Running Windows 10 Recovery/Reset back to 8 by Mistake

jagsr · 01 Jul 2018

This morning my desktop running windows 10 started having disk errors, very long boot/load times and the "can't sign into your account" problem.

Ran DISM.exe /online /cleanup-image /restore health and sfc /scannow

The checking for disk errors ran several times during various attempts at booting.
Couldn't complete restore to my last good point.

Nothing important on the PC so I gave up and did a system reset (recovery) and it reset to Windows 8

The PC is about 6 years old so I upgraded to Windows 10 when it was free.

Can I get my free windows 10 upgrade back?

I wasn't sure which forum to post in so I figured I start here. Thanks in advance.

(the system is running fine now after the reset)

dalchina · 01 Jul 2018

Hi, unfortunately you did a factory reset rather than resetting Windows. (There's a tutorial on how to do that).

Yes, you can upgrade again. But given

having disk errors, very long boot/load times

you should check your disk before bothering to do anything more.

E.g. HD Tune; Hard disk Sentinel (trial, very clear); Crystal Diskinfo. You can do a surface scan too with these.

System Restore is known to fail when needed.

jagsr · 01 Jul 2018

How exactly do I go about getting windows 10 back (for free)?

Thanks

Samuria · 01 Jul 2018

Check the disk for errors by going to disk makers site and getting their test specifically for your disk. To get 10 back get the free media creation tool create a DVD or USB boot from it wipe the drive install if it asks for serial skip it and it will activate from ms server. If the disk is faulty there is no point install get a new disk first

Stitch194 · 01 Jul 2018

As mentioned download the MCT and perform a clean install. I prefer to use a thumb drive with a min of 8GB capacity to crate a bootable drive. The thumb drive will be good for a clean install any PC.
Download Windows 10
Clean Install Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials

dalchina · 01 Jul 2018

jagsr said:

How exactly do I go about getting windows 10 back (for free)?

Thanks

Via windows update, or by downloading a Win 10 iso, mounting it, and running setup.exe.
Upgrade to Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials
Download Windows 10 ISO File | Windows 10 Tutorials

Either way you can upgrade to Win 10 keeping all programs and settings.

Those are the normal ways to upgrade.

It's free, because your PC already has been registered on MS's servers as entitled to run Win 10. You can upgrade to Win 10 or reinstall Win 10 every day if you wish. For free.

Note you've two responders recommending a disk check.