When you boot your Windows machine, you might encounter the following message on your computer: Your PC needs to be repaired. Error Code: 0xc0000034. How can it be fixed? MiniTool offers you four ways to fix the “Boot Configuration Data file is missing” error.
About “Boot Configuration Data File Is Missing”
Have you ever heard of Boot Configuration Data (BCD)? Do you know what happens if the Boot Configuration Data file is missing in Windows 10? A true example from answers.microsoft.com is shown here:
During the "setup" phase (~80%) of installing Windows RT 8.1, the Surface RT rebooted. Upon reboot, I got the following message:
"Recovery
Your PC needs to be repaired
The Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information.
File: \BCD
Error Code: 0xc0000034
You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. If you don't have any installation media (like a disc or USB device), contact your system administrator or PC manufacturer."
Any idea what (if anything) I can do to it?
answers.microsoft.com
SEE! If the Boot Configuration Data is missing in Windows 8/10, you cannot boot your computer normally and you’ll see an error message, as shown below.
Generally speaking, the BCD is missing error occurs when either of the following conditions is true:
1. The Windows Boot Manager (BOOTMGR) entry is not present in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store.
If your boot manager is missing, you can find answers from this post: Fix BOOTMGR Is Missing Error on PC in Windows 7/8/10.
2. The Boot\BCD file on the active partition is damaged or missing.
Fortunately, your data isn’t lost forever and you can get it back with an effective data recovery solution when you get the error message “The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information”. However, the bad news is that you have to do a little work to fix the BCD missing error.
Here is a video tutorial for you:
Now, in today’s post, I am going to show you how to recover lost data when a PC cannot boot and how to fix “Boot Configuration Data is missing” in Windows 8 and other OSs.
Part 1. Recover Data From BCD Missing Windows
If you get an error message like this when you start Windows 10/8/7: “The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors”, you don’t need to worry about data loss.
Here, MiniTool Power Data Recovery, a professional file recovery software developed by MiniTool, offers a powerful tool called Bootable Media Builder which can help you effectively recover lost data from BCD missing Windows.
More importantly, MiniTool Power Data Recovery is a read-only tool that can help you safely recover lost data without damaging the original data.
Tip: MiniTool Bootable Media Builder is only provided in some registered editions. Free, Trial, and Business Standard editions do not include this tool.
Now, let’s look at the detailed steps to recover lost data using this software.
1) First, you need to download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery on a working computer.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
2) Connect a USB drive or CD/DVD that does not contain important data to the working computer. Then Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery, and click the Bootable Media icon at the top menu bar. After that, you need to create a bootable USB flash drive or bootable CD/DVD.
3) After creating the MiniTool bootable disk, boot your PC whose BCD is missing using the bootable disk to get the MiniTool PE Loader interface and select MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
4) After clicking MiniTool Power Data Recovery, you will go to the home page of this software. Here, you can click on the Scan Settings icon in the left column and then specify the needed file systems (such as FAT12/16/32, NTFS, and NTFS+) and file types (including Documents, Archive, Picture, Audio, Video, E-mail, Database, and other files) before scanning.
5) Select the target drive and click Scan to recover lost data from the PC whose Boot Configuration Data file is missing.
6) Select all needed files, and click on the Save button to store them in a safe place. Here, since you cannot boot your Windows because the Boot Configuration Data file is missing, you can try saving all needed files in a healthy removable drive.
Part 2. How to Fix Boot Configuration Data File Is Missing Error in Windows 10
As we know, when you boot your Windows machine, it checks all the necessary configuration files required to make a successful startup. Therefore, if any of the files involved in this process are corrupted or missing, Windows will not be able to boot the system at all.
Here, if the BCD boot file is corrupted or missing, you’re likely to receive a message that reads “The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors”.
Generally speaking, “The Boot Configuration Data file is missing” is accompanied by an error code 0xc0000034 and this error is a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error which results in a serious problem.
