W10 issues - upgrade or automatic repair loop?

Hello,

About two weeks ago I upgraded my Windows 7 to Windows 10. Overall it seemed like the upgrade had worked well. However, I would sometimes get a 'Something went wrong.. please restart' screen if I booted up the computer, although the PC would work perfectly fine after the restart.

This weekend I noticed that my explorer tab had suddenly stopped working. The only way I could shutdown my PC was through ctrl/alt/del and I was able to click the options there. The next day I couldn't get past the Windows logo and the spinning dots at all, I left my computer on for a couple of hours and it kept being stuck at that screen.

I rebooted and I got into automatic repair. I tried some of the advanced options, but none of them seem to work. The normal repair option didn't offer anything.. I tried to do a system restore but I got an error message in return that I should restart and select something (I end up back in the loop, so it amounts to nothing). I also tried to rollback to Windows 7 but for some reason I am barred from this option as well. In addition I tried to use the command prompt chkdsk, and while it could read the harddrive it could not perform any of the /r /f or /x parameters (did not have access to the volume?).

I guess the only thing I have left is to do a clean install of Windows 10. But I really would like to try and find an alternative solution that does not end in me losing all of my data.

Any help is much appreciated!

Welcome to the forum you can't run chkdsk while the drive is in use boot from DVD go to CMD prompt then run it

Caledon Ken said:

Hi Gravemind

Excellent tutorial on Clean Install here

Windows 10 - Clean Install

Now clean install will delete your data. Since you've moved on to this can we assume you got your data off successfully.


Ken

Sadly, not quite.

I did the advanced options method with the W10 install. Where it would notice I had a version of Windows on that particular drive. Installing over it would move the folders and files to windows.old.

However, I have been looking at 'Installing Windows' --> Copying Windows Files (0%) for about 2 hours now. But it does not seem as if the installation is stuck as I can move my mouse and the close button even lights up as I pass over it. Is it normal for this process to take multiple hours perhaps due to the amount of data on the drive or should I shart over?

Thanks in advance!

Caledon Ken said:

Ouch.

I don't believe it should take that long. Us all being in different times zones can make this a little difficult. I was out teaching seniors today.

If you haven't actually done the install I think the data should still be recoverable. If your data is gone then I would start again and I would delete all the partitions on disk for a nice clean install. I would only do this if I've given up on data.

In the tutorial it mentions have fast boot off and Secure boot off. You did that right.

Hi Caledon! Obviously that is not a problem haha, you guys are doing this to help so for that I am glad already.

I actually cancelled the installation yesterday and after that I couldn't get the boot media to work anymore. At this moment I am considering using my old Windows 7 (official CD, not a burned one) to perhaps install Windows 7 for now.
If I go ahead with the Windows 7 install CD and select the partition (which at the moment has Windows 10) will it be able to overwrite and move my files to windows.old?

Because if so I might revert to Windows 7 in this fashion for now, get the files I need and then consider doing a true clean installation.

Thanks in advance!

Caledon Ken said:

Sorry I can't answer that, that is installing 7 and having Windows old set aside. I would also be concerned that this is Windows, not your data.

Do you have access to another machine with an external dock for your current drive. That is the route I would go. Get data first.

If the disk shows locked in the other system we can deal with that as well.

If you don't have access to another machine but you do have access to a dock and have a disk your data should also be recoverable.

You didn't mention how your storage was configured and what kind of drives you are using. Could you share.


Ken

What do you mean exactly in terms of what kind of storage or drives am I using? Where can I find this? My apologies, I am a total noob at this haha.