I shut down my PC during a Windows update, and now it keeps showing a blue screen for about 20 minutes before crashing. I can still access the BIOS, so I'm considering a fresh install of Windows. However, I want to know if there's any chance I can recover my files before doing anything drastic.
5 Answers
If you trigger the auto-repair by restarting four times, but it just loops back to "undoing changes," an external USB might help you get past that. Boot from that and see if you can run repairs from there.
If you're ready to reinstall Windows after making backups, that can fix underlying issues too. Just ensure your important files are saved first!
Before wiping everything, try performing a Windows System Restore. Windows usually creates restore points during updates, so you might be able to roll back to a working state without losing anything.
First things first, if you can boot into Safe Mode, check the C:WindowsMinidump directory for any crash dump files. These files can help diagnose what's going wrong. If you find any, zip them up and upload them using a reliable file sharing site. If you're unable to get dump files, check out a guide online on how to change the dump settings to ensure you capture future crashes.
You can definitely recover your files! One way is to create a Windows installation USB on another computer, boot from it, and select the repair option. Alternatively, you could use a Linux live USB. Load up something like Ubuntu to access your files and transfer them to an external drive. Just make sure your hard drive isn’t encrypted.
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