unable to reinstall windows 10

soundr · 21 Oct 2021

dear all,
my laptop asus x409ua 64 bit, which came with preinstalled with windows 10 (with key) faced black screen and some errors (possibly virus attack as folders disappeared). , I was using windows 10 original and office 2019 home original with auto updates,
and none of the automatic repair or system restore efforts worked.
institutional service person where in work, installed windows pro, but it created issues as well, like unable to install chrome, firefox crashing, adobe acrobat reader installed - but didnt work.

i prefered to install windows 10 again and started downloading tool from microsoft site. But, it didnt work.
now windows start button is not working and i get asus software manager agent.exe - system warning as unknown hard error.

what should i do ?
how can i install windows 10 with my key ?
i cant go for windows 11 as my system is not compatible for it.

im not a techie, hence a detailed step by step guidance will be very helpful.
regards

steve108 · 21 Oct 2021

Hello soundr and welcome to tenforums

,

You can follow this Clean Install Windows 10

Afterwards you should go to the Asus website for your model and install any Asus software you use including app to keep Asus drivers up to date.

idgat · 22 Oct 2021

soundr said:

how can i install windows 10 with my key ?

You won't need the key - it's now "registered" with MS servers. Any installation will recognise the key and activate automatically.

You don't give a very good detail of what's not happening, so at the risk of repeating the obvious ....

Download Media Creation Tool from MS
Create Win 10 boot USB
Disconnect the internet
Boot from the USB
When you get to the section where it asks where you want to install, delete ALL the partitions until you're left with a single unallocated partition
Install Win 10
Skip the insertion of the key (indicate you don't have one)
Skip any prompt to connect to the internet
Skip all options to set up/turn on Windows bells and whistles, you cna do this later on (We're here to install win 10, not connect an XBox, not connect a phone, not to chat to Cortana. Get Windows working first
Complete the installation, reboot and then connect the internet (activation will be automatic)
Run Windows update to infinity, including optional updates which usually involves drivers
Don't install separate proprietary drivers, let Windows do it's thing first
Then when all done, check Device Manger in the Control Panel to make sure all device drivers are installed

Note this is all done on the assumption the problem is not hardware related - i.e. failing/failed drive.

joeandmarg0 · 22 Oct 2021

Your computer is probably malware infected,with the ---agent.exe---indicating such an event.
Try using a different machine and Media Creation Tool to install Win 10,if possible.

Megahertz · 22 Oct 2021

On BIOS disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a new MB, you should install as UEFI-GPT

During POST, press F8(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name).
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the SSD till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.
If you don't want to use MS account, don't enable updates or connect to the internet during installation.