Windows 10: Computer can't load Windows: Can you reset without losing Apps?

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frednz

1467 posts

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#242819 15-Nov-2018 17:18

A friend has asked if I can help get her Windows 10 computer going again, but I haven’t had much luck with trying several options available, so I thought I’d check whether there is any way of resetting the PC without losing apps / programs.

The problem is that Windows 10 won’t start and it provides this error message:

Automatic Repair: Your PC did not start correctly. Press “Restart” to restart your PC, which can sometimes fix the problem. You can also press “Advanced Options” to try other options to repair your PC.

Pressing “restart” didn’t work so I proceeded to “Advanced Options”. I don’t have a Windows recovery DVD, so I couldn’t try that option. Under “troubleshoot” “advanced options”, I tried the following, none of which fixed the problem:

“System restore”, “Go back to the previous version”, “startup repair”, and “chkdsk” and “rstui.exe” commands using the command prompt.

I also tried using several “startup” settings, such as “enable safe mode”, but I couldn’t get any of these to work.

The opening screen said that, if I’m seeking help for this problem, I should specify the following error condition:

“BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO"

This leaves only the “Reset this PC” option, the first of which says it will keep her personal files BUT will remove apps and settings.

The second option is to “remove everything” which includes all of your personal files, apps and settings.

Because the computer has a lot of programs that would need to be reinstalled under the “reset this PC” option, I wondered if there is any way of resetting the PC and getting Windows 10 to restart WITHOUT removing apps and settings? I suppose it’s possible that the hard drive is faulty, but I would like to explore software fixes before I get someone to pull out the hard drive and test it.

Thanks very much for your help.

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#2127373 15-Nov-2018 17:57

looks like you are at the bite the bullet stage , you have to reinstall Windows which means you will lose your settings and programs but at least you can keep your files if you want , at this stage it doesnt really matter because if you dont reinstall windows, settings and programs wont matter because your PC wont work and if the hard drive is faulty you will still lose your settings because you will probably have to replace it.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

frednz

1467 posts

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#2127450 15-Nov-2018 19:10

vexxxboy:

looks like you are at the bite the bullet stage , you have to reinstall Windows which means you will lose your settings and programs but at least you can keep your files if you want , at this stage it doesnt really matter because if you dont reinstall windows, settings and programs wont matter because your PC wont work and if the hard drive is faulty you will still lose your settings because you will probably have to replace it.

Thanks, yes I'm a bit surprised that none of the restart options have worked, so unless I can get one of these to work, I will have to try reinstalling Windows with a consequent loss of programs and settings. At least if Windows reinstalls, then it won't be necessary to replace the hard drive.

yitz

2083 posts

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#2127452 15-Nov-2018 19:15

Manual registry restore could be worth a try... something like in the latter part of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RawKUjSk_98

Is this a laptop or desktop machine?

frednz

1467 posts

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#2127541 15-Nov-2018 21:05

yitz: Manual registry restore could be worth a try... something like in the latter part of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RawKUjSk_98 Is this a laptop or desktop machine?

Thanks for the link it looks like it's a very good video and manual registry restore could be worth a try. The computer is a laptop.

RailNut

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2127575 15-Nov-2018 21:56

I had a similar a few months ago. A cold re-boot sorted it.

yitz

2083 posts

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#2127599 15-Nov-2018 22:31

If it's a non-UEFI BIOS (around pre-2012) check its not something silly like SATA legacy/AHCI mode.

SATTV

1648 posts

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#2127602 15-Nov-2018 22:38

Is it a HP by any chance?

There is a bad keyboard driver update, was pulled about a month ago but we had three computers today with this issue.

Open the command prompt.

go to c:/windows/system32/drivers

del HpqKbFiltr.sys

exit then restart.

Hopefully it will restart and work as normal.

John

Edit: Sometimes because of the install you might have to change from C to the D drive.

I know enough to be dangerous

Quic Broadband

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frednz

1467 posts

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#2127654 16-Nov-2018 07:11

SATTV:

Is it a HP by any chance?

There is a bad keyboard driver update, was pulled about a month ago but we had three computers today with this issue.

Open the command prompt.

go to c:/windows/system32/drivers

del HpqKbFiltr.sys

exit then restart.

Hopefully it will restart and work as normal.

John

Edit: Sometimes because of the install you might have to change from C to the D drive.

