New
#270
Cannot get a clean install of Windows 10
G'day, folks!
I am new to this forum, and have spent many hours reading some of these tutorials. What a fantastic resource!
What set me looking was a chance encounter with sfc, which piqued my curiosity, and led me down a sad path.
I tried to get some answers from MS Community, but a very helpful Brad over there suggested that this might be a better place. And having seen what's here, I am sure he is right.
I'm having (similar) problems with a number of computers, but one at a time...
This is a Dell 780 desktop (Legacy BIOS), Intel CPU, 16GB ram, Samsung 256GB 840PRO SSD plus additional 400GB HDD.
Problem: sfc always comes back with "could not repair some files". Dism (in all its options) always comes back with a set of files for which "source files could not be found". I have tried pointing it at DVD iso (from techbench back (in Feb 2016)when my version of W10 was still there), USB thumbdrive created from MCT (ditto), and by putting the .wim and .esd files from there onto C:. Always the same final result (although when \Source pointed to DVD or thumbdrive, I could find no record whatsoever in the Dism log of it actually trying to access the external storage, whereas when I put the wim/esd on C:, it clearly did try).
There are six recalcitrant files. All are of the form .lnk, and all sit in WinSxS. All are version 10.0.10586.494 - and that may be the problem since on examining the wim/esd of my install media, only 10.0.10586.0 seems to be there. (I had initially assumed that all of the "correct" versions were reachable online by Dism from WU, but apparently not. And since (I also assume) that the versions of some of these files on my PC change with every update, does that not make the use of original installation media quite limited? I seem to have scores. if not hundreds, of .494 files in WinSxS).
I have tried almost all of the suggestions in (28 pages of!) the above thread, many times. One last possibility, alluded to in some comments, is restoring my files from a known good computer. It happens that I do have another desktop, similar configuration, that scans clean and has the same file versions in WinSxS. But I can't just replace the files in my problem machine, as I can't get the right permissions (well, not easily, anyhow). And even then that may not be enough, as when CBS log says
Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-speech-userexperience_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.10586.494_none_88de9ec8aafab0c2\Speech Recognition.lnk do not match actual file [l:22]"Speech Recognition.lnk
it may in fact be the stored hash (wherever that is) that may be the problem, and not the actual file itself. (Or is there some compressed version of the file itself saved away somewhere in the "Reserved" partition?) Either way, that would need attention also. And now I am well beyond the limits of my knowledge and googling ability....
(Yes, I know, on my desktop "speech recognition" is totally irrelevant, but that's not the point of my query).
I accept that I could make these problems go away (maybe?) if I simply upgraded everything to the anniversary edition. But that way I don't learn anything - and I'm not sure I want to go that edition yet, anyway.
So, the questions which I am hoping someone can answer for me are
1. How can I use a "known good" PC to fix my problem child? and,
2. Is there something else to try instead?
Roman