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Fix Surface Pro 7 Won't Start Up: 'Inaccessible Boot Device'

An 'inaccessible boot device' warning keeps appearing on my Surface Pro 7. My laptop then tries to diagnose/restart but goes to the boot error again. Is there any solution to help me boot my machine?

Best Answered by

Connie Yang

Answered on Tuesday, December 3, 2024

The Surface Pro 7 not starting up issue often happens when the Boot Configuration Data is corrupted or the partition that contains the Windows installation is inactive.

To fix your Surface Pro that won't turn on, you can follow these tips:

1. Use the CMD to run System File Checker in UEFI boot mode

  1. Enter UEFI boot mode.
  2. Go to Troubleshoot > Advance > Command Prompt.
  3. Copy and paste DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and press Enter.
  4. When you see "The operation completed successfully," type sfc /scannow and then press Enter.
  5. Enter exit and then press Enter after seeing "Verification 100% complete."

2. Try a system startup repair in UEFI boot mode

Select Troubleshoot in UEFI boot mode > Advance > Startup Repair.

3. Try restoring the system in UEFI boot mode

If you have created a restore point previously for your Surface Pro, go to UEFI boot mode > Troubleshoot > Advance > System Restore.

If your Surface Pro still won't start up, you have to reinstall Windows through a USB bootable drive. This will erase your device and install a new Windows. So, rescue your files ASAP to avoid permanent data loss. To recover data from an unbootable Windows machine, you have to use a professional data recovery tool like iBoysoft Data Recovery WinPE.

  1. Download iBoysoft Data Recovery WinPE (ISO) on a healthy computer.
  2. Create a bootable USB drive of iBoysoft Data Recovery WinPE.
  3. Connect the bootable USB drive to your Surface Pro.
  4. Enter UEFI and change the boot order to enable the device to boot from the USB drive.
  5. On the iBoysoft Data Recovery main interface, select the Data Recovery module, select the internal hard drive of your Surface, and then click Next. (If your Surface is BitLocker-encrypted, select BitLocker Recovery and enter your password or the recovery key to unlock your device first)
  6. After scanning, preview the scanning results.
  7. Select your wanted files and click Recover to restore them to a different destination.