Question Various issues after reading boot drive from another computer

[Chasenuva1]

So this started as a recurring errorless Crash To Desktop issue in various unrelated games. I have found and fixed that issue (bad gpu, new one has zero crashes), I say this because I want to provide context for why i did the steps i will lay out below. I have included every troubleshooting step i remember trying on the day i started getting this issue.

The issue now is a handful of related symptoms:
- Discord requires login every time I open it
- Chrome says 'your preferences cannot be read' every time i close and open Chrome
- Unable to right click on taskbar icons (no context menu pops up)
- Read-Only Word documents, no permission to edit (I am the only user account (admin) on this computer)
- probably more stuff i haven't found yet

One of these probably caused the issue (which were all done to troubleshoot the CTD issue, none of which solved that issue):
{this is a mostly time-ordered list, but not exact order}
- run sfc /scannow + reboot
- run mdsched + reboot
- run chkdsk c: /f + reboot
- turn off XMP in BIOS + reboot
- do a 'clean boot' (disable non-microsoft services and disable all startup items)
- re-enable all disabled 'clean boot' stuff from ^above^ step
- unplug all storage drives + fresh install windows on new drive -> Enable Launch CSM in BIOS (because no boot drives were found) -> plug old boot drive in and boot to the fresh windows install -> try to copy game save file to fresh windows install -> receive 'do not have access to this location' message -> loading bar pops up after hitting 'ok' (the only option) -> after ~1 minute of the loading bar, access granted (no password/input/anything needed)
- unplug fresh windows drive, plug back in all old storage drives in old configuration
- New Issue: Windows Search Bar does not allow typing into the search bar
- - restart computer (did not fix search bar)
- - run the Search and Indexing Troubleshooter (did not fix search bar)
- - run C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe + restart (did not fix search bar)
- - run (in Powershell) Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers |Where-Object {$_.InstallLocation -like "*SystemApps*"} | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"} + restart (did not fix search bar)
- - decide to focus on fixing one problem at a time and the search bar issue can wait.
- run chkdsk c: /f + reboot
- run sfc /scannow + reboot
- - find the Search Bar issue fixed itself
- borrow friend's gpu + use same video drivers (no CTD issue here)
- open Youtube to chill after long troubleshooting session -> get a 'Your Preferences cannot be loaded' error -> restart computer -> chrome issue persists -> try to ask chrome-guru friend for help on discord -> discord persistent login requires login verification -> decide to leave it for tomorrow, time to do work -> find Word docs open in Read-Only mode -> Google doesn't have much in the way of fixing this symptom more than 'reinstall the affected program' which didn't work for any of those 3 apps

So, anyone have a clue what could have caused the issue? how to fix it? or maybe some more things to try?

 

[Lutfij]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

After reading through your entire thread I feel like you'd have been able to save all that time troubleshooting by merely reinstalling the OS after recreating your bootable USB installer for your OS, disconnecting all drives except for the one you wish to install the OS into, to avoid the OS installer from creating boot related partitions on other drives. Yes it's happened many times to other folks. Enable X.M.P and disable CSM in BIOS, making sure you're on the latest BIOS version.

 

[Chasenuva1]

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

After reading through your entire thread I feel like you'd have been able to save all that time troubleshooting by merely reinstalling the OS after recreating your bootable USB installer for your OS, disconnecting all drives except for the one you wish to install the OS into, to avoid the OS installer from creating boot related partitions on other drives. Yes it's happened many times to other folks. Enable X.M.P and disable CSM in BIOS, making sure you're on the latest BIOS version.

I don't see what my hardware has to do with a windows permissions issue, but sure.
CPU: 14900KF
CPU cooler: Custom Watercooling
Motherboard: Strix Z790-H
Ram: 128GB Trident Z5
SSD/HDD: 2tb WD Black, 4tb Samsung 990 | Temporary Fresh OS drive: 512gb Patriot P300
GPU: 4090 / 3090 (old / temporary)
PSU: MSI Ai1000P (~1 year)
Chassis: Thermaltake P90
OS: Windows 10
Monitor: I'm not going to list all 7, sorry.

Anyway, It sounds like you're saying that i should have unplugged all my old storage drives, plugged in only a single drive (the one i want to install the OS onto), and then did the fresh install of windows on only the new drive.
Am I understanding your statement correctly?

 

[Chasenuva1]

After reading through your entire thread I feel like you'd have been able to save all that time troubleshooting by merely reinstalling the OS after recreating your bootable USB installer for your OS, disconnecting all drives except for the one you wish to install the OS into, to avoid the OS installer from creating boot related partitions on other drives.

I was hoping you'd respond to my query. But oh well. I'm here for help, not an internet fight.

To respond to your 'suggestion', I did do that. The first time. I said so in my original post, here:

- unplug all storage drives + fresh install windows on new drive -> plug old boot drive in and boot to the fresh windows install -> Enable Launch CSM in BIOS (because no boot drives were found) -> try to copy game save file to fresh windows install -> receive 'do not have access to this location' message -> loading bar pops up after hitting 'ok' (the only option) -> after ~1 minute of the loading bar, access granted (no password/input/anything needed)

I do realize my original post is information-dense, but it needs to be to convey everything that could have contributed to the problem without being three-monitors tall.

Also, to correct myself, I Enabled Launch CSM (because no boot drives were found), booted into the fresh Windows and installed Steam Chrome and Discord, then I plugged in the old boot drive to pull the game saves off it (with a proper reboot). (I have updated the original post to reflect this)

So, anyone else have a clue what could have caused the issue? how to fix it? or maybe some more things to try?

 

[Chasenuva1]

Alright, update:
Someone on another site suggested I try takeown and icacls /reset on my user folder to make sure file perms are correct. After restart, i found it had completely broke my user profile, completely unable to sign in. thankfully, i was able to log in to a temporary admin account, check security perms on the files, realize no user actually had perms to read them, and look through icacls /? to find a way to re-add my own SID to the files with full perms. (took 10 hours total for both icacls runs >_<)

now i'm back to where I was with discord, chrome, and windows acting strange as i already described. I also found out Steam doesn't have permission to install new games, nor does Halo: MCC's Anticheat have permission to run. (other games i've tried, including other ACs work great still though)

Note: I have also gotten several 'oh just nuke everything reinstall windows. simple!' suggestions on other sites. I really would rather not if at all possible. It would take actual weeks to get everything up and running again.