PC reset stuck at 64% (resolved) Windows 10
fabul Posted messages 42077 Registration date Status Modérateur Last intervention -
The Windows 10 reset gets stuck at 64%, what to do?
Actually, I found the solution to restart the PC and recover my files by myself. I thought it might help someone.
Context:
On a 10-year-old Acer PC, Windows 10 had been lagging for a while and couldn't perform updates anymore. Then the PC would boot only one out of five times, the other times it displayed a black screen.
We had to force it to turn off and reboot, praying for it to work.
I decided to reset the PC thinking it would do it good. And then horror, it got stuck at 64%, advanced a little, restarted automatically, and went back to 64%.
I let it run for hours, no way. At least it booted every time now but there was no way to access Windows anymore.
So I forced the power on and ended up stuck in the system repair. Each time it returned to this menu. I tried to restart the reset, it said "An error occurred while resetting your PC. No changes were made."
I had tried with a Windows installation USB, it did suggest rebooting but did not allow the option to keep my files, which bothered me.
I tested a lot of solutions, and here’s the one that worked for me. I want to clarify that I’m a noob, there might have been a simpler way:
I created a USB installation for Linux Mint.
The tutorial is here: https://www.malekal.com/creer-une-cle-usb-bootable-linux-mint/
Insert the USB into the PC, start the PC, press F12 (to access the boot menu, the key is different on some PCs), select the USB.
There I chose the OEM mode. You must not complete the Linux installation as it will delete everything otherwise. "Quit" will take you to the Linux desktop. There I accessed my files which I was able to save onto another USB.
And then I restarted the Linux Mint installation which erased everything.
I imagine that I could have repeated the process with a Windows 10 USB if I wanted to get Windows back, but I'm keeping Mint for now.
There you go! Hoping this helps you!
2 réponses
Hello,
It's true that if we restart the PC using a Live USB of whatever we want, we will retrieve our files, but aside from that aspect which is off-topic (resetting Windows 10 that is stuck), if the reader is looking for how to unblock Windows 10 and we tell them to install Linux Mint (or whatever we want) instead, they will be thrilled...
Hello,
The easiest way is to create 3 Ventoy keys for troubleshooting
One in MBR without Secure Boot Support
One in GPT without Secure Boot Support
One in GPT with Secure Boot Support
Ventoy
https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy/releases
Then copy the ISOs onto the Ventoy keys
Strelec
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/sergei_strelecs_winpe.html
Windows 10
https://www.microsoft.com/fr-fr/software-download/windows10/
Windows 11
https://www.microsoft.com/fr-fr/software-download/windows11
Boot from it using the Boot Menu key of the PC
You can search on Google "[Brand Model] Boot Menu Key"
Hello,
If you have a better solution, feel free to share!
As I said, I've tried several before, but this is the only way I could recover a functioning PC.
I also reinstalled Windows 10 since a software requires it and it works. "or whatever we want" so you understand that this includes Windows 10...(?)
Hello,
The problem is not the PC's operating system but the data.
Resetting Windows 10 without data loss indeed works a bit like Russian roulette, but, by definition, one can start without installation from any Live USB.
Windows 10 does not offer this option unless through very complex manipulations, while almost all Linux distros do. However, we could perfectly do the job if we are keen on Windows with a Windows PE variant (the easiest historically to implement was BartPE which is no longer available), or why not on a Live USB stick or a Live CD FreeDos, but all this is a bit like the tree that hides the forest.
Nothing guarantees that, if things go wrong, we'll recover anything (corrupted disk...); it doesn't matter what we start from as long as we have planned how to do it before the incident... and especially, all the more willingly as we are dealing with an older machine, statistically more fragile, if we have daily external data backups, in which case the question does not arise:
if we cannot reinstall Windows over itself without data loss, then we either use disk cloning (which I don't believe in for many reasons that go beyond this subject), or we format the disk, restart from the Windows installation media we had prepared beforehand and copy back our data, all of which is quite quick if it was planned in advance.