Windows 10 freezing forever

[malakar]

Everytime I try to run an antivirus scan, install mozilla firefox or try to run a sfc scan,
windows 10 freezes. Can't do anything, can't move mouse, can't access anything like task manager with keyboard. It just freezes there forever. Only solution is to reset the computer.
I tried to install firefox on my ssd and another hard drive but I get the same result, as soon as the installation is done, windows 10 opens the settings screen to change my default browser and it freezes there, forever.

Same thing happens while running an anti virus scan. At some point the computer will just freeze forever.

Tried sfc scan.. freezes at 93%

Really don't know what it could be.

I used crystaldiskinfo, which tells me all of my hard drives are good.

This windows 10 install is an upgrade from windows 7 64bits

My drivers and windows are all up to date.

 

[techgeek]

As for Windows 10, I have 6 computers running it, and no problems here. Only oddities came after a couple of the upgrades (nothing serious), but this was in August when you couldn't go straight to the clean install. So I only did the upgrade to get the digital entitlement and then I did a clean install. I haven't had a single issue with any of them. All of these systems game to some degree (not so much my wifes desktop and laptop), so they have some decent hardware. The issues I had with a couple of the upgrades revolved around odd behavior of the Start menu which was immediately resolved with the clean install. I've haven't had any hardware problems in Windows 10 (other than a crashed HDD on my son's computer) that could be attributed to immature Windows 10 drivers. For the older hardware, Windows 10 pretty much had all the drivers needed to get everything working. In fact this OS has been the smoothest new OS launch for me in a long time. Windows 7 was pretty good to though.

According to malakar his issues with the original Windows 7 install was explorer.exe crashing at login and generally very slow. On the re-install he installed all the updates (presumably so that he could get the upgrade to Windows 10 notification) and them immediately installed Windows 10. So it's hard to say if he used it long enough to determine if his issues had been resolved in Windows 7.

@ malakar, for future reference, there is no need to do a upgrade to get the digital entitlement for Windows 10 anymore. After the November update, MicroSoft made it so that Windows 7 / 8.1 users could go straight to the clean install without first doing the upgrade. All you have to do when asked for the product key is enter your existing Windows 7 / 8.1 product key and it will activate.

 

[malakar]

Yeah I found that out later. So I think that the only option left to me will be to clean install windows 10. It's a good think I don't have a lot of stuff installed yet. So no real lost aside from downloading games. If I use the clean install option from the recovery menu in windows 10 will this do a good enough job? Or do I have to get the ISO online?

Also, is there a way to actually see your windows 10 key, last time I tried to install windows 10 from the windows media creation tool using windows 7 key but they told me it wouldn't work. Which is why I updated windows 7 1st.

As for PSU trouble, last time I had a failing PSU (not to long ago) my PC would reboot or crash after 20 minutes of gaming. Which why I don't think I have this kind of problem this time. Of course I could be wrong.

Is it possible crystaldiskinfo could be wrong and there could be some issues with one of my harddrive? SSD is almost 5 years old now. Don't know how long they can go for to be honest.

 

[techgeek]

If the OS is on an SSD, it's best to do a Secure Erase which of course will require you to do a clean install. Of course this answers the question about doing if from the recover console, you'll need to use the ISO / USB install method. The benefit is that your SSD will be "factory fresh".

If you've upgraded on that hardware, when it asks you for a product key, just hit Next or Do this Later. It will ask you twice at two separate occasions, just click Next or Do this Later. Rest assured that Windows 10 will allow you to install it without a product key of any kind. The product key you were given when you upgraded isn't unique (or important or useful in anyway), everyone who upgraded to the same version of Windows you did (for example Windows 10 Home 64 bit) will have the same key. The upgrade process does a couple things, first is checks that your product key is valid for the hardware it's on (prevent upgrading of pirated product keys) then it takes your product key and hash created using your hardware to register your digital entitlement with their activation server. Now every time you re-install Windows 10, there is no need for a product key. Once Windows is fully installed and connects with the activation server, it will automagically activate.

As for your SSD going bad, it's possible, but not likely. Unfortunately S.M.A.R.T. isn't all that smart. I've had issues with drives that never showed anything in SMART, or the drive manufacturers's diagnostic tools either. Also SMART is a fairly old system and isn't ideal for SSD's. Many of the SMART values / error codes are irrelevant for SSDs. Check to see if the manufacturer of your drive has any sort of utility or diagnostic tools. Also couldn't hurt to see if there is newer firmware for it either. While your at it, see if there is a bootable utility to do a Secure Erase (mentioned above). I know Samsung has it built into their Magician software to make bootable media to perform this task. Some motherboards have it baked into their firmware (mine does), but often this feature works with a select number of SSDs.

 

[malakar]

Well, I did a clean install and, so far, haven't encountered a single issue. I got both chrome and firefox installed and they're working fine.
So I guess there was some sort of corruption going from windows 7 to 10

Thanks for your time. I hope windows 10 won't screw me over though !

 

[techgeek]

I like Windows 10. My only concerns with it are the privacy issues which can be tamed. If this concerns you as well, look it up, there are plenty of how-to's to turning off all the data mining that MicroSoft has on by default.

Other than that, I really like the OS. I really love the fully customizable Start Menu. Once you get rid of all the default garbage tiles that MicroSoft put's in it and tailor it to your needs, it's excellent. I've got all my benchmark software, utilities, command prompt, Windows stuff, pretty much anything I access on a regular basis.