Cloning Windows 8 with UEFI Error code: 0xc0000225 Fix

We had a San Diego client with a relatively new PC experience hard drive failure. The drive behaved well enough for us to attempt to clone the hard drive to a replacement to avoid a multi-hour re-setup. The cloning process went through as well as expected, but after booting the PC with the new freshly cloned drive, I ran into a stop error: 0xc0000225

This is related to the Windows boot configuration in relation to UEFI enabled machines. It is resolvable with a quick trip to command prompt via the Windows 8 "Repair your computer" options that can be accessed from the appropriate Windows 8 disc.

Enter the advanced options until you see an option to startup Command Prompt. Once that opens, enter the following:

1. Diskpart


2. List volume


3. Select volume=2 (replace “2” with the number that is associated with the system reserved label)


4. assign letter=Z


5. exit


6. bcdboot C:\windows /s Z: /f UEFI (replace C: with the volume letter that is labeled “OS”)

After that, restart the PC. In many cases, it may prompt for which Windows 8 install to boot into. After making the correct selection (no harm in being wrong here, restart and try the other option), Windows should boot up. My experience was that the first time booting was slow, but after a restart, it performed normally.

Cleanup: If you don't do the following, you may have Windows prompt for which install to boot to everytime you restart. Once you are in Windows, go to the MSCONFIG menu and remove the erroneous Windows 8 option from the Boot tab. After that is done, the PC will boot cleanly.