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[W10] Stuck on automatic repair loop without admin rights

Anonymous
2022-05-03T09:56:54+00:00

Good day everyone.

Yesterday, my custom built PC ran into a problem, so I was just listening to some music and browsing the web when all of a sudden, an electricity shortage occurred for a few seconds, after trying to get back to what I was doing I'm forced into the automatic repair screen (this happens every time I turn ON the PC normally), which gives me the options to restart the computer or use advanced options.

When choosing to try one of the advanced options, I get to shut down my computer, reinstall Windows or show more options, entering that last option will take me to the other six, which include restoring the system to a previous restore point, restoring via an "image", use the command line, etc.

But most of them are unavailable because supposedly I don't have an admin account, automatic repair claims I don't have one, but I do have it and it's associated to my Outlook address, so it's password protected (maybe that's why?)

If I reboot, I'll still get forced into automatic repair, so basically I'm in a loop and able to do next to nothing without the admin account.

Doing some research around, I found out some solutions, however I can't find the "troubleshooting" option that some of those solutions require, trying to enter "safe mode" will just get me back into the automatic repair menu...

I do have access to another computer and I did create a bootable USB drive with Windows 10, I can get into it just fine and use the repair tools, however, it's like whatever I try, it's acting on the USB drive itself and not the C: drive even if I switch to it, so commands like SFC, DISM and CHKDSK fail to do anything with the C: drive.

I did also check the "install now" option when booting from the USB drive and while looking around, I noticed that my SSDs seem to be fine, as I could see how much storage was taken and the like (5GB free on C: for example) which leads me to think my SSDs are fine as they've always been, but I couldn't find an option to create a partition if that's doable, so I gave up with the "install now" thing.

I'm afraid to try anything that wipes out the contents of C: since I have files that I haven't backed up yet unfortunately, so I want to prioritize solutions/diagnoses that don't result in losing anything personal, but if I have to format C: and install the OS from scratch, then I'd like to know what are my options to explore and copy the files from my SSD to another place.

BTW, I have Windows 10 Education, it should be up-to-date with the latest version and all that.

Please let me know what can I try and if you need more information, I'd like to resolve this issue ASAP since I'll need this computer to continue studying and working.

Regards.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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DaveM121 880.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2022-05-03T18:16:58+00:00

Hi AF1899

What is on the system drive, is that just the C drive partition with no other Data partition on that drive?

If there is no other data partition on that drive, then this process will solve the problem, but please know, it will delete all data on that drive.

At the very start of the Installation Process, press Shift + F10, or Shift + Fn + F10 to open Command Prompt

Run this command and hit Enter:

diskpart

Run this command and hit Enter:

list disk

(Make note of the disk number you want to convert and enter it into the next command - replace X)

Run this command and hit Enter:

select disk X

Run this command and hit Enter:

clean

Run this command and hit Enter:

convert gpt

Then close Command Prompt and restart the installation.

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-05-03T15:11:59+00:00

    I just ran CHKDSK C: /r to confirm and the process goes very quickly, as if it's ignoring almost everything on C:.

    Each phase seems to have completed successfully, then it says that the filesystem was examined without finding issues, and at the end, there's an error message but it says that the messages couldn't be transferred to the event log, with an status of 6.

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  2. DaveM121 880.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-05-03T14:46:23+00:00

    Hi AF1899

    When you run Check Disk on the C drive in Command Prompt, what error do you get from that command?

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-05-03T14:42:15+00:00

    Hello, thanks for the swift response.

    1. Yes, but when I select that option, I can choose between solving problems or shutting down the computer, choosing the former leads me to other six options, none of which seem to help, startup repair for instance shows the same error message when I enter the automatic repair loop, I can't uninstall updates either, nor recover by system image (because I do have one), restore system could work because I do have it enabled and I didn't delete the restore points I had, but trying that option returns me a window saying that I need to boot into the system that I want to restore, and of course I have the admin account issue locking me out of that.
    2. True, but thing is, X: is the USB stick and it works fine, I would like to fix the boot issue(s) that rose up due to the power shortage in C:. I tried to run CHKDSK on X: anyway, but I got an error message saying X: is write protected.

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  4. DaveM121 880.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-05-03T10:33:44+00:00

    Hi AF1899

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    1

    When you boot from the USB, can you access the Recovery Envinrment and use the various options like System Restore, Safe Mode... etc. by choosing the 'Repair this Computer' option?

    2

    When using commands form the USB, usually the internal drive is X rather than C, try running those commands with drive X, for example chkdsk X: /r rather than chkdsk C: /r

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