Windows 10 says repairing disk. Has been hours

[JULIE RIVERA]

Can anyone help. My other computer keeps giving me the same message. Says repairing disk but it will sit for hours and the screen locks up not letting me get on any other window. Does anyone know what this problem is and how to fix it? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I don't want to sound like the sky is falling, but if the computer is running the native Check Disk utility then chances are that the disk has been marked as "dirty" which is just another way of saying it needs to be checked for problems.

My first question / suggestion would be....
Do you have backups of your critical data?

The only way to get through the Check Disk is to let it conclude, which.....
May take hours, depending on the size and relative condition.
It should produce a report which you can view in the Event Viewer to see if it found any problems with the drive

Assuming that your computer has only one physical hard disk device attached and it is the system disk that is showing these symptoms, you may want to consider replacing it soon.

IF you have multiple physical drives attached then you might want to consider removing all but the system drive and see what happens.

 

[JULIE RIVERA]

My computer crashed and I would like to re-install Windows 10. I cannot find the product key code anywhere on my HP LAPTOP computer and cannot access the files on my computer. Does anyone know how to find this product key. It was pre-installed and I do not have the box. Also, if I find the product key, how do I remove my previous version of Windows? My computer is completely frozen up, keeps saying repairing disc for eight hours now!. I am about to pull my hair out! Any advice would be helpful.
Thank you

 

[Trouble]

My computer is completely frozen up, keeps saying repairing disc for eight hours now!.

Are you planning on acquiring a new hard drive to use for the install?

I would like to re-install Windows 10. I cannot find the product key code anywhere on my HP LAPTOP computer

IF your computer was previously running Windows 10, then.....
You do not need a product key in order to perform a clean install or re-install of Windows 10. Your computer is logged with Microsoft as having a digital license and as such you can re-install Windows 10 whenever you wish, as long as you don't exceed the allowable hardware changes.

how do I remove my previous version of Windows?

Typically you can just boot from the installation media and choose to "Custom" install when offered the opportunity.
Then you can choose to delete any partitions that apply to your previous installation(s) and then choose the new unallocated space to host the new custom installation.

WARNING:
IF the physical hard disk is failing or has failed then it may not support any type of installation
THE hard disk may contain one or more factory partitions that are normally used for a factory reset. You may want to leave them in place and not remove them. You might even want to contact the system manufacturer to see how you might use them to restore the computer to factory fresh installation, OR
See if they have factory installation media available that you might be able to use to recover the computer.

 

[Wolfie]

Hi Julie,

see also:

https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/re-install-w10-and-keep-your-files-app-data-intact.15825/

 

[davehc]

Merge with the OP's other post??

 

[Trouble]

Merge with the OP's other post??

Yes sir..... you got it.
Was headed to bed, but decided I'd have one more look and saw your advice.
Done.