MS finally killed my computer

[hermetic]

After the most recent "update " for Win 10 I can no longer access anything. After logging in it goes to my desktop but no menus load and every 5 seconds or so the screen flashes to black then back with nothing but my wallpaper photo. The only thing that works is the Shutdown and Restart commands. Safe Start does nothing.

I am happy to trash the laptop, even though it's only 4 years old, but I have GOT TO find a way to retrieve several folders that contain about 6 months of photos and docs. I had put them all on a flash drive back then and kept meaning to update but have just been so busy I hadn't got around to it.

So, looking for solutions online shows I am not the only one experiencing this. Allow me now to just say, "FU Microsoft!" Ahem, anyway, it was suggested to download Win10's October update onto a CD and use that as a startup disk and I have been trying that for several days using my roommate's IMac. Problem is I am rural with weak Wifi so it crashes after 4-5 hours. It says it is a 7 hr download.

Wondering: If I got a second drive and attached it, would that allow me access? Or another computer? I am using an old Acer tablet with Win8 to type this. Could I connect the two? Both have Bluetooth but of course I have no way to open it on the other computer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[PJMcK]

1. You won't like my suggestion

Switch to a Mac.

I’ve used Macs for over 30 years and I’ve NEVER had any problems even though I use the machines every day for heavy-duty office, music studio and home uses.

The great variety of problems I’ve heard about PCs amazes me.

Regardless, good luck with your files. I’m sure they’re on your storage drive and can be retrieved by a tech service.

[hermetic]

2. Actually

That is exactly what I intend to do. MS will never see another penny from me.

Thanks. I live in a tiny town. No tech services here. If I can't fix this myself I will make the drive to the big city. Once the winter weather calms down. Pretty nasty outside right now.

[hermetic]

10. My rebuilt MacBook

was delivered yesterday and I am SO happy with it. Still need to try to retrieve those lost files but at least for now I have a working, very nicely, machine. No mo, MS, never again....

[PJMcK]

14. Great to hear!

I've learned a lot of tricks and fixes for the Mac. If you ever have any problems, send me a DU email and I'll be happy to help if I can.

At the risk of being overbearing, the storage drive in your old PC is probably secure and the files can be retrieved and copied to a new external drive. Then you can transfer everything to your new machine and they will most likely be accessible from the Mac software.

Best of luck!

[RainCaster]

3. It will take some work, but you can do it

Sorry, but Bluetooth won't work. USB will.

What you need:
1. small handtools & screw drivers
2. Some way to watch youtube
3. A USB to SATA adapter (Amazon $18) with it's own power supply
4. An old computer running Windows 7 or later. Must have multiple USB ports available. A Mac does not do a good job of reading NTFS volumes, just use a Windows machine and it will save you much frustration.

First, search YouTube for a video showing how to replace the hard drive in your laptop. It will tell you about any special screwdriver bits you might need. Pay attention and make certain you have them.

Next, remove that hard drive from your laptop. Then attach that to the USB adapter. Plug in the power supply, then plug in the USB end of that adapter into your other computer. Now that hard drive should spin up and become visible to your old machine. You can then go in and copy all the files you care about to a different drive- I suggest a thumb drive in the other USB slot.

Now you have all the files saved away. You can put the HDD back in to your laptop and close it up.

You may now begin the process of erasing the hard drive and beginning a fresh install of Windows 10. Like you, I live on a rural DSL link that is awful. Getting that image won't be easy. You have my sympathies. Keep in mind that you will need the windows installation key in order to do a fresh install.

[better]

4. I may be able to provide some assistance

So here's a link that will help guide you through making a bootable USB rescue drive.

As for getting away from Micro$haft, I enthusiastically recommend you take a look at Zorin OS. It's a custom Linux distribution (which is pretty much what Mac's iOS is), but it is uniquely designed to be able to mimic the GUI of either Windows, Mac or Ubuntu, so the learning curve for switching OS isn't all that bad.

It also has WinE (a windows emulator) installed, so it can run Windows applications, and the paid versions come with a host of useful applications pre-installed. I just recently migrated a friend from Windows 10 for exactly this same reason. And with the flagship Ultimate version running about $25 USD (19 euro), it's a far sight cheaper than buying a Mac, and will work surprisingly well on older hardware like your laptop.

Feel free to PM me if you need some more personalized assistance.

[hermetic]

11. Didn't work

Got a rebuilt Mac. Will look into putting Zorin on it in the future. Just glad to have a functioning machine again. My whole life it kinda tied to it. Thanks for your help, though, and the kind offer of help.

[shraby]

5. If you can get into the safe mode, you could

look for system restore and reset it for before the system updated. That might make it work again once it's done.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Let me recommend that you download CAINE and keep a DVD of it on hand.

Normally, I choose autopsy from the start menu to get going when I am trying to recover files. The procedure may seem a little klunky, because it is meant to be suitable for true forensic investigation. You can skip some of the stuff required for forensic case studies.

The documentation for the latest version is much improved.

CAINE provides a Linux-based boot environment that can recover even deleted files, and recover parts of partially overwritten files. One big reservation: I've only once tried it on a Win 10 HD and that did not work out -- it was not my HD and I did not set the security/privileges etc. so that may have been the problem. I have not tried the latest release of CAINE on Win10. BUT ... there is also a set of tools specifically for Windows, which I haven't really tried out.

Visit https://www.caine-live.net/ and see if it's for you. It's recovered many files for me, even ones deleted by sysadmins.

ETA: CAINE can be loaded on a flash drive, and the d/l should take less time than Win10. I'd give the roommate's iMac another shot -- remember most browsers let you restart a d/l from the file saved so far.

[hermetic]

12. Thanks

Will be giving this a try next week.

[eppur_se_muova]

15. I used v10 for the first time last night -- more user-friendly interface, for sure.

Just boot from the CD and double-click on the Autopsy icon; much simpler than what I described earlier.

I found that I ran into problems unless I *first* mounted the target disk write-capable, then loaded the data from the source disk.

There's a small HD icon near the bottom center of the screen. Right-click and select WRITE-CAPABLE, then double-click to add the target disk. Right-click again to mount discs READ-ONLY. From the Autopsy interface, you can load as many partitions as you want to retrieve files from -- no need to mount them with the OS's file manager, that's done within Autopsy, read-only by default.

I didn't try restoring the files directly to the source disk, but apparently that capability is there too.

[PuppyBismark]

7. The easiest approach is to remove the disk and have it read at a PC repair facility

Just because the PC doesn't work, I suspect the data on the disk is still there. Call some of the PC repair shops such as Microcenter or Best Buy to see if they can help you extract the good data. They can remove the disk and read it with the tools they have. They will probably be able to put all the data on your disk onto either a external hard drive or a memory stick depending on how much data you have. Likewise, once they remove the data, they could restore the laptop to its original state and you could use it again.

Good luck.

[hermetic]

13. Thanks

This will be my last resort move. Still trying to DIY.

[Turbineguy]

8. I had a similar problem on my desktop and laptop.

I called MS help and they guided me to download and run their Media Creation Tool and I recovered all my files and settings. They actually did the download and install on my desktop by using the remote desktop, but I managed to do my laptop myself without any problems

Here's a link:

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6734-windows-10-installation-tool.html

[eppur_se_muova]

9. You might also want to look into the R-Undelete family of products (Win, Linux, Mac)

https://www.r-undelete.com/

Note that free downloads with more limited feature sets are available. Of course, it's only useful if you have a boot CD like Hiren's Boot Disk, Windows Personal Edition, or similar.