Operating System Not Found is an error message that occurs during system startup. The message is shown in the black windows and prevents from accessing the desktop. Therefore, the situation is scary and quite complicated. However, just like many other Windows errors, this one can be fixed.

When a PC is booting, the BIOS tries to find a operating system on a hard drive to boot from. However, if it is unable to find one, then an “Operating system not found” error is displayed. The issue may be triggered by various issues, including:

Corruption of Master Boot Record (MBR)
DOS Boot Record (DBR),
Boot Configuration Database (BCD),
Deactivation of system’s partition,
Faulty Hard drive

Methods to fix “Operating system not found” Error on Windows 10

NOTE: This method requires to have a bootable Windows installation media, such as DVD or USB.

1. Boot up the PC that is having an Operating system not found error and then insert the DVD/USB.
2. Then press any key to boot from the external drive.
3. When Windows Setup shows up, set keyboard, language, and other required settings, and press Next.
4. Then select Repair your PC.
5. On the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot.


6. Select Advanced options and open Command Prompt.


7. In the Command Prompt window, type the following commands pressing Enter after each of them:
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

8. Finally, restart your PC.

Method 2. Enable/Disable UEFI Secure Boot

You may receive an error reporting about missing OS if you have configured a UEFI system[3] to boot in Legacy mode. That’s because the majority of Windows 10 PC comes with enabled firmware and Secure Boot, and the OS installed on GPT partition can be booted in UEFI mode only. In this case, you should change the boot mode from Legacy to UEFI or disable UEFI and Secure Boot. For this purpose, you have to:

1. Click the Power button before the logo shows up.
2. Then press F2 to open BIOS Setup Menu.
3. Select Security tab and disable Secure Boot.


4. After that, select Advanced and navigate to System Configuration.
5. Set Boot Mode to CSM Boot.
6. After that, press F10 to save the changes.
7. Finally, press F12 and then select the source you want the system to boot from.

Method 3. Activate Windows Partition

If the previous methods did not help, then the last thing that you can try is related to the Windows Partition. If it has been disabled, now it’s time to enable it. For this purpose, do the following:

NOTE: you will need a bootable Windows OS installation drive, such as DVD or USB.

1. Boot up the PC that is having an Operating system not found error and then insert the DVD/USB.
2. Then press any key to boot from the external drive.
3. When Windows Setup shows up, set keyboard, language, and other required settings, and press Next.
4. Then select Repair your PC.
5. On the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot.


6. Select Advanced options and open Command Prompt.


7. Type diskpart in the Command Prompt window and press Enter.
8. After that, type list disk and disk n (the n stands for disk number) and press Enter after each of them.
9. Type list volume and don’t forget to hit Enter.
10. Locate the partition in which Windows OS is stored and type volume n (n stands for the number of Windows partition).
11. To activate the selected partition, type active in the Command Prompt window and press Enter.
12. Close everything and reboot the PC.

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Onyeka90210:
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