Windows : Boot stuck in recovery after disabling test mode

By | June 2, 2012

You may noticed a foot note near the clock that display something like this :

Test Mode
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
Build 7601

There is a workround to get rid of this message (UAC must be disabled to run this command) :

bcdedit.exe -set TESTSIGNING OFF

After rebooting your machine, Windows won’t boot and start in recovery mode. Well, this indicate that one of your core driver is not digitally signed and make Windows fail to start.

Well, this now indicate that “BCD” (Boot Configuration Data) is permanently damaged. The only way to resolve this issue, is to rebuild the BCD. To achieve that, you need to open up the console in the recovery mode and do the following :

1. Backup the current BCD

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
c:
cd boot
attrib bcd -s -h -r
ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

2. Rebuild the BCD

bootrec /RebuildBcd