Install after BSOD

All of a sudden I have been getting BSOD/Rolling Reboot on a W10 system upgraded from W7. The only thing I could do is to do a fresh install.

I tried using the repair disk, but repairs failed. So I finally tried the reset and was able to bring the PC back up, however the touchscreen and USB panel doesn't work in W10 (works on the BIOS screen when setting Boot priorities). I assume this is a drivers issue.

I have a backup (from Backup & Restore) stored on an external drive. I figured the easiest way to get the system back would be to restore. But restore will not allow me to access the external drive. I do have a USB port that works that I used my repair disk bootable USB. I plugged the external drive in that port and re scanned for backup files. I just wouldn't find the files. The other option is to load drivers. I used that option to confirm I can browse to the external drive so it should have been seen.

Then I figured I would copy the backup folder into my C Drive and try again, but windows will not let me copy those files. Why do they make this so hard?

I am considering doing a fresh install. I see from this forum that my PC should be digital entitles to run W10 due to the upgrade. If I do a fresh install, will it still ask for the product key? If yes and I choose the skip option, will it complain and stop working or will it recognize the digital entitlement and work?

If I try and fix by getting the proper drivers, then I probably want to be able to do a proper backup so the backup files are actually usable. There is nothing more frustrating to go through the trouble of backing up and have the restore not function. Also, my C drive is low on space. Is it safe to delete the windows.old folder?

I am considering doing a fresh install. I see from this forum that my PC should be digital entitles to run W10 due to the upgrade. If I do a fresh install, will it still ask for the product key? If yes and I choose the skip option, will it complain and stop working or will it recognize the digital entitlement and work?

Skip all requests to enter a product key and W10 will automatically pick up your digital entitlement :)

Also, my C drive is low on space. Is it safe to delete the windows.old folder?

Yes, if you no longer need to go back to a previous version you can safely delete the windows.old folders. It is best to do this through the Disk Clean-up utility and use option 2 in the following tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/3012-disk-cleanup-open-use-windows-10-a.html

thanks. I had several partitions created from the W8 to W10 upgrade. So I went directly to the W10 Install Disk that I put on a USB and did a fresh install. I removed all partitions except the original samsung restore partition (did not reformat, but I think deleting partitions blew away all of the old files anyway. After installing it came up and everything worked. It also said the product key was set to digital entitlement so I think I am all set. I guess I should keep my backups on the c: drive so I dont get caught with useless backup files next time?

Not very happy with backup/restore. I would prefer to create an image that can be restored from any drive.

I'm not sure why you can't access the external drive for backups. It is not a good idea to store the backups on the C: drive. A lot of people here use Macrium Reflect (Free) for backups and system images. You might want to look at this option instead. :)

Perfect! I will check out Macrium Reflect