Dell Media Direct won’t Boot Windows – Maybe Bitlocker – Solution
I’m not sure why Dell can’t actually tell people this. However, if you find yourself stuck booting Dell MediaDirect, and don’t know how to fix it. Try this:
- Turn off your computer
- Hit the button shaped like a home (the Dell MediaDirect button).
Seriously. When the power is off, the Dell MediaDirect button acts a toggle button to boot the other partition. Try to find that on Dell’s site, and well, I couldn’t find it with several good searches.Thanks to GigaMegaBlog.
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about 9 months ago
THANK YOU!!! I thought that Media Direct had corrupted Windows boot files and was ready to reload when I found your blog. I had replaced Vista with XP and had removed the Media Direct partition when I first got this laptop. I called Dell Tech support but my warranty had expired and they wanted $69 – probably to tell me what you just posted.
Thanks again. You saved me a HUGE hassle.
about 9 months ago
Glad I could help. I seriously wonder if Dell actually has a normal person try out their laptops before they ship them (and not just an engineer).
about 6 months ago
Meny thanks for this, thought i would have to totally reinstall windows!!!! UNTILL i found your post, thanks again
about 6 months ago
Thank you so much. Thought I had broken my boyfriend’s computer. I could not figure how to get that media direct to stop opening after I hit the button on accident (It’s right next to the power button)Once again thanks so much for the info.
about 6 months ago
Its pretty scary; I’m glad I could help. For us, I was actually at work, when my boss’s dell had the problem. We were worried that we’d have to do a complete reinstall and shut down his productivity for a day. Luckily, its just an un-obvious button press.
–Ben
about 5 months ago
Thank You So Much!
Really appreciate your post, it really helps!!
Thought my laptop might crash n I plan to crash with hammer
LOL
about 5 months ago
No Problem. The scary part is that I think there are a lot of people like us, judging by the amount of traffic to this article. The sad part, is that it is also a comment on Dell’s lack of good information out there. Why wouldn’t they bolded instructions if so many people are coming up against this?
–Ben
about 5 months ago
I am just finishing factory restore
about 5 months ago
ouch. sorry to hear that. we almost did that as well. the button push was a last minute idea before the restore.
on a side note, does anybody know why i cannot use punctuation or capital letters when responding on my mobile phone? at least any that require a meta key?
about 4 months ago
Our 2yr old pushed the button on dad’s laptop. Looks like a HOUSE. Brilliant.
When the thing couldn’t boot Windows we were sure it was hosed. Thank you thank you thank you thank you for posting the solution – saved our skins.
(And shame on Dell. I mean, really, making it possible to ‘crash’ your system when it’s turned off by the push of a single button.)
about 4 months ago
Thanks. My client actually called Dell and they wanted to send a tech out and install a new hard drive, LOL. I knew there was an easy fix. I love Dell’s but they can be idiots…
CT
about 4 months ago
Unreal. You’d think they’d be aware of this problem. Glad it worked out!
–Ben
about 3 months ago
I tried your solution, unfortunately it did not work. Dell Media Direct does not even have a menu, everything is blocked. After I tried your solution a couple of times, I now get the message Following file is missing or corrupted–”\system32\ntoskrnl.exe.”
“Please reinstall” I cannot find this file on any of my reinstall discs. So it appears that your fix probable worked but then I ran into this Wall in the Windows restart.
Any suggestions?? Thanks for your time and help.
about 3 months ago
Re my last message. Full file name as shown should be: \system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
about 3 months ago
It looks like your bootloader is broke. You’ll need to find someone with an equivalent windows install disc (if you’re running XP Pro, it should be an XP Pro install disc) and run the repair utilitiy.
The link below may help (although I’d try the automatic repair first).
http://en.kioskea.net/faq/1330-ntoskrnl-is-missing-or-damaged
about 3 months ago
Thanks a million….Thought the only way out of media direct was to reinstall XP. It would have been had you not provided the solution.
Thanks
Khateeb
Bangladesh.
about 3 months ago
Glad I could help. You are not alone. This article gets tons of traffic. I’ll save my thoughts about dell for another day. I’ve been waiting for 2 1/2 weeks for a replacement Adamo that broke after 2 weeks of use.
about 2 months ago
Thank you. Finding your your post saved my Sunday morning. Called Dell and was told the problem is with my system. Unbelievable! Thank you for sharing.
about 2 months ago
Glad I could help. Wow, Dell has been sinking to new lows. Our office has now sworn off Dells because of the terrible customer service.
about 1 month ago
I was seriously about to rip my damn hair out
I spent 15 minutes trying to get out of the interminable loop. Thanks so much Ben,
about 1 month ago
omfg… THANKYOU!!!, just put w7 on my inspiron 1525… went to bed…. woke up to this nightmare… i thought i was a goner… thanks a bunch
about 1 month ago
Seriously, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I was about to take my laptop to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I just got the new iPhone and it was basically a $200 piece of useless equipment because I could not sync to iTunes. You saved me money and a lot of trouble. I really just can’t thank you enough! Gotta love the internet and what it has done for information sharing!!!
about 1 month ago
I agree on the internet sharing thing. Not only that, but I’ve had to revisit my bag of tricks that I’ve posted here on several occasions. Glad it worked and thanks for the comment! It means a lot to hear back from people.
–Ben
about 3 weeks ago
THANK YOU!!! We thought we had a useless laoptop and were going to have to pay hundreds for a computer geek to “fix” it. You saved us!!
about 3 weeks ago
I reinstalled the operating system 3 different times each time my 13 year old accidentally hit the MEdia Direct button! What a frickin idiot I am! Thank you for this article!
about 3 weeks ago
Apparently you’re in good company, because you’re not the only one that had this issue (including me). Just look at the comments.
–Ben
about 1 week ago
Oh my gosh thank you for that blog! I thought my computer had crashed or got hacked into! Thanks again, your a life saver.:)