How To Do A Windows 10 Upgrade Install From USB?

Question

I am having trouble getting to the login screen in Windows. Both normal boot and Safe mode boot past the Windows logo but then end up with a black screen with a cursor and no way to login.

Ctrl-Alt-Del, Ctrl-Esc, Win-R, Win-E, Ctrl-Shift-Win-B have no effect and I am stuck with the black screen and the cursor.

I have already tried various automatic recovery options and I can't get into Windows.

• Reset this PC
• Uninstall updates (quality and feature)
• Startup Repair

Also fixes such as launching WinRE from a USB and running commands like:

dism.exe /Image:F:\ /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=F:\ /offwindir=F:\Windows /offbootdir=F:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\sfc-1.txt

Therefore, I decided to do an upgrade install and keep my personal files.

I put the ISO on a USB stick on another PC then booted from it.

However, it said that upgrade installs can only be done by launching the setup.exe from within Windows.

• Why does the installer need to be running from Windows?
• Is there any way to bypass this check? (e.g. passing the drive as a parameter or something)

Answer 1

Since you cannot login normally, or in Safe Mode, or in any way, then now you must back up your system and re-install Windows.

Since Windows is installed and was at one point running, you do not need a product key. The license and subsequent activation is held by the Microsoft Licensing Server. This works the same way as replacing a broken drive with new drive. Windows 10 allows you to install from an installation USB ISO.

Answer 2

Not an answer - a workaround since I think you have ran out of solutions

Get a live USB of Ubuntu

Copy all files(even the hidden ones) and folders to external hard drive

Reinstall Windows

Get your necessary files my manual search the external hard drive

One thing for sure - it is a way to get files and folders but nothing apart from that like settings and softwares but you can try experimentally

Answer 3

Re-installing Windows should not be needed; instead, perform the correct recovery procedures in WinRE by using the install.esd from the Install USB (\sources\install.esd) to repair Windows

1. In WinRE, and with the install USB plugged in, issue the following:

   1. Get drive letters: DiskPart > lis vol > exit
      • Note the drive letters of the Install USB and Windows OS partition

   2. Cleanup Component Store:

      # Where C: is the Windows OS partition:
        DISM /Image:"C:" /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
      

   3. Repair Component Store with install.esd

      1. Query the install.esd for the image of the Windows version installed:

         # Where Z: is the Install USB
           DISM /Get-WIMinfo /WIMfile:"Z:\sources\install.esd`
         

      2. Repair Component Store (%WinDir%\WinSxS) with image Index from #1.3.1:

         # Where C: is  Windows OS partition and Z: is the Install USB
           DISM /Image:"C:" /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:wim:"Z:\sources\install.esd":6
           # Where 6 is the image index from 1.3.1
         

         • /Source parameter can also point to an extracted Windows\WinSxS directory from an install/backup image or another PC with the same version of Windows

   4. Repair %WinDir%:

      # Where C: is  Windows OS partition
        SFC /ScanNow /OffBootDir="C:\" /OffWinDir="C:\Windows"
      

      
      

2. If User Profile corruption is the issue (two possible solutions):

   1. Try the following in WinRE:
      1. Load the OS partition's software registry hive:
         RegEdit > Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > File > Load Hive... > C:\Windows\System32\config\software > Enter 1 as location to mount it within
         • The software hive should now be mounted at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\1
      2. Navigate to: HKLM\1\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
         • Identify the corrupted user's profile by selecting each S-1-5-21- key until you see the user reflected within the String's ProfileImagePath value Data.
      3. Edit DWORD: State: Change value from 1 to 0
         • If it doesn't exist:
           Right-click on the user's S-1-5-21- key > New > DWORD > Value: State
      4. Unload OS' software hive:
         Highlight 1 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > File > Unload Hive...
      5. Boot to Windows:
         Try logging in as the user > If unable, proceed to #2.2
         
         

   2. Boot back to WinRE:

      1. Enable Administrator account

         Net User Administrator /Active:yes
         

      2. Boot to Windows, logging in as Administrator
      3. Backup corrupted user's %UserProfile% (C:\Users\<UserName>) to a new location
         • Ensure all hidden files/directories are backed up
      4. Create a new Local user:
         Settings > Accounts > Family & other users - Other Users > Add someone else...
         • Change new user's account type to Administrator if it was before
      5. Copy all non-hidden content to new user's %UserProfile% directory:
         • Do not copy any of the Ntuser.* files over to the new user's %UserProfile%
           • These files are only backed up in case you need to mount the corrupted user's HKCU registry hive to pull data from
      6. Log out of the Administrator account and login as New User
      7. Once OOBE finishes and are at the Desktop:
         Settings > Accounts > Your info - Sign in with a Microsoft account instead
         • This will re-sync majority of your user personalization settings from the old, corrupted account (you may need to manually disconnect it from your Microsoft account first)

      8. Disable built-in Administrator account:

         Net User Administrator /Active:no