Windows 10: Windows 10 update, Nvidia Update, Automatic Repair loop

slartybart just pointed out that if your windows 10 install was activated, then you can now do a clean install of windows 10 and therefore will not need to worry about windows 7 anymore......if you are unsure if windows 10 was activated, I am unsure how you can check.....hopefully you will know.....good luck

 

Quick question though - my windows was on a SSD drive separate from my D: drive where all files were kept - will clean install to SSD lose the files on D?

My copy of Win 10 was registered as far as I know as was done by download through Microsoft update.

And cheers for all the help.

 

The installed drive doesn't matter - HDD or SSD, what matters is that the upgrade was activated - that's the only way a Clean install will succeed. If it wasn't, you'll have to start from scratch with your base OS and then upgrade to get Win10 activated. Not difficult if you have backups, but it is time consuming.

Here's how you can get the best Clean install - read the tutorial I linked ... including all of the colored boxes - they are very important and people tend to skip over them - don't know why *Wink

If you skim you'll miss the part that says : disconnect all drives except the install drive.

Heck that's not even in a box!

You will need the ISO, so get that first. (step 1 in the tut)
The tutorial really covers all of the bases - please read through it and ask questions that are not answered or about steps that are unclear to you. Thanks - members will be here to help if you need it.

Note: programs will have to be re-installed, even if they are on the D: drive. Disconnecting the drive prevents the install from doing anything with the drive, so yes, your data will be safe.

 

I dont know if this will help but, if you do have an USB try using this link; (Windows 10) and install it to your USB then connect it to the pc, afterwards, if you do not have anything that needs to be saved, eg. Special folders, documents and more. It worked for me had the same problem tho but my couldnt go back to win 8 pro, I find win10 pro even better! *Wink
Hope all goes well my friend! *Smile
Regards,
Gabriel

 

Thanks to everyone for their help.

I finally managed to clean install Win 10 from USB and thankfully only had to format 1 partition of my SSD so no data loss. In fact, cleaned up the boot sector...hheehehe.

The installation found my key no problems and was a happy end to stressful experience. Really cannot believe huge companies such as Microsoft and Nvidia cannot work together on something like this - I nearly lost all my data over a graphics driver. A poxy driver....think on that!

All helpers here were excellent and helped focus the mind when i felt like giving up! Cheers *Cool

 

so good when there is a happy ending....I actually prefer 10 to 7, just hate the datamining and compulsory updates, even if you just had the choice on drivers it would help enormously.....MS far too big like Google Apple etc. all think they own the world and do with us as they please.....oh well as Esther Rantzen used to say " that's life"

 

You're welcome and I'm glad you got it sorted.

Everything always works out in the end, if it hasn't worked out yet ... it cannot be the end *Wink

Bill

 

There is a way to tell Windows 10 to not install Driver Updates:

Device Driver Automatic Installation - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

I'd have this same issue with NVidia drivers from XP through 8, I had always been able to mark those updates as "hidden" and therefore avoid installing them. Best thing to do is to Defer your updates (you can set that in advanced update settings) so it won't install any updates until you tell it, then keep your GeForce driver site bookmarked, check it often and install those drivers first before Windows can load their incorrect versions.

I've never had issues with any other drivers, only NVidia/GeForce.