Server 2019 / Stuck on Preparing Automatic Repair loop

Question

Hi,

Windows server 2019 (VMWare VM) is in a boot loop with Preparing Automatic Repair after a reboot. Looking at application and system logs I am not seeing any changes that were done recently.

I was able to boot from a WinPE image and change "bcdedit / set {current} recoveryenabled No"

This broke the loop sequence but now I am looking at 0xc0000098 stop error with a reference to vmbus.sys. This server does not have Hyper-V enabled.

The error message states "The operating system couldn't be loaded because a critical system driver is missing or contains errors"

Is there a log that would show what touched / changed vmbus.sys driver?

vmbus.sys details:

Size: 124KB

Date modified: 9/15/2018 3:11 AM

File version: 10.0.17763.1

Digitally Signed with a Microsoft Cert: Thumbprint ae9c1ae54763822eec42474983d8b635116c8452

Thanks

Answer 1

Hello

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

Based on my research, there isn't a specific log that tracks changes to individual drivers like vmbus.sys.

However, you can try the following steps to troubleshoot :

1. Run the SFC & DISM tool to check for and repair corrupted system files:

         sfc /scannow
   
         dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
   

2. Rebuild the BCD store:

          bootrec /rebuildbcd
   

3. If you suspect a recent driver update caused the issue, try rolling back to a previous version of the driver.
4. If vmbus.sys is corrupted, you can try replacing it manually from a known good source. You can extract it from a Windows Server 2019 installation media or another server running the same version.

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Best Regards,

Daisy Zhou

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