have the opportunity to get the exported data CriticalDeviceDatabase from the operating system of another computer with the same motherboard, or rather, even with the same PnP ID of the hard disk controller. If in the BIOS settings for the same motherboards, a different mode of operation of the controllers is set, for example, on one AHCI, and on the other IDE, they will have different PnP IDs and be served by different drivers.
To transfer the list of PnP identifiers, it is enough to simply import this data into the registry of the problematic Windows and the Stop7B error will be resolved if the problem was caused by recognition of the HDD controller. If the problem is caused by the Start parameter, then you can get a list of driver files of a similar working Windows that serve this controller using the usual device manager - “Properties” - “Driver” - click the “Details” button
In this example, the hard disk controller is served by drivers atapi.sys, ataport.sys, msahci.sys and pciidex.sys. Not all drivers listed may have entries in the registry key HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services, for example, in this case, the attribute Start, equal to 0, must be msahci and atapi, and the rest are loaded as an addition to them. The presence of a non-zero Start parameter for any driver listed will result in a “blue screen of death”
Correction of Stop 7B error when transferring the system to virtual machines.
In cases where it is required, for example, to transfer the saved configuration of a real computer to a virtual machine, as a rule, the same “blue screen of death” problem occurs STOP 0x0000007B "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE". The reason for the error, as in the case of replacing the motherboard, is the impossibility of correctly identifying the hard disk controller and loading the driver necessary for it. This situation often occurs when in a VMware Workstaion or Oracle VM Virtualbox environment, you need to restore the state of a real computer from AOMEI Backupper or Acronis True Image images as a virtual machine. Usually, in such cases, a new virtual machine is created with an empty disk, and a CD / DVD drive with an image or a recovery disk (for example, an Acronis True Image image) is used as a boot device. The recovery image is connected either as a removable USB drive or over a local network. Recovery is performed in the same way as on real hardware, but with a high degree of probability, loading the virtual machine will end with a stop error STOP 0x0000007B "INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE". The situation is quite predictable, but has a simpler solution, due to the fact that the virtualization system emulates a virtual hard disk with a predefined PnP identifier. So, for example, Oracle VM VirtualBox creates a virtual SATA disk by default:
In addition, standard Intel chipsets - PIIX3 or ICH9 are emulated in the VirtualBox environment, which allows you to prepare the appropriate reg-files in advance to fix the Stop 7B error for the specified chipsets. In a VMware Workstation environment, virtual disks can be emulated as SATA, SCSI, or IDE. By default, SCSI is used. Just as in the case of using real hard disk controllers for the VMware Workstation environment, you can use the standard Microsoft drivers for the IDE – ”Intel(R) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller” (intelide.sys), for SATA – ”Standard SATA AHCI Controller” (msahci or storahci depending on Windows version) and for SCSI – “LSI Adapter, SAS 3000 series, 8-port with 1068”. You can clarify information about the disk devices used by the virtual machine using the utility mentioned earlier DevManView.exe:
In general, the problem with the Stop 7B error when transferring a real computer image to a virtual machine can be solved by adding all emulated hard disk controllers to the list of critical devices and enabling the loading of all standard drivers that ensure the operation of the hard disk.
Troubleshoot Stop 7B error with Acronis Universal Restore.
Acronis Universal Restore finds and installs drivers for the devices needed to run the restored operating system on new hardware. In practice, Acronis Universal Restore allows you to perform in a few clicks most of the steps to eliminate the Stop 7B critical error that were described above. Before applying Universal Restore to the Windows operating system, you need to prepare a set of drivers for the new hard drive controller and chipset (motherboard chipset). These drivers are critical to running the operating system. Driver files must have the INF, SYS, or OEM extensions. If the drivers were downloaded in EXE, CAB, or ZIP formats, extract them using a third-party application, such as the free 7-Zip archiver. With a large number of computers, it is advisable to create your own driver repository, sorted by device types or computer hardware configurations. A copy of the repository is best used on standard removable media supported by almost any operating system - on CD / DVD disks and flash drives.
Acronis Universal Restore is free, but only owners of registered Acronis Backup and Acronis Backup Advanced products can download it from the developer's official website. Also, at least for representatives of educational institutions, there is an opportunity to register on the company's website and get a 30-day version of these products, including Acronis Universal Restore as part of the Acronis Backup or Acronis Backup Advanced package. Acronis Backup versions are not compatible with Acronis True Image products, and using Universal Restore it is not possible to restore OS of the Linux family.
