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 2 years 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 2 years 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 2 years ago
Meny thanks for this, thought i would have to totally reinstall windows!!!! UNTILL i found your post, thanks again
about 2 years 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 2 years 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago
I am just finishing factory restore
about 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago
Unreal. You’d think they’d be aware of this problem. Glad it worked out!
–Ben
about 1 year 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 1 year ago
Re my last message. Full file name as shown should be: \system32\ntoskrnl.exe.
about 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 year 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 year 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 year 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 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 year 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.:)
about 1 year ago
Hi,
I have E1505 laptop. I accidentally pressed the media direct button when the system is OFF. When i ON the system, it is starting in media direct screen. System is rebooting with media direct when i shutdown the system. Now i am removing the battery to close the system due to rebooting loop.
Note that, I didn’t installed the media direct software on system.
I have shown to laptop service (local). They are not able to resolve the issue.
I have tried below methods to resolve the methods.
1) I have tried to reboot the system with media direct repair utility. And, went to MD2 folder and gave the REPAIRE command. It wasn’t resolved the issue.
2) Used FDISK with option /MBR. It is also not fixed the issue.
3) Used FDISK to repartition the HDD. It is also not resolved the issue.
4) Used KILLDISK utility to make low-level-format. It is also not resolved the issue.
Also, i have searched the internet and didn’t found the resolution to my problem.
PLEASE HELP ME TO START MY LATOP WITHOUT MEDIA DIRECT. It looks like i need to buy another laptop if we pressed the media direct accidentally.
I have also posted in DELL community. But no response.
about 1 year ago
Siva,
Sorry about the slow response. Life has been hectic here. Try pushing the media direct button again when the laptop is off. It switches which disk will boot.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
THANK YOU!!! I accidentally hit that button this morning and could not figure out how to get back to XP. You think they would make it easier. Thanks again.
about 1 year ago
No Problem. I totally agree that they should make it easier. But at least you’re in good company, as it appears by the number of comments.
about 1 year ago
Thank you so much! I’m in IT and a client just phoned with this problem. I searched for Dell Media Direct in Google and came up with this page. I had something for him to try before he finished telling me his whole story of not booting up. Our total conversation length was 3 minutes 23 seconds! He was impressed with our service and that’s all thanks to you! Thanks again! I hit a home run on this problem!
about 1 year ago
Awesome! IT support always seems to get calls when things go negative. You all work so hard that I’m glad we could make one go great!
–Ben
about 1 year ago
OH MY GOSH!! Thanks thanks thanks!! i was ready to reinstall AAAALLLLL!!!
: )
Blessings,
John
about 1 year ago
I know the feeling. Glad I could help. We actually now have a decree that we cannot buy dells at our office because of poor service.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
LOL, thanks! Almost wish it had been a bit more difficult, as I can’t bring myself to charge the customer whose computer I was repairing for pressing the Home button!
about 1 year ago
Thank you sooooo much my 15 month old hit the button! I thought to myself omg this is the end!lol But that was so simlpe thank you!
about 1 year ago
Thank you so much!! Pressing that button had a magical effect!
Thanks so much for sharing!
about 1 year ago
Thank you very much. My daughter called me in an almost panic about her Dell Laptop. I was suggesting she take it in to a repair shop when I found your solution. It worked, obviously. And she asked me “Why would they [Dell] have a button that did that [stop Windows from loading]?”
about 1 year ago
Glad it worked. With the number of comments and traffic I get, I wonder how many people actually pay to get it fixed. I know we considered it at work.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!
about 1 year ago
thank you so much, that was a nightmare!
