Why I can't install Windows 10 on the new SSD I installed on my old Dell Inspiron N5110 laptop? // Error code: 0xc000000e

Question

I have an old Dell Inspiron 15R N5110 laptop and I wanted to upgrade it so that it'll be faster and give it to my parents to use - so I didn't want to spend that much. I have found out that the main reason these old laptops are slow, is that they run on HDD and that I should upgrade to an SSD. But since my old laptop didn't have a dedicated SSD slot, I should have replaced my CD/DVD ROM with the new SSD. So I have bought the following for the upgrade from Amazon:

1. An SSD: Silicon Power 128GB SSD 3D NAND A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive (SU128GBSS3A55S25AC)
2. A caddy: Zheino SSD HDD Caddy 12.7mm Aluminum 2nd Hard Disk Drive Caddy Case Adapter for Universal Laptop CD/DVD-ROM Optical Bay (12.7MM)
3. An optical drive case: External USB 3.0 12.7mm SATA Optical Drive Case, Enclosure Case Compatible with 12.7mm SATA Optical CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Drive

Then I proceeded with the hardware upgrade and successfully replaced the CD/DVD ROM with the new SSD and I confirmed that the laptop recognized the SSD being added.

--

Now it was time to install the Windows. I downloaded the Windows 10 x64 .iso file from Microsoft's official servers and used Rufus software to write it on a USB flash drive.

At first, I used these settings in Rufus with GPT enabled and Quick Format unchecked to write the Windows on the flash, but then I got a black dotted screen on my laptop. After a little research, I came across this question on SuperUser and found out that that was possibly an improper display of this screen.

I double-checked my BIOS to make sure if it's UEFI and Secure Boot compatible or not and it didn't have any of those options. So I re-wrote the flash with these settings in Rufus, this time with MBR enabled and Quick Format unchecked again.

I powered on my laptop, pressed F12 to go to Boot Options, chose USB Flash Drive, pressed a key to boot into it, and I saw the Windows 10 installation procedure. I saw my SSD there and I chose it as the destination for the Windows to be installed. Windows was installed successfully on the SSD and my laptop got restarted.

The Problem:

Now the problem is that every time I try to boot into my SSD (which is named after the previous CD/DVD ROM in BIOS Boot Options) I see this blue screen as an error which says:

RECOVERY:

Your PC/Device needs to be repaired

The application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.

File:\WINDOWS\system32\winload.exe
Error code: 0xc000000e

You'll need to use recovery tools. If you don't have any installation media (like a disc or USB device), contact your PC administrator or PC/Device manufacturer.

Press Enter to try again
Press F8 for Startup Settings

I have researched this issue and have tried some of the solutions given, but none of them worked. I am now stuck and cannot run Windows 10 on the new SSD I installed on this laptop.

PS: Things I've Tried

• I've checked if my BIOS is updated to the latest possible version and it seemed to have the latest version which is A11.
• I've found out that if I insert the installation media (USB flash drive), boot to it on Boot Options menu, but don't press any key while it prompts me to do so, I'll be able to bypass that error and boot directly into the Windows 10 like normal. I tested the functionality of Windows with this method and it had no problems at all. The only downside is that I should always have an installation media at hand, and that I should teach my parents this very clunky method.
• I've tried to install Windows 10 on my HDD and it had no issue installing it or running it, this error only appeared while I tried to install the Windows on my new SSD.

Answer 1

Thanks to all the help from the comments under my question, I finally managed to fix the issue successfully. So I'm gonna share what is the exact solution as patkim correctly suggested:

...generally when you install Windows especially as MBR with more than one physical disk present during installation, the MBR / bootloader may get installed in the first Disk (SATA0) even if you select SATA1 disk free space or a partition for installation. Such config might create boot issues. I would recommend keeping only one disk during installation (Preferably at SATA0 which could be the location of the original HDD that came with the laptop, just as @Keltari mentioned), check if everything is ok or not and then proceed with adding another secondary disk.

So basically what I did was that I swapped the SSD with the HDD. I opened my laptop (with the help of this video) and got the HDD from under my motherboard and then put it inside the caddy, then I put the SSD where the HDD was (under the motherboard on my laptop).

This fixed my issue. I hope everyone else who encounters a similar issue finds this solution helpful.