If you have enabled Windows Boot Manager or use an older Operating System where the UEFI bootloader is not available, you will encounter the error message: “Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause.” It appears when the Boot Manager can’t access the boot device.
It will also display a possible cause, such as, “A required device isn’t connected or can’t be accessed.” This issue mainly happens because of the corruption of the boot files necessary to start the OS. But it is also possible that the necessary boot device is not connected properly.
Remove External Devices
Depending on yourBoot priority order, your system may be trying to boot from another media, such as a USB or a network device. So, before trying other possible solutions, try removing all unnecessary external devices.
This way, only the normal OS storage device or installation media is available as the current boot device.
Check BIOS Settings
Before you begin repairing the potentially corrupt boot files, you need to ensure that your computer is detecting the OS drive and interfacing with it properly. Also, you need to check the boot order list to make sure that the OS drive is the first priority.
Perform Startup Repair Using Windows Installation Media
Windows includes the Startup Repair feature that automatically checks for errors with the boot configuration data or other boot files and attempts to repair them. You will get an option to perform the startup repair whenever you encounter the error.
However, if it can’t solve it, the source file for the repair may have some issues as well. In such cases, you need to use an installation media to use it as the source.
Manually Repair Boot Files
Sometimes, the automaticstartup repair utility can’t repairthe boot files. In such cases, you need to manually repair them using the Command Prompt.
For MBR,
Re-create Boot Files
If the boot configuration and file repairing commands don’t work, you must recreate these files from scratch using your operating system files.
Clean Install Windows
If you cannot boot into your operating system after repairing the boot files, your final option is toclean install Windows. A clean install removes the partition containing the boot files as well as the OS partition. This way, you can reinstall all such files (but without corruption) to resolve your issue.
Clean installing Windows will delete all the data on the disk (of your non-system drives as well). So, first, try backing the data on the disk by booting with a Linux live disk or Windows-to-go disk.
Use USB 2.0 Port to Install Older Windows
All computers that already have Windows 10+ may not support installing old OS like Windows 7 from USB 3.0 ports or flash drives. If you try doing so, you’ll get the above error while trying to boot from the installation media.
This is mainly because of the lack of USB 3.0 drivers on the installation media. But on some computers, you might still be able to install the OS. Regardless, it’s better to either use USB 2.0 or include USB 3.0 drivers in the Windows image on the installation media. You may also need to enable CSM or Legacy support on your BIOS settings.
Additionally, if you only have USB 3.0 ports, you have to enable USB debug mode on BIOS to use them as USB 2.0 ports.
