My PC had a Secure Boot problem, and while trying to repair it, I ran these commands in Command Prompt: mountvol S: /S, del S:*.* /f /s /q, and bcdboot %systemroot% /s S:. The deletion command appeared to remove many files, so I restarted the computer. After that, the system reported that no operating system could be found. I eventually repaired Windows using a bootable installation drive, and my personal files are still present, but most applications no longer launch. Their shortcuts report that the target cannot be found. Is there a way to restore the applications, or will I need to reinstall Windows and my programs?
1 Answer
The deletion command likely removed files from the EFI System Partition, which contains the boot files and other startup data. Repairing the bootloader can make Windows start again, but it does not restore deleted application files, registry entries, or shortcuts. First, back up your personal files and check whether the programs’ installation folders still exist. If the folders are missing or the executables will not run, the practical fix is to reinstall those applications. If Windows itself is unstable or system files were damaged, a clean Windows installation may be the safest option. Do not format the drive until your important data has been backed up.
I was able to repair Windows, but the applications and shortcuts still report that their targets no longer exist. The commands came from Microsoft documentation, although the deletion step was interrupted when I restarted the PC.