Unable to restore from a restore point

I am on Windows 10 v Home v21h1.
I have a couple of problems. I wonder if anybody can help.
1. The system restore does not work. It keeps failing. I tried 3 times. I tried all the solutions proposed on various sites , including Safe Mode. No luck.
2. The CMD ( elevated) command option , does no longer work either.
I am repeatedly getting an error message “ application unable to start correctly ( 0x0000142)” . I already had this problem sometime ago, but I was able to fix it by doing a system restore.
Sometimes other apps won’t start, too, with the same message.
3.I also tried a Windows Reset from the installation/repair CD, with the option of keeping my files and apps. It doesn’t work. It boots straight into Windows, without doing the reset. The Boot priority in the BIOS is correct, though.. I have done it many times.
From the installation/repair CD , I was able to open the CMD screen and I tried the SFC /scannow command. . It won’t work. I get a message that the command cannot be executed because there is a pending repair process(?) and I have to RESTART.

I am really running short of options..
I could do a recovery from an Acronis Drive image. It will work, but I prefer to leave it as a last resort, because the Drive Image is not recent
I wonder how can I fix the System restore. Maybe a virus or corrupted files... It has worked well in the past. I cannot use another restore point because this is the only one.


Thanks as usual

Ittiandro

dalchina said:

First:

- and have you restarted?

Then, given your several issues I suggest you
a. Check your disk, and then your file system.
(Hard Disk Sentinel, download, run; from an admin command prompt run chkdsk c: /scan)

b. If those pass: an in-place upgrade repair install (tutorial available).

These are relatively routine and common steps.

I do wonder how this happened...

Thanks you so much
Yes, I have restarted, but the" pending repair " message keeps coming up when I run rthe CMD from theinstallation/repair CD

I also tried the in-place upgrade repair install you suggested. A good idea, I thought. Didn't know about it. I thought this would solve the problem. Unfortunately, as explained below, it didn’t..
Here is what I did.
Before executing it, I closed all the apps, disconnected the external drives and disabled the BitDefender AV, as suggested. I also ran a preboot scan for rootkits with the Bitdefender Rescue CD. It did find 8 Trojans infecting 34 files.. I cleaned them and then executed the in-place upgrade.
Unfortunately , after running the Setup from the mounted ISO drive and seemingly going through the whole process, at the very end I get a message that the installation failed. Tried twice.
May be I still have rootkits or other malware. I thought I was well protected by the BD AV saystem, rated as the 2nd best AV after Norton, but I am not sure it is entirely reliable.
I cannot explain why, In spite of its impressive defense apparatus, their regular scan never picks up malware, but when I run their PREBOOT Rescue CD ( which they officially discontinued..Why?) , it keeps finding Trojans infestations.
I keep cleaning the malware, but it reappears on the next scan. Always the same Trojans with the same names! I asked their customer service technical desk for explanations. I have an open ticket, but I have been waiting for an answer for one month.

As to the Hard Disk Sentinel, I downloaded it. The rating of the HDD is " EXCELLENT" , with only five bad sectors and five weak sectors. No action needed".
Of course, I'd like to be able to use the CMD option, but it does no longer work..I keep getting messages" App unable to start . Error 0x0000142."
I am really stuck, because there must be something in my system that cannot be fixed, God knows why.
I was thinking that it is perhaps my HDD that is failing. I had it for about 8 years, but so far I never had any issue.
If you have any comments towards a possible solution, I’d appreciate it very much.It would really help if I could do the in-place upgrade repair.

Thanks

Ittiandro

Thanks Dalchina

I'll try to answer your questions point by point

Your Question:
Quote Is this what you are seeing?
How to Fix SFC /SCANNOW There is a System Repair Pending
- when you refer to a 'pending repair'?UNQUOTE
My Answer :
This pending repair warning appears when trying to run the SFC /scannow command on the CMD prompt from the installation/repair CD.
The above link you gave me ( How to Fix SFC /SCANNOW There is a System Repair Pending (4it.com.au) suggests typing the command dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions
before running SFC /scannow.
This DISM.exe …command is not accepted, hence I cannot run sfc /scannow from the CMD prompt on the CD.

Quote Your question:
QUOTE I assume you mean you booted your PC from Win 10 bootable disk, and opened a CMD prompt.
You then say:
when I run the CMD UNQUOTE
My answer:
No. The CMD prompt I am trying to execute ( unsuccessfully) the commands on is not the one from the booted Windows 10, because the CMD prompt cannot be opened here from some reasons. I am talking about the CMD prompt opened from the installation/repair CD.

