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My laptop wont boot and gets stuck saying:
'Reparing disk permissions. This may take over an hour'
Googled it and solutions need the windows install disk. I dont have this and dont have a disk drive.
I'm a Mac user so know nothing about Windows. Seems daft that you cant boot into safe mode without an install disk. Any ideas?
If you have access to another PC, you can download the Win10 installation files from the Microsoft website and make a bootable USB drive. That will let you boot the machine and repair the installation. There are lots of detailed explanations on the web about how to do that.
You can create a bootable USB using your Mac, if that's all you have around.
Leave it overnight?
Boot it up holding Shift, see if you can get into Troubleshooting options. This should give you an option to restore.
If it's any consolation, the hard disk is probably shagged and in need of replacement so you're likely wasting your time. Can't hurt to try though.
might be a different button to press depending on the comp, to get into recovery mode on mine it's f11 for and hp laptop.
If the harddrive is goosed won't work mind, but worth a go, google to find out how to get into recovery mode for your make and model.
Thanks for the help. I managed to create a bootable USB and it is now scanning for disk errors. If that fails I'll order a new drive.
Ok I got so far but a little stuck now. I need to re install Windows to a new drive (had one spare) but the latest version of Windows has a file over 4GB which is too big to fit on a Fat32 formatted USB.
Tried using EXFat but the PC wont recognise it (I set up the USB on a Mac)
I found lots of guides on splitting the file but this requires a PC. My only working machine is a Mac and it wont split the file.
Only other option is to download an older version of Windows 10, or 7 that should have smaller files.
Anyone know where I can find a link to a download?
That doesn't sound right. What you need to do is to create a bootable USB stick. The download from MS will be about 8 GB if you choose the 32 bit and 64 bit versions, but that's the file used to create the bootable drive. The files on the drive are all smaller than 4 GB.
Create the installation media from this link:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
There is one file bigger than 4GB that is the problem. I read that older versions of Win10 or even Win7 should have a smaller file.
I'm trying to find that.
I have a Win 10 boot disk right here. I made it a couple of weeks ago. It's formatted as FAT32. It's using 7.47 GB in total. The x64 folder is 3.98 GB. The x86 folder is 2.86 GB. No file larger than 4GB can possibly be on there. If you run the media creation tool in the link above, it will format the USB drive and create a bootable disk for you.
Which version of win10 is that you used? Mine has a file called "install.wim" that is 4.09GB in one of the folders.
Did you use the media creation tool? If you didn't, you need to use that. You cannot create a bootable USB drive just by downloading the files and copying them to a USB drive.
I did but it missed out the file in question.
I cant see a media creation tool on that link.
That only downloads an exe file. I cant do anything with it on a Mac. I need an ISO file with no files over 4GB.
I cant do anything with it on a Mac.
Yes, you need to run it from a PC.
haven't tested this myself
https://passper.imyfone.com/windows-10/create-windows-10-bootable-usb-on-mac-without-boot-camp/
edit: better link
Yes, you need to run it from a PC
The PC's broken. So only have a Mac to fix it.
If you have access to another PC, you can download the Win10 installation files from the Microsoft website and make a bootable USB drive.
First response in the thread explained it.
haven’t tested this myself
https://passper.imyfone.com/windows-10/create-windows-10-bootable-usb-on-mac-without-boot-camp/edit: better link
Thanks for the link. I tried that last night but it still missed out the 'Install.wim' file as its too big for Fat32.
I found a lot of sites with links to older ISO install files but the files have all been taken down.
Does anyone know if a bootable UBS will work in any other format? I have a tool to format as NTFS.
Which version of win10 is that you used? Mine has a file called “install.wim” that is 4.09GB in one of the folders.
Then that's a very old version of W10. Where did you get it from?
Install.wim changed to install.esd a while back, .esd is a compressed form of .wim. I'm looking at the last USB I created right now, it's dated October last year and that carries install.esd, if I were to stick a wet finger in the air I'd guess it changed to .esd at least a year ago.
