Boot Error 0xc0000098 Quick Fix [Disk Recovery]

 About 0xc0000098 Error

Please I need help. My laptop doesn’t work because of the constant blinking underscore and my computer doesn’t work because of error 0xc0000098

Some users reported that they had encountered Windows boot error 0xc0000098 after cloning OS or upgrading to Windows 10. This error prevented them from booting up Windows. Of course, there are other situations where the Windows error code 0xc0000098 occurs. Anyway, you need to fix it.

When error 0xc0000098 occurs, you may receive the following error message: “Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. The Windows Boot Configuration Data file does not contain a valid OS entry. File: \Boot\BCD. Error code: 0xc0000098.”

Sometimes, the file will be replaced with a specific system file like ntoskrnl.exe, winload.exe, Ntfs.sys, aswVmm.sys, etc.

You may wonder what is causing 0xc0000098. One of the most common causes is that the BCD has no entries.

Further Reading:

What is BCD file? What role does it play in the computer startup process? To make sense of these problems, you should know the whole computer startup process. Please note that the startup processes in BIOS mode or UEFI mode are slightly different.

In BIOS boot mode, the boot process is as follows:

1. After the computer is powered on, the BIOS program is first started. BIOS firmware will perform self-test and then read MBR > DPT > PBR to find Bootmgr and to transfer control to it.
2. Bootmgr reads the \Boot\BCD file that shows the available operating system categories, and then goes to the boot disk to find WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe.
3. Bootmgr loads operating system kernel file ntoskrnl.exe through winload.exe. Thus, you can enter into Windows.

In UEFI boot mode, the boot process is as follows: UEFI firmware > Bootmgfw.efi > \Boot\BCD > winload.efi > ntoskrnl.exe.

Therefore, if the BCD file has no operating system entry, the boot process will be stopped and 0xc0000098 error occurs.

On the other hand, the no entry problem may be caused by disk write errors, power outages, boot sector viruses, or errors made while configuring the BCD manually.

Another reason for 0xc0000098 error is an installed incompatible hard drive driver. For example, both the Ntfs.sys and the aswVmm.sys mentioned above are such drivers.

The following content will tell you how to solve this error. Please read on to get solutions.

Note: To solve this problem, a Windows bootable disk like Windows installation media is necessary. If you don’t have these tools, you can create them by yourself. Click the above link to get detailed creation steps. Please note that the creation process should be performed on a normal running PC and it may format your USB drive.

Fix 1. Run Startup Repair

Startup repair will fix most common issues that prevent your computer from loading correctly. So, you can try this method first.

Step 1: Boot your computer with a Windows recovery disk.

• Plug the Windows recovery disk into your computer.
• Restart your computer and follow the wizard that appears on the screen soon after you boot the computer to enter Firmware.
• Find the option that controls computer boot sequence and then choose Removable Devices as the first boot device.
• Save changes and boot your computer.

Tip: Removable Devices option just allows you to boot your computer from a USB drive. If you use a Windows recovery CD, you should choose CD-ROM Drive. After fixing the problem, you should choose Hard Drive as the first boot device again.

Step 2: Follow the installation wizard until reaching the step shown as follows. Then, click Repair your computer to enter Windows recovery environment.

Step 3: Navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Repair.

Fix 2. Check Disk

If there are disk errors on C partition such as problematic file system, bad sectors, etc., 0xc0000098 error may also occur. Therefore, you should run a disk check to fix it. In addition, fixing disk errors first will make you repair BCD file more smoothly later. To run a disk check, please refer to the following steps:

Step 1: Enter Windows recovery environment again to open Command Prompt window.

Step 2: Enter the following command line: chkdsk c: /f. Then, errors will be automatically fixed if they are detected.

Fix 3. Rebuild BCD

If the above methods don’t work, you need to fix the BCD error manually through the following steps:

Step 1: Open Command Prompt window in Windows recovery environment.

Step 2: Enter the following command lines one by one. These commands should fix the BCD error.

• Bootrec /fixmbr
• Bootrec /fixboot
• Bootrec /rebuildbcd

Step 3: Open Command Prompt window.

Step 4: Enter the following command line: sfc /scannow.

Fix 4. Run SFC

If you can’t rebuild BCD successfully or the 0xc0000098 error still persists, you can use SFC (System File Checker) to replace the corrupted system files. Please refer to the following steps:

Step 1: Open Command Prompt window.

Step 2: Enter the following command line: sfc /scannow.

Fix 5. Restore or Reset PC

If all of the above methods don’t work, you can consider restoring or resetting PC. System restore can fix certain types of computer crashes or other computer problems and revert your computer’s state to that of a previous point in time.