Accidentally changed which drive boots my pc

[Ross0]

So i accidentally changed which drive boots my pc from my system reserved drive to my C drive and now my pc can’t get past the boot screen when I turn it on. Is there a way to change it back?

[veeg]

Hello

Do you know how to get in the bio’s? From there you may be able to change the boot order.

[Ross0]

Hello

Do you know how to get in the bio’s? From there you may be able to change the boot order.

No I don’t know how to get into the bios

[veeg]

No I don’t know how to get into the bios

Ok we will need your pc spec’s then.

[Bruce]

but just to get your started while you send the specs through.
normally as soon as the PC starts, it may show a prompt along the bottom (usually) about hitting F2 for this and F9 for that.
look for the one that says BIOS or System Settings or Setup (that sort of thing)
but the most common ones are Delete, F2, F10 or sometimes Tab.
so for example, if yours is F2, as soon as you push the On button, start hitting F2 like a crazy person, if that’s the right key, you will enter the BIOS Configuration Menu.

but as @vger stated, supplying the PC make and model will help determine what is required for your PC to enter the BIOS setup.

[Ross0]

GPU: GeForce GTX 1050

CPU: AMD FX™-6300 Six-Core Processor

Gigabyte Ga-78lmt-usb3 motherboard

Memory: 8 GB RAM

[veeg]

Also the model name and model number.

[Ross0]

I don’t know the model name and number but I figured out that I have to press Delete to bring up the bios on my pc

[veeg]

Ok. scroll down using the keyboard to your boot order,from there you can change your boot order.

[Ross0]

I tried a lot of different boot orders but none worked and my pc keeps getting stuck at the same screen as it did before

[veeg]

Hmm.

@Bruce

[Bruce]

you have 2 problems with what you have done.

1. accessing the original boot drive
2. changing the order back

as to 1), some options would be to use a Linux bootable USB stick but then working out #2 is where my Linux knowledge severely sucks.

so if it was mine 1) would be to reload Windows. now with what you have done, a repair reload would be the first thing to try but I don’t know how it’ll like the state of the partitions now.

so that may leave 1) as a fresh install of Windows (next time, watch what you play with. tsk tsk. but we have all been there :whistle
and the good news is that big hammer approach will also resolve #2.

either way, the first thing I would be doing is a backup (because you don’t have one do you ). and that’ll only be doable by removing the drive and putting it into another PC or external enclosure.

but look at it this way - if you have to go down the reload path and/or removing drives - is this an opportune time to upgrade that drive to a SSD?
(just trying to give this debacle a silver lining)

[Ross0]

So would doing either a repair reload of windows or a fresh install of windows clear the files off my hard drive?

[Bruce]

the fresh install, as the name implies, starts from a clean slate, so Yes, all data is wiped and you have to reload EVERYTHING again, from Windows to all your software and restore all your personal files.
also, part of that reload process, it’ll show you a list of current partitions, I would delete them all and let the install process recreate the OS and recovery partitions for you.
so definitely get your data backed up first.

the repair option offers a ‘keep your files’ or ‘lose your files’ choice but only reloads Windows onto the current OS partition and because of your current predicament, I’m not sure that it will get it right (or even help you).

[Ross0]

How would I backup a hard drive if I can’t get into my pc?

Also what do you mean when you say reload everything?Does it mean like I have to redownload all applications and programs? Also does restore all files mean that stuff like pictures and videos would still be there?