[EDIT: it's older than that even, because I remember unpacking .esd files back in our old office and that place closed ~ November 2018.]
... and in any case, as I said, you should be able to get in to recovery options rather than needing to fanny about with pendrives at all.
On a mac going to https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10ISO should let you download a current copy of the ISO directly (again untested i only have a pc to hand).
You need to run the Media Creation Tool to create the ISO file. That requires Windows.
What kind of media can Bootcamp create? Is it possible to create a standard Windows USB installation media using that?
hols2
MemberYou need to run the Media Creation Tool to create the ISO file. That requires Windows.
What kind of media can Bootcamp create? Is it possible to create a standard Windows USB installation media using that?
you can download it directly on a mac (or by changing useragent) using the link above (apparently).
That's the same link he tried before and couldn't get to work.
hols2
MemberThat’s the same link he tried before and couldn’t get to work.
Posted 21 minutes ago
It isn't, note the 'iso' at the end of the link i pasted.
However on a Windows PC it does redirect to the same link.
Fair enough. Microsoft may have decided to put ISOs of Windows online that only Mac users can access, but make Windows users download a media creation tool to access them. No crazier than burning $10 bn on a failing phone company.
Yes, I think that link is intended for Mac users to install using BootCamp. Windows users who want to make installation media have to use the Media Creation Wizard.
It is, however one of the methods on the link i posted earlier was to format the USB, mount the ISO and copy the files out of it onto the stick using the terminal. I think that will work.
If the OP wants to swap out the hard disk and reinstall from scratch, he will need a bootable USB stick or DVD. Just copying the files to a USB stick won't be enough.
The file I got was from Microsoft's site.
The original hard drive cant be repaired so cant even access a recovery partition.
Bootcamp didnt seem to work for me. It kept saying remove any external device before proceeding. Then gave no options to install to an external device.
hols2
MemberIf the OP wants to swap out the hard disk and reinstall from scratch, he will need a bootable USB stick or DVD. Just copying the files to a USB stick won’t be enough.
It says it creates a bootable USB stick.
If it doesn't work he could also use UNetbootin which is broadly a mac equivalent of Rufus, the instructions for which are on the same page i linked.
Tried UNetbootin last night but just missed out the largest file. I'll try it again soon.
Ive borrowed an old Laptop so im trying the media creation tool on that. Though it is painfully slow.
Edit. Wont run on that laptop as its only 32bit
MS still supplies 32 bit Windows so the Media Creation Tool should run on it. You can use that to create a USB stick with both 32 and 64 bit versions.
Rufus wont run on it either.
Do you have administrator permission to install apps?
MS still supplies 32 bit Windows so the Media Creation Tool should run on it. You can use that to create a USB stick with both 32 and 64 bit versions.
The laptop i borrowed is running XP so i think thats the problem. Im downloading the 32 bit version of Win10 as its only 3.5GB so I'll try installing that. If successful, I'll download and install the 64bit version directly.
The laptop i borrowed is running XP so i think thats the problem.
Yep
Managed to create a bootable usb using the 32 bit ISO file. Tried to install but it brings up an error saying it cant read the Install.wim file.
Assuming that a) the USB build is good and b) your existing W10 install is x64,
You cannot "upgrade" an existing install with one of a different architecture. You'll need to wipe everything and start again. If you're not doing that then it won't work.
With reference back to my previous post: current versions of the Windows 10 image use install.esd which is 3.5GB in x64 flavour. Quite why you're fannying about with i386 images I cannot fathom.
Microsoft's site only supplies ISO files so cant find an ESD version.
The ISO is a DVD image. It's a container, inside it is many other files one of which is the large install.xxx file. Older versions of W10 used install.wim which could exceed 4GB and give you FAT32 problems, newer versions use install.esd which is a compressed version of the .wim file and less than 4GB.
... and as I said in my first post, you don't need to go down this road anyway.