After loading the Acronis Universal Restore environment, the main window is displayed, conditionally divided into 3 parts:
The program displays the found Windows OS for which recovery will be performed, and also allows you to set the search sources for drivers of the Hardware Access Layer (HAL), hard drive controller and network adapters. If the drivers are on a manufacturer's disc or other removable media, check the box Search on removable media. If the drivers are located in a local or network folder, specify the path to this folder by clicking the button Add folder.
During operation, Acronus Universal Restore also searches the standard Windows driver storage folder (usually the \WINDOWS\INF).
Setting Install mass storage drivers anyway allows you to specify specific drivers to be installed on the system. This is usually required if you have special hard disk controllers - SCSI, SAS, Raid, etc.
After pressing the button Add Driver you need to specify the path to the driver files and tick the ones you need for mandatory installation:
After specifying the above parameters, click the button OK. The task will begin to install the drivers required by the system. If Acronis Universal Restore does not find a compatible driver in the specified locations, a prompt will appear with the PnP ID of the problematic device and suggestions for further installation - repeat the prompt after adding the required driver to the location, skip installing it, or stop working. After the driver installation job completes, you can change the installation settings and retry the job. As a rule, on standard hardware configurations, Acronis Universal Restore quickly and easily restores Windows to a working state. After the system boots, other drivers are installed in the standard way.
In addition to disk subsystem drivers, Acronis Universal Restore installs network adapter drivers. The network adapter driver will install silently if it is digitally signed by Microsoft. Otherwise, Windows will display a standard message asking you to confirm the installation of the unsigned driver.
In conclusion, I will add that the Stop 7B error can also be caused by a hardware malfunction, damage to the logical data structure on the disk, accidental deletion of driver files or registry entries, etc. However, in reality, such cases are extremely rare.
Very soon (and to be exact, on July 29, 2016), an upgrade from Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 to Windows 10 will cost 119 bucks for the Home version or 199 for the Pro version. No alternative. And that's just one aspect. But there are others. For example, activation.
If you remember that Windows 10 uses a so-called "digital license" instead of a traditional product key. Then the question arises: will the free upgrade remain free after replacing some computer components, in particular the motherboard?
And so, as it turned out, the answer to this question is most likely to be positive.
At least, judging by the changes found in the recently released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14371 (by the way, they should also be included in the looking July mega-upgrade of the system).
This assembly presents a new Activation Troubleshooter utility, with which the user will just have to decide " most common problems"that will occur when activated" original Windows 10» on a PC after replacing its motherboard or hard drive.
Activation Troubleshooter will also tell you how to upgrade to the desired OS if, for example, having a Windows 10 Pro activation key, the user mistakenly installed the Home version on the PC.
Microsoft also clarifies that the utility is focused only on troubleshooting problems associated with significant changes to the computer configuration (i.e., the level of replacement of the "motherboard" or "screw") and will work provided that the user account in Microsoft before making these changes was already linked to a digital license of the version of Windows 10 installed on the corresponding PC. However, if a Microsoft account was previously used to log in to this system, then it was “linked” to the digital license automatically.
However, you can also link your account to a digital license manually. On Windows 10, this is done as follows: settings menu -> "Settings" -> "Update and security" -> "Activation" -> "Add account" button (it must have administrator rights). Next, the system may request a Microsoft account login and password. If the local account is not associated with a Microsoft account, you must enter the password for the local account. If the local account is not associated with a Microsoft account, you can enter the password for the local account.
Upon successful completion of the procedure in the section " Activation» the message « Windows activated with a digital license associated with a Microsoft account «.
After that, you can run the utility Activation Troubleshooter: settings menu -> "Settings" -> "Update and Security" -> "Activation" . If the page displays " Windows is not activated“, click Troubleshoot to continue (the account must be with administrator rights).
In the next window, click on the link I recently changed components on this device ", enter the username and password of your Microsoft account and click" To come in "(if the Microsoft acc has not been added to the computer, enter local account password and press " Further "). The system will display a list of devices that with this Microsoft account, select the device that should be activated again (or " This is the device I am currently using.") and click " Activate ". More or less like this.