No boot device after installation of Windows 11

Community Support
1

OS: Windows 11 Pro
Laptop: Framework 16, Batch 16

Hi,
The day before yesterday, I installed Windows 11 Pro on my FW16 onto the primary storage (Samsung 990 Pro) with Bitlocker hardware encryption, following this procedure: https://blog.odenthal.cc/content/files/2023/04/Hardware-Encryption-on-a-Samsung-980-PRO-SSD-with-Windows-11-using-Bitlocker.pdf
I’ve also installed the driver bundle.
Just for context: I also have a secondary storage installed, a WD SN770M, but I haven’t used that, yet.

After getting Windows installed with Bitlocker hardware encryption, I was satisfied and shut the laptop down normally.

Yesterday, I wanted to start the machine again, but it said, there were no boot devices. I went into the BIOS, to check if the devices are present. They are detected by the BIOS, but they are not available as boot devices.

I’ve already updated the BIOS to no avail.

I haven’t found a thread that discusses my problem, but if there is any, I’ll gladly take a pointer to it.

2

Hi @Local,

Your EFI entries likely did not get created in the BIOS properly to boot Windows from the NVMe. (This is rare though it has happened to me before on other computers…)

If you try reinstalling Windows 11 again, it will hopefully see that your drive is Bitlocker encrypted; ask you for the unlocking key (you can look it up under your Microsoft account if you linked it when you first installed the operating system); then you can reinstall over the top of it; or wipe it and start fresh again

(I would just wipe it and start fresh since you literally just created it).

Once you get Windows 11 reinstalled. Reboot the machine after you finish your setup to make sure the EFI entries were created correctly. Then let it run overnight to allow Windows Update to bring it current. Congrats on your new FW16. :smiley:

1 Like
3

Hi @pkunk,
thanks for you reply.
I’ve just wiped and started fresh again, but I’ve arrived at the same outcome.
Windows is installed, manage-bde -status reports the drive to be hardware encrypted, but after rebooting I again get:
“Default Boot Device Missing or Boot Failed. Insert Recovery Media and Hit any key
Then Select ‘Boot Manager’ to choose a new Boot Device or to Boot Recovery Media”

4

Can the secondary storage be an issue for the boot manager?
That’s still not initialized.

Can I somehow fix the EFI entries manually?
I usually use MacOS and Linux, but I haven’t had the need to manually administer EFI, yet.

5

You can physically remove the second storage during installation. When reinstall Windows you can customize and size the EFI partition manually, you can also create NTFS partitions with the size you desired


Where “System” is your EFI partition (FAT32) and “Primary” is your Windows installation partition (NTFS). Drive 0 in primary SSD and drive 1 is secondary SSD

6

I’ve given up and decided to go with Bitlocker’s software-based encryption.

I think the BIOS just can’t use the storage when it’s hardware-encrypted.

Thanks everybody for contributing.