PC needs to be repaired.

Hi, I understand from that you can't now boot.

That means you can't use repairs such as an in-place upgrade repair install.

I'm going to guess you haven't been using disk imaging regularly and routinely as is endlessly recommended here. Had you been doing so, you could have restored a previously created disk image and be back as was when you created it in an hour or so. e.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + external storage for image files. Also acts as a full backup and more.

Without that, you face this predicament.

-How do I open file explorer in WinRE cmd?

You can create and boot your PC from one of the several free live boot disks available. If you dont already have one, you will need access to a working PC to do that. (Google: e.g. Hiren's, Kyhi's, Bob Omb's....)

That will allow you to then use file explorer and the many tools provided by that live boot disk.

If you don't have backups already you then have a chance of retrieving files from your system disk.

-How do I use this bootable USB?
-Does the USB have to be empty for bootable USB?

Presumably you're referring to a Win 10 bootable installation disk.

This can be used
a. to access elementary repair features
b. to clean install Win 10
c. if you can log in (which you can't) to perform an in-place upgrade repair install.

Creation: MS media creation tool - directly writes to the disk.
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

Clean install using it:
Clean Install Windows 10

- from the huge Tutorial section - which you're free to browse and search.

Booting from a bootable disk:
Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC

dalchina said:

Hi, I understand from that you can't now boot.

That means you can't use repairs such as an in-place upgrade repair install.

I'm going to guess you haven't been using disk imaging regularly and routinely as is endlessly recommended here. Had you been doing so, you could have restored a previously created disk image and be back as was when you created it in an hour or so. e.g. Macrium Reflect (free) + external storage for image files. Also acts as a full backup and more.

Without that, you face this predicament.


You can create and boot your PC from one of the several free live boot disks available. If you dont already have one, you will need access to a working PC to do that. (Google: e.g. Hiren's, Kyhi's, Bob Omb's....)

That will allow you to then use file explorer and the many tools provided by that live boot disk.

If you don't have backups already you then have a chance of retrieving files from your system disk.


Presumably you're referring to a Win 10 bootable installation disk.

This can be used
a. to access elementary repair features
b. to clean install Win 10
c. if you can log in (which you can't) to perform an in-place upgrade repair install.

Creation: MS media creation tool - directly writes to the disk.
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

Clean install using it:
Clean Install Windows 10

- from the huge Tutorial section - which you're free to browse and search.

Booting from a bootable disk:
Boot from USB Drive on Windows 10 PC

Hi, thanks for the answer. So the only solution is by that USB or reinstall eh? What about the WinToUSB? And should the USB used for boot be empty?

I will try to use Macrium Reflect.

It sounds like your only option is to rescue anything you need not backed up and then clean install.

Note: One way to ensure you haven't overlooked any files is to create a disk image of your failed O/S - just Windows partition - and any other data partition on your system disk. Then everything's available after the clean install.

I would also strongly recommend you check your system disk using a tool on the live boot disk before spending time on the clean install. E.g. Crystal Diskinfo (portable version also available)

And should the USB used for boot be empty?

If you didn't use the easy method (MS media creation tool) you could use one of the others and retain a partition on it. E.g. bootable USB drives can be created supporting multiple tools.

Once you boot to the recovery disk, you should replace the current copy of wdboot.sys with a known good working copy from the manufacturer or another reputable source. When booted to WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) be warned that your drive letter assignments will probably change. So make sure you figure out which drive letter maps to what's normally C: on your system when running and working properly. If that doesn't work, you may need to use DISM or RAPR (DriverStore Explorer, a GitHub project) to replace the driver in the offline image on what is normally your C: drive instead...
HTH,
--Ed--