Missing C Drive - only NTFS

Question

Greetings,

I recently deleted some unfamiliar files off my Lenovo IdeaPad 3, and now my C drive is not accessible, I did take a screenshot but am getting error message wen i try to post it here.

The NTFS C drive does show but I get the below error message when I click on that.

"Windows C is not accessible. Location is not available. Access is denied"

I have tried to do a clean install of Windows 11 using a USB, but that is not working. I also tried to do a reset using the system app, but it does nothing!

My laptop in a 2023, so hopefully it won't need to be replaced.

Any guidance would be appreciated. Also, a side note: My laptop has been hacked in the past, so I'm very (ok, overly / extremely ) paranoid about files I do not recognize - this being said, can anyone recommend a good class or website where I can learn know about which types of files are supposed to be on my computer, how best to use Windows security, etc.?

Thank you all!

Best,

Heather

Answer 1

Please provide a screenshot of the contents of the USB you are trying to boot your PC up from.

Answer 2

Hi there Dave

My laptop does see the USB, but won't boot from it. When I click on the media creation tool folder, I get an error message that says

"There was a problem starting setup. Close the tool, restart yout PC, and then try running the tool again."

So I do the above, but I end up right back at the same error message.

Thank you.

Answer 3

Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

When you use the bootable USB to re-install Windows, what is the sequence you see and what problem happens during the installation, can you not see the drive to install Windows onto, and do you have a modern Intel processor on your PC?