about 1 year ago
I Cant Boot
Media DIrect Has error When It Start
I Cant Turn It Off Because Of The error
I CAnt Format It Because It Has An Registry Error
I cant Clean That Registry Error Because Media Direct Is The First One Who Boots
about 1 year ago
I Cant Boot, Media DIrect Has error When It Start, I Cant,Turn It Off Because Of The error, I CAnt Format It , Because It Has An Registry Error
I cant Clean That Registry Error Because Media Direct Is The First One Who Boots
about 1 year ago
I know loads of people have said this already, but thank you so much!!!! I actually replaced the “broken” laptop about a year ago and left it on the top of my wardrobe, waiting to be repaired. My mum said that she will take it in the PC shop soon so I thought I’d try to fix it myself. At least she has a laptop now, LOL. I seriously can’t believe how easy it is to fix it…
about 1 year ago
Having some serious issues with our Inspiron 1420 and you seem like a lifesaver. We let the battery on the computer run down, when my husband went to plug it in, we could not get the computer back on. Unplugged it, took the battery out for a little, battery back in and booted up. All we can get now is the Media Direct stuff. When we try to exit, it acts like it is Exiting Windows, shuts down and boots Media Direct back up again. We have tried turning off, hitting the media direct button and then turning back on again — and the computer will not turn on until we remove the battery again. We can’t even get into the Start Menu to do a system restore and our manual says if we do a restore via our Windows Vista disks, we may lose all of our personal data. Any ideas???
about 1 year ago
First off, the media direct button should act like a power button. If you hit the media direct button, you should see your computer start working without actually hitting the power button.
If the media direct button does not cause your computer to start, you have more serious issues. You will want to find a friend that can take out your hard drive and connect it to another computer to save your files. You may be to a point that you have to reinstall windows. The good news is that you probably haven’t lost any files, yet. Don’t do anything drastic until you get your stuff backed up.
If you don’t have a friend that is computer savvy, find an independent computer shop to help you out. I hold little trust in big box store squads and such.
I wish I could help more, but without seeing pictures or errors, I’m flying blind.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
Hi,
I am having the same issue of Dell MediaDirect looping, but i’m not sure if it is the same as everyone else?! I can’t actually turn off my computer to try and start it only using the “Dell MediaDirect” button. To switch the computer off, I take out the battery and unplug the power cord. If I connect it or put the battery back in, it automatically starts and begins loading Dell MediaDirect without me pressing any buttons at all? Is there a solution? am I missing something? Any help would be of assistance.
PS. I am running an Dell Insperon 6400 laptop with XP
about 1 year ago
Minh,
As I’m flying blind without seeing your computer, I may miss something. My best guess:
You either need to go into BIOS (that delete key or F1/F10 key on startup) and disable automatic booting on power failure/on, OR you might have a stuck power button or broken power button. Start with the BIOS, otherwise you’ll have to open your laptop to see about the button.
I did a dell with a broken power daughterboard that did some strange power on things. My friend soldered the broken traces for me. My mother-in-law still uses that computer.
Hope that helps.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
Hi, I’m going to post this for the sake that not only you helped me you also helped others with this issue.
Around 6 months ago, my computer had overheat issues so it will suddenly reboot without any advices, combined with the Media Direct that won’t let windows boot; a complete mess. I told my dad to take it to someone to fix it, results: My laptop kept rebooting! As a last resort, I google’d for help, and there it was the simplest solution: cleaning the fans. I did that and never happened again.
Today, I turn on my laptop and there it was the Media Direct, I was about to look for the Windows Vista disc to reinstall the system, but I was afraid of losing all the files, so I google’d again and I couldn’t believe it, a single button was keeping me from booting Windows. As I couldn’t believe it myself and tried and it worked!
Thanks for posting, I didn’t have to take my laptop to an engineer to repair it, google is your friend and with that I fixed my laptop all by myself!
Thanks a lot.
about 1 year ago
Thanks for sharing! Its pretty amazing how much dust and grime is attracted to the insides of a computer.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
Thank you so much!!! I was just about ready to go opening up the laptop so I could take out the hard drive to move my files to a different computer because I had googled this to death and I decided one more look couldnt hurt.
Thank god I found this post!!! Saved me no end of bother. Last Dell I ever buy after scaring me like that
Thanks again
about 1 year ago
Glad it saved you some time. Now we just need a way to disable that button.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
Just used your fix and it worked GREAT! Thanks. I too tried to contact Dell and they want money to tell you something due to expired warranty. Glad I found your post before taking it to our local computer tech guy. It cost $100 every time you go there.
about 1 year ago
Glad it worked. I can’t believe that dell wants to charge for that info. No wonder they appear to be falling from grace.
