Windows Re-install

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

On 07/03/2018 08:08 AM, Shoe wrote:
My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Get the ISO for a DVD or USB from:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft.../windows10ISO/

You have a digital license and don't need a CD Key any longer. Once on
line MS will see you were previously licensed and activate you
automatically.

PS. Make a backup of your system like an image with Macrium, both for
reload if all else fails and for retrieval of data files.

"Shoe" wrote in message ...

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Others have all made good suggestions and you may ultimately have to do a
clean install but here's some things to try that may get your system back to
being a bit more stable for very little effort.

There's a number of ways to open the Device Manager window but simply type
Device Manager into the Search bar and select the Device Manager entry.

Once that is open expand a group by clicking on the + sign. For every entry
( no need to do all duplicate entries) that shows in the expanded group,
place the cursor on the entry and right-click and select Update Driver
Software. It will open another window - click on Search Automatically.....
and it will go out to the net and if there is a new driver available, it
will download and install it automatically. If no new update is available,
it will tell you that the best driver is already installed. Simply go to
the next item and do the same.

You will find that even though you may have recently performed a windows
update, that a few drivers will most likely be updated. The list may seem
daunting but there are a number of duplicate entries that you only need to
check one of them and move on to the next entry.

I don't know what your hardware is but most likely the problem lies with
entries in the "System devices" tree and/or the USB entries below System
Devices.

After you have done those - reboot the system and then run the
Troubleshooter (just type that in the Search bar) and select the Windows
Update troubleshooter. It will most likely say the database is corrupted
and present a window for you to allow it to fix it. At the end of the
process, if it says it fixed everything - reboot. If it couldn't fix
everything - do it again and after another try or two it will eventually
clean everything out. Reboot.

This may take some time since it will be checking what updates have been
installed and in the background, downloading updates needed. After that,
reboot again and then do a manual windows update to finish installing any
updates. You will most likely see some instructions about needing a
restart, etc.. Just follow the instructions.

It's probably taken me longer to type these instructions out than it will
take for you to check for driver updates in the Device Manager and to
perform the Windows Update troubleshooting process.

Some final thoughts. The problems you stated are fairly common and the
steps above as well as doing a clean install are overkill because a simple
Intel update (chipset) or USB driver may have been corrupted. But we can't
see your system, we don't know the hardware configuration or what other
software may have impacted the OS upgrade from Win7 to Win10 or which update
may have borked the system. But if you do a clean install and find you
still have similar problems you may want to provide more details about what
the hardware configuration is and how old the system is (make and model
number would help).

As for the external hard drive - have you tried it on another system to see
if it's recognized? If it's a WD drive, their site has diagnostic tools you
can download and use to test the drive.


--


Bob S.

On 7/3/2018 9:18 AM, KenW wrote:
On Tue, 03 Jul 2018 08:08:48 -0400, Shoe wrote:

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Get the Media Creation Tool. It allows you to create either a dvd iso
or usb stick. I would try a repair reinstall first. From within Win 10
run the Setup.exe from either one, that will not touch your programs
or files. If nothing gets repaired, you can use either to do a clean
install. Since you already have Windows 10, it will get activated
automatically.

Side question: It you do a repair reinstall, is the repaired version
the version that was on the computer ie 1709, or would it be the current
version 1803?



--
2018: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

Shoe wrote:

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Go to microsoft.com.
Sign-in.
Click on the blue My Account icon at the top right.
View Microsoft account.
Under Devices, click Manage.

Is your Windows 10 license listed there? When you did the upgrade, you
created a Microsoft account where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key. When you do the
fresh install of Windows 10, it will connect to your Microsoft account
to validate your license.

For media, you get that from:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

Use it to create installation media.

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:


My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Go to microsoft.com.
Sign-in.
Click on the blue My Account icon at the top right.
View Microsoft account.
Under Devices, click Manage.

Is your Windows 10 license listed there? When you did the upgrade, you
created a Microsoft account where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key. When you do the
fresh install of Windows 10, it will connect to your Microsoft account
to validate your license.

creating a microsoft account is optional and has no effect on any
entitlements nor does anything need to be validated nor must one sign
in to reinstall it (assuming an entitlement exists).

On 3 Jul 2018 12:08:48 GMT, Shoe wrote:

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7.

I have a few desktops running Window 10 from the free upgrade where I can
confirm what the others said, which is that the digital "activation" that
you currently have, will occur automatically if all you change are the
disks.

Here, for example, you see three (3) Windows 10 installations on one PC
(all apparently using the *same* activation from Microsoft)
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_dualboot102.jpg

One thing you'll likely want to do if you have MS Office and other licensed
programs is that you'll want to save the license keys BEFORE you overwrite
the old operating system!

See also the 60 steps to setting up a well-organized new Windows 10:
What else do you do when setting up a new Win10 desktop from scratch?
http://www.pcbanter.net/showthread.php?t=1104489

I am now having
several problems with the computer.

