Windows 10: Reset Windows 10

No harm. At worst, you'll have to clean install.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html

 

I hate to tag along with the rest and beat a dead horse but I'm about to perform a Reset on my Windows 10 Pro (upgraded from Windows 7 Ultimate).

Here's my machine:

1x 120 GB SSD Hard Drive (Currently my System Drive, C
3x 1TB Hard Drives (D:, E:, F

I'm currently using Drive E: to act as my Documents/Photos and some apps drive, Drive D: is all apps/applications/games, and Drive F: as utility. I'm hoping to move the My Documents folder to drive F: and then perform a reset.

A few questions:

1) Since my Windows 10 is already activated, can I perform a clean install from a disc instead of a simple reset? (I'm seeing conflicting answers regarding this. Some say yes, some say no.)

2) If I perform the reset, will all the files on all the drives be erased including the ones I moved to Drive F?

3) Will Windows 10 still try to use my old Windows 7 directory names after the reset? (I noticed that I had a D:\Paul directory made and many times when I tried to save it would go there instead of D:\Users\Paul from my Windows 7 installation)

4) Will this finally resolve the insane problem of Cortana not working? (I managed to get it to work one time, then made a new profile, and never got it again...This even following the "guide" of deleting the appropriate registry key too :/)

I appreciate any and all advice?

 

Hello retched, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

I would recommend to wait until after you reset before moving any folders since a reset would just reset them back to their default locations anyway.

As for Cortana, it should normally fix it, but it also depends on what was wrong.

 

As for Cortana, I managed to log into it completely one time. Then after a while the entire Start Menu wasn't responding in regards to opening up (no Cortana, no program menu, nothing). So I then created a new profile and transferred just my files to it. But when I tried to log into Cortana via MS Login, it just sits there and loops. After several minutes, nothing happens and I have to restart the process. Hence me trying to reset the files.

 

A reset should sort it then. *Smile

 

Fair enough, can I at least copy my personal files to one of the other drives for backup?

 

Yes, you sure can. *Smile

 

Okay, so now I have the problem that I started the Reset process, it wont complete it. I started the reset process in Windows and it told me that Windows cannot continue. I inserted the backup disc Windows 10 disc I made and Windows is telling me in setup that it cannot continue to reset my PC. It shows me the error message "Windows cannot find the required partitions." Additionally when I try to continue to Windows, it just locks up to a black screen.

Additionally, I went ahead and try to use "Repair Startup" option but again Windows said it couldn't do that.

My question is now, can I still do the clean install or is my machine dead?

 

In that case, it may be best to just do a clean install at boot instead.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html

 

I'm on that now. Just when it asks for a product key, should I skip it or type in my Windows 7 key?

Sorry, just read the instructions. Thanks for the help and sorryif you've had to answer this question like nine trillion times.

 

No problem Yeah, you would want to skip it. *Smile

 

And just to make sure... do I need to reinstall Windows 7 then perform that upgrade to Windows 10. Or can I perform the clean install straight to Windows 10?

And to answer, my Windows 10 Pro was declared activated before this. (Activation server is acting wonky and not activating... Even though I know I created a Windows 10 Professional ISO using the Media Creation tool from Microsoft and right now its reading as Windows 10 Home.)

Better answer: Don't rely on Microsoft Chat Support! If you have a fully activated Windows and you reinstall Windows 10 to an unactivated state, if you have access to the internet you can claim your upgrade/activation from the Windows Store. Simply click on the button "Go To Store" on the Activation window page and there will be a button there that talks about upgrading. When you click that, the store will ask you to log into your Microsoft Account. If successful, and the store finds your upgrade, it will let you claim the upgrade and will restart Windows into an activated state. This applies even if your Windows 10 installs as Windows 10 Home and you in fact have Windows 10 Professional. (This is what happened to me.)

The Microsoft chat support didn't bother to look that fact up.

 

So I had a problem with my computer. It would say something along the line of Nvcpl.dll access denied. I was unable to open anything only folders and all my programs had white icons. I decided to uninstall Nvidia drivers and reinstall them since the dll file was part of the Nvidia drivers. After uninstalling the drivers it kept failing to reinstall them and now no message showed up when my computer turned on but I was still unable to do anything but open folders. I then decided to rest my computer with the Windows 10 reset option. Upon the reset while keeping my files it is just stuck. It seems to be the screen where you login but I have no clue I am able to move my mouse around but cant do anything other than check my internet connection. I even tried CTRL ALT DEL with no luck. Can someone please help me I need to use my computer for school. Thank you

 

Hello TdotFlame, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

If you select "Keep my files", then you would be refreshing Windows 10 instead of resetting it.

Refresh Windows 10

If you still have hard drive activity, then it's best to let it sit until finished. Otherwise, you could try doing a hard reboot (press and hold power button until the PC powers off and press power button again to turn on) to see if it may pick up where it left off.

 

I have turned it off and back on multiple times with it still stuck on that screen
http://oi67.tinypic.com/wv8me8.jpg