hardMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped
220-1201 Practice Question: A technician is troubleshooting a PC that boots…
A technician is troubleshooting a PC that boots to a blue screen with the error 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' after a user attempted to clone their HDD to an SSD. The BIOS detects both drives. What is the most likely cause?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The SATA controller mode in BIOS is set to IDE, but the SSD requires AHCI.
The 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' error typically indicates that the boot loader cannot access the storage device. After cloning, this often occurs because the boot mode (UEFI vs. Legacy) or SATA controller mode (AHCI vs. IDE) is mismatched between the old and new drives.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The SSD is not properly connected to the SATA port.
Why it's wrong here
If the SSD were not properly connected to the SATA port, the BIOS/UEFI would typically fail to detect the drive entirely, resulting in a 'No bootable device found' or similar error message. The 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' stop code specifically indicates that the system *recognized* a boot device but encountered a critical issue when attempting to access its contents, pointing to a logical or configuration problem rather than a physical disconnection.
- ✗
The boot order is set to the HDD instead of the SSD.
Why it's wrong here
An incorrect boot order, where the system attempts to boot from an unbootable or non-existent HDD before the SSD, would typically lead to a 'No bootable device' error after exhausting all options, or it would simply boot from the next available device. The 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' error occurs *after* the system has successfully identified the intended boot device (the SSD) but fails to load the operating system from it due to a fundamental incompatibility or missing driver, not merely an incorrect sequence.
- ✓
The SATA controller mode in BIOS is set to IDE, but the SSD requires AHCI.
Why this is correct
Modern SSDs are designed to operate optimally and correctly under AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) mode, which enables crucial features like Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and hot-plugging. If the operating system was installed or cloned while the SATA controller was in IDE compatibility mode, and then the BIOS setting is switched to AHCI (or vice-versa), the necessary storage drivers will not load. This driver mismatch prevents the OS from communicating with the SSD effectively, resulting in the 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' stop code.
- ✗
The SSD is not partitioned correctly.
Why it's wrong here
An incorrectly partitioned SSD, or one lacking a valid bootable partition, would typically result in a 'No bootable device found' message or a similar error indicating the absence of a valid boot sector or operating system. The 'INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE' error specifically implies that the system *found* a bootable partition and attempted to load from it, but failed due to an underlying driver or controller configuration issue, not a missing or malformed partition structure itself.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This 220-1201 question is part of Courseiva's 972-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1201 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1201 exam.