Windows 10 Problem

[ApexSutton31]

Hello all,

             Now, this is a problem that I'm pretty sure I caused myself... Lol. When I built my PC about a year ago or so now, I used my buddy's laptop to load the Windows 10 beta onto my ssd. Everything worked fine and was working great for everything. It updated itself to the full Windows 10 one random day. Awesome right? Windows 10 for free with no pirating! Well, earlier this year, It decided to have a crazy problem with the OS. And now it can't even get to the lock screen. It gives me an error reading: /windows/system32/winload.efi on the Windows Boot Manager when it tries to turn on. 

             My idea of how to fix this is to pick up a sata to usb adapter, buy a legit digital version of Windows 10 online with my laptop, and then clear the ssd and transfer the new Windows 10 onto the sdd. But I also have an external hard drive that I assume you could use to do this as well. But as I'm sure you've guessed from this post, I'm not near the brightest at doing this sort of stuff. Just wanting to know what y'all would think would be a good idea to go with. 

 

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

[Kiraeden]

Since you're buying Windows 10 fully anyway, why not make a USB Flash Drive or DVD boot media with Windows 10 on your laptop, then do a normal format/install from that media? Alternative to a full install might also be to try recovery options with the above boot media first, as a quick google search tells me that's possibly the solution to that problem (repairing corrupt files).

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

1 hour ago, ApexSutton31 said:

Hello all,

             Now, this is a problem that I'm pretty sure I caused myself... Lol. When I built my PC about a year ago or so now, I used my buddy's laptop to load the Windows 10 beta onto my ssd. Everything worked fine and was working great for everything. It updated itself to the full Windows 10 one random day. Awesome right? Windows 10 for free with no pirating! Well, earlier this year, It decided to have a crazy problem with the OS. And now it can't even get to the lock screen. It gives me an error reading: /windows/system32/winload.efi on the Windows Boot Manager when it tries to turn on. 

             My idea of how to fix this is to pick up a sata to usb adapter, buy a legit digital version of Windows 10 online with my laptop, and then clear the ssd and transfer the new Windows 10 onto the sdd. But I also have an external hard drive that I assume you could use to do this as well. But as I'm sure you've guessed from this post, I'm not near the brightest at doing this sort of stuff. Just wanting to know what y'all would think would be a good idea to go with. 

 

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

What are you asking for??

[ApexSutton31]

2 minutes ago, Kiraeden said:

Since you're buying Windows 10 fully anyway, why not make a USB Flash Drive or DVD boot media with Windows 10 on your laptop, then do a normal format/install from that media? Alternative to a full install might also be to try recovery options with the above boot media first, as a quick google search tells me that's possibly the solution to that problem (repairing corrupt files).

I can look it up again. But when I researched the problem, most of the recovery options that they showed were ones that required you to be at the Windows home screen, which I can't even reach. But like I said, I can easily look it up again. Yeah, making the USB Flash Drive boot media is something I really need to do after this. Haha. Plus, I want to make another build in the future as well, so that would help. 

[Kiraeden]

I did a google search of the partial error message you posted: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-update/filewindowssystem32winloadefi-error-code/cf874f7f-d9d0-477d-a808-a4d45afbd523

Part of the error message in the link above suggests trying a repair via boot media.

 

If a full reinstall doesn't bother you, then I would recommend doing that anyway, as that will likely take care of any other issues created when you did what I'm assuming was an SSD copy of another windows 10 install.

[ApexSutton31]

3 minutes ago, bob51zhang said:

What are you asking for??

I guess just some advice on what to do to get Windows 10 back onto my ssd so I can use my PC again instead of living with a laptop. Recovery if possible, but my main question was whether to use the SATA to USB adapter to put a new version of Windows 10 directly onto my ssd or should I clear the ssd and just make a USB boot drive and go from there or something like that. I hope that clarifies. I know if probably doesn't... Lol

[ApexSutton31]

4 minutes ago, Kiraeden said:

I did a google search of the partial error message you posted: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-update/filewindowssystem32winloadefi-error-code/cf874f7f-d9d0-477d-a808-a4d45afbd523

Part of the error message in the link above suggests trying a repair via boot media.

 

If a full reinstall doesn't bother you, then I would recommend doing that anyway, as that will likely take care of any other issues created when you did what I'm assuming was an SSD copy of another windows 10 install.

Yeah, I think that's what I'll end up going with is the fresh install. No, a reinstall doesn't bother me, I really enjoy Windows 10 and seeing as I basically got it for free at first, I have no problem buying a new legit version. That way there is much less opportunity for similar problems in the future. Should I clean the ssd before doing so, I would assume? If so, how would I go about doing that? 

[Kiraeden]

If by clean you mean format, then yes assuming you don't have any files you want off of it. A fresh install of windows will involve formatting of the target partition or drive. The format itself will be performed by the operating system install operation once you choose your disc, so you don't need to worry about that.

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

1 hour ago, ApexSutton31 said:

Yeah, I think that's what I'll end up going with is the fresh install. No, a reinstall doesn't bother me, I really enjoy Windows 10 and seeing as I basically got it for free at first, I have no problem buying a new legit version. That way there is much less opportunity for similar problems in the future. Should I clean the ssd before doing so, I would assume? If so, how would I go about doing that? 

You probably don't have to buy a legit version. Just contact MS support first and see if they can do anything for you.