Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade  

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    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

    How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade
    Published by Category: Installation & Upgrade
    29 Jul 2022
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade


    If you're having problems with Windows 10 on your PC, you could use push-button reset to refresh or reset Windows.

    Refresh your PC Fixes software problems by reinstalling the OS while preserving the user data, user accounts, and important settings. All other preinstalled customizations are restored to their factory state. In Windows 10, this feature no longer preserves user-acquired Windows apps.

    Reset your PC prepares the PC for recycling or for transfer of ownership by reinstalling the OS, removing all user accounts and contents (e.g. data, Classic Windows applications, and Universal Windows apps), and restoring preinstalled customizations to their factory state.

    The options above are great for what they are intended for, but you could also do a repair install of Windows 10 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything other than all installed Windows Updates.

    You will keep all apps, programs and personal data, just as when you upgrade, as an in-place upgrade repair uses the same basic mechanism as when you upgrade.

    • You will only be able to do a repair install of Windows 10 from within Windows 10. You will not be able to do a repair install at boot or in Safe Mode.
    • You will need at least around 8.87 GB + what Windows is currently using of free space available on the Windows drive.
    • The installation media (ex: ISO or USB) must be the same edition and same or newer build as your currently installed Windows 10. If it's not, then the repair install will fail.
    • The installation media (ex: ISO or USB) must be the same base language (aka: system default language) as your currently installed Windows 10. If it's not, then you will not keep anything.
    • If you have a 32-bit Windows 10, then you must use a 32-bit ISO or USB.
    • If you have a 64-bit Windows 10, then you must use a 64-bit ISO or USB.

    What to expect when doing a repair install of Windows 10:

    • System Protection will be reset to the default of being turned off. It is recommended to turn on system protection after the repair install has finished to have restore points.
    • You will lose any custom fonts.
    • You will lose any customized system icons.
    • You may need to re-establish your Wi-Fi connection.
    • You will need to redo Windows updates subsequent to the build you have used for the repair install.
    • Windows.old will be created.
    • You will need to redo any language downloads including the display language if you changed that.

    Starting with Windows 10 build 18298, Microsoft made some adjustments to the design of Windows 10 Setup when running setup.exe from a Windows 10 ISO file.

    This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 10 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything.


    You must be signed in as an administrator to do a repair install of Windows 10.

    It is required to have at least 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit) of free space on the Windows drive to perform an in-place upgrade.

    When you perform a repair install (in-place upgrade), the previous version of Windows in the Windows.old folder (up to 10 days after upgrade) will automatically get replaced by the current Windows. It is recommended to create a system image first if you would like to be able to go back to current previous Windows before it gets replaced.


    For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:

    Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade


    Video by: Steve (essenbe)





    Here's How:

    1 Sign in to an administrator account in Windows 10.

    2 If you have not already, you will need to:

    A Disable or uninstall any 3rd party AV or security program you have installed first to prevent it from interfering with the upgrade to Windows 10. You can enable or reinstall it after Windows 10 has finished installing.

    B If Windows is encrypted by BitLocker, then you will need to either suspend or turn off BitLocker for the Windows drive before doing a repair install. Once installation has finished, you can resume or turn on BitLocker again.


    3 Do the step below depending on what you are using to do a repair install of Windows 10 with.

    • step 4: To do a repair install of Windows 10 with an ISO file (Recommended)
    • step 5: To do a repair install of Windows 10 with USB installation media
    • step 6: To do a repair install of Windows 10 with Media Creation Tool.

    4 To Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with an ISO file

    A) If you have not already, you will need to download a Windows 10 ISO file.

    B) Mount the ISO file.

    C) Open File Explorer (Win+E), open the drive for the mounted ISO, and run the setup.exe file to start Windows 10 Setup. (see screenshot below)

    Windows Setup Command-Line Options

    Windows 10 Setup Command Line Switches

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-1.png

    D) If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-uac.png

    E) Go to step 7 below.


    5 To Do a Repair Install of Windows 10 with USB Installation Media

    Some users are having the repair install fail when using an USB in Windows 10 version 1903. If this happens to you, you can use an ISO instead.


    A) If you have not already, you will need to create a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive.

    B) Connect and open the USB flash drive, and run the setup.exe file to start Windows 10 Setup. (see screenshot below)

    Windows Setup Command-Line Options

    Windows 10 Setup Command Line Switches

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-1.png

    C) If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-uac.png

    D) Go to step 7 below.


    6 To do a repair install of Windows 10 with Media Creation Tool

    Do not use the Media Creation Tool to do a repair install with if you have an older build of Windows 10 installed and wish to retain it since the Media Creation Tool will not include support for older builds. You will be upgraded to the latest build provided by the Media Creation Tool.