If it's a desktop, and if you have the room, and if you have the two SATA
cables to spare, I'd suggest setting up a *new* HDD in parallel with the
existing HDD (that's what I do whenever I need a "new" Windows).
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_dualboot101.jpg

Then you have access to *everything* and you can boot to either operating
system, where you can see from this screenshot, I have two Windows 10, and
one each of Windows 7 and Vista.
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_grub01.jpg

One advantage of a clean install on a separate HDD from your existing
Windows boot disk is that you can copy over your Cascade, Heterodox, and
Orthodox menus and they'll all just work fine (if you're organized anyway).

Another advantage is that you don't have to back up the original disk,
which is a pain that you can skip. Instead, you boot off the new HDD, and
then you just slide desired files from the old HDD to the new HDD as
desired.

It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments.

Not good. They don't seem related on first pass, so, you do seem to have a
problem that isn't worth troubleshooting since a new Windows install will
solve them all, most likely.

It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.

My suggestion is to do that clean install on a new HDD, which has the
advantage that:
a. You don't have to back up the old HDD (which saves a ton of time)
b. It's the fastest solution to getting back up and running
c. You don't have to troubleshoot the old Windows install
d. You can still boot to that old Windows install if/when you want to
e. You still have *all* your files from the old install available

My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

As the others said, use the Microsoft outlined method to create an ISO dvd
and install from that ISO dvd (where I suggest a separate OS, which confers
huge advantages in time, effort, safety, and flexibility for you).
http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_win10iso.jpg

"Keith Nuttle" wrote in message news

Side question: It you do a repair reinstall, is the repaired version the
version that was on the computer ie 1709, or would it be the
current version 1803?

Windows feature to repair or reset does not install a later version.

If using a MCT created setup.exe, one should use the same version as the
installed o/s. If not available, then use the built in Win10 reset option
for the installed version or clean install using the latest available
version provided by the MCT tool.


....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
ms mvp windows 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018

"VanguardLH" wrote in message ...

Is your Windows 10 license listed there?
When you did the upgrade, you created a Microsoft account'
where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key.

Anniversary Update was the first version that linked your device and MSA on
the MSFT servers.
That link is independent of the device license on the server for same device
license activation[1]
The MSA/device link only makes it easier to reinstall/clean install Win10 on
the same device(or transfer to another device when transfer rights are
applicable).

[1] MSFT account(MSA] does not store the license.

....w¡ñ§±¤ñ
ms mvp windows 2007-2016, insider mvp 2016-2018

nospam wrote:

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:


My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Go to microsoft.com.
Sign-in.
Click on the blue My Account icon at the top right.
View Microsoft account.
Under Devices, click Manage.

Is your Windows 10 license listed there? When you did the upgrade, you
created a Microsoft account where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key. When you do the
fresh install of Windows 10, it will connect to your Microsoft account
to validate your license.

creating a microsoft account is optional and has no effect on any
entitlements nor does anything need to be validated nor must one sign
in to reinstall it (assuming an entitlement exists).

Answer the OP's question on what he needs to do to perform a clean
install instead of nitpicking my or anyone else's replies. Again you
are making assumption about what the OP has or does not have, like the
product key.

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Go to microsoft.com.
Sign-in.
Click on the blue My Account icon at the top right.
View Microsoft account.
Under Devices, click Manage.

Is your Windows 10 license listed there? When you did the upgrade, you
created a Microsoft account where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key. When you do the
fresh install of Windows 10, it will connect to your Microsoft account
to validate your license.

creating a microsoft account is optional and has no effect on any
entitlements nor does anything need to be validated nor must one sign
in to reinstall it (assuming an entitlement exists).

Answer the OP's question on what he needs to do to perform a clean
install instead of nitpicking my or anyone else's replies. Again you
are making assumption about what the OP has or does not have, like the
product key.

i'm not nitpicking anything, you made yet another incorrect claim.

as for his problem, i did answer it. win10 uses entitlements. if he's
installed it once, he can reinstall it again on the same hardware.

nospam wrote:

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Go to microsoft.com.
Sign-in.
Click on the blue My Account icon at the top right.
View Microsoft account.
Under Devices, click Manage.

Is your Windows 10 license listed there? When you did the upgrade, you
created a Microsoft account where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key. When you do the
fresh install of Windows 10, it will connect to your Microsoft account
to validate your license.

creating a microsoft account is optional and has no effect on any
entitlements nor does anything need to be validated nor must one sign
in to reinstall it (assuming an entitlement exists).

Answer the OP's question on what he needs to do to perform a clean
install instead of nitpicking my or anyone else's replies. Again you
are making assumption about what the OP has or does not have, like the
product key.

i'm not nitpicking anything, you made yet another incorrect claim.

as for his problem, i did answer it. win10 uses entitlements. if he's
installed it once, he can reinstall it again on the same hardware.

Define where "entitlements" are recorded.

In article , VanguardLH
wrote:

My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

Go to microsoft.com.
Sign-in.
Click on the blue My Account icon at the top right.
View Microsoft account.
Under Devices, click Manage.

