BSOD with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE after migrating system drive to new storage hardware

The problem: System crashes with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE immediately after cloning or migrating the OS to new storage hardware (such as switching from SATA SSD to NVMe).

Symptoms: System boots normally on the original drive but fails with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE immediately after switching to the new cloned/migrated drive, occurring at the Windows logo or shortly after BIOS handoff.

Likely cause: The boot-critical storage controller driver for the new hardware wasn't loaded in the boot-critical driver set before the migration, since Windows only loads drivers for hardware it detected during installation or previous boots.

Category: Blue Screen / BSOD · Difficulty: Advanced · Windows: Both · Error code: INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

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