Posted By: Lightspeeds PC Repair
Windows 10 allows for creating a bootable USB Recovery / Repair Drive, allowing to repair startup, file system and other problems, running system restore, refreshing or resetting your pc. You can create a Windows 10 USB or DVD recovery drive that will allow you to access these advanced startup options, even if your Windows 10 installation becomes completely damaged and you can’t access this menu.
If you run into problems with your PC, a USB recovery drive can help you troubleshoot and fix those problems, even if Windows won’t start. Note, this repair recovery drive (Advanced Start Up Repair) cannot repair problems with the hard drive itself, hard drive mechanical failure.
Create A Windows 10 Recovery Repair USB Drive –
Windows 10 by default does not allow the older method of tapping F8 on boot to boot into “Safe Mode”. (See other methods – work arounds below). Setting the computer from within the operating system to boot to safe mode yes. But on a computer that will not get into startup, this repair system repair disk is needed. A USB thumb drive can be used to create this Windows 10 recovery drive. This needs to be done before problems arise, or can be created from any other working computer running either Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or Windows 10.
Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool – Windows 10
“The Windows Media Creation Tool will allow you to download & create a Windows 10 installation ISO DVD or bootable thumb drive directly from Microsoft. You can use it to clean install, upgrade to Windows 10, or repair Windows 10.”
Can be created from any other working computer running either Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or Windows 10.
Complete instructions are on the “Media Creation Tool” link above.
“Create Windows 10 installation media, Download Tool Now”.
4GB usb thumb drive can used to create this installation/repair media. The usb thumb drive must be blank, empty it will also be formatted during the “Media Creation Tool” process. Creating an “iso” file must be burned to DVD.
Download the “Media Tool” from above link (“Download Tool Now”). Insert USB thumb drive into pc and run the Media tool file and just follow the prompts and your Windows 10 installation files, WHICH include “Advance Start Up Repair” will be completed.
AFTER creating Windows 10 installation files and “repair” boot media created with the Media Creation Tool, boot your computer from the usb or dvd media. (Bio’s setting > Boot Options). After the select language, keyboard screen, next screen your presented with is “Install”…. except you do not want “install”,,,,,, look in lower left corner of that screen and choose “Repair My Computer”. This will then take you to the advanced repair options for Windows 10. From there you have “Reset, System Restore, Safe Mode Boot, Start Up Repair” and a few other options.
Windows 10 Repair Disk Using Microsoft Media Creation Tool –
I used this Media Creation Tool initially to upgrade to Windows 10, so I have this thumb drive stored away if needed in the future. Also keep around for any other Windows 10 computers that will not fully boot up at least to the log on screen.
Unless you have changed the motherboard out on the computer, I can confirm that once the OS has been activated (whether it was Win 7, 8.1 or 10) Windows 10 will activate automatically on installation. Note, you MUST download & create the same version of Windows 10 that you currently had activated. If you had Win 10 Home version activated, and you are creating & installing Win 10 Pro for example,,, it WILL NOT activate. With a computer last week, computer had 8.1 but was upgraded to Win 10. Hard drive was failing, but was still bootable. I checked Win 10 version and confirmed it was activated. Installed new hard drive, using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool then created Windows 10 installation thumb drive from another pc. Installed Windows 10 and it activated automatically.
If System Restore, Safe Boot Mode, “Reset” or reinstalling Windows 10 fails, a diagnostics test needs to be performed on the hard drive. If your hard drive is the problem, has failed, you’ll need a new hard drive installed to proceed with the operating system installation using the thumb drive or DVD you created with the Microsoft Media Creation Tool.
iDrive – Automatic Remote Data Backup & Recovery – one service you cannot be without. Protect your important data files on ALL your devices automatically.
Recovery Drive –
Windows 10 Recovery Options
Windows 10 Recovery – Safe Mode Methods –
1st Method – Start Menu > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced Startup. Reboot your pc will boot up into Advanced Troubleshooting, Repair, Reset etc.
