Had to choose between a full Windows reinstall or a repair install for a stubborn boot loop

A client's machine in Springfield was stuck in a boot loop after a botched update, and I had to decide between a clean install or a Windows 10 repair install. I went with the repair install, which kept their files and settings, and it fixed the corrupted system files in about 45 minutes. It saved us a ton of time compared to backing up data and reinstalling everything from scratch. Has anyone else had a repair install fail on them, forcing the full reinstall anyway?

4 comments

4 Comments

gray3141mo ago

Glad the repair install worked for you this time.

nora_webb511mo ago

I've had to do three repair installs on my Windows 10 machine in the past year. Each one felt like a temporary patch that just delayed a bigger problem. The last one broke my printer drivers for a week. It seems like the system gets more fragile with every update, and the repair tool just isn't a real fix for that.

keith16422d ago

Saw an article claiming you can only do a repair install like four times before it stops working at all. Sounds about right based on what you two are saying.

riverb131mo ago

Oh man, the printer driver thing is the worst. It's like the repair install just shuffles the problems around. Next time it'll probably fix the printer but make your mouse cursor disappear. It's not fixing the system, it's just playing whack-a-mole with your settings.