Is your Windows 10 license listed there? When you did the upgrade, you
created a Microsoft account where your license got stored. That way,
you don't have to hunt around for the product key. When you do the
fresh install of Windows 10, it will connect to your Microsoft account
to validate your license.

creating a microsoft account is optional and has no effect on any
entitlements nor does anything need to be validated nor must one sign
in to reinstall it (assuming an entitlement exists).

Answer the OP's question on what he needs to do to perform a clean
install instead of nitpicking my or anyone else's replies. Again you
are making assumption about what the OP has or does not have, like the
product key.

i'm not nitpicking anything, you made yet another incorrect claim.

as for his problem, i did answer it. win10 uses entitlements. if he's
installed it once, he can reinstall it again on the same hardware.

Define where "entitlements" are recorded.

microsoft. duh.

Shoe wrote:
My desktop is running Windows 10 Home Premium 64 bit. I received this
version of Windows as a free upgrade from Windows 7. I am now having
several problems with the computer. It will not recognize my 3 TB
external drive any more, it will not recognize my printer or allow me
to reinstall it and it will not allow me to send emails with
attachments. It looks like time to do a clean install of Windows 10.
My question is this - do I have to purchase a new copy of Windows 10
as I have no media to use to reload it.

1) It will not recognize my 3 TB external drive any more
2) it will not recognize my printer or allow me to reinstall it

Solution:

0) Do a full backup of the disk, *just in case*.
I recommend Macrium Reflect Free (because it's free).
Store the backup image file (.mrimg) on an external disk.

1) Boot a Linux LiveCD and verify that plugging in the 3TB drive
is recognized and a file browser shows you some files. This is
to prove the USB port works, assuming the drive is on a USB port.
This is an attempt at a "hardware test". Use any means at
your disposal to prove the USB ports actually work, and it's
not a power problem. If your USB keyboard LEDs work and your
USB mouse laser lights up, you have power (obviously). If you
want, you can plug in more than one mouse and keyboard, as
hardware (port) tests.

2) Uninstall the printer software. Uninstall the 3TB disk software,
if you suspect it's part of the problem. A disk doesn't need
software, but some have an auto-installer with cruft on it.

3) Delete the Win10 ENUM key and reboot. There are
several ENUM keys, and CurrentControlSet is the one
you want. The ControlSet001 and ControlSet002 (if present)
are the fallback copies of CurrentControlSet. ENUM contains
all the hardware detection. "Screwed up USB" lives in there.

The PsTools suite has the "psexec" program.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sys...nloads/pstools

Here is a little demo I did a while back, with psexec and whoami.
The second window that opens, I issue a command to remove ENUM.
The actual Regedit window is not elevated, and is used as the
third thing, to verify the attempt actually worked. I'm not using
Regedit in this case to do the actual removal. Just using
Regedit to prove it worked.

https://s9.postimg.cc/vwioz43f3/WIN10_delete_ENUM.gif

There is a psexec.exe and a psexec64.exe and you should
select the one that matches the bitness of your OS.

You can't get much higher than SYSTEM account.

Close Regedit, close the middle window, reboot.

4) Once you reboot and the system comes back up, plug in the 3TB drive.

It should be detected.

Go to Disk Management and *make sure*
it doesn't have an *Offline* status. It should be Online.
If Disk Management shows Offline status, it means you cloned
a disk too well, and made exactly identical disk identifiers.
Or, you can also place a disk in an Offline state as part
of the "Safely Remove" ritual. People who received advice
to put a disk Offline in Disk Management, frequently forget
later that it also causes future detection problems. Just
switch it back Online using the Disk Management window,
if that is the case.

5) If the attempt fails in some spectacular way, you can
restore from the backup in step (0). Any of my crazy
recipes, come with backup as the first step.

6) Install the printer software, being sure to follow the
instructions about *when* to plug in the printer. Some
drivers install before plugin. Some install after plugin.
When the printer package starts (with printer disconnected),
it should show a graphic of what it expects you to do next.
Don't plug in the printer until it tells you.

You uninstall the printer software first. Then remove ENUM.
Then reboot. Then run the printer installer, making sure it
tells you when to plug in the printer. Plugging in the printer
in that case, counts as a "fresh" detection, because ENUM was
gone.

*******

3) "it will not allow me to send emails with attachments."

This is a Gmail problem. Or an Avast problem. Not
likely to be a "Win10 reinstall" type issue.

Send an email with a .txt attachment and it should work.
(Unless some malware on your machine, is modifying outgoing email.)

Paul

On 3 Jul 2018 22:11:22 GMT, Paul wrote:

I recommend Macrium Reflect Free (because it's free).

Hi Paul,
I have a related question of you since I organize my system so my "backup"
method is just to copy my "data" hierarchy and I'm done with backup.

But it's nice to know what free software method you recommend.

Do you recommend macrium (https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree) over, say,
Aomei Backupper (https://www.backup-utility.com/free-...-software.html)
that Shadow told me about long ago?

What about Back4Sure (http://www.ukrebs-software.de/english/back4sure.html)

Those are the 3 (unused) freeware backup solutions I have in my software
archives, based mostly on recommendations from this ng.

Which do you prefer that would fit the OP's needs and most people's needs?