Your question

QUOTE- do you mean the one spunk referred to?UNQUOTE


Me:
I don’t know what Spunk refers to when he speaks of running the commands from the Recovery Environment. If he means the CMD prompt in Windows 10, it doesn’t work, as I said before..

YOU
Quote Whilst you can try running
chkdsk X: /scan
(change X to be the drive letter for your Windows partition) from that command prompt to check your file system, but that's somewhat trivial.
……How did those trojans get onto your PC? UNQUOTE
ME
Again the Command prompt doesn’t work in my Windows 10.
I don’t know how these Trojans came in. Never happened. I’m very careful and the BD Antivirus should have stopped them.
Either their AV doesn’t work or the Trojans are a glitch on their Rescue CD system and this is why they discontinued it. Maybe they are false positives…It would be nice to hear from BD, but they don’t reply. Maybe this is their weak point.
One final point
I downloaded Disk Genius. The S.M.A.R.T. view report is good except for two warnings : one shows as UNCORRECTABLE SECTOR COUNT, (Current 200, worst 200) , the other is CURRENT PENDING SECTOR COUNT( Current 200, Worst 200). I don’t have a clue about what it means!

Anyway thanks again to you all for trying to help.

Ittiandro

- - - Updated - - -

spunk said:

System Restore is not reliable and many times does not work. The best strategy is to always keep an updated Acronis Drive Image file.
There is a different command to run SFC /scannow from the Recovery Environment.at the x: sources type:
sfc/scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows press enter
But that won't help if your disk has errors/Bad Sectors. As stated, you can download HDD Sentinel and do a Surface Scan, or you can download DiskGenius in my signature, select your disk and choose View SMART information. Which will give you a Quick snapshot of your drives Health. You can also choose View or Repair Bad Sectors, this is the same as doing a Surface Scan on HDD Sentinel. This takes a long time but will give you a map of the Bad Sectors on the drive, if any. If you have more then a couple you need to replace the drive ASAP

Thanks Spunk

what do you mean by running the command from the Recovery Environment? How do I do it? if you mean using the regular Cmd prompt from Windows 10, It doesn't work, for some reasons, as I said earlier.

Thanks

Ittiandro

dalchina said:

I repeat my initial conclusion:
I rather think now you mention trojans etc you're looking at restoring from your disk image.

If you don't already have a full backup you can try to copy off files you need onto a spare disk.
Those would need to be properly scanned before using them.


======================================================
I was actually specifically referring to, as I'd hoped I said clearly, but evidently not,

1. Inserting a Win 10 bootable medium
2. Booting you PC from that
3. Via 'Repair your computer' and advanced startup options to a CMD prompt.


To be 100% clear. I was NOT referring to booting normally to Windows and then by any means trying to open a command prompt.

Yes, I had understood that you are talking about rebooting from the repair CD, I had confirmed that this is what I am doing and I reconfirm it now.




I know. I am trying very hard to get you to identify exactly what the message is that you are seeing.
I gave you an example of the message.
I am asking if that is the message you are seeing, yes or no.

I have the feeling this is going to be too hard to deal with, alas, as it's to hard to establish clear communication and you have too many issues affecting your O/S.

Fair enough. So far, we are at least agreed that I am getting the " pending repair" message when using the CMD prompt from the Repair CD. This is why I cannot run the SFC /scannow command to repair bad sectors, if any, either after regular booting on Windows 10 or while booting from the repair disk.

I do agree that the issue is getting complicated because both the Restore and the in-place upgrade repair don't work.
I f you feel that we should leave it at this now, it is OK and I owe you a big thank for your efforts to help.

.

- - - Updated - - -

spunk said:

This is considered the Recovery Environment. In the RE the drives letters change and the drive with Windows on it is not always C: so any commands to fix Windows must be run from the drive that has Windows on it when you are in the RE. Also commands like SFC /scannow in the RE are run as
sfc/scannow /offbootdir=c:\ /offwindir=c:\windows
When you see the message There is a System Repair Pending You have to restart the computer and start again.
The easiest thing for you would be to do a Clean Install of Windows

Agreed. As a matter of fact I was thinking of creating a 2nd partition on the same HDD where I have the problem with Windows 10 . I'd do a fresh install of Windows 10 on this 2nd partition and then copy on it the files , the folders and the apps of the old ( defective) Windows 10 by using the xcopy command with the CMD app.

Regarding the Rescue Environment question I had asked, I now understand what you mean, This is exactly was I was doing: I was booting from the repair CD with the repair options , trying to use the CMD app to run the SFC /scannow command, but I couldn't execute it because I was getting a message that there was a pending repair and asked to restart. I was going nowhere.

Thanks