2nd Method – Holding “Shift” key down, Start Menu > Power > Restart.
Hold the “shift” key down while you press “restart” will start up to Windows 10 recovery environment. (Shift Key + Restart)
3rd Method – At Windows Log On Screen, same as above,, hold “Shift” key down while pressing “power button icon” in bottom lower right corner of the log on screen and choosing “restart”. (Shift Key + Restart)
4th Method – Using “Msconfig”. Windows key + R > type msconfig, click “ok”… Boot tab > select “Safe Mode” Minimal, click “Apply & OK”. Restart will boot into the Advance Startup repair menu.
Also I believe, 3-4 non-successful boots should automatically boot into “Automatic Start Up Repair” mode.
How To Enable Old Style F8 Safe Mode In Windows 10, 8 & 8.1
Of course, enabling the older style “F8” safe mode function needs to be done, and left enabled BEFORE problems arise.
Windows 10 “recovery environment” actually provides you a few more options for repair, full recovery, reset pc, system restore, diagnostics mode etc. Much more than the older style F8 boot function.
Windows 10 Recovery Disk Image –
If you replace your hard drive or if Windows 10 recovery options are corrupt and do not function properly. Loading the drive image can have you back up & running very fairly quickly. Drive Imaging software creates a complete Operating System installation “snapshot” image of your entire hard drive with all programs, data and operating system at the time & date of image creation.
The drive image can be saved to an external hard drive, and used as a recovery OS installation file.
Best to create a complete drive image right after bringing computer home or right after building and installing all hardware drivers…. for that would be a clean operating system installation image. On a new computer or new computer build with all hardware drivers installed, and no programs, no music or no photos etc the drive image might be 5-8GB’s. On a computer that has been in service for a while with 200GB of drive space used, the compressed drive image might amount to 80GB for example.
If you hard drive is replaced, this image can be easily loaded, and have you back up and running fairly quickly. Also known as “cloning a drive”
Best “VPN” service out there today – Private Internet Access
Free Drive Imaging & Recovery Software –
- Macrium Reflect Free – “Award winning disk cloning & imaging software for free.” Excellent software, create your rescue boot disk, burn you system image for complete OS recovery reinstallation to same hard drive or new hard drive. The rescue media (disk) is created & used to boot computer up loading Macrium Reflects recovery environment, then from there you can load your OS system image file saved to usb, or external hard drive. Option in settings to set Macrium Reflect Recovery option at boot screen for a few seconds.
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AOMEI Backupper – Had a few problems with this one initially, but got it to work.
Macrimum Reflect is much easier.
Windows also has it’s own System Image Creator:
“Control Panel > File History, Bottom Left Corner = System Image Backup. Connect an external USB hard drive with enough free space. The backup could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 hours, it all depends on the amount of data to be backed up. To restore your computer from backup, connect the drive with the system image backup and reboot your computer with the Windows installation media. During the Windows Setup, click Next, then click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left corner of the screen. Click on Troubleshoot, click Advanced options, and select System Image Recovery. Now select the target operating system you want to recover, click Next and Finish.”
There are a other drive image programs including Acronis True Image.
Best Hard Drive Cloning Software
Important task to do with creating an operating system backup image is to, “auto verify the image” through the disk image software. This auto checks, verifies the image was created with no problems. Also to actually test the image and the boot media created to make sure loads and works. Will not help you “down the road” if it fails to load or install if you did not test after creating it.
Other Good Links & Information:
How to Download a Windows 10 ISO File
Windows 10 – How to Recover Your System after a Failed Update
How to Clean Install Windows 10
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Usb Repair Tool Windows 7
It's just a matter of time before your device gets stuck loading or won't start at all. Instead of spending time trying to find out the problem, Windows 10 includes the Startup Repair feature designed to quickly fix most common issues that may be preventing your computer from loading correctly.
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to use the Startup Repair tool to fix boot problems on your device.
How to quickly repair startup problems on Windows 10
To use the Startup Repair feature to fix boot issues with Windows 10, you'll need to access the Advanced startup settings, which you can do in at least three different ways depending on your situation.
