Startup repair after using tweaking.com

[Snek]

So i used tweaking.com and my computer on windows 10 was mostly fine, it asked me to reboot and when i did, it went into startup repair.
Now i can't boot into windows at all...
I tried using bootrec commands, tried chkdsk(no errors there), sfc (couldn't repair), nothing seems to work.
Also went to try and go to a previous restore point and guess what, it tells me there are no restore points, i am very sure i had restore points!
Eventually i tried to refresh my PC and even then windows says there was an error. I can't even reset the PC!

So can anyone tell me what tweaking.com did to put my computer into this state?
And what can i do to avoid a full format of everything, which i don't want obviously. I should have never used this tool, it worked before but this time it fucked everything up.

[Boggin]

I don't know what has caused that but was there a reason why you ran the program as you say it was running reasonably fine ?

I'm not sure how you are accessing the cmd prompt to execute a chkdsk or sfc /scannow but from the cmd prompt enter shutdown /r /o and that should boot you into the advanced boot options to select Troubleshoot and then Advanced Options.

From there select Startup Settings to select Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking.

If that gets you to there, you can then open Windows Repair and use Option 5 and Registry Restore.

You will need to use the dropdown to see the point and then click on it to Restore Now.

If at any time you are unable to boot into the advanced boot options, you can change the boot menu policy to legacy as a precaution so that tapping the F2, F8 and F12 keys on boot will get you to the BIOS, advanced boot options and a one off boot change respectively.

To do this, from a cmd prompt admin enter bcdedit then under Windows Boot Loader check to see what it gives for your Identifier.

It can either be {current} or {default} and when using it you must use those brackets type.

Then enter bcdedit /set {your Identifier} bootmenupolicy legacy which should return the cmd was successful.

Enter shutdown /s to shut the machine down then try tapping F8 as you switch on which should give you the old advanced boot options.

[Snek]

Windows search service was always crashing and restarting and DISM couldn't run properly, that's why i ran the program. I was hoping some of the repair options would fix this. Should have just left it alone i guess.

When windows automatic startup repair fails i go into recovery menu which then allows me to access command prompt, system restore, etc.
I have tried entering safe mode though and it doesn't work, i select the safe mode, it restarts and just goes right to startup repair again. It said something about an error with ACPI.sys if that helps.

Are those advanced boot options any different from what i currently have? I will try setting it to legacy i guess.

[Boggin]

No, the legacy boot option gives the recovery options but is a bit more direct.

You would select Repair your computer to get to the Startup Repair and other recovery options.

At the cmd prompt see if this cmd will do anything.

I'm not sure if this cmd will work in that cmd prompt to locate the volume but enter bcdedit |find "osdevice"

(That is a Pipe symbol before find and is the uppercase of \ )

Then enter this cmd assuming c but use the partition letter if different to c

dism /image:c:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth

Enter exit to close the cmd window then reboot to see if Windows will start.

BTW - Do you know which build of Win 10 you are using - have you updated to the Creators Update (1703) or are you still on 1607 build.

[Snek]

I did that command and it said that the scratch directory size might be insufficient to perform this operation so i went ahead and added /scratchdir:c:\scratch which is a folder i created as i saw in a google result.

It gave me Error: 14098 and said component archive is damaged (Not exactly that error message as my system is not in english)
And i was in windows creators update yes, however when i run dism it says "Image version: 10.0.15063.0" which is older right?
Also, thank you very much for your help so far.

[Boggin]

That was the correct image version - it's subsequent updates that take it to the current 15063.296

When I tested the cmd I didn't add anything and the cmd started shortly after the second line about the scratch directory.

What are you using to post with ?

For the next try you will need a Win 10 install disk to see if an offboot sfc /scannow will repair the system.

Can you execute the bcdedit cmds to change the boot menu policy to legacy so that you can change the boot order, either by going into the BIOS or use F12 for the one off boot order change.

To boot up with install media in Win 10 it's best to turn off fast start in the power options but as you can't get in, you may be able to do it by turning off Hibernate which also removes fast start.

You do that by entering the cmd powercfg -h off and if you want it back it back on after, just redo the cmd changing off to on.

If you don't have  a Win 10 install disk and have access to another machine, you can create one by hitting the Download tool now button in https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 but read how to create the media first.

That ISO is for 1703 15063.0

When you have created the install disk, changed the boot menu policy and checked that it will let you in, tap F12 as you switch on and use the cursor keys to select the DVD drive - it may be listed as ODD.

