Repair Windows 10 start up?

bluegreen1 said:

Yes, Megahertz, that's the machine and also the HDD specs..... It is still now restoring files. I can check on the presence of a USB installation drive once it's operating again. Thank you for the info.

Can't you build the Win10 USB installation drive on the Laptop? All you need is a 8G drive.
Hope you're lucky and it's not a failure on the HDD.

Why didn't you install a small SSD for Windows and programs and use the HDD for data only?

Hope you're lucky and it's not a failure on the HDD.

If the SR fails to complete, checking the drive would be the next step (my post #3).

And I'd do that if it does complete and the PC boots anyway asa a matter of course.

I can't recall a case where SR has been run after an incompletely installed update, so this will be interesting.

bluegreen1 said:

Thank you, dalchina. It DID complete and rebooted, thanks to your kind help! It seems to be running normally.

I don't have the disks you referred to in #3. But I will download and run Crystal Diskinfo which you advised when I get back to that PC. I'll post results when that is accomplished.

(And now I'm wondering about just replacing that HDD with an SSD - maybe even if the HDD is in perfect condition.)

That are good news.

Download extract and run CrystalDiskInfo. It's a portable. Doesn't need to install.

Your Dell has a M.2 slot. With less than US$70 you buy a 1T NVMe drive.

Lucky this time- but the update will be reattempted...

- To take control of that, as you have Pro, use Group Policy and set updates to 'Notify'. A section in the relevant tutorial refers.

Do basic checks including
chdksk c: /scan
if Crystal Diskinfo looks good.

3rd party disk imaging:
Macrium Reflect (free version still available, no updates else paid)
Aomei Backupper free/paid (Chinese)
Hasleo Backup (Chinese, free)
etc..
All provde boot disks. Reviews/threads on tenforums, videos on Youtube.