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How do you reinstall Windows 10 and keep data, apps, and programs.

Anonymous
2020-12-29T03:29:07+00:00

If the answer is posted somewhere please share the link that has worked.

I had to move my hard drive to a temporary computer and now it won't boot into Windows.  This computer and hard drive worked just fine.  Now the computer I moved it to keeps trying to do an automatic repair then it finally fails and gives me the option to shut down or choose advanced options.  I figured if I moved it back it would work fine again, so I moved the hard drive back to the original PC but it still does the repair loop.

Safe mode does not work.  It will eventually get back to the shut down/advanced options loop.

I can get in with the command prompt and run chkdsk /r.  took about an hour but didn't find anything wrong.  

Also found an article about using bootrec but it says it there are zero windows installations.

I can get to the C: drive and see all the files and they are accessible. 

I tried booting from a newly created USB drive with the Windows 10 media creation tool.  When I tried to do the upgrade for a repair I got this:

"The upgrade option isn't available if you start your computer using installation media."

I've successfully transferred many drives from one computer to another and Windows 10 has done a great job of redetecting and getting itself back up and running.  Until now the worst thing that has ever happened was that I had to reactivate the Windows 10 license.  (that's not a big deal)

I've seen a lot of post asking similar questions but haven't seen one answered satisfactorily.  I have my files backed up so that's not an issue but I'd like a solution that doesn't require reinstalling all of my software.  I keep an image backup of my drive but if it breaks what's the point of an image?  So I figured I would see what I can do.

How do I reinstall Windows 10 and keep data, apps, and programs.  I can't get into the desktop via normal mode or safe mode but I do have access to command prompt.

Help me great and powerful people of the mighty interwebs...show me what I need!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

DJ

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-29T04:31:59+00:00

    DJ -

    If the Disk Check finds sectors it can't repair then the hard drive is suspect until it passes Long Test diagnostics:

    https://www.lifewire.com/free-hard-drive-testin...

    https://mashtips.com/ssd-health-test-and-perfor...

    HP and Dell have hardware diagnostics triggered by tapping the ESC or F12 keys respectively as you power on.

    Best is to use the HDD/SSD manufacturer's own if there is one, otherwise use Seatools bootable long test: http://blog.nowherelan.com/2013/04/04/boot-seat...

    If the hard drive is failing I'd replace it with an SSD which is the best upgrade you can give your PC - lightning fast, better than a new higher end PC without one.

    Follow the included instructions or a video you find for your model via Google to swap it in and do this Clean Install which should get you past all difficulties as it has hundreds of thousands of others who have followed the steps in this link and never come back to report another problem: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-29T04:25:55+00:00

    Most of these have been tried but I'm going to do them in order as you presented them.

    1. No restore point found
    2. Says something went wrong and neither will uninstall updates

       a) no problem found

       b) in progress...will update in the morning.  It says over an hour left.  I did the chkdsk /r before.  I added the /f to it this time.

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  3. Pauli O 15,375 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2020-12-30T04:10:54+00:00

    Before you continue any attempts to do reinstall and possible damage your data:

    Can you install that non bootable disk to working  desktop as second disk

    (or do you have USB-SATA adapter) so that you can save at least your data!

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-12-30T02:41:21+00:00

    No there is no way to do a Repair Install from booted media. As I've written in every one of my posts here, it can only be run from inside Windows. This is why I tried my best to help you get WIndows started. Everything else that can possible be done is in this tutorial for Troubleshooting Windows 10 Failure to Start: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki...

    In reviewing the thread I see that this occurred after you moved Windows to another PC. Is it possible when you moved it back that some BIOS settings were changed?

    For example if you have the modern UEFI BIOS, and Windows is installed in UEFI mode (has an EFI System partition in front of C partition) then the settings in UEFI Setup would need to remain UEFI enabled, CSM disabled, Windows Boot manager set first to boot in Boot Priority Order.

    If it's a Legacy Install (System Reserved partition in front of C partition) then there is either no UEFI or its disabled, CSM or Legacy is enabled. hard drive is set first to boot in Boot Priority Order,

    Try powering on while pressing the key to enter your BIOS/UEFI setup given here:

    https://www.mydigitallife.net/comprehensive-lis...

    If nothing will start Windows then I can show you how to do a rescue install that transplants the boot files in EFI System or System Reserved, by shrinking C using a bootable Partition Manager, boot into Windows 10 media, install to the shrink space. This will configure a Dual Boot with the old install. If it will start using the rewritten boot files, then you can delete the rescue install in Disk Mgmt, extend C back over it, remove the Dual Boot listing in msconfig > Boot tab, and it will be fixed.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-12-29T13:52:52+00:00

    3

       b) found no problems.  It did mention some log file couldn't be transferred.

    Step 4 is about resetting the hard drive/Windows 10 installation.  How will that save my data, apps, and programs?

    I don't feel there is any hardware issue.  I believe it's only Windows itself.  I can do a fresh install but that isn't the question.  As stated before, I have my data backed up.  

    Is there a solution to reinstall Windows 10 and keep data, apps, and programs?

    If there isn't what should I do to keep an image backup.  Acronis used to have a universal restore for images.  It kept programs and file structures intact.  It changed the hardware values to generic so you could put that image on just about any kind of similar hardware and it would redetect the hardware.  Does Microsoft have something like that or should I stick with a third party solution?

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