Don’t worry! If your Windows 10/8 is unable to boot due to the “The Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information” error, you can try the following 4 solutions to troubleshoot this issue.
Solution 1. Run Startup/Automatic Repair
To fix the BCD missing issue, you can use the recovery tools on your installation media like DVD or USB to repair your Windows installation. Next, follow these steps:
1) Create an installation media using the Media Creation Tool. Insert the Windows bootable installation disk into your PC and restart it. (Here, we take the Windows 10 installation disk for example to show how to fix the error code: 0xc0000034.)
2) When prompted to Press any key to boot from CD or DVD, press any key to continue.
3) Select your language preferences in the Windows Setup interface, and click on Next.
4) Click on Repair your computer in the bottom-left.
5) Under the Choose an option section, select Troubleshoot.
6) On the Advanced options screen, click on Automatic Repair.
7) Wait until the Windows Automatic Repair is complete.
8) Restart your Windows and check whether you still receive the “The Boot Configuration Data file is missing” error message in your Windows 10. If it persists, continue with the next method.
Solution 2. Rebuild the BCD in Windows Using the Bootrec.exe Tool
If the previous method does not resolve the problem of “The Boot Configuration Data for your PC is missing or contains errors”, you can rebuild the BCD by using the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment.
1) Insert the Windows bootable drive and boot from it.
2) Select your language preferences and click Next.
3) After selecting a language, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
4) Type the following commands and press Enter after each of them:
- exe /rebuildbcd
- exe /fixmbr
- exe /fixboot
5) Type exit and press Enter.
6) Finally, restart your PC.
If this method still cannot fix the “Boot Configuration Data file is missing” in Windows 10, you can try the next method to fix the BCD missing issue.
Solution 3. Set Correct Partition as Active
Some users reported that they encountered the “The Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information” issue because they had set the wrong partition as active. Setting the correct partition as active is one of the best ways to fix it. But, how?
Fortunately, MiniTool Partition Wizard, a professional partition manager for users, can help to set partitions as active easily and quickly. The steps are shown below.
MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
1) Get MiniTool Partition Wizard and install it on a healthy computer, and then launch it. You can try the MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro because you cannot boot your Windows.
2) Choose the Bootable Media icon at the top right to launch the Bootable Media Builder. Then, follow the wizards to create a bootable CD, DVD, or USB flash drive.
3) Boot your computer by using the bootable disc. After a successful boot, you’ll get the main interface of this professional tool.
4) Select the system partition and click on Set Active from the left function panel.
5) After that, click on the Apply button in the top left corner to perform all operations.
6) Finally, restart your Windows and then check whether you still get the Boot Configuration Data file missing issue.
Top Recommendation: An Easy Way to Set Partition as Active or Inactive with MiniTool
Solution 4. Create BCD
If you still get the error code: 0xc0000034 after trying the above 3 methods, you can try the last method – creating BCD. The steps are described here.
1) Insert the Windows bootable drive into your computer and boot from it.
2) Select your language preferences and click on the Next button to continue.
3) Choose to Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Command Prompt.
4) Type the following command and press the Enter key.
bcdboot c:\windows
The above command is used to configure the boot files on your computer to run the Windows operating system.
5) Restart your PC.
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Recommended post: The Boot Configuration Data Store Could Not Be Opened
Bottom Line
Are you still worrying about the Boot Configuration Data file missing in Windows 8/10? You can try the above 4 methods.
If you have any other good solutions to the “The Boot Configuration Data file for your PC is missing or contains errors” issue, please share them with us in the comment zone below. On the other hand, should you have any questions about MiniTool software, please feel free to contact us via [email protected]. We will solve it as soon as possible.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Shirley graduated from English major and is currently an editor of MiniTool Team. She likes browsing and writing IT-related articles, and is committed to becoming a professional IT problem solver. The topic of her articles are generally about data recovery, data backup, and computer disk management, as well as other IT issues. In spare time, she likes watching movies, hiking and fishing.