Windows 10: Reinstalling corrupted Windows 10 Pro

I got a new custom built PC for my son at Christmas with Windows 10 Pro installed. Last week, after a windows update, it stopped booting and gave the message "cannot find bootable device" in the BIOS. When I contacted the helpline of the company we bought it from, they said this sounded like a Windows corruption problem and I need to reinstall. I made a reinstall disc from the Microsoft site but we couldn't find a sticker with a Windows licence product key on the PC . My question is this, when we do the reinstall, will Windows 10 be able to identify the PC's licence product k

:)

 

[Solved] Windows 10 keeps reinstalling KB3119142

I noticed quite some time ago that KB3119142 (Update for Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable Package) kept reinstalling itself for some reason. At least once daily. Sometimes up to several times a day. I just ignored it. It didn't seem to be doing any harm. And I figured they'd eventually fix it. Well...days turned into weeks, weeks into months, with no end to the problem in sight. It dragged on unsolved for at least the last few months. Literally reinstalling itself hundreds of(at least a hundred, felt like more) times in that period of time.

So I finally googled it a couple days ago. And just got around to fixing it today. Which appears to have worked. And it couldn't have been easier to do. I feel so stupid to have let it intimidate me for so long.*Oops!

Below are links to the thread that I got the fix idea from, and the official MS support info page for KB3119142(from which I quoted the above).
http://www.tenforums.com/windows-up...-windows-10-keeps-reinstalling-kb3119142.html
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3119142

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Most painless way to reinstall windows 10?

It depends on the junk accumulated honestly, but there are various methods. You can always remove programs, delete download folder, media locations, etc. As some have suggested, keeping some items on a separate internal storage drive is an option as well. Depends on what you have, what your budget is and how you want to handle your system and data.

The method @RejZoR suggests is sound and a method I've used dozens if not hundreds of time with great success in the field. In many cases though the goal is to keep user data intact, and to repair the OS. In place upgrade as it is called is also only doable in that method if you can boot to desktop, if you can't, it is time for some more advanced options or a format & reinstall.

With Windows 8 and 10 there are refresh and reset options that can be leveraged as well. Hold Shift and click Restart to reboot your system, this will get you into the advanced boot menu, which you'll need to choose advanced options (I forget ATM what it is called) and choose one of a couple items, refresh or reset.

Refresh is essentially In Place Upgrade but a little more aggressive as it wipes the Windows Apps and you may need to reinstall programs. Reset is like an OS reinstall, wipes user data, wipes profiles, registry, performs a install from the system image. Often times I'll do this and bypass using a USB key on a system. Though there are instances where these options will not work if a system has a level of corruption that has not been repaired/resolved. Check the OS Repair link in my sig for more info if ya need.

*Toast :toast: