Windows was unable to update the computer's boot settings

This error occurs when users try to update their Windows installation from a previous version of Windows or when they perform an update in place using Windows Media Creator on a USB or DVD. It is quite a common error that appears during Windows installation and annoys users a lot.

Windows was unable to update the computer's boot settings

Quite a few useful methods have been recorded that can help you solve the problem and proceed with setup normally. Please carefully follow the solutions we have prepared below!!

What causes the error “Windows was unable to update the computer's boot settings”?

The error is often associated with the broken boot manager utility, which takes care of how the computer starts up and what to load first. This can be fixed by a full reset.

In other cases, it is the UEFI that prevents the Windows configuration from loading correctly, so you should disable Secure Boot in BIOS.

By last, the problem may be in your partition. If you are doing a clean install, be sure to try cleaning it with diskpart.

Solution 1: repair boot manager at command prompt

The Boot Manager is used to manage how the system boots, the boot priority and how it handles Windows installation media when you insert it during boot. It can be easily restarted and repaired by simply rebooting into Advanced Startup and running various useful commands, that will be presented next.

1. If your computer system does not work, you will need to use the installation media used to install Windows for this process. Insert the installation drive you have or just created and start your computer. The following steps are different from one operating system to another, so you must follow them correctly:

• WINDOWS XP, VISTA, 7: Windows setup should open asking you to enter your preferred language and date and time settings. Enter them correctly and choose the Repair your computer option at the bottom of the window. Keep the initial option button selected when you are prompted to use the recovery tools or restore your computer and click the Next option. Choose Startup Repair (The first option) when prompted with the Choose a recovery tool selection.

• WINDOWS 8, 8.1, 10: You will see a window to choose the keyboard layout, so choose the one you want to use. The Choose an option screen will appear to navigate to Troubleshooting >> Advanced Options >> Symbol of the system

Command prompt in advanced options

1. If you have no problems with the system, you can use the windows interface to access this screen. If you are using Windows 10 on your pc, there is another way to access Safe Mode on your computer. Use the Windows key combination + I to open settings or click the start menu and click the gear key at the bottom left.

2. Click Update & Security >> Recovery and click Restart now option in advanced startup section. Your PC will proceed to restart and you will be prompted to click the advanced options button

Advanced options through Settings

1. Click to open command prompt from advanced options screen.

Command prompt in advanced options

1. The command prompt should now open with administrator privileges. Type the command shown below and make sure to hit Enter after.

bootrec / RebuildBcd
bootrec / fixMbr
bootrec / fixboot

1. Later, close command prompt and choose Restart option. Check if the problem has disappeared.

Solution 2: disable UEFI in BIOS

There are several options that you may want to change in the BIOS setup for Windows setup to install correctly. The first option is called Secure boot using UEFI. This prevents proper installation. Besides that, you need to enable legacy support or legacy boot and set it as enabled.

1. Turn on the computer and immediately press the BIOS setup key on the keyboard several times in a row, about once per second, until the Computer Setup Utility or BIOS setup opens. This key will be indicated on the screen as Press _ to run setup.

2. Use the right arrow key to switch to the security menu when the BIOS setup window opens, use the down arrow key to select secure boot settings from the menu and press Enter. These options are sometimes found in System Settings or the Security tab.

Secure boot configuration

1. Before you can use this option, a warning will appear. Press F10 to continue to the secure boot settings menu. Use the down arrow key to select Safe Boot and use the right arrow key to change this setting to Disable.

2. Use the down arrow key to select Hereditary Support and then use the right arrow key to toggle it to On.

Disable Secure Boot

1. In Legacy Boot Order settings, select the CD drive option / DVD ROM USB and use the appropriate keys (explained at the bottom of the screen to add this option to the top of the boot order to make sure it boots from USB or DVD .

2. Press F10 to save changes. Use the left arrow key to navigate to the File menu, use the down arrow key to switch to Save changes and exit, and then press Enter to select Yes.

3. The computer setup utility will close and the computer should restart. When the computer has restarted, follow the steps below to resolve the VAC authentication error.

Solution 3: use cleanup option in DiskPart

This method is a kind of last resort for users doing a clean install.. It consists of cleaning the partition where Windows is usually installed. Only recommended for clean installations, which means you need to back up the data on the partition. This should be enough to solve the problem, but be careful to select the proper partition based on its number.

1. Open the command prompt by following the steps in the Solution 1.

2. In this command prompt window, just write “diskpart” on a new line and hit the Enter key to run this command.

3. This will change the command prompt window to allow you to run various Diskpart commands. The first one that you will run is the one that will allow you to see the complete list of all available disks.

DISCO PART >> list of discs

DISCOPARTE> disco list

1. Make sure you choose your disc carefully, according to the number assigned in the volume list. Let's say your number is 1. Now run the following command to select the disk.

DISKPART> select disk 1

1. A message should appear saying something like “Partition 1 is the selected volume”.

Note: If you are not sure which partition to select, the best way to do that is to check the actual size.

1. To clean this volume, all you need to do is type the command shown below, then click the Enter key and be patient for the process to complete. This will also create an empty primary partition and add it to the top and the last command will exit the command prompt.

Clean up
Create Primary Partition
Departure

1. Exit the command prompt, restart your computer, rerun Windows setup and check if Windows was unable to update your computer's startup configuration error.