Windows 10: Repair Corrupt Install From Boot Install DVD?

I have a flaky hard drive I think. A seagate barracuda. Wouldn't be the first one.

So I've had repeated problems with my win10 install and i've run disk check and whatever but they're still there.

And today I can't boot into it. I just circle around to Preparing Automatic Repair again and again.

So have a boot win10 dvd and I tried it - trying it now - but it doesn't seem to have any repair options. Or it did have a repair option but in the end it just brought me back to the same place.

What's the best way for me to go about this? I thought there might be a system checker that would just check/replace all the boot files but I don't see it.

I'm not worried about data as such. I can rescue that off the disk I suppose. But the software suite I have on there is pretty extensive. Lots of apps. Hate to have to rebuild all of that.

But realistically is that what I'm going to have to do?

:)

 

Windows 10 Booting and Startup Problems after Draining Battery and "Preparing Automatic Repair" Loop

Hi,

From what you have described it looks like some of the files might be corrupt beyond repair and hence the Automatic repair tool is not able to fix it. In this case, you will need to boot from a Windows 10 disk and perform the repair option so that Windows
can copy a new file from the installation disc to replace the corrupt file. if you don't have the Windows 10 installation media with you, download the media creation tool from the following link to create an installation media:

Windows 10 herunterladen

Once you have created the installation media, boot from the installation media and then perform automatic repair to fix the corrupt files. Let us know the results for further assistance.

 

Windows 10 install problem

My laptop has been stuck at "Upgrading Windows" 40%, installing features and drivers 23% for 24 hours. Anyone know what I can try? I have removed all external devices, reset my wireless a few times, hit various keys and I see no change.

 

Try booting to Kyhi's rescue media.
Run HDTune and check the drive health.
Run CHKDSK on the drive from within File Explorer.
Then open Macrium Reflect and use the FixBoot option.

 

How to use the Command Prompt to fix issues with your PCs boot records | Digital Citizen
Bootrec.exe - The ultimate repair tool for boot problems in Windows

Luckily, My Seagate Barracuda has been working perfectly for over six years.

 

well I'm currently running on another new hard drive I've put in there. next i'm going to want to do is get it to accept my old serial number for win10.

i tried that Kyhi's rescue media - a good thing, I didn't know about it, thanks for that - but it didn't fix things. I couldn't find HDTune on it. But I ran chkdsk and it found a few bad sectors. then i ran the Fixboot option but it didn't fix things enough for the thing to come up. Just kept going into that repair routine again.

I plan to have a go at the Bootrec thing tomorrow but I can't see that it will help if it only fixes the master boot record.

Surely that's okay if it gets as far as running windows troubleshooting and diagnostics and whatever?

 

HD Tune website

I'm afraid we can't say for sure.

 

If the system had Windows 10 on it, and activated, you don't need to input any keycode for subsequent installs. The digital license resides on the MS servers, and it will activate once connected to the net. Just make sure you install the same version (Home or Pro), or you will have activation issues.

 

Well that's good. Yesterday it had some notice about activate. Today it doesn't. Maybe it has activated.

I have another machine with win10 on it that i want to swap motherboards on. Because it is on an old D945 and beginning to fail I think. It was a win7 machine got upgraded for free. My first win10 'test'. Will they let me do that?

Thanks for the HDTune link. I'll put the drive back in and test it. This new screen is unreal. Three icons. I had over a hundred - everything from video/audio editing to stats analysis via programming languages..... that's really 'my computer' to me, the personal 'software suite' that I put up.

Major hassle every time a drive goes down. I think I need perhaps to move into disk mirroring or something, have a copy available at all times...

p.s. not to mention my voluminous list of bookmarked sites... i think that's recoverable though, somehow, from firefox, isn't it? moveable to another machine...

 

You can see if it is activated in Settings > Update & security > Activation

The digital licence is tied to a unique ID derived from the hardware of the PC. Some parts can be changed, notably the HDD, without changing the hardware ID. The motherboard is probably a step too far, activation won't happen automatically. A significant hardware change is one of the things the Activation Troubleshooter was designed for.
Use Activation Troubleshooter in Windows 10

 

Thank you for that. A quick look and it seems very hopeful. Lot of reading though. I've downloaded it and will get into it later when I've the time.

thanks again. *Smile

p.s. there's some kind of problem with activation but before i can read it and do anything the screen disappears.....

p.p.s. ah.. got there.. i went to 'change product key' and entered it and now it tells me it can't activate with that key 'go to settings' for more information but in settings it doesn't tell me any more than that....

 

Why are you entering a product key? If this machine has run Windows 10 before it has a digital licence on Microsoft's activation servers. That should automatically activate without the need for a key.

How did you put Windows onto this new hard disk? If you did a clean install, when you got to the 'enter key' page you should have just skipped entering a key and clicked 'I don't have one'. As soon as it could contact the activation servers it should have activated automatically - as long as you installed the same edition (Home or Pro) as you had before. The digital licence is only valid for one edition, you have to install the right one.

 

For the future, you might want to think about making regular images with Macrium Reflect Free. That way, if a drive goes, you're just an image away from being back in business.
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials

Also, HDSentinel is great for watching your HDD health for you.
Hard Disk Sentinel - HDD health and temperature monitoring

p.s. Regular imaging will also help protect against infections and ransomware, whereas RAID will just copy problems and be no help at all in those scenarios.

 

I'm inputting the key in a forlorn hope of getting it to work manually where it wouldn't work automatically.

I did a clean install on a new hard drive. I don't remember saying 'i don't have one' but yes, I didn't enter one.

It was working fine before, activated, all fine. I don't know....

Yes, once I get going I'll do that Macrium Reflect thing, for sure. thanks for that.

 

You didn't change anything in the system except the drive? And the system was activated before? Have you tried the activation troubleshooter?