windows 10 wont boot

[heptigb]

I have a windows 10 pc that wont boot, when started it attempts to run a repair on it self and that fails and it wants a  windows cd which I dont have(machine purchased ith os installed no media). I bought a cd called fix it now that boots the computer in widows 8 and contains tweaking application ver 3.7 so apparently older than what is current. In attempting to set the log path  the cd creates a drive and wants to set the path to the cd so I set it to my hard drive so it has a writable path. The OS is on the d: drive does that path get set somewhere else or does the log path tell it where the os is located?

[Boggin]

If you have access to another machine then you can create Win 10 install media after reading the instructions at https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

What was the most recent thing prior to the machine not booting up - had you installed anything ?

When you boot up with the install media - an USB is best - navigate to the Install screen and click on Repair your computer then click on Troubleshoot and select Start-up Repair to see what that reports.

If it reports it is unable to repair the machine, click on Advanced/Troubleshoot and select Command Prompt and enter these cmds -

bcdedit |find "osdevice"

For clarity that is a Pipe symbol before find and is the uppercase of \

Using your partition letter instead of the x I have exampled, enter chkdsk x: /r

Check to see if it reports any bad sectors on the HDD.

If that comes back clean then again using your partition letter instead of the X I have exampled, enter this cmd -

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=X:\ /offwindir=X:\Windows

Note the space before each /

If it does report bad sectors then you should back up the drive ASAP.

This article will help with that but you will need access to another machine to create the Linux USB.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/31804/the-10-cleverest-ways-to-use-linux-to-fix-your-windows-pc/

If the chkdsk comes back clean, then you could try the System Restore option, although I'm wary of restore points but they may work for you.

[heptigb]

Tom

Thanks for your help I ran check disk and it found some errors so I let that complete I, then attempted to run the commands for sfc, but it appears there is an error in syntax as it gives a syntax structure screen, see attacments, thanks very much for your help.

Bill

[Boggin]

The syntax error that you have created is that you haven't put a space between the backward and forward slashes at offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\Windows

As you can see from my example below, I've replicated the syntax error that you have by booting up with a Win 10 install USB and entered the cmd without that space and got the same cmd window read out as you.

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\/ offwindir=d:\Windows

Try the cmd again with that space between the two slashes.

However, the fact that the chkdsk has repaired the file structure may have been sufficient but I'd still go ahead with that sfc /scannow cmd to see what it reports.

[heptigb]

Currently because the machine wont boot I using a utility that boots it from the cd its creating drives that are ram drives I think, consequently the mappins look like the attachment The d drive contains the windows 10 files and apparently the x: dive is created by the cd as a place to boot the machine when it loads from the cd, perhaps some modification of the path is need to tell to ignore x:?  Thanks aging for assistance

[Boggin]

You get the x:\ cmd prompt when you boot up from an external source because you are booting up in memory which is outside of Windows.

This is exactly the same as you would get when booting up with Windows install media and is why you need to first do that bcdedit cmd to find where it sees the volume.

Have you re-entered the sfc /scannow cmd to see if it will complete ?

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\Windows

As I've already said, note the space before each / in the cmd line.

EDIT - I was unable to read what your pics had reported.

[heptigb]

ok, i've tripped over all the syntax I believe I may have it correct now, it  says windows resource protection cant start the repair service, when we began youindcated i might need to create a recovery cd, Im guessing that's the next step?

[Boggin]

Yes, for that cmd to work you may need to create Win 10 install media - either a DVD or an USB.

[heptigb]

thanks for the help i'm downloading on to a usb drive now so hope I can get that to work  best Bill

[Boggin]

Let me know how you get on.

[heptigb]

 i down loaded the recover tool and installed it so windows 10 is up and running. it means it will take some time to get the machine back to where it was as the apps are going to have to be reloaded but not to big a deal. The machine had both a windows 7 drive and a windows 10 drive an I could boot either as I was trying migrate everything to 10.  I began a turbotax install and realized i was on 7 and bailed out, every thing went sideways and neither drive would boot. Both drives seem to ok all my files are present, the widows 7 drive is re attached and my files are still fine, I've been using a laptop while sorted the mess out. I have no idea what would have happened that would have effected both drives at the same time as 7 was the only os operating I plan on virus checking the turbotax file but don't really think that could have done this. power surge??? don't know if I should trust this machine now or if some other problem is till lurking. Thanks for your help, and patience. Best Bill

[Boggin]

Which Recover tool did you download ?

I would create a system image and the means to restore from it as a fall back now that it is working.

I'm not sure what caused the no boot but the chkdsk /r found quite a lot to repair, but at least it didn't report any KBs in bad sectors.

What did the Start-up Repair report ?

[heptigb]

fyi
-a new windows directory was created during the install

questions

system image seems a great idea, is that copied off to a cd? i can try and google the process

im not sure where the start up repair report is accessed is it logged to a text file that can be viewed?

thanks Bill

[Boggin]

A system image can be copied onto CDs but as you have dual boot, you would need quite a lot of them.

External HDDs is what people and myself use.

I use 1TB HDDs.

As you are outside of Windows when you use Start-up Repair, it cannot write a log to anywhere.

I once ran Start-up Repair to see if it reported a laptop slow boot and it reported a S.M.A.R.T. fault on the HDD, so I had advance warning of its failure.

I was surprised at this because otherwise, the machine was working fine.

Given the number of files the chkdsk repaired, I was wondering if it had picked up on any of those.