How to recover Windows 10

How to recover Windows 10Like most people and many companies I have updated to the free offer of Windows 10. This post covers how to create a backup for a typical C: drive using the Microsoft MediaCreationTool. The page has full instructions, here are some points to remember.

Select the correct version for the current PC, 32bit or 64bit, this is important.

To create a bootable DVD or USB stick select the “Create installation media for another pc” On the next page select the correct settings for the current computer. The next page is for selecting which type of backup medium you require. If choosing the USB version make certain it has at least 4Gb free and all existing data will be deleted. The USB stick must be plugged in.

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A DVD disk is preferred by many as the existing BIOS setting usually permits the DVD drive to run before the C: drive. Extra steps are required to produce the final disk. First create a folder on another drive, D, E, etc. not the C drive, possible folder name is “recovery”. This will be needed to load the finished files into. The file in this folder (.iso)will need to be burned to a blank DVD disk, a good free program to burn DVD’s is the BurnAware software. Test the DVD works before you really need yo use it.

So now you can access the computer, now what?

Full C: drive backup

If data has been lost or the computer will not work, the first step is access the computer and re-install all the software. This can be time consuming and difficult. A better solution is to have a full C: drive back-up that is stored on an external hard drive or USB stick. A good free product to create back-ups is the App from AOMEI Backupper. They also have a free Partition Assistant product.

Lost the Product Key?

You could use the free download program Product KeyFinder or purchase an advance product at Recover Keys which covers more that 8,000 programs.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my son Robert for a lot of information and help in making a recovery a lot easier, and the companies providing free software.

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