What does HRESULT 0x80042803 (VDS_E_UNABLE_TO_FIND_BOOT_DISK) mean?

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Description:

VDS failed while determining which disk currently supplies the machine boot path.

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VDS_E_NO_IMPORT_TARGET	VDS_E_INCORRECT_BOOT_VOLUME_EXTENT_INFO

VDS_E_UNABLE_TO_FIND_BOOT_DISK

VDS distinguishes several “critical disk” roles. VDS_DF_BOOT_DISK means the disk hosts the current boot volume, while VDS_DF_SYSTEM_DISK means it hosts the current system volume. VDS_DF_BOOT_FROM_DISK describes the disk from which firmware is configured to start. Those flags are related but not interchangeable.

Why this state matters

This HRESULT reports a system error while VDS is retrieving boot-disk information. The safe diagnostic is therefore to inspect the role flags and boot topology rather than guessing that disk 0 is the boot disk. On EFI systems the firmware and ESP relationship matters; on BIOS systems firmware disk ordering can differ from the numbering displayed by higher-level storage tools.

Diagnostic focus

Collect VDS_DISK_FLAG values for every candidate disk, especially BOOT_DISK, SYSTEM_DISK, BOOT_FROM_DISK, and HAS_ARC_PATH.
Correlate the VDS view with the active boot configuration and firmware-visible disk topology.
Check whether a recent disk migration, clone, SAN presentation change, or firmware boot-order change preceded the failure.
Avoid destructive attribute changes until VDS can again identify the boot role reliably.

Technical references

VDS_DISK_FLAG · VDS_DISK_PROP · IVdsDisk::GetProperties · VDS common return codes · MS-VDS error codes

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