Widows 10 stuck in 'Automatic Repair Loop'

[R4Liam]

Windows*

Yesterday before I went to bed my PC was taking ages to shut down. So I forcibly held the power button (which I joked to someone that it felt like smothering my PC with a pillow)

Well I think I did.

Now when I got home and tried to boot it up, it goes to a black screen with a spinning circle saying 'Automatic repair' or something along those lines then it says it could take over an hour. It didn't ever finish and I googled it and people have waited over night with no results.

It got past this screen once or twice and I could reinstall windows and wipe all my data or keep data but the keep data wouldn't work.

I asked my friend who is a programmer and he said a few things to put in the command prompt which I could use. Nothing seemed to work. Other options were restore recovery image or restore point but i never made one.

I then tried using a live cd ubuntu to transfer files before reinstalling windows 10 but it won't show any files I need. I cannot access /Users when I mount it in ubuntu.

If anyone knows what to do I would be eternally grateful. I am at my wits end and I don't want to lose my sh*t again (data-wise or mentally). I cannot at this crucial point in my uni course.

I am sick and tired of things going wrong this year already, just when I need my PC at the last stretch of Uni Course.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I'm not really sure how to get out of automatic repair beyond doing a reinstall myself, but if you don't want to lose your files you can always try backing up any important files with command prompt, or at least backup any uni stuff you need onto a USB drive.

Simply open command prompt and use this command:

xcopy INSTALLDRIVE:\path\to\your\files BACKUPDRIVE:\backupfoldername /E /H /K /O

That should copy everything in the directory to the backup drive, including hidden folders and empty directories. I'm not 100% sure if it'll actually let you do that from the System Recovery area from Windows 10, but last I knew it should still work.

 

[R4Liam]

I'm not really sure how to get out of automatic repair beyond doing a reinstall myself, but if you don't want to lose your files you can always try backing up any important files with command prompt, or at least backup any uni stuff you need onto a USB drive.

Simply open command prompt and use this command:

xcopy INSTALLDRIVE:\path\to\your\files BACKUPDRIVE:\backupfoldername /E /H /K /O

That should copy everything in the directory to the backup drive, including hidden folders and empty directories. I'm not 100% sure if it'll actually let you do that from the System Recovery area from Windows 10, but last I knew it should still work.

That is what I might have to resort to, transfer all my important files and then do a clean reinstall of windows.

I always tend to mess up when entering file paths, so for example how would I transfer the standard 'Documents' folder including it's subfolders?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

That path would be

INSTALLDRIVE:/Users/YourUserName/Documents

Replace Documents with Downloads for the download folder, videos, music, Desktop if you need it.

 

[R4Liam]

When I try to copy things, it says does not exist and when I look at the drive's directory there's no '\users' folder, no 'system32' folder. It's like they don't exist anymore.

 

[Originality]

I'm short on time so I can't go into a detailed post, but have you tried using a Windows install media (DVD/USB) to use the recovery menu? Medicat has a lot of tools that may be able to help you here too, including a version of Mini Windows 10 that you can boot to give you a Windows environment to try your repairs.

To me it sounds like you've either got corrupt system files and/or a bad sector on your boot drive that's breaking the automatic repair attempts when it tries to read to it. This is somewhat common when Windows isn't properly shut down (even if it got stuck trying to shut down in the first place).

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Yeah, sounds like either bad sectors or something got corrupted.

 

[R4Liam]

I will try that. I just want to update on things I've tried to explain further what might be wrong.

-When I use a live ubuntu CD I can only mount the HDD if I set it to RO - read only. When in the HDD It is as I previously said, no system32, no users so no documents, downloads folders.

-I tried an undelete program but it recovered random files at a slow speed and said it would take 140 hours. I couldn't find any important files through that but if I was really patient that might be an option.

-I tried CHKDSK and waited all day for it to work but it didn't when it finished.

-I tried changing some settings in the BIOS recommended by other sites but that didn't work.

-I tried a Windows 10 install USB from their own site but it won't start up any kind of install/recovery & I'm worried about losing files


What @Originality is saying might be the answer because I have a 500gb HDD that I can install windows on and then transfer data from the main HDD onto there. Only problem is installing windows on this 500gb HDD if I don't have anything to connect it to other than the sata cable which powers the DVD drive of the PC.

I might take it in to have it repaired at a shop but it could take a while to repair and I only have until wed realistically to bring files to Uni.