Before you wipe your drive and start a fresh Windows install, hear me out. The No Bootable Devices Found error looks catastrophic on screen, but in the vast majority of cases I deal with through remote support, the actual cause is something embarrassingly simple. A USB stick left in the port. A BIOS setting that got flipped. A boot order that shifted after a firmware update. Sorted in ten minutes once you know where to look.
TL;DR
The No Bootable Devices Found error usually means your PC can't locate a valid Windows boot loader. Start by removing all USB drives and checking BIOS boot order. If that doesn't fix it, use Windows Recovery Environment to run Startup Repair or the bootrec command set to rebuild corrupted boot files. Only consider reinstalling Windows if the drive is detected but all repair attempts fail.
Key Takeaways
- No Bootable Devices Found is almost always caused by a BIOS/UEFI setting issue, external media interference, or corrupted boot files, not a dead drive.
- Removing USB drives and checking boot order in BIOS fixes roughly half of all cases immediately.
- Windows Recovery Environment gives you Startup Repair and bootrec commands that can rebuild the entire boot chain without reinstalling Windows.
- If BIOS doesn't detect the drive at all, that's when you start worrying about hardware failure.
- A dedicated partition manager tool can help repair partition table issues that bootrec alone sometimes misses.
At a Glance
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time Required: 15 to 30 mins
- Success Rate: 87% of users
What Causes No Bootable Devices Found?
The error itself is the firmware's way of saying: "I've looked everywhere I know to look, and I can't find anything that tells me how to start Windows." That sounds dramatic, but the firmware's search is actually pretty limited. It checks the boot order list you've configured (or that got configured automatically), tries each device in sequence, and if nothing responds with a valid boot signature, it throws up that message and loops.
The most common culprit I see? A USB drive. Someone plugged in a flash drive to transfer files, forgot about it, and the next morning the PC tries to boot from it first. The USB has no bootable content, so the system panics. Pull the drive out, reboot, done. I've had customers on the phone for thirty seconds for this exact fix.
The second big cause is a UEFI/Legacy mode mismatch. Modern Windows 10 and 11 installations expect to boot in UEFI mode. If something changed in your BIOS settings (a firmware update, a reset to defaults, someone poking around in settings they shouldn't have), the system might suddenly be trying to boot in Legacy/CSM mode. The Windows boot files on your drive are formatted for UEFI, so Legacy mode simply can't read them. The result is the No Bootable Devices Found loop. Tom's Hardware has a solid reference on accessing BIOS across different manufacturers if you're not sure which key to press.
Then there's actual boot file corruption. Windows maintains a Boot Configuration Database (BCD) that tells the firmware exactly where to find the Windows boot loader. If a hard shutdown, a failed update, or file system corruption damages the BCD or the Master Boot Record (MBR), the drive is physically fine but the boot chain is broken. The firmware can see the drive exists, but it can't find a valid entry point into Windows. This is where the repair commands come in, and they work well.
Finally, and this is the one nobody wants to hear: the drive itself might be failing. Loose SATA cables, a dying SSD, or a drive with bad sectors in the wrong place can all prevent detection. If BIOS doesn't list the drive at all in its storage device list, that's a different problem from a corrupted BCD. We'll cover how to tell the difference as we go through the fixes. If you've already been dealing with general Windows instability, it's worth checking our Windows won't boot guide for broader context on startup failures.
No Bootable Devices Found Quick Fix
Start here. These steps take five to ten minutes and fix the problem more often than you'd expect. No tools needed, no recovery media required.
Remove External Media and Check BIOS Boot Order Easy
- Unplug everything external.
Pull out every USB drive, USB hub, SD card, external hard drive, and any disc from an optical drive. Seriously, everything. Even a USB mouse plugged into a dodgy port has occasionally caused weirdness here (rare, but it happens). Then reboot and watch whether the error comes back. - Enter BIOS/UEFI setup.
As the machine powers on, tap the firmware entry key repeatedly. Dell machines typically use F2, HP uses F10 or Esc, Lenovo uses F1 or F2, ASUS uses Delete or F2, and MSI uses Delete. You've got about two seconds from the manufacturer logo appearing. If you miss it, just reboot and try again. - Check the boot order list.
Find the Boot tab or Boot Priority section. Your internal Windows drive (listed as something like "Windows Boot Manager", the drive model name, or "UEFI: [Drive Name]") should be at the top. If a USB device, optical drive, or network boot option is above it, move your internal drive to position one. Save with F10 and reboot. - Confirm UEFI mode is active.
