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Windows 10 Cloned SSD Will Not Boot

[Windows 10 Fix] SSD Not Booting after Clone

By Achilles Hill | Last Updated

After you successfully clone the original Windows 10 hard drive to the SSD, it's time to boot your Windows computer from the SSD for enjoying the fast and smooth OS environment generally. However, sometimes you might be stopped from getting the improved using experience, because the cloned SSD doesn't boot, which makes the disk clone meaningless. What can you do at this time? Just calm down and follow the 5 fixes below to effectively solve the issue SSD not booting after clone.

  1. Fix 1: Properly Connect the SSD to Your Computer
  2. Fix 2: Check the Priority Boot Disk
  3. Fix 3: Confirm the Boot Mode
  4. Fix 4: Run WinRE to Repair Windows Startup
  5. Fix 5: Re-clone the Source Disk

fixed ssd not booting after clone

Fix 1: Properly Connect the SSD to Your Computer

If the cloned SSD is connected to your Windows 10 computer with a USB cable, you are suggested to replace the USB with a SATA cable. When the SSD is already installed into your PC with a SATA cable, you can use another SATA cable to help build the connection between the cloned SSD and Windows computer. Then, check whether the SSD can be booted up. If the cloned SSD still doesn't boot, you can move to Fix 2.

connect ssd with sata

Fix 2: Check the Priority Boot Disk

Make sure that the default boot disk is the cloned SSD in BIOS/UEFI. To do this, here are 4 steps.

Step 1: Power on your Windows 10 computer.

Step 2: Press the specific key like Del/Esc/F12 continuously to enter the setup program. In the PC startup screen, you can see the key which is usually located on the lower-left corner.

Step 3: Find the Boot option and set the cloned SSD as the priority disk.

Step 4: Save the settings by referring to the screen instructions. After that, restart your Windows computer and it might successfully boot the cloned SSD.

set ssd as default boot option

Fix 3: Confirm the Boot Mode

This fix works when the source disk and target disk are in different partition styles. If you clone MBR HHD to GPT SSD or clone GPT HHD to MBR SSD, you need to change the boot mode from Legacy to UEFI or UEFI to Legacy.

Step 1: Start your Windows machine and enter the setup program with the shown key in the vendor logo screen.

Step 2: Locate to the Boot option and change the boot mode to the one that works with the cloned SSD.

Step 3: Save your changes and restart your computer to see if you have fixed the problem - cloned SSD will not boot.

change boot mode

Fix 4: Run WinRE to Repair Windows Startup

What is WinRE? Microsoft says that WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) is a recovery environment that can repair common causes of unbootable operating systems. With useful functions, WinRE might successfully get rid of the trouble "cloned SSD won't boot" from you.

Step 1: Boot your Windows 10 computer from the Windows (USB/DVD) installation drive whose OS version is the same as that of the current PC.

Step 2: Click Next > Repair your computer option in the setup interface.

click repair your computer

Step 3: In the next screen, choose Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Repair. Instantly, the repair utility will scan the startup and fix the found issues for you.

click startup repair

Fix 5: Re-clone the Source Disk

When the 4 ways above don't work on fixing SSD not booting after clone or you want to solve the issue as easily as possible, you can consider cloning the source disk to the SSD with another disk cloning software. Here, iSunshare CloneGo will be used as the disk clone assistant, which can completely clone the Windows hard drive without any boot issue.

Step 1: Make sure that the SSD is correctly identified by your Windows computer.

Step 2: Install iSunshare CloneGo on your Windows 10 computer and then run it.

download isunshare clonego

Step 3: Click Disk Clone button in the left pane. Then, pick the original disk to clone in the drop-down menu of Select a Source Disk option and also choose the SSD in Select a Target Disk bar.

disk clone settings in clonego

Step 4: Begin the disk clone process and please mind that the target SSD will be overwritten before the cloning operation.

start disk clone

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