I'm having a major issue with my Windows 11 installation. It all started when I received an error about SrtTrail.txt, which led me to try and fix things myself after watching some YouTube tutorials. Unfortunately, now my system says that Windows has corrupt files, and I can't access my SSD without getting an 'access denied' message. I've tried resetting my PC multiple ways—keeping files, deleting everything, local reinstall, cloud reinstall, and even installing from a USB—but nothing works. My screen ends up stuck on a blue screen, and I want to get my PC back to just like when I first bought it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Have you tried checking for dump files from any blue screens? If you can access Windows normally or through Safe Mode, look in C:WindowsMinidump for crash logs. If you find any, zip them and upload them through a file-sharing site. Those files can help diagnose what's going wrong. If you've only got one or no dump files, be sure to update your settings to create small memory dumps for future analysis. This might give us more insight into the issue!
If saving your data isn't critical since you've tried resetting and deleting everything, consider doing a clean install from a USB drive. You will need another working computer and an 8GB or larger USB drive to create the installation media. It could help you get back to a fresh state without the corruption issues. Just make sure to follow a reliable guide to get the setup right!
It sounds like you're in a tough spot! At this point, trying to repair Windows is probably not the best approach since you've already attempted that multiple times. Given the errors with SrtTrail.txt and the access issues, it might be time to start fresh. I recommend creating a Windows 11 USB installer on another computer, booting from it, and removing all partitions on your SSD before reinstalling Windows. If the installation fails or you see more errors, your SSD could be failing and might need to be replaced. Don't worry; this isn't about your English or anything you did wrong—these issues are often related to system and storage failures.
I tried that already, but I still couldn't open my downloads and got 'access denied' on my SSD in 'My PC'. Now, instead of my storage capacity, it just shows something like NTFS. What does that mean?