    A) Click/tap on the Download button below to go to Microsoft, and click/tap on the bottom Download tool now button at Microsoft's site.
    B) Save the MediaCreationTool2004.exe file to your desktop, and run it.

    D) If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-mct_uac.png

    E) Click/tap on Accept for the applicable notices and license terms for the Media Creation Tool. (see screenshot below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-media_creation_tool-1b.png

    F) Select (dot) Upgrade this PC now, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    G) Windows 10 will now start downloading. Go to step 10 below.

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-media_creation_tool-2.png

    7 Windows 10 Setup will now start preparing. (see screenshot below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-2.jpg

    8 Click/tap on the Change how Windows Setup downloads updates link. (see screenshot below)

    If you used step 6 with the Media Creation Tool, then you will see step 11 below next instead.


    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_upgrade-1a.png

    9 Select (dot) Not right now, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

    Since a repair install requires using the same as currently installed to keep everything, it's best to update afterwards instead of during to avoid any possible update issues.

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_upgrade-1b.png

    10 Windows 10 Setup will now start getting things ready. (see screenshots below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-4.png

    11 Click/tap on Accept for the license terms of Windows 10. (see screenshot below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_upgrade-3.png

    12 Windows 10 Setup will now check for and install any available updates, and make sure you're ready to install. (see screenshots below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-6.png

    13 When ready, click/tap on Install to start the repair install of Windows 10. (see screenshots below)

    This is your last chance to cancel the repair install by closing the Windows 10 Setup window.

    Once you click/tap on Install, it will be too late to cancel.


    If you only have Nothing available to select, then the installation media is not the same version as what you currently have installed.

    If you would like to change what you keep, then click/tap on the Change what to keep link, choose what to keep, click/tap on Next, and go to step 12 above.

    If you don't have Keep personal files and apps selected, you will not keep everything in your current installation.


    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-7.png Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-8.png

    14 Windows 10 Setup will now start the in-place upgrade installation to repair Windows. (see screenshots below)

    This will take a while to finish.


    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-9.jpg

    15 You can now sign in to Windows 10. (see screenshots below)

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-windows_10_repair_install-14.jpg

    16 When each user signs in for the first time, they will see the first sign-in animation before reaching their desktop.

    17 Make sure that you have the correct time zone, date, and time set.

    18 If you used step 4 to mount an ISO file, you can now unmount the ISO file.

    19 If you like, you could use Disk Cleanup to delete the Windows upgrade log files, Previous Windows installation(s), and Temporary Windows installation files items to free up the large amount of space that they take on your hard drive. (see screenshots below)

    This step will delete the C:\$Windows.~BT and C:\Windows.old folders.

    If you delete the Windows.old folder, you will no longer be able to go back to a previous version of Windows.

    Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade-disk_cleanup.png


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 3,367
    W10 Pro x64/W7 Ultimate x64 dual boot main - W11 Triple Boot Pending
       #1

    Glad to see you got to this one! Shawn I think a large number of people are going to need to take this step which will save a great deal of time trying to debug an initial upgrade install found "buggy"! I had to go this route when 10 was first on and found to be just that needing a big repair. This is mainly due to the upgrade installer not fully seeing everything go on as it should.
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 12
    iOS
       #2

    Thanks for this, was a great help.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3,367
    W10 Pro x64/W7 Ultimate x64 dual boot main - W11 Triple Boot Pending
       #3

    alexm1 said:
    Thanks for this, was a great help.
    I know that one quite well here for sure! When finally getting that first upgrade on many things didn't seem to go well like getting the antivirus software on even the 2016 beta version which would have automatically included 10 support refused and crash landed. I said to myself well got to think back about how we used to fix the previous versions and Upgrade to Repair I went and that ran well until finally it came time to go for broke with the fresh full clean install that was going to come anyways!
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 204
    Windows 10 Pro
       #4

    Will this repair registry entry permissions?
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Hello Slugger,

    Yes, it should restore them back to default. :)
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 204
    Windows 10 Pro
       #6

    I was having a problem with installing Visual Studio 2015 with registry entires with no permissions! I had to manually fix each entry until the setup finally installed. Now I having a similar problem with Visual Studio 2008.

    Will this fix registry entries with no permissions?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Not if that's the default setting.
      My Computers


  8. Posts : 204
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    Should I just bite the bullet and do a clean install? All these programs installed over the years.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 68,543
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #9

    It's up to you, but a clean install would give you the best results.
      My Computers


 

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