SOLVED Reinstallation of windows 10 pro to remove file corruption

[DODO]

I clean installed Windows 10 Pro on my laptop in October 2016. During the past few months the laptop was becoming progressively slower. I decided to reinstall the program. Having booted the laptop from its hard disk, made my selection to keep my personal files, and to trouble shoot my laptop, the reinstallation of windows 10 commenced. Progress continued at a snail’s pace. Since there was no error message given to explain the slow pace I let it run overnight and continuing into the following day until I closed it down with only 18% installed in 20 hours.

I ran SFC/SCANNOW and got a message that Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

I then ran DISM followed by SCF/SCANNOW for a second time without finding a solution to the problem.

I tried to run System Restore but could not find a restore point.

My endeavours appear to have made matters worse. When I tried to return to the reinstallation of windows 10 after rebooting from the hard drive I was given 3 options viz

1 CONTINUE

2 USE ANOTHER OPERATING SYSTEM

3 TROUBLE SHOOT

When I select Trouble shoot>Reset the PC I now get a message to say that there was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made.

I have got the original installation disk and product key which were used to install the program.

When I reboot from the installation disk ,select Language & personal settings. Click next & install now. Setup starts and I am asked to enter my product key. That is the only instruction shown here.

Since I want to reinstall Windows 10 using the original installation media I would have expected an instruction not to enter the product key and Windows will enter it when the installation is finished.

Would it be OK if I reinstall the program using the original installation disk and product key? If not where do I go from here?.

 

[Clintlgm]

Well to start with you should download and create a USB thumb drive from MCT you really don't want to use an old version of windows.
You can use Macrium Reflect not sure if the free version has it but they have a little problem to fix boot error. If you can get back into windows use the Thumb drive to do an in-place upgrade install be sure to select to save your files

 

[DODO]

Many thanks for your help. My apology for the delay in replying thereto.
At present I am unable to access the desktop or installed programs or files. The USB drives are not working. The start up and close down button doesn't work. THE TOUCHPAD left and right control buttons don't work. To close the computer down pressing and holding the power button is my only option.
When I boot from the original disk, enter language and other preferences & click install now, repair your computer, setup starts and I am asked to enter the product key to activate Windows. Since I am not installing windows for the first time I did not expect to be asked to enter the product key. On my first attempt to reinstall windows I was not asked to do so. I aborted that attempt when only 18% was completed in 20 hours. At the time I thought that there must have been some problem with the installation which was making it take so long.
Would it be safe for me to enter the product key as requested or would windows think that I had entered a product key that was already installed on another computer?

I have downloaded Macrium Reflect program and saved it on a USB stick but I cannot make use of it as the USB drives on my laptop are not working.

 

[Clintlgm]

Just off hand, my thought is your hard drive has crashed, by all means, you can attempt to reinstall using your original 7 factory disk, my guess is it will fail the same if using the 7 recovery disk you'll have to put in the Product Key only windows 8 and 10 have the hardware key on MS activation servers. If reinstalling 10 just skip over the request for a product key. Depending on how old your computer is you most likely will run into Driver issue for your hardware

 

[DODO]

The laptop is a TOSHIBA C650/C650D which is .over 7 years old and may be coming to the end of its life. However, I have files stored thereon which I had not backed up, I would like to recover these if at all possible.
I clean installed Windows 10 Pro on it on 3/8/2016.

As far as I can recall, on my first attempt to reinstall Windows 10,(having booted the computer from its hard disk, I was not asked to enter the product key.. On that occasion the installation progress was so impossibly slow that I closed it when only 18% was completed in 20 hours.
From that point on I have been unable to log on to Windows 10 or any of the files therein

When I first tried to reinstall Windows using the original installation media I had used on 3/8/2016 for which I have the product key. Having entered the Language & other preferences.I am asked to enter the product key or if you are reinstalling windows select "I don't have a product key". Your copy of windows will be Automatically activated". When I clicked on I don't have a product key there was no response thereto & I could not proceed further.by clicking next.
Now when I boot from the hard disk , click on troubleshoot, click Reset this PC, Click Keep my files I get a response "There was a problem resetting your PC No changes were made"

