Windows 10: Non-booting Windows 10 machine, lots of DISM errors.

I've got a client machine that's come in that won't boot.

During boot, it crashes, with a "CRITICAL PROCESS DIED" message on the blue screen.

This is the second time it's happened in less than a week, and the first time, I was able to walk the end user over the phone through doing a System Restore, which worked. The machine worked fine for a couple of days, then tried to install an update and it happened again.

According to the user, it had just installed an update when it happened the first time, but unfortunately, I don't know _which_ updates, for either the first time, or the second time.

At this point, a System Restore no longer works. There's a Recovery Point, but trying to restore to it fails after a few minutes with a System Restore was unable to complete error.

I ran chkdsk to look for filesystem corruption and bad sectors on the HD from the installed WinPE, and all was fine.

So, now I'm in the WinPE command prompt trying to use DISM to repair it. But, literally every DISM command I've tried has given me an error. I'm not particularly familiar with DISM, since System Restore has progressed by leaps and bounds since XP, where I found it a **** shoot whether it would work or not.

I've tried several commands that should work, according to various support forums, always get errors.
Should I be able to use DISM to fix, or at least access, a Windows 10 install on the hard drive?

I've downloaded the latest USB installer for Windows 10, both x64 and x86, because I assumed something was wrong with the installed version. Booting from this USB hasn't made any difference.

I've tried this command:


DISM.exe /Image:E:\ /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth /Source:d:\x64\sources\install.esd /LimitAccess /scratchdir:E:\scratch


and get


Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.1

Image Version: 10.0.19041.388

Error: 0x800f0801

DISM failed. No operation was performed.
For more information, review the log file.


E: is where C:\Windows for the Windows installation shows up under WinPE. D: is my USB key.

Even running something basic like


dism /image:E:\ /Get-CurrentEdition


gives me the same version and image version numbers, then


Current edition is:

Error: 2

The system cannot find the file specified.




Am I using this utility horribly incorrectly, or is something broken that posting the log file would help with?

Thanks in advance.

:)

 

Windows 10 USB boot

Hi there, am not a windows 10 expert. I have a pc in the bedroom on windows 10, I messed up the bootloader trying to fix the xp on that system.

System wont boot, trying to repair via win 10 usb installer.

Downloaded the media creation tool to install windows 10 installer on usb stick. Not compatible with a host of usb sticks I have. Tried the usb sticks that others use, but I think they use rufus; as the media creation tool by win 10 does not detect the usb stick.

So quick question, the win10 machine i am trying to repair the bootloader is a win7 upgraded to win10.
If i were to use the usb win10 installer to "repair installation" does the version of the iso downloaded via the media creation tool matter?

There is three options:
Windows 10
Windows 10 Home
Windows 10 N

Also is there a step by step instead of using rufus as I want to try an alternative method of creating a usb win 10 installer. Preferably with more compatibility.

System is a asus sabertooth 990 (r2?) with AMD phenom X 6.

Also is there any other software I can load onto the usb that can repair the bootloader easily?
That would be the ideal alternative. Thanks

 

Windows 10 is excellent but it's easy to break.

If you want some good information, here's some good reading that will hopefully be more helpful than I have been:

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/947821
• Use DISM to Repair Windows 10 Image

As I said with Windows 10, the Microsoft Download Tool that most download Windows 10 from, in the Sources folder has an Install.ESD instead of Install.WIM. Well unfortunately, for a successful DISM repair using Install.WIM as the check against which your OS will be repaired isn't possible with the ESD file. But you can convert the ESD to WIM using DISM as well! It takes a little bit of time but is worth it to have around when you need it!

• Change ESD to WIM

I have debated taking the links and instructions I've shared and add them to a dedicated thread...it is handy to be able to repair your OS instead of wiping and reinstalling as many folks had to do in previous times.

 

Use DISM to Repair Windows 10 Image  


Even doing a clean install of Windows 10 gives corrupt files. Dism seems useless in Windows 10 or in it's current build. I've tried all suggested steps and doing a clean install as a last resort and still get Error: 0x800f081f.

So if the official ISO and upgrade from Microsoft is corrupted, how would someone fix this issue? The reason for me using Dism was because I was getting errors using Windows image backup and powershell giving errors, not sure if there's any other issues.