Windows 10: Major Windows 10 Problems

This all started happening today and I have no idea why. I am able to run my programs and open files on my desktop like images and such but "internally" I am having major problems.

Here's a list of everything that has happened.

•For files on my desktop, I am unable to right click and go into properties. Clicking on properties does nothing.

•Going into This PC displays a message that says: Working on it... The green bar on top loads but it never finishes. Its pretty much stuck on an endless loop. I literally can't even view my C folder. Sometimes the sidebar for all my folders and such don't even show up. This is what it looks like:






•I am unable to search for programs on the start menu. Normally if I typed in Steam, it would bring up the Steam app as the first thing. Now the first thing that shows up is to search for Steam on the web. This happens with all my other programs as well (Photoshop, After Effects). A few programs work like Chrome but underneath it says: Run command.

•Running SFC in CMD brings up this message after its done.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

•Occasionally my desktop will refresh on its own (or I refresh it) and all my desktop file icons become that blank sheet. Hitting refresh normally fixes this but this never used to happen.

•Going into Control Panel brings up this page:




It's pretty much a blank page. There's nothing for me to click.

•Going into settings → Windows Update brings up this whenever I look for an update:
There were some problems installing updates, but we'll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0xc80003fa)

All of this happened just now. It was fine yesterday. I keep my PC extremely clean and safe. I do not download anything suspicious or go any sketchy sites at all. I have no clue how any of my files can get corrupted overnight when I was doing nothing. I am in desperate need of help. I have restarted my PC countless times and restarted explorer.exe many times as well.

:)

 

problems with windows 10 and google chrome

since loading windows 10 i have seen a number of frustrating issues when using google chrome which i have never had before. The most frustrating of these (i have a touch screen laptop) is if i drag the cursor over the screen it resizes either larger or
smaller which is not what i want. Not a techie so whilst i have tried to fix it looking at other issues i have still not been successful - any ideas how i can fix this please?

 

Computer shows blue screen and tells me that atikmdag.sys failed.

Windows 10 stops my computer and then gives me a blue screen. tells me that my atikmdag.sys failed. Have tried MS help but still have this problem. Any suggestion besides throwing away this computer?

 

Hello, given your extensive range of symptoms I suggest this an in-place upgrade repair install.

Precede it with this in case sthg has happened to your file system:

From an admin command prompt
[Windows key + X, click command prompt (admin)]
chkdsk C: /F
Your PC will need to restart.
Make sure the result is clear or fixed- else do not proceed.
Post back the result, which you can get after a restart as follows:
How do I see the results of a CHKDSK that ran on boot? - Ask Leo!

An In-place upgrade repair install will fix many things, but not those where the settings are not changed by the procedure.

For this you need an installation medium with the same base build as you have installed, and x64 if you have a 64 bits OS, else x86 (32 bits).

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Windows 10 Forums
- this includes a link from which you can obtain Windows 10 iso file (" download a Windows 10 ISO"), or create a bootable medium.

I would recommend creating the bootable medium, as this can be used
- for any future in-place upgrade repair install
- to boot from and use its recovery options should Windows become unbootable.
- to clean install Windows

This will refresh Windows, after the manner of a Windows installation.
- all/most associations will be unchanged
- all your programs will be left installed
- you will lose any custom fonts
- you will lose any customised system icons
- you may need to re-establish your Wi-Fi connection
- you will need to redo Windows updates subsequent to the build you have used for the repair install
- Windows.old will be created
- system restore will be turned off- you should turn it on again and I recommend you manually schedule a daily restore point.
- you will need to redo any language downloads including the display language if you changed that)
- inactive title bar colouring (if used) will be reset to default
- if Qttabbar is installed, you need to re-enable it in explorer (Options, check Qttabbar)
This is one of the better features of Win10: as each major build comes out, that's your updated reference build, and as updates are mostly cumulative, there will be few to do.

Recommendation:
Before you perform this major repair procedure, do create a disk image.

Please consider using disk imaging regularly. It's a brilliant way to
- preserve your system (and your sanity)
- back up your data
- restore your system to a previously working state in a relatively short time

Recommended: Macrium Reflect (free/commercial) + boot disk/device + large enough external storage medium.

 

@dalchina

Thanks a lot for that. Just to clarify, all of my programs and files will still be there right? I do not want to lose any of my work because I have a lot of it.

 

I quote:
This will refresh Windows, after the manner of a Windows installation.
- all/most associations will be unchanged
- all your programs will be left installed
- you will lose any custom fonts
- you will lose any customised system icons

No personal data should be affected.

+ do use disk images which form a full backup and let you restore your previous state quickly should sthg go wrong.

I have used this several times.

 

I would recommend to do an "System Image" before you proceed with In-place Upgrade.
You find the Windows System Image Utiliy und Control Panel>File History>System Image Backup. There also you can Create a Bootable Disk.
When the System Image is finished, I think Windows is asking you for to Create a Boot USB Disk.

 

I know I'm repeating what's already been mentioned but I've run into many situations in which it wasn't done
Create a system image and appropriate recovery media. Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

After completing everything and the computer runs the way you want it, create a "pristine" system image.

 

@Adalwar @MeAndMyComputer
Using a 3rd party disk imaging solution is more reliable. That's the general view here.
I've already said

Recommendation:
Before you perform this major repair procedure, do create a disk image.

Just wondering if you understood what that is... there are plenty of reports here of people being unable to restore these.. problems with Windows Backup and Restore (Windows 7).

@Adalwar - there's no point suggesting creating a system image (via Windows Backup and Restore (Windows 7) as well as using disk imaging - which as I've said is preferred.

 

@dalchina - I think it is very good from you to point out other possibilities of "imaging", at least people have a "choice". I like that.
For me, Windows Imaging is working very good and is very easy to use, very good for inexperienced users.
Macricum you need to Download it a large file (500MB?), second people need to learn how to use it and if people are choosing the wrong option , at the end will have no usable System Image as such. Besides this, it involves writing Boot of Windows.
I agree that is very good, and very fast. People must decide on their own.

 

Yes, agreed, but the choice must be informed. The information is that Windows Backup and Restore has been found to be problematic and buggy by a number of people (reported here) and Macrium has been consistently found to be better.

What one doesn't want is not to be able to restore an image when one needs to.

Testing a number of these and comparing them is very time consuming, and not sthg each individual should be expected to undertake.

 

So then which is the better option for beginners?

From what I understand, both options work (yours and @Adalwar) but Adalwar's seems to be the most beginner friendly.

 

The latest Macrium Reflect Free installer is ~45 MB.

The WAIK or WADK downloads required to create the Macrium Recovery disc are much larger (up to ~1.7 GB).

 

@Alphaheat in my post #6 I was just trying to ensure creating a system image backup with it's appropriate rescue media. I would like to add the following: once you create a system image backup and it's rescue media, test it out to ensure it works. Then have a schedule that suits you to keep them up either automatically or manually: as a simple computer user I do mine manually on a monthly basis.

 

Yeah I never bothered to create a system image back up.

I ended up doing a clean install of Windows 10 so its like starting on a fresh slate.

From now on, I'll do monthly system image back ups. It should save me the trouble if something goes wrong again.

Now I just need to find a really good program that does it. Many people have said 3rd party programs are better and more reliable. A few people above me suggested some so I'll check those out.