Fixing issues on Windows 11

see also:

• photography and camping main index page
• had enough of Windows?
  • install Zorin OS Core (a free Linux distro that looks like Windows, comes with free LibreOffice suite)
  • see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K89hphrkAig on how to install - even on an old computer - as long as it has 64bit Intel or AMD chip with at least 2Gb RAM and at least 20Gb hard drive or SSD

• pressing F2 allows running various UEFI hardware tests
  • run the Storage|Hard Disk | Quick Test
    • no hard drive installed:
      • either:
        • possibly the BIOS may be corrupted
          • restore BIOS to Default
            • turn off computer, wait 5 secs, turn on and repeatedly hit F10 key to enter BIOS menu
            • press F9 to select and load default BIOS settings
            • press F10 to Save an Exit
            • use arrow keys to select Yes then Enter when asked to Exit Saving Changes
            • follow prompts to re-start computer
          • still issue, consider updating the BIOS
        • still unable to find main drive or Windows system on the main drive is corrupted
          • access Windows Recovery Environment (WRE) - but you will not be able to access WRE if the PC drive is not functional
            • turn off computer, wait 5 secs, turn on and press and hold the key to enter Windows Recovery Environment (WRE) (F11 for HP/Lenovo, F8 or F12 for Dell, F9 or F12 for ASUS, AltF10 for ACER)
              • see https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/windows-recovery-environment-0eb14733-6301-41cb-8d26-06a12b42770b
                • then perhaps PC Reset - see https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/reset-your-pc-0ef73740-b927-549b-b7c9-e6f2b48d275e
                  • may need BitLocker keys to unlock it first
          • if this fails may need to use Windows Recovery Media on a USB drive and ENSURE you choose REPAIR
            • PC won't boot from the USB drive:
              • go to BIOS, ensure USB is the 1st drive in the boot order and Disable Secure Boot: Temporarily turn this off in your BIOS/UEFI. It can block unsigned boot media.
            • Once booted, select Troubleshoot
              • Go to Command Prompt
                • if you can't find the PC drive then there is a problem with it or it is encrypted with BitLocker - the default X: drive is the virtual Windows drive the USB has created, while the actual USB drive is probably allocated to C:
                  • type DiskPart and wait, then type list disk
                    • if it shows a disk the same size as your PC drive then the drive is probably OK
                      • it is probably encrypted with BitLocker, hidden, or missing a drive letter
                        • type list volume
                          • if the large drive has no letter assigned to it, you can assign one:
                            • type select volume 1 (where 1 is the volume number to assign a letter to)
                            • type assign letter=V (where V is your desired letter)
                            • type exit then try typing v: and see if your drive files appear
                          • If it says Locked or Unknown then it is probably encrypted:
                            • if you exited diskpart, type manage-bde -status and press Enter
                            • look for Lock Status. If it says Locked, you must unlock it before System Restore can see it
                            • to unlock it, type: manage-bde -unlock C: -RecoveryPassword YOUR-48-DIGIT-KEY (replace C: with whatever letter your volume is, and enter your BitLocker key which you can find in your Microsoft Account Recovery Page)
                    • if no disk other than USB disk is shown then the motherboard has lost the storage driver or the drive is disconnected or not functional
                      • exit Command Prompt by typing exit
                      • choose Close PC, remove USB
                      • re-start PC and go into BIOS (as above)
                      • look for a section named Storage, System Information, or NVMe/SATA Configuration
                      • check if your main drive (e.g., Samsung, Kingston, Crucial, Kioxia) is listed there
                        • no drive - then drive is destroyed or disconnected
                        • drive listed - then load the Storage Driver via USB
                          • on another PC, Download the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) Driver or the Storage Controller Driver. Ensure you download the F6/Extractable/ZIP version meant for installation during Windows setup, not an .exe installer
                          • extract the files to a folder named DRIVERS and copy the folder to the USB drive
                          • plug the USB back into your broken PC and boot to the Command Prompt again
                          • Find your USB drive letter again
                          • Navigate to your drivers folder by typing: cd Drivers (or whatever you named the folder).
                          • type dir to find the driver file ending in .inf (usually named something like iaStorVD.inf or iaStorAC.inf).
                          • type: drvload filename.inf (replace filename.inf with the actual file name) and press Enter.
                          • once it says the driver successfully loaded, type diskpart and then list disk. Your internal hard drive should now magically appear.
    • hard drive present but issues
      • run the Extensive Test and if fails a test click Troubleshoot

• this suggests that your Windows user account (and perhaps system files as well) has been corrupted and Windows has made a temporary account for you
  • do not save any files into this temporary account as they will be deleted
• try to back up your files from your usual Windows account:
  • in File Explorer, go to C:\Users and select your usual Windows account and hopefully you can get access to your files and copy them to an external drive (if this is not possible as USB has been corrupted, copy them to a new folder on your C: drive which will be outside of your Windows User account
• try to repair your Windows system files
  • turn off any antiviral software temporarily
    • consider uninstalling 3rd party antiviral software such as McAfee
  • open up Command Line as Administrator:
    • in the Windows Search field type cmd then when Command Prompt displays, right click and select Run as Administrator
    • in the command line editor window, type:
      • sfc /scannow then hit Enter
        • if this finds corrupted files but cannot fix them:
          • type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth then Enter
          • when finished, type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth then Enter
          • when finished, type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth then Enter
            • NB. you will get an error 0x800f0915 if you have deleted all files in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution as it will need you to specify a file location as per below
          • when finished, type sfc /scannow then hit Enter
          • if the DISM failed or the repeat sfc still cannot repair the corrupted files then you have several options:
            • 1. run DISM again but use a Windows Installation Media on a USB drive (you will need to create this perhaps on another computer by downloading Windows Media Creation Tool), and type DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:wim:D:\sources\install.wim:1 /LimitAccess then hit Enter (REPLACE D: with your actual USB drive letter)
            • 2. use Windows Update to try to repair the files:
              • back in Windows, go to Settings Windows Update and select Use Update to Repair
            • 3. try rolling back Windows state to a previous RESTORE point
              • unfortunately, Windows does not automatically create the restore points you need so this may not be useful if you have not manually created one
            • 4. try repair by booting from a Windows Installation Media on a USB drive
              • this gives you a variety of options
            • NB. run chkdsk /f or chkdsk /r only if you suspect drive or file-system corruption, bad sectors, or persistent disk-related errors.
  • once repaired, restart the computer and hopefully you will get back into your usual Windows user profile and not a temporary one
  • worst case scenario, you may need to re-install Windows but this may lose your data if you have not backed it up!

• it may be running a background Windows Update
  • go to Settings:Windows Update to see if this is running
  • WARNING: powering the computer off during this can lead to corrupted Windows system files and then you will need to repair them as per above section!
• you may be running out of hard disk space and computer is not able to create enough virtual RAM
  • go to File Explorer, click on This PC and check the free space for the C: drive
    • if there is not much space, free it up by removing temporary files and unnecessary files (consider moving files to an external USB drive)
• a different back ground task may be running
  • press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and then choose Task Manager to see what processes are running
• system files may have been corrupted
  • go to the previous section on how to repair corrupted files

• usually indicates a corrupted file or drive
• go to Services, search for Windows Update, double click on it and change to Disabled
• open File Exporer, go to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and delete all files and folders in this directory
• open Command Prompt, Run as Administrator and type chkdsk c: /r then exit
• reboot computer
• open Command Prompt, Run as Administrator and type sfc /scannow then hit enter to see if corruptions are resolved
• and then retry Windows Update (this will recreate the folders and files in C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution during the download process)