I am currently trying to cope with problems caused by the limited functionality available to facilitate the installation.of windows10 pro on the laptop. for example while the touchpad is working the two control buttons are not. I have spent a long time trying to find a workaround to allow me to select "I don't have a product key" which I eventually found which enabled me to progress into windows setup & select to reinstall Windows while leaving my personal files.. I have been able to select Windows 10 pro as the operating system I want to install. I have confirmed that I accept the licence terms. CLICTED NEXT AND SELECTED "UPGRADE WINDOWS AND KEEP FILES SETTINGS AND APPLICATIONS. There is however, a rider which says that the files, settings and applications are moved to windows with this option. This option is only available when a supported version of windows is already running on your computer. It looks as though that may be a problem to which there is no answer. The supported version of windows which was running on the computer up to a few weeks ago is no longer running thereon. There were a lot of photograph files stored on the laptop. If I could keep these I would not be too bothered about losing the remaining files.
Any suggestions on how I might deal with this problem would be welcomed.

 

[Clintlgm]

Yes, you could remove that hard drive and put it in a SATA to USB adapter or External case and try to recover your files on another computer?

I don't have the knowledge of how to do this and maybe someone else will chime in but some people use a Linux disk to recover your data. Again I don't have this knowledge.

Stopping an install at 18% could very well have formatted your Disk and data recovery would be very difficult Hopefully the USB method will work for you since you would be accessing the disk without using the OS on the disk. I think the Linux way does the same thing.

Personally, I wouldn't try to run windows 10 on a 7-year-old notebook. Notebooks seem to have drivers specific to the hardware installed and are tweaked to work. So unless Toshiba has posted Windows 10 drivers for your specific notebook I would stick with windows 7 or 8.1 if 8 was supported. I know older notebooks can run windows 10 but it usually takes a lot of tweaking and finding hardware drivers that will work.

 

[DODO]

Once again I have to apologise for my delay in responding to your last post. I am 88 years of age and anything I turn my hand to usually takes me at least 4 times as long as it used to do twenty years ago. My wife died 9 years ago. There were a lot of photographs installed in the Toshiba which I would like to recover.
I have two laptops, the Toshiba which has Windows 10 PRO installed and a Dell which runs on Windows 10 Home. Microsoft recovery options in windows 10 advises to use installation media to restore or reset your PC if it won’t start and you haven’t created a recovery drive. I was, however, unable to download the installation media for windows 10 pro on the Windows home Dell. Do I need to download it from a windows `10 pro working computer?
Moving on from that I removed the hard disk from the Toshiba. I purchased an enclosure case to enable a USB connection with my Dell laptop. The Toshiba HD is shown to contain 10 folders with a total size of 35.1gb. I cannot find photos or other personal files in any of the folders. Where the option to keep files settings and applications is used I am advised that these are moved to windows, wherever that is. However, this option is stated to be only available when a supported version of Windows is already running on the computer. So what has happened to these files. Have they been deleted.?
I got to where I am now by the following path:
Select language to install. Click next
Install now. Click return
Setup is starting. When asked to enter a product key click skip.
Select Windows 10 PRO click next
Accept licence Click next
Select Install Windows. Keep personal files, settings and applications.
I now get the following Compatibility Report: The computer started using the Windows installation media. Remove the installation media and restart your computer so that windows starts normally. Then, insert the installation media and restart the upgrade.
The problem is that I am unable to start windows normally. If I try to boot the laptop from its hard drive and attempt to reset it I get an error message to say that there was a problem resetting your PC. No changes were made.
I intend to take another look at downloading the installation media, this time on a working Windows 10 pro computer although I doubt if I will have any more success with it than I had when using the original installation disk. The only answer unfortunately may be to carry out a clean installation and to accept that my photographs are lost.
Assuming that the photographs have not been deleted is there any way that I could find out where they have been temporally stored in readiness of being moved back into the program when its reinstallation has been completed?
I appreciate your help. Many thanks

 

[Clintlgm]

Well, corrupted windows shouldn't delete any of your data. Now then if your hard drive is crashing yes you could lose files.
As far as finding Picture files the should be in your picture library. I would copy all that data you saw to another computer or external hard drive your stuff is probably still there you just don't know where to look for them because you allowed windows or some other program to store them in their the default folder.

