Fail to reload from recovery drive after erasing C:


  1. Posts : 3
    Windows 10
       #1

    Fail to reload from recovery drive after erasing C:


    Asus laptop, originally Windows 8, upgraded to Windows 10. Needed to reset and erase my data so that it was safe to sell machine. Created bootable recovery disk on 32GB memory stick, made sure boot order put USB stick ahead of hard disk, then rebooted.

    Went to command prompt then wiped disk by formatting:
    format c: /P:2
    Closed command line window then selected to restore from my recovery drive. Says it was recovering, but then get message:
    There was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made.

    Have trawled the web for answers but they all assume you still have a system on C:. Have tried all the command line fixes I can find. Does anybody know how to fix this?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #2

    Welcome to the forum. Chances are you formatted c but depending on the system you may have a uefi and several recovery partitions which makes windows think it's still has an o/s on it. You say you created a recovery drive how was it the latest ISO from ms or other?

    You need to delete all partitions from the drive leave it blank the use the latest ISO windows will create partitions that it needs this is also more secure
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Answer to Samuria


    Samuria, thank you for the quick response. I created the recovery drive using the "Create Recovery Drive" tool in Control Panel.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #4

    As @Samuria stated, you really need to do a clean install:

    I recommend Option 4:
    Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10

    Clean Install Windows 10

    Now, you might be able to use the recovery media you created instead of creating a new "vanilla" Windows 10 install USB flash drive. Just go the second tutorial "Clean Install Windows 10" first and try it. If that doesn't work, then create a new Windows 10 USB flash drive using the first tutorial.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Too late to create bootable flash drive, since I already cleaned my hard disk. I assume it does not work to create a bootable flash drive on another machine.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #6

    David W said:
    Too late to create bootable flash drive, since I already cleaned my hard disk. I assume it does not work to create a bootable flash drive on another machine.
    You can use the Media Creation Tool to create a "vanilla" Windows 10 installation USB flash drive that will work on any computer:
    Download Windows 10

    One of the options in the Media Creation Tool:
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #7

    If you're selling it you want a clean vanilla windows
      My Computer


 

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