Question Windows won't boot. Stuck on automatic repair loop.

[Antares_458]

Hey guys, I need some really quick help. A couple of hours ago I left my PC idle on War Thunder while I went out for a bit, and when I came back I found it turned off. Turning it on again, I'm greeted with the Windows logo, but now it says "Preparing automatic repair", which fails, and takes me to the troubleshooting page. At first, I thought something was wrong with the boot order as it may have been trying to boot from my HDD, but that wasn't the case. I've watched many YouTube videos about this error but none of their solutions seem to be working for me. As far as I know, the SSD where my OS is installed is perfectly fine, and through looking at "select a system image backup" where I can choose to install a driver, all my important personal files are there safe and sound. Interestingly, when I try to type in the command prompt "bootrec /fixmbr and /fixboot", it says that the system cannot find the files specified. I have tried to create a bootable USB via my old MacBook Pro, but I'm not sure if it is possible for me to repair my Windows installation using it. I'm sorry if this doesn't have much detail, but I'm kinda panicking and I'm pretty desperate for a fix right now. Preferably, I want to repair my installation without losing any of my personal files, but if I have no other choice but to keep the data but uninstall any non-default apps and settings, so be it. Again, I'm sorry if this seems very rushed but I can try to provide any details at your request.

 

[britechguy]

You can definitely try a repair installation. You will need to use external bootable USB media, and I prefer downloading the ISO file and then using Rufus to make the drive. Take your pick among the following three instruction sets:

Non-Destructive Repair of Windows 10 - Answers to commonly asked questions

Doing an In-place "Upgrade" to Reinstall Windows 10 Keeping Apps/Programs and User Files

How to: Perform a Repair Upgrade Using the Windows 10 ISO file

 

[Antares_458]

You can definitely try a repair installation. You will need to use external bootable USB media, and I prefer downloading the ISO file and then using Rufus to make the drive. Take your pick among the following three instruction sets:

Non-Destructive Repair of Windows 10 - Answers to commonly asked questions

Doing an In-place "Upgrade" to Reinstall Windows 10 Keeping Apps/Programs and User Files

How to: Perform a Repair Upgrade Using the Windows 10 ISO file

Thank you for the reply, but I'm not sure on how to currently do this, as my PC won't boot to Windows at all, even after tinkering with stuff like Safe Mode and all. I can only access the troubleshooting options and the bootable drive I've created, but that's about it really. Something about the way the OS is booted seems completely broken.

 

[britechguy]

Sorry, I constantly forget that "easy" repair install requires that you can boot into the system.

You could try using SFC and DISM in offline mode if you boot from Windows PE to try to fix the Windows 10 instance on your hard drive. See: https://www.tenforums.com/performance-maintenance/94173-how-use-dism-window-pe-environment.html