–Ben
about 1 year ago
OMG thank goodness for your website, was about to do a full re-install!! You saved me many hours of headaches and dissapointment of losing my files!!
Finally found out my grandson pushed the little house button …. and Dell’s solution was to reinstall. Crazy and poor service!!
You have helped many a people and Dell should be thanking YOU!!
about 11 months ago
OH MY GOD! I have been without my computer for a week, searching the internet for ANY helpful tips on how to make my computer work again… I stepped away from my laptop and my roommate’s cat jumped up and pressed the BUTTON FROM HELL and BOOM…
I’ve even talked to computer specialists at my school and no one knew for sure what to do aside from wiping the drive clean…
This SAVED me so MUCH!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!
I’ll be sure to share this with everyone I know who has a Dell!
Who would have guessed it was such a SIMPLE fix?!?!
about 11 months ago
Thanks so much for posting this. I think it’s pretty telling that if you search for Dell Media Direct your post is the 5th hit. I Googled exactly that after my dad experienced this problem on his Vostro 1500 laptop. Powered off, hit the home button, problem solved! This “feature”, I would imagine, has caused people many headaches and probably cost many people lots of money to “fix” it. Dell Media Direct is a monstrous user experience failure.
about 11 months ago
OMFG thank you so much. I’m a college senior, mom of two small children, 10 days away from a PhD interview. I have files on my machine that are flat-out irreplaceable. I also use my laptop to take notes in class, as I have nerve damage that makes writing with a pen near-on impossible. You, sir, have saved my morning. Thank you!!!!!!
about 11 months ago
Thanks a lot mate. I felt like throwing my pc at a brick wall and buy a new one, however your blog saved me from doing so. Cheers
about 11 months ago
Thanks for sharing this information- you saved me quite possibly hours of frustration! This is why I love the Internet:)
about 11 months ago
OMG Thank you so much! I was about to lose my mind.
about 11 months ago
The Dell media screen started coming on when I tried to boot it up last night. I honestly thought I had gotten a virus and would need to replace the whole laptop (and considering I’m a writer, photographer and music buff, I’m sure you can imagine the amount of stuff on my harddrive I was at risk of losing).
I came across this site today and tried what you had written. It worked!! I couldn’t believe how easy of a fix it was.
THANK YOU. A million times over. You saved months worth of work and a good bit of headache and time by posting this.
Take care!
about 11 months ago
Thank you so much! I was stuck in the world of Dell Media Direct and tried everything but could not get out! When I was about to give up I stumbled onto your site and it was so simple. Thank you a hundred times over!
about 10 months ago
Thank you, thank you and thank you. Ah, did I mention thank you!
I came home to a less then happy family member, and they were totally devestated thinking all their computer related files had been lost and their computer had be hacked, etc.
I started Googling, and look what I found… your blog!!! Awesome, did the rediculously simply suggestion and the computer rebooted normally! Unreal!
Side note, perhaps get a GoogleAdSense Account and put some Google Ads on your website, I’d love to be able to support your site! Plus, with all the traffic you must get, surely you can find a nice little extra revenue with the ad clicks! Just a suggestion, because you really, really, really saved the day here! ; )
about 10 months ago
Solution of dell medis direct stuck in loop
1)Press On/Off Button
2)Immediately Press F8 and keep Pressed.
3)select Reboot.
4)Computer will reboot.Keep F12 Pressed.
5)Select Boot Option:
6)Enter CD/DVD ..install clean copy
about 10 months ago
Thank you so much for this – I think my face went white when I started my computer this afternoon. Cannot remember pressing that button but did shut down the lid on my laptop yesterday before it had finished shutting down – maybe that was what did it..?
about 10 months ago
I followed the steps and I still have the problem. Dell media direct keeps coming up when turn on the computer and it won’t allow me to boot windows… Do you have any other solutions ?
about 10 months ago
Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!
about 10 months ago
Why does Dell even have that button, it just their to give us normal people heart attacks when accidently pressed. Any-who, thanks a lot Ben. If it wasn’t for this post, I would of spent 2 hours trying to reach Dell Tech Support