If your files are JPG or PNG you can search the data for *.jpg or *png that should show you were they are stored then you can recover them to a file of your choosing, I like the My Picture folder, i just move it from C:\Users\ YaDa to D:\ My Pictures I change that to be the default location for all photos. If you only have one actual hard drive that makes it difficult. However, before your clean install windows, you partition your hard drive into C:\ and D:\ then install windows to C:\ you can get some separation from your OS. I usually move all the Libary file to the D:\ you know my Document, My Music, My Video etc all moved and defaulted to D:\

So yes unless your hard drive itself is mechanically crashing you should be able to recover your data files.

So plug that drive back in USB and search it for *.jpg I hope they'll come up for you.

 

[DODO]

Clinigm
Most of my pictures are in jpg files which are saved and are identified by a unique number eg. Img 274, img 275 etc. There would be a few that I had renamed to make the content thereof more easily identified.
Following your advice I have connected the hard disk from my Toshiba laptop by USB to my Dell laptop where it is shown as Windows H drive. Searching drive H for *.jpg files displayed a large number of picture files including 20 or 30 img files. These are eg. for Desktop background, wallpaper themes etc. I am, however, disappointed to find that none of my personal pictures are included therein.
The only reason I can think of for that to happen is it may have been a result of my switching off the laptop when it appeared to have stopped installing Windows 10 having only completed 18% in 20 hours. .I had selected the option of reinstalling Windows 10 without removing my personal files etc.and these may have been temporarily moved somewhere to allow the reinstallation of Windows 10 to proceed .
Usually when Microsoft encounter an unexpected problem and have to abandon a procedure they will undo any changes made and return the computer back to its initial state. When I switched the installation off I had not given Microsoft an opportunity to undo the changes made. Is it possible that these files are still on the hard disk in a hidden file.?
In the meantime I have purchased a new hard drive for my Toshiba laptop which I have yet to install. I have the original installation disk and product key. When asked to enter the product key should I do so or should I click on skip since the key should already be registered for that laptop.?
Thanks again for your help,
DoDo

 

[Clintlgm]

Well, you never completed windows 10? if not then use the windows 7 key that might work. If you had windows 10 installed and activated then don't put any key in, it will activate after the install is completed.

Windows upgrade Install creates a windows.old file you could search in there. I'm assuming you kept your pictures in the OS not separately.

For the future if your notebook won't hold 2 hard drives you need to partition your single hard drive into two drives C: and D: then move all your Library folder to the D: Documents, picture, scan etc etc
You'll also need to set up a backup Scheme where you will be backing up to an external drive.

What is happening to you was inevitable it happens to all of us sooner or later. I use Macrium Reflect paid for but the free version would have saved your pictures and had you back up and running in less than a half hour.

I am not sure how you will recover your data there are recovery program out there I can't advise since I have no experience with any of them

Searching that hard drive with the wildcard" *.jpg "should bring up every file with the extension jpg. you can also try *.png or whatever extension you saved your pictures with, different picture programs use different extensions for different reasons. JPG and PNG are pretty much standard formats. However, there are many formats possible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_file_formats

You are very brave to try running windows 10 on a 7-year-old notebook. I would have stopped at 8.1 as I did with my G75VW 2012 era or just keep it on 7 for the rest of its lifetime. anything is possible but is what you have to go through to get everything working stable worth it. For me, it's not. My Sister is still using my G75 on 8.1 and my wife's HP All in one is still on 8.1

 

[DODO]

Clintigm
Many thanks for all your help in bringing my issue to a satisfactory conclusion. I have recovered my picture files which until now I had concluded had been lost for ever. I have been using "Microsoft Picture It" which was bundled with a new computer which has long since been scrapped. The Picture It program is now also obsolete. I had assumed that the pictures had a Jpg extension which was wrong. The IMG files saved in Picture It have a MIX extension and when I searched for *.MIx I found my pictures.
I have also installed a new 500gb hard disk in the Toshiba and reinstalled Windows 10 Pro therein without issue.
I am delighted with the outcome

 

[Clintlgm]

Glad its all worked out for you