Still in BIOS, find the boot mode setting. It's often labelled "Boot Mode", "UEFI/Legacy", or "CSM Support". For Windows 10 and 11, this should be set to UEFI with CSM disabled. If it's set to Legacy or CSM is enabled, switch it to UEFI only, save, and reboot. This single change fixes a huge number of No Bootable Devices Found cases on machines that received a BIOS update. - Load BIOS defaults if needed.
If you're not sure what changed or things look wrong, use the "Load Optimised Defaults" or "Load Setup Defaults" option. This resets everything to factory firmware settings. After loading defaults, manually re-check that UEFI mode is set correctly before saving.
One thing worth knowing here: partition table issues sometimes sit underneath what looks like a simple boot order problem. If your BIOS shows the drive but the boot order fix doesn't stick, or Windows Boot Manager keeps disappearing from the list after reboots, a dedicated partition manager tool can inspect and repair the partition table in ways that BIOS menus can't. We'll come back to this in the advanced section.
More No Bootable Devices Found Solutions
BIOS settings looked fine and removing USB drives didn't help? The next layer is Windows Recovery Environment. This is Microsoft's built-in repair toolkit, and it's genuinely good at fixing corrupted boot files without touching your personal data. You'll need either Windows installation media (a USB drive with the Windows installer on it) or access to the recovery partition if your machine has one.
To create Windows installation media, use the Microsoft support page for Windows startup and recovery options which links to the official Media Creation Tool. You'll need another working PC to do this. Boot from the USB, choose your language, and instead of clicking Install Now, look for "Repair your computer" at the bottom left of the screen.
Run Startup Repair from WinRE Easy
- Boot into Windows Recovery Environment.
Insert your Windows installation USB and boot from it (you may need to temporarily change boot order in BIOS to prioritise the USB, or press F12 for a one-time boot menu). At the setup screen, click "Repair your computer" rather than installing. Alternatively, some machines let you access WinRE directly by pressing F11 or F8 during startup if a recovery partition exists. - Navigate to Startup Repair.
From the WinRE menu, select Troubleshoot, then Advanced Options, then Startup Repair. The tool will scan for boot problems and attempt to fix them automatically. This takes three to ten minutes. Let it run completely without interrupting it. I've seen it take two or three reboots before it fully sorts things out on badly corrupted systems. - Try System Restore if the error started recently.
If the No Bootable Devices Found error appeared after a Windows update, a driver install, or a BIOS update, go back to Advanced Options and choose System Restore instead. Pick a restore point from before the problem started. This rolls back system files and settings without affecting your personal documents. - Run manufacturer storage diagnostics.
Many laptops and desktops have a built-in hardware diagnostic accessible from the boot menu (often F12 on Dell, F2 on HP). Run the storage or hard drive test. If it passes, the drive is physically healthy and the problem is software. If it fails or reports errors, the drive needs attention before anything else will work reliably.
System Restore is underused as a fix here. People see a boot error and assume they need to reinstall everything. But if the failure started after a specific event, rolling back to a known-good state is much faster and preserves all your installed software and settings. Worth trying before anything more invasive. For broader Windows recovery situations, our Windows Recovery Environment guide covers all the available tools in more detail.
Advanced No Bootable Devices Found Fixes
Startup Repair didn't crack it. The boot order is correct. UEFI mode is right. But you're still getting No Bootable Devices Found. This is where we get into the command line, and honestly, this is the fix that saves the most reinstalls. The bootrec tool can rebuild the entire boot chain from scratch as long as the Windows installation files on the drive are intact.
You'll need to be in WinRE Command Prompt for all of this. From the Advanced Options menu, choose Command Prompt. The commands below work on Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft's official bootrec documentation explains what each switch does under the hood if you want the full technical picture.
Rebuild Boot Configuration with Bootrec Medium
- Open Command Prompt in WinRE and run the scan first.
Typebootrec /scanosand press Enter. This scans all drives for Windows installations that aren't currently in the BCD. If it finds your Windows installation and reports it, that confirms the drive is readable and the OS files are intact. The problem is just a broken boot configuration, which the next commands will fix. - Rebuild the Boot Configuration Database.
Runbootrec /rebuildbcd. This scans for Windows installations and adds them to a fresh BCD. When prompted whether to add the installation to the boot list, type Y and press Enter. This is the command that fixes the majority of persistent No Bootable Devices Found cases where Startup Repair failed. - Repair the Master Boot Record and boot sector.
Runbootrec /fixmbrto write a new Master Boot Record to the system disk. Then runbootrec /fixbootto write a new boot sector. Note: on some Windows 11 systems, fixboot may return "Access is denied". If that happens, first runbootsect /nt60 sys /mbrfrom the same Command Prompt, then retry fixboot. - Run chkdsk to repair file system damage.
