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15 March 2024  John Weaver  Senior Program Developer
 

Summary
Many users ever encountered a system error “non system disk or disk error” and couldn’t get into the system. Read this article and you will learn about 5 solutions to fix the non system disk or disk error issue.



Reasons of Non System Disk or Disk Error

The message “non-system disk or disk error” actually means that your hard drive can’t be recognized. Generally, there are two main reasons of non system disk or disk error. On the one hand, the hard drive’s cable is damaged or has poor connection. On the other hand, the boot order is not correct or the BCD file gets damaged.
non system disk or disk error
Here are 5 solutions to fix the non system disk or disk error issue. It’s suggested to try each solution to troubleshoot the problem.

5 Solutions to Fix Non System Disk or Disk Error

Solution 1: Check IDE or SATA Cable

One of the reasons of non system disk or disk error is that IDE or SATA cable is damaged or has poor contact. So you could unscrew the sides of the case and check whether the IDE or SATA cable becomes loose. You could unplug the cable and plug it again before you restart the PC.

If this way doesn’t work, it’s suggested to replace the old IDE/SATA cable with the new one. After that, if the “non system disk or disk error” still appears, this may be caused by the problem of boot files. Please move on to the following methods.

check IDE/SATA cable

Solution 2: Remove Non System Disk from the PC and Change Boot Order via BIOS Setup

Some users probably selected CD/DVD/USB as the first boot order in BIOS settings before. Once the PC boot from one of these non system disks, the error message “non system disk or disk error” will appear.

If there is CD/DVD/USB connected to computer, please remove all of them and hold down the power button until the PC shuts down. Then power on the PC again. After that, if you could get into the system properly, please change the boot order in BIOS setup.

Step 1: Restart the PC. When the boot screen occurs, press a hot key to enter BIOS setup. The hot key generally is F2, F8, F12 or Del.
Please press the correct hot key to enter the BIOS according to the brand of your PC.
Step 2: After you enter the BIOS setup, use arrow key to choose the “Boot” tap. And select the target SSD as the first boot order.
Boot the PC from hard drive
Step 3: Press F10 to save the settings. Then restart the PC.
If there’s no external disk connected to the PC and the boot order is correct, please go on to the following solution 3. Or if the “non system disk or disk error” issue still exists after you perform the above solutions, please also move on to the following methods.

Solution 3: Update Active Partition via Command Prompt

System partition on the hard drive should be a primary partition marked as active. It includes boot files of the operating system. When the PC starts, it usually boots from the active partition. If the system files can’t be found when the PC boots, the “non system disk or disk error” issue will occur and you won’t get into the system. Here’s how to update active partition via command prompt.

Step 1: Create a bootable disc. Boot the PC from bootable disc and enter the Windows Recovery Environment.
Step 2: Navigate to “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced Options” > “Command Prompt”.
command prompt
Step 3: In the command prompt, type in the following commands. Please press Enter after you type each command.

Diskpart

list disk

select disk 0

 
(System drive is disk 0 by default. Please enter your correct disk ID.)

list partition

select partition 1

 
(System partition is partition 1 by default. Please enter your correct partition ID.)

active

Update active partition
Step 4: Restart the PC after you perform the above commands successfully.

Solution 4: Fix MBR/BCD

The “non system disk or disk error” issue could also be caused by the corrupted or missing BCD. If the issue still can’t be fixed after you perform the above solutions, you could try fixing the BCD/MBR.
Step 1: Create a bootable disc. Boot the PC from bootable disc and enter the Windows Recovery Environment.
Step 2: Navigate to “Troubleshoot” > “Advanced Options” > “Command Prompt”.
command prompt
Step 3: In the command prompt, type in the following commands. Please press Enter after you type each command.

bootrec/fixmbr

bootrec/fixboot

bootrec/rebuildbcd

fix MBR/BCD

Solution 5: Transfer Important Files and Reinstall the System

If none of the above solutions can fix your “non system disk or disk error” issue, you could choose to reinstall system. But please note that reinstalling system will remove all data on the PC. It’s suggested to use the third-party to quickly transfer important files before you install the system. And it’s recommended to use professional system rescue tool, Renee PassNow. Many users have used Data Transfer function in Renee PassNow and successfully transferred important files without data loss.

Step 1: Download and install Renee Passnow on any other workable computer.

The Windows computer you installed Renee Passnow need to be able to login and work normally (The Windows version of the computer you are using to create the new password reset disk does not matter.).
press to the download button

Step 2: Launch Renee Passnow. Create bootable media with USB/CD/DVD.

Select one option from [Crate a Live USB] and [Create a Live CD]. Then, select [x64] or [x86] according to your computer. Next, click on [Download Now] to download the licensed ISO. Remember to activate the software beforehand. After that, click on [Create USB] to create the boot media.
use renee passnow to create usb to reset passnword

Step 3: Boot the target computer with the created bootable media.

Please hold a Hot key to enter the BIOS menu.Please find how to change the boot order of your computer brand. Please make the create bootable media to be the first in the boot order. (Can not find your brand? Please refer to your PC manual to find out the method.)
change boot order in BIOS menu

Step 4: After loading into the main interface of Renee Passnow, please select “Data Transfer” function.

data transfer function in Renee Passnow

Step 5: Select the original disk and target disk. And drag the target files to the target disk directly. 

run data transfer function in renee passnow