In the Windows Vista and later versions, the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) store contains the boot entries that are required to boot the operating system. When a system is started, the Bootmgr reads the boot entries from the BCD store and a boot menu is displayed to the user. It is much more secure than the previous boot.ini, which used to boot Windows XP and prior versions. However, at times the BCD store get corrupt thereby making the system unable to boot. This could happen because of various reasons such as corrupt active partition, virus infections, power outages, etc. In such cases, you should take appropriate steps to solve the issue. If the issue is not resolved, then you should use a third-party Windows partition recovery software to recover partition.

Consider a scenario wherein your Windows Vista is unable to boot. An error message is displayed, that is:

“File: \Boot\BCD Status: 0xc0000034 Info: The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information”

Cause:

The causes of this erroneous situations are: The Windows Boot Manager (Bootmgr) entry is not present in the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. The Boot\BCD file is either corrupted or missing on the active file system.

Resolution:

To resolve this situation, you should perform either of the following methods, preferably in the given order: Repair the BCD store: You should repair the BCD store by using the Startup Repair option in the Windows Recovery Environment. Rebuild the BCD store using Bootrec.exe: You should rebuild the BCD store by using the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment. Rebuild the BCD store manually: You should manually rebuild the BCD store by using the Bcdedit.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment.

After performing either of the aforementioned method, you should restart the computer to implement the repair changes. However, if you are still facing the similar situation it means that the file system is inaccessible. In such cases, you should use a third-party partition recovery software to recover Windows partition. Such tools are read-only in nature that do not overwrite the original contents while scanning the corrupted media.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a Windows partition recovery software that enables you to recover data from lost, deleted, or inaccessible partitions. It supports partition recovery from various partitions such as FAT, NTFS, and exFAT file systems. This partition recovery software is able to recover more than 185 different file types from various storage media such as hard drives, external HDDs, pen drives, iPods, etc. In addition, this tool is capable of recovering deleted emails from Outlook Express and MS Outlook. It is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, Server 2003, XP, and Server 2000.