Deleting extended attribute set due to presence of reparse point. Help!

[dragon25]

Hello all,

So last night I decided to add an older HDD into my new desktop to... well add more storage since games now-a-days are HUGE, and I was running out on my current 2 drives (main SSD with Windows 10, and an HDD). I didn't realize that the older HDD had Windows 7 installed on it (completely forgot that it was there...), which I installed into a SATA3 slot 0 (other 2 were on slots 2 and 3 respectively because the graphics card made it difficult to use slots 0 and 1).

After booting it up, it started chkdsk and ran through all 3 drives. It kept saying hit any key to stop it but my keyboard and mouse drivers didn't load so couldn't stop it and I didn't want to break anything by forcing it off. After going through the drives it started doing things I couldn't see... eventually recorded a video on my phone to see that it was saying, "Deleting extended attribute set due to presence of reparse point."

At this point I was thinking it's deleting stuff from the Windows 7 since I thought Windows 10 was "set" (derp) as my main boot drive. 10-ish minutes later, to my surprise it boots into Windows 7 with the keyboard and mouse drivers still not loaded... So I hard shut down and remove Windows 7 drive to try booting into Windows 10 again.

Now I get the BSOD and none of the "advanced" recovery options work! I found a youtube video showing that running chkdsk again helps fix the problem - I ran it twice and nothing changed.

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!

I got the free upgrade to Windows 10 and don't have any discs or images to fix this.

[Reverend Jim]

If you got the free upgrade to Windows 10 then your computer has already been registered with Microsoft as legit (licensed). If you don't mind installing your apps again you should be able to reinstall Windows 10 over top of the existing installation. I'd recommend backing up any data files that you might not want to lose first. Since you were able to run chkdsk I assume you are able to boot into some sort of system which will allow you to copy files.

[dragon25]

Reverend Jim, thank you very much for your swift response!

How would I go about getting the Windows 10 to reinstall it? Reinstalling my apps will be an extremely excruciating process but I'll do it if it's the only viable one.

Also should have mentioned this earlier... I don't have access to a working computer at home right now, but I can always call a friend to help if needed.

[Reverend Jim]

My suggestion would be to go to your friend's computer (take along an 8 gig or larger USB stick). Download the Windows 10 install media and create a bootable USB stick. Instructions can be found here. Then you can boot your computer from the USB.

The way I have my systems configured is

C: 100 gig system partition (OS/apps)
D: everything else (user files)

I reset all my user folders (pictures, music, video, documents, downloads, etc) to equivalent folders on D:. I download and install the free version of Macrium Reflect. After I have C: installed, apps installed, updates installed, and user folders moved, I take a full image of C: (after deleting all temp files) and store it in a folder on D: (I also keep offline copies). I also make sure (do this from within Macrium) to enable booting into Macrium. This will change your machine boot slightly. You will get a 10 second screen that asks if you want to boot into Windows (default) or Macrium. This way, if your windows installation is toasted you can still boot into Macrium and restore your image from D:. Supposedly (if you behave) all your user files will be safe on D:. I also have it set up to do an automatic differential image every day and a full on the first of the month.

[rproffitt]

I read your post and think it's time to go back to what worked. REMOVE THAT DRIVE and hope W10 boots and fixes itself.

Now what to do with that other drive? Put it into some USB case so you can drag out the files you want from it. Now that the files are safe you can delete the partitions on that drive, create a new partition (or leave it blank for later) then format it so there is no bootable OS there. At this point you can install it into your PC and W10 should still boot.

UNLESS there was a goof made long ago and your OS drive was not on the lowest number SATA port or less likely you have some RAID setup which means a BIOS change to make the RAID higher in the boot priority.

As to blowing up OSes, I find that folk can't be taught to back up. I've been at this for decades and the only way folk learn is to lose it all. I wish that lesson didn't have to be learned first hand.

[Reverend Jim]

the only way folk learn is to lose it all. I wish that lesson didn't have to be learned first hand.

The rule being "when you lose, don't lose the lesson." Unfortunately, I've found that even people who have lost all their files and are told that a backup would have prevented that - their response is "I'll get around to that later. Most never do. Sigh. As for me, my backup strategy is:

• Two external 2TB hard drives for all my audio/video media (Media-A and Media-B)
• Two external 2TB hard drives for all my other personal files including system image files (Personal-A and Personal-B)
• One external 2TB hard drive for checkpoints (CheckPoint)

I use the checkpoint disk on a regular schedule of "whenever I feel like it". Basically whenever I feel that I have files I wouldn't want to lose. This is basically a robocopy of my D: drive. I typically copy new files to my Media-A & Personal-A disks once a month or so (in-between copies are on CheckPoint). I will then periodically robocopy /mir the A disks to the B disks. So effectively I (almost) always have two offline copies of all my files. In 20 years I have had one of my external (A/B) dusks go belly up and I was able to rebuild everything on a new drive using the other drives. I have never lost a file.

RE: Repartitioning - I highly recommend EaseUS Free rather than using anything that comes with Windows.

[dragon25]

rrproffitt,

I read your post and think it's time to go back to what worked. REMOVE THAT DRIVE and hope W10 boots and fixes itself.

I did remove the drive, it didn't fix itself. That's the first thing I tried lol.

UNLESS there was a goof made long ago and your OS drive was not on the lowest number SATA port

Yup, that's exactly what happened... My OS drive was on port 2 because my 8GB graphics card was making it difficult to reach ports 0 and 1. My fault entirely, not denying that. Now, I'm just hoping to find a fix where I don't have to reformat my OS! Especially because it was a lot of work to get a few special drivers for some of my equipment.

Reverend Jim,

Unfortunately, I've found that even people who have lost all their files and are told that a backup would have prevented that - their response is "I'll get around to that later. Most never do.

Yup that's me ;)... but this is the first time I've had this issue. It was because I didn't realize 2 things - one that there was an OS still on the old drive (which usually I never keep), and two that the ports I used were not in the sequence I normally do things in.

Right now only my OS is on the SSD (120gb) all my "data" like pics/vids/installed apps/games are on the second drive and on clouds (the important stuff anyway). It's just a pain to have to re-install everything due to the sheer number of things I have collected this time around.

Thanks for the naming the softwares, I will definately get Macrium Relfect as I've seen it a few times while looking for solutions to this problem.

Thank you both for your replying to my plight! I have learned from this experience and will make sure to check the drive using my drive dock BEFORE installing it into my computer.

[rproffitt]

First I would not move the boot drive or any other drive from where it was connected and working. I also don't want to see ANY BIOS changes.

So back to where everything was when it worked a boot is attempted. If that fails we can boot our W10 install and repair USB stick and try it's automatic repair options. Link follows about that as I see someone already mentioned how to obtain and make this stick. NO CDKEY or product key is required. If you are asked for a key or money you went to the wrong site.

Skip to "Using a Recovery Drive or System Repair Disc" at https://www.howtogeek.com/131907/how-to-create-and-use-a-recovery-drive-or-system-repair-disc-in-windows-8/ which has been updated to include W10. Use the automatic repair in the option Startup Repair. Video of what you might see is at https://youtu.be/5Zkvlcnv-UU?t=120

[Nerdy-Wan]

I looked this up because I'm in an extremely similar situation (tried to dual-boot Win7 with Win11 and got the exact same thing). I know this is an old thread but does anybody know how to fix this? Please help.

[rproffitt]

I shared my usual fixes above. Not much new has shown up as causes since then.