Windows 10: I Got this Windows Vista HDD I need to fix the "Boot up" sequence for.

It's in this weird Boot loop of "Repairing hard drive," or "Run as normal," that just reboots back to the beginning Bios Startup every single time, that I'm trying to fix up without reseting the data on it, so I can strenuously upgrade it manually to windows ten. (Yes the computer's hardware can handle it. I just need a ISO all in one that's "Capable," in repairing this boot loop, so I can have the data presented, in my opinion, more professionally for this client, then just drag and dropping in the User's profile manually.) Now this computer's internals have never been officially touched, so going by the sticker at t he front just saying "windows Vista," that's all I have OS wise to work with in terms of repair work. So yeah, any advice would help thanks.

:)

 

windows 10 MBR error 1

Thank you Neil.

 

Changing the boot sequence on W 10

I am running a Dell computer which I upgraded from VISTA to Windows 7 and then to Windows 10. I would like to change the boot sequence. On booting there are a couple notes at the right bottom of the screen indicating "Press F2 to change settings" or
"F12 to change boot sequence". Neither of these work. Is there another way to get into BIOS to change the boot sequence?

 

To find out what's actually on the HDD, try booting from a Recovery Drive USB or Windows 10 install USB. Then use the advanced options to get a Command Prompt. You'll then be able to do a DIR on the HDD to see what files (and dates) it contains.

If you want a more graphical interface, try booting from a Linux Live USB, or for a Windows environment Kyhi's rescue disk: Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk

 

I'll do that in a bit, the important thing is that I can attempt to upgrade the OS safely without affecting the files. After all to be frank, I'm
Not truly caring about restoring it to the Vista it supposedly originally was, I'm trying to see whether or not something like a windows 10 Bootable disk would be able to safely repair the HDD's OS. Windows 10's install disk should accomplish this right?

 

So I've typed in DIR and all I'm getting is the DIR path for the boot drive X: itself, the C: drive I can open through explorer.exe, but otherwise I'm not seeing much.

 

The X: drive is actually a virtual drive, loaded from the boot USB into RAM. The HDD will not be C:, it would have been assigned a different letter. C: is likely to be used for the USB you booted from. You'll have to try DIR for each possible drive letter until you find the HDD. It's likely to be the D: drive, but that's not guaranteed.

If you have problems identifying the letter to use, in the command prompt type DISKPART
When you get the DISKPART prompt, type LIST VOLUME
then type EXIT to leave DISKPART.