Thanks for that suggestion and yes I do have to change to D drive to access Windows. The computer is a Toshiba Satellite laptop so the HP bad keyboard driver update doesn't apply in this case.

frednz

1467 posts

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#2128451 17-Nov-2018 12:57

Because nothing has worked and I don't have time to try any more "fixes", do you think a computer repair place could fix this computer for my friend so that Windows 10 works and so that no programs (apps) are lost?

How much do you think a job like this might cost? I'm fairly confident that the hard drive is operating OK and won't need replacing.

Would Microsoft be able to help in any way, or is this out of the question?

MadEngineer

4298 posts

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#2128459 17-Nov-2018 13:15

Microsoft support will just get you to perform a reinstall anyway. What the big deal about not wanting to reinstall apps? If they’ve set a Microsoft account against their windows user they’ll get all the store apps back along with their old wall paper and other misc settings.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
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#2128470 17-Nov-2018 13:48

I have been through this many times with other OS versions (not Win 10) and I agree that having to reinstall software can be an enormous pain. I doubt many users only run MS programs. I have software from many sources and a lot of it is heavily customised. Having to reinstall it all would be a nightmare. That is what backups are for.

I have successfully done what the OP requests with XP and Win 7. I would imagine it can also be done with Win 10, but I don't have experience of that. There are lots of offbeat tricks you can try, but you usually need low-level tools and multiple computers. Something similar to the Registry restore would be to do a fresh install on another computer, boot a different OS from an external drive, copy the original registry and overwrite the new installation. I have had something like that work before. Also, I recently discovered a brilliant program that adjusts any installation to any new hardware. So you could clone the drive, errors and all (you need to do that anyway), stick the clone in a new computer, run the adjustment program (can't remember what it's called offhand but can easily find out), see if that helps. Once you can get the drive to boot at all, you can go back and clean other things up.

If you are not set up for this kind of thing, and it doesn't sound like you are, then it is certainly worth trying a repair or data recovery place that knows what it is doing. Make sure to clone the drive first and keep a copy.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

frednz

1467 posts

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#2128615 17-Nov-2018 21:20

Rikkitic:

I have been through this many times with other OS versions (not Win 10) and I agree that having to reinstall software can be an enormous pain. I doubt many users only run MS programs. I have software from many sources and a lot of it is heavily customised. Having to reinstall it all would be a nightmare. That is what backups are for.

I have successfully done what the OP requests with XP and Win 7. I would imagine it can also be done with Win 10, but I don't have experience of that. There are lots of offbeat tricks you can try, but you usually need low-level tools and multiple computers. Something similar to the Registry restore would be to do a fresh install on another computer, boot a different OS from an external drive, copy the original registry and overwrite the new installation. I have had something like that work before. Also, I recently discovered a brilliant program that adjusts any installation to any new hardware. So you could clone the drive, errors and all (you need to do that anyway), stick the clone in a new computer, run the adjustment program (can't remember what it's called offhand but can easily find out), see if that helps. Once you can get the drive to boot at all, you can go back and clean other things up.

If you are not set up for this kind of thing, and it doesn't sound like you are, then it is certainly worth trying a repair or data recovery place that knows what it is doing. Make sure to clone the drive first and keep a copy.

Thanks for that, I have dealt easily with similar situations in the past, but this time, the computer can't even do a reset! You would think that, in the event of a sudden power loss, Windows 10 could deal with it without throwing a major tantrum!

I don't think all computers have battery backup, so when the power suddenly goes down when using, for example, your All-In-One desktop computer, surely Windows shouldn't crash to the extent that none of the basic recovery options work? But at least this keeps computer repair people busy!

Oh well, perhaps it's time for people to ditch Windows computers and buy Apple Macs, surely they can handle sudden power loss better than Windows 10?

yitz

2083 posts

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#2128697 18-Nov-2018 01:39

During the course of your attempts, did you try this?

smalltrader

174 posts

Master Geek

#2128748 18-Nov-2018 10:13

To Original Poster:

What sort of storage device do you have? HDD or SSD? If HDD how old it is?

The reason I ask is I have a desktop PC which suffered from recurring "Windows can't load" errors. The root cause was a failing HDD.

Best to trouble shoot properly otherwise a reload of Windows will end up with problems again.

Rikkitic

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#2128749 18-Nov-2018 10:24

I had a desktop that also had problems starting. As is often the case, Windows produced errors that had nothing at all to do with the actual problem but did create a lot of confusing false trails. In my experience it would usually be better if Windows just shut up about this kind of thing instead of making random guesses. For me the root cause was a bad SATA cable, but it took forever to work that out.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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