Windows 10 Update on a USB

Captain Xarzu

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Windows 10 Update on a USB

I got locked in one of those update loops. You know what I mean, probably. My Windows 10 would start an automatic update, then fail, and then reset itself to a previous version. This would happen all of the time.

I eventually decided to back everything up on an external drive and simply reinstall Windows 10 from scratch. Then I found out that the CD (or maybe it is a DVD) was lost in our move. I have the ("OEM"?) sticker but the actual product CD has been lost in the move and I can not find it. Does anyone know how I can reinstall the OS with just the product ID etc.?

Someone suggest this link as a way to fix the problem:

https://www.alphr.com/microsoft/100...ws-update-in-windows-10-if-it-becomes-stuck-1

So I tried the option on this page that uses

"net stop wuauserv"
and
"net stop bits"

and for a while, I thought I was successful in stopping the update cycle.

But I was wrong. It came back and the computer was again performing an update only to, at the end of the update cycle, automatically reset the OS to en earlier version after it recognized an error.

So, now I am at the point where I want to find a way to back up my system (I have already done this with one of those high capacity external drives) and installing a fresh Operating System. But this takes me back to the problem of not having the CD. Is there some way of doing this with using a USB Thumb Drive? Please advise. Also, what sorts of things do I need to look out for? I imagine I should also back up the registry.
 
You'll need to boot from a Win10 USB flash drive, so you'll need a spare USB flash drive, and download the media creation tool here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10
When you run it, choose the "Create installation media for another PC" option and choose the usb flash drive option.
Next boot your broken PC off the USB you created by inserting and usually hitting escape will take you to a menu that allows you to select what device you want to boot from. It may even automatically boot from the USB

Next you can use this guide to get to the repair command prompt: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2897627/start-windows-command-prompt.html

Once you've got the command prompt open, you'll need to find the drive letter that your PC's harddrive has been assigned.
Normally it'll be C or D, so just (for example) type:
D:\
And press enter and it should change to the D drive, then type:
dir/w
and see if you recognise the folder structure (should look like the root of your normal C drive, so folders called windows, program files, users, etc.)
If you don't check C instead of D.

Once you've confirmed the correct letter, type:
dism /image:d:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions
where "d:\" in the above is the drive letter, change to c or x or whatever it ends up being as required.

Once that's done, type:
rmdir /S /Q d:\windows\softwaredistribution
Again, change d to whatever the windows drive letter was that you found earlier.
Then you can type exit or reboot I think, exit everything and restart. PC *should* be ok.
 
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