220-1102 Operating Systems Practice Question
A technician is troubleshooting a Windows 10 computer that fails to boot with error 0xc000000f. The technician boots from Windows PE and runs bootrec /scanos, which finds the Windows installation. Which command should the technician run next to fix the boot configuration data?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse bootrec /fixboot (which fixes the boot sector) with repairing the BCD store, but /fixboot does not address BCD corruption—only /rebuildbcd or manual BCDedit commands can rebuild the BCD store itself.
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
✓
bootrec /rebuildbcd
The error 0xc000000f indicates a corrupted or missing Boot Configuration Data (BCD). Since bootrec /scanos successfully found the Windows installation, the BCD store itself is damaged or missing entries. Running bootrec /rebuildbcd scans the disk for known Windows installations and prompts you to add them to a new BCD store, directly repairing the boot configuration data.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
bootrec /fixmbr
Why it's wrong here
bootrec /fixmbr rewrites the master boot record's boot code, which is stored in the first sector of the disk and is responsible for loading the Windows Boot Manager. In this failure, the system has already passed the MBR stage and displayed a BCD error, indicating the MBR itself is functional. Because /fixmbr does not modify or rebuild the BCD store, it cannot correct the missing or corrupt boot configuration data that is the actual root cause.
- ✗
bootrec /fixboot
Why it's wrong here
bootrec /fixboot writes a new boot sector to the system partition, specifically the code that loads bootmgr (the Windows Boot Manager). The boot sector is a separate component from the BCD store, which lives in the \Boot\BCD file on the same partition. A corrupt BCD produces the exact error shown, whereas a damaged boot sector would typically prevent bootmgr from loading at all, so /fixboot is not the appropriate repair for this scenario.
- ✓
bootrec /rebuildbcd
Why this is correct
bootrec /rebuildbcd scans all installed Windows installations and prompts you to add them to a newly generated Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. This command effectively rebuilds the BCD from scratch, replacing any corrupt, missing, or incorrectly referenced entries with valid paths to the Windows loader. Because the error message specifically identifies the BCD as corrupted or absent, rebuilding the BCD directly addresses and resolves the failure, making this the correct command.
- ✗
bcdedit /export
Why it's wrong here
bcdedit /export creates a backup copy of the current Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store to a file, preserving its existing contents, including any corrupt entries. It performs no validation or repair; it only saves whatever BCD data is currently present. In a situation where the BCD is already corrupt, exporting that corrupt data provides no remediation, and you would still need to rebuild or import a known-good BCD to fix the boot failure.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Disk Imaging and OS Deployment
Key term
Windows
Windows is a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft that manages computer hardware and software, providing a graphical user interface for users to interact with their devices.
Key term
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed by Microsoft that combines the familiarity of Windows 7 with the modern features of Windows 8, designed to run on a wide range of devices from desktops to tablets.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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