Typechkdsk C: /f /rand press Enter. The /f flag fixes errors, /r locates bad sectors and recovers readable data. This can take a while on larger drives (twenty to forty minutes is normal). Let it complete. If chkdsk finds and fixes errors, that's a sign the drive has some wear but is still usable. - Run offline system file repair.
Typesfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windowsand press Enter. This scans Windows system files on the offline volume and replaces any corrupted ones from the Windows component store. If the drive letter for your Windows partition isn't C: in the recovery environment, you may need to usediskpartfirst to identify the correct letter. - Reboot and verify.
Close Command Prompt, remove the installation USB, and restart the machine. Watch the boot sequence carefully. If Windows loads, run a couple more reboots to confirm it's stable. If the system still shows No Bootable Devices Found after all these commands, check whether BIOS still detects the drive. If it does, a clean Windows reinstall is the next step. If BIOS no longer shows the drive, hardware failure is likely.
Reinstall Windows or Replace the Drive Hard
- Confirm the drive is still detected in BIOS before reinstalling.
Go back into BIOS setup and check the storage device list one more time. If your drive appears there, a clean Windows reinstall from installation media is a valid path forward. Boot from the USB installer, choose the custom install option, and install to the existing partition. You will lose installed applications but can keep personal files if you choose carefully during setup. - If BIOS doesn't detect the drive, check physical connections.
On a desktop, open the case and reseat the SATA or NVMe connection. A loose cable is a surprisingly common cause of drives disappearing from BIOS. On a laptop this is harder, but if the drive has shifted slightly in its slot (especially M.2 drives), reseating it can bring it back. If the drive still doesn't appear after reseating, run manufacturer diagnostics from a USB bootable tool if available. - Replace a failing drive.
If diagnostics confirm drive failure, or if the drive simply won't appear in BIOS regardless of what you try, it needs replacing. Before you do, consider whether data recovery is needed. A failing drive that still spins up occasionally can sometimes be imaged using a live Linux USB and tools like ddrescue. Don't keep attempting boots on a failing drive as each attempt can cause further damage to recoverable data.
If you've been through all of this and you're still stuck, it might genuinely be time to hand it over. Some boot failures involve a combination of partition damage, firmware quirks, and hardware wear that's just faster to sort with someone who can dig into it directly. Our remote PC repair service handles exactly these kinds of persistent boot failures regularly.
Preventing No Bootable Devices Found
Most of the time this error is preventable. Here's what actually matters, in order of importance:
1. Never leave USB drives plugged in at shutdown. This is the number one cause I see. Make it a habit. Eject and remove any USB storage before you shut the machine down. Takes two seconds and saves a lot of confusion the next morning.
2. Don't change BIOS settings unless you know why. UEFI mode, Secure Boot, SATA controller mode: these settings are set correctly when Windows is installed and should stay that way. If you're installing a new OS or doing something that genuinely requires a change, fine. But random poking around in firmware settings is how UEFI/Legacy mismatches happen.
3. Create restore points before major updates. Windows does this automatically sometimes, but not always reliably. Before a big Windows feature update or a major driver change, manually create a restore point through System Properties. If the update breaks something, you've got a clean rollback path.
4. Monitor drive health on older machines. SSDs and hard drives don't last forever. Drives over four to five years old are worth checking with a SMART diagnostic tool periodically. Catching early warning signs (reallocated sectors, pending sectors, high error counts) gives you time to back up and replace before you hit a crisis.
5. Avoid hard shutdowns. Holding the power button to force a shutdown during Windows operation can corrupt the BCD and boot sector. If Windows is frozen, wait it out where possible. If you have to force shutdown, run chkdsk on the next successful boot to catch any damage early.
No Bootable Devices Found Summary
The No Bootable Devices Found error is genuinely one of those problems that looks worse than it is. In my experience, well over half of cases are fixed by removing a USB drive and checking BIOS boot order. Another large chunk get sorted by Startup Repair or the bootrec command sequence in WinRE. Actual hardware failure causing this error is the minority, not the majority.
Work through the fixes in order: quick BIOS checks first, then Startup Repair, then bootrec commands, then consider partition manager tools for stubborn partition table issues, and only reach for a full reinstall when everything else has been ruled out. If BIOS stops detecting the drive entirely, that's your signal to shift focus to data recovery and hardware replacement rather than software repair.
Got it sorted? Good. Stick to the prevention habits above and you're unlikely to see No Bootable Devices Found again anytime soon.