Accessing Advanced startup when PC isn't loading
If your device isn't loading or stuck during boot, you can use this method to access the recovery environment:
- Turn on your PC.
-
As soon as the Windows logo appears on your screen, press the power button. (This will immediately interrupt the boot sequence.)
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 two more times.
After the third interruption, Windows 10 will open into the Advanced Startup environment, and then you can continue with the steps below to use the Startup Repair tool to fix booting issues with Windows 10.
Accessing Advanced startup using bootable media
Alternatively, in the case your device isn't starting at all, you can use a USB installation media to get to the Advanced settings environment. Here's how:
-
Start your device using a USB bootable media.
- Quick Tip: If your computer isn't starting from the USB flash drive, you'll need to change your system's BIOS settings to make sure it can boot from USB. Usually, you can access the BIOS by powering up your device and pressing one of the functions, Delete, or ESC keys, but make sure to check your manufacturer's support website for more information.
- Click Next.
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Click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-right corner.
Once you've completed the steps, use the steps below to continue to the Startup Repair tool.
Accessing Advanced startup when PC is loading
If you have access to the desktop, you can use these steps to access the recovery environment to use the Startup Repair tool:
- Open Settings.
- Click on Update & Security.
- Click on Recovery.
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Under the 'Advanced startup' section, click the Restart now button.
After completing the steps, you can now continue with the steps below to fix loading problems with your device using the automatic repair feature.
Using Startup Repair to fix loading problems
While in the Advanced startup environment, use the following steps to use Startup Repair:
-
Click the Troubleshoot button.
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Click the Advanced options button.
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Click the Startup Repair button.
- Select your account.
- Type your account password.
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Click the Continue button.
Quick Tip: If your computer is loading correctly, using this tool, you'll get the 'Start Repair couldn't repair your PC' message because there's nothing that needs fixing.
Once you've completed the steps, the Start Repair feature will proceed to scan, detect, and fix any problems that may prevent your device from loading correctly.
Also, the repair process creates a SrtTrail.txt file in the 'C:WindowsSystem32Logfiles' folder with log information that you can view to have a better understanding of the diagnostics.
If you're still having problems, you should use the Windows Central forums to find help.
Alternatively, if you've been running the same installation for a long time, you should consider nuking the old installation with a clean copy of Windows 10. This process will take longer, and it'll erase everything on your computer, but it'll help to fix the loading issues, as well as performance, battery life, and other problems.
More Windows 10 resources
For more helpful articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources: Cooling tech usb digital microscope driver.
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable PE Rescue Disk
Created a Custom Windows 10 Recovery Tools and Bootable Rescue Disk in ISO format
Based on the Win10PESE project found on TheOven.org - Thanks to those that contributed.
It allows you access to any non-working system and provides you a visual means to repair that system.
You would have to download the ISO and then burn it to USB or CD to create a bootable WinPE disk.
ADDED OPTION >> Win10XPE - Build Your Own Rescue Media - Windows 10 Forums
WARNING !! - Do Not Use ISO's Downloaded From MajorGeeks Because They Have Been Tampered With
Win14393PESE_x86 ISO v170116
Win14393PESE_x64 ISO v170116
I can:
Enter the standard Windows 10 recovery environment from within Windows 10.
Boot the computer from the normal SSD and pick Kyhi's Recovery Tools to boot into.
Enter UEFI boot override and boot directly from the custom recovery partition on the second HDD into Kyhi's recovery tools.
Once in Kyhi's recovery tools I can do a clean install of Windows 10 or I can run Macrium Reflect and restore the backup image to my SSD.
Installing Win 10 x64 using a flash memory - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums
and Rufus instructions are in Option 2 of this tutorial, but refer there, of course, to a Win 10 iso.
Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 | Tutorials
How to add Recovery Media as Bootable Option To HDD
1) Create a FAT32 > 2GB - 32GB < Partition at the end of your drive
2) Mount ISO and Copy the contents (Files) from the Rescue Media ISO to FAT32 partition
3) Download and Extract PESE_BootMenu_Option.7z
4) Run Proper Batch File (MBR or UEFI) to add the FAT32 Bootable Partition to your host Boot Menu Options
Batch File will ask for partition 'Drive Letter'
Batch File will ask you to type a 'Name' for the Boot Menu Entry
Batch File will ask you if you want to Display 'Metro Boot Menu'
Note: Batch just runs simple windows bcdedit commands to add the boot menu option..
Older WinPESE Versions:
Win10586PESE_x86 ISO v160125
Win10586PESE_x86 ISO v160707
Win10586PESE_x64 ISO v160125
Win10586PESE_x64 ISO v160707
Download Win 10 Recovery Usb
USB devices are one of the most useful peripherals for a Computer. You can connect your storage devices via USB and you can also connect your mobile phones. You can connect mobile dongles to connect to the Internet. USB devices are no doubt one of the important accessory we can have for our systems.
I came across many people who were facing issues when it came to connecting USB devices on Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10. Issues like device not charging properly, USB devices becoming idle after a while, File Explorer hanging and even USB devices not being recognized.
All these USB related issues are critical and they are all due to a bug on Windows 8/8.1 and 10. You can fix them easily though, and this is what I am going to tell you in the post.
You will see how to easily fix the USB Devices not working issue in Windows 10. If you are loooking to fix USB device issues on Windows 8, read our other post about Fixing USB issues in Windows 8.
Fix USB Devices not working inWindows 10
Method 1 – Just restart your PC
The ultimate fix for many technical glitches on a PC. Just restart your PC and see if it is working.
Method 2 – Try another USB Port
A PC or even a Laptop has many USB Ports so just try inserting your USB device in one such port.
Method 3 – Check USB Connections inside your PC cabinet
Sometimes the wires that connect the USB port to the motherboard malfunction and USB port start behaving in a weird manner. In many cases it stops working at all. In these cases you need to check for USB connections on your Motherboard.
In case of laptops, I suggest you take some professional advise. If the USB devices are still not working, then try the next method which should solve your issue.
Method 4 – When nothing works, this will!
Tried everything I listed above, and it is still not working? I suggest that you try this last method as well.
Follow the procedure and you will be able to fix the issue in no time. Keep in mind that you will need to edit some Windows Registry settings so read the instructions carefully before performing them.
Part 1 – Check Device ID
- Press Windows Key + R and you will see that the Run dialogue pops up.
- Type in devmgmt.msc into the dialogue and press Enter.
- The command will open up the Device Manager.
- The Device Manager shows you all the devices that are connected to your PC including the CPU, GPU, USB devices and everything.
- Now that your Device Manager is open, you need to check for the USB device that is causing the issue.
- It can be in Input devices or just in the Universal Serial Bus section.
- To identify your USB device, unplug and plug the device to see which one from the list is changing.
- Once you find the USB device, just go ahead right click on the USB device and go to its Properties.
- Now go to the Details tab in this Properties window.
- Check the dropdown menu and choose Device Instance Path.
- This will show you the device ID along with the vendor ID and stuff.
- Keep this window open and move to the Part 2 now.
Part 2 – Make changes in Registry
- Press Windows Key + R again and type in regedit into the Run command.
- This will start the Windows Registry Editor and this is where we are going to make the real changes.
- Navigate to the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetEnumUSB<Device Instance Path>Device Parameters
- The Device Instance Path is the very same thing that is given in the Properties window of the USB device properties.
- Follow the path and you will see an image like what we have embedded below.
- Check the Device Parameters and look for the DWORD that reads EnhancedPowerManagementEnabled.
- Now the data for this specific DWORD should be shown as 1.
- We need to edit this and to do so, double click on the DWORD and a new window will pop up.
- Change the data in this window to 0 – Zero in numeric form and click OK.
Close the Registry editor and your problem will be fixed after a reboot. Shut down your PC, start it again and connect your USB devices. They will start working again.
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