Can't boot Windows 10 (Looking for help re-installing from bootable USB and save files)

T

TechGirl00

Hello folks,


My laptop did a major Win 10 feature update in early January (plus some security updates, etc.) all was fine after the update and I used my laptop for a day without issue. When I woke up the next day my laptop seemed frozen with a black screen and I had to power down.


When it restarted it went into a "diagnosing pc and trying to repair loop". This went on for about 12 hours where it continually rebooted and tried to repair. I thought it had gone into a loop but it finally did break out into a Windows recovery with all the options to go back to a restore point, uninstall updates, reinstall from recovery partition, etc. None of these worked. I have had to do restores before but it was always successful through one of these methods.


Another thing to note is that I tried to do the command prompt hoping to at least make a backup of my files and this worked fine but it brings up a prompt showing x:\ drive and when I try to switch to c:\ it tells me "insufficient resources" or something like that. I know this can often mean low disk space but I know had 200gb free. I also had a d:\recovery drive that I used to see through windows explorer and I was able to switch to this I see a recovery directory but no files in it. I'm positive I remember seeing files in it before. The laptop is used so I don't know how it was originally configured. I'm more making the point that I know there were files in there before but I'm not seeing them through this command prompt. What's also weird is that when I switch back to x:\ and do a "dir" on it I see directories like program files, users, etc. but again I don't see any files when I look at it. There is a x:\sources directory which I have never seen before but I can see a recovery.exe file in it. I have never used this command prompt before so have no idea what I should be seeing. Maybe somehow my hard drive is pooched.


Anyway, I downloaded the windows media creation tool from another Win 10 laptop and made a bootable usb. This has launched fine. I'm at the screen that has the "Install now" button but haven't proceeded yet. I have never had to restore using this method and I have searched and searched to try to find instructions on what to do to try and save my files but I can't find anything. Most of the videos/instructions are about repairing a functioning Win 10 system. I did find one video from 3 years ago with the title "reinstalling windows while keeping your files" and the guy showed this exact process but I didn't see where there was the option to either install clean or install and save files. He showed choosing your partition so what I don't know is whether he installed to a different partition which means it left the original windows installation in place or whether he reinstalled into the original location but personal files are automatically saved. I don't know if I have extra partitions.


Does someone know of a detailed video or set of instructions or can comment here what I have to do after I hit the "Install now" button? Or are my files lost through this process?


Thanks in advance for any help provided.

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