Insert the disk and press enter.

Press any key when prompted to boot from CD/DVD.

You may get a Windows Setup message about booting from installation media - click on No

Change/Confirm the keyboard language and when you get the  Install now screen click on Repair your computer at the bottom left.

Select Troubleshoot - Command Prompt and enter bcdedit |find "osdevice" again to confirm it still sees the volume where it did before.

It may list it as D: this time if it listed it as C: before.

Enter this cmd where X is your partition letter -

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

Note there is a space before each /

I don't know if this will resolve as a previous sfc /scannow didn't find anything, but it will check your file system against an incorrupt source.

It will take a while to run and you won't see a % progress as you do when running a sfc /scannow from within Windows.

Enter exit to close the cmd window - remove the disk and shutdown for about 20 secs then reboot to see if you get back in normally, but let us know if you get any error messages when running the cmd.

BTW - How did you type the dism cmd when you added the scratch directory ?

[Snek]

I have another laptop that i'm using to post here and search stuff on google.

So i did
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows
but it just said "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation", shouldn't it be like
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=E:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows
where E is the windows install or something? Because this way it seems it's using C: as the source. I tried using E anyway and the result was the same.

Anyway, didn't seem to work. The dism command i tried before was:
dism /image:c:\ /scratchdir:c:\scratch\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth
if i remember correctly. I'm starting to think about just simply doing a clean install at this point, still open to any more ideas you have though.

[Boggin]

As you can't get in to do a repair install and nothing else seems to work, I'm thinking the same - but hang slack on the clean install for now.

I'll email Shane to see if he knows why the program could have corrupted your system the way it has and taken out your restore points.

Not sure when I'll get an answer though as he's usually quite busy.

[Boggin]

When you did the chkdsk did you notice if there were any KBs in bad sectors reported ?

[Snek]

Yes, i saw 0kb, i only did chkdsk /f though, should i run it with /r maybe?

[Boggin]

No - a chkdsk /f gives the same info without checking the surface.

[Boggin]

I'm in email contact with Shane and he'd like you to run a chkdsk /r to ascertain there aren't any bad sectors.

[Snek]

Alright it's running now, i doubt it's the disk though, it happened after using tweaking.com.

[Boggin]

I appreciate that but when something drastic happens, Shane checks out the disk.

As you had already run a chkdsk /f I assumed that would be okay.

[Snek]

Chkdsk said it had no errors.

[Boggin]

Okay - I'll pass that on.

[Boggin]

Shane's not sure what has gone wrong as WR doesn't touch the start up.

Were there any other problems beside Windows Search and the dism cmd not running ?

I've given him those details as well as the ACPI.sys error you got afterwards.

Waiting for a reply as he's probably working on another member's WR key problem I've passed onto him as well.

[Snek]

Well, there were some problems before with apps not working very well, i think some issues with file or folder permissions were the cause.
And dism couldn't complete properly like i said.
I ended up doing a windows install on top of this one and so far it's working good even though search is having the same problem again but all my files are still here in Windows.old folder.

If i had to guess i think tweaking triggered some previous problem my computer had with file permissions, maybe it reset some important file permission and made it not boot.

[Boggin]

Can you have a look in Event Viewer to see if anything is recorded for Windows Search or Dism.

[Snek]

Yes, it actually says windows search has terminated because it couldn't find the specified drive.
Not sure what drive is it talking about. The service is restarting non stop though, it says it happened 106 times in latest 4 hours maybe.

[Boggin]

The only thing I've found for that is in this article, but didn't help the poster.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_cortana/windows-search-problem/f4e279a6-64b2-4dae-9e91-d07ba4ce7895

It's strange that you are getting this straight after a clean install.

Have you reinstalled anything since the clean install ?

Did this only start after the update to 1703 Creators Update ?

Did you get the CU through Windows Update or did you manually update to it ?

What error are you getting when running Dism ?

[Snek]

That registry key is already set to 0 for me too.
Basically, i reinstalled only Steam and Google Chrome so far and AMD stuff.
I think the file permissions remained the same and that might be the problem, i saw some folders had an unknown user in the permissions with an ID that i think was my previous ID before reinstall.
Guess i should have formatted the partition completely before installing. I got the update from windows update but i don't remember if it only started after that.
Also Dism is running fine now, no errors.

[Boggin]

As you haven't loaded that much back on, then perhaps a format and another clean install would be the way to go.