Solved Fixing Win11 without reformat/reinstall?

wpcoe · Jan 4, 2026

zbook said:
I've got to go to sleep, it's (03:02 AM).

Ditto and ditto.

zbook · Jan 4, 2026

Either search in

Windows RE > command prompt > notepad

or

See if the Farbar version on the flash drive has a search registry option

Copy and paste each driver: aswArDisk.sys; aswArDisk into the Search box and click the Search Registry button.
to
Copy and paste each driver: aswVmm.sys; aswVmm into the Search box and click the Search Registry button.

zbook · Jan 4, 2026

I'll check in later in the day.
goodnight.

wpcoe · Jan 4, 2026

zbook said:
I'll check in later in the day.
goodnight.

Okay, before we both go back into those very tall weeds again (and thanks for going there with me), I want to focus on what the current/imminent issue is:

- NOT tweaking the Windows installation so much as
- begin able to boot into Windows since the hard drive is obviously accessible to the command prompt in Windows Install

Focusing on that second item, why haven't all the bcdedit and fixmbr actions been able to reconstruct the necessary boot files?

Then the nickel finally dropped and I realized what a few people meant to run chkdsk and chkdsk found & corrected some errors. Since there were errors corrected by chkdsk, I re-ran:

bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal, and
bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled No
(both operations completed successfully)

rebooted

dism /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions /scratchdir:C:\scratch
(Gofile - Cloud Storage Made Simple and Gofile - Cloud Storage Made Simple)

rebooted

sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows

Gofile - Cloud Storage Made Simple

Secure, fast and free cloud storage solution. Upload and share files instantly.

gofile.io

dism /Image:C:\ /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

For some reason I couldn't upload it, but I attached it as DISM_results.txt:

wpcoe · Jan 4, 2026

Okay, we've had a good run, but enough is enough. I'm going to wipe the Windows partition and reinstall Windows from scratch using the USB drive's Win11 installation files.

zbook · Jan 4, 2026

There are options depending on whether there are or are not important files.

Spunk · Jan 4, 2026

zbook said:
There are options depending on whether there are or are not important files.

You said you have your personal files on a different partition D:. But also backup any User Files that are not backed up already.
Be sure to Delete the C:\ Partition and any hidden partitions to the Left of that (ie) System, MyASUS, Recovery etc
Follow the link in Post #17 on doing a Custom/Clean Install of Windows.
After deleting those partitions, select the Unallocated Space and press Next to do a Clean Install of Windows.

wpcoe · Jan 5, 2026

Spunk said:
You said you have your personal files on a different partition D:. But also backup any User Files that are not backed up already.
Be sure to Delete the C:\ Partition and any hidden partitions to the Left of that (ie) System, MyASUS, Recovery etc
Follow the link in Post #17 on doing a Custom/Clean Install of Windows.
After deleting those partitions, select the Unallocated Space and press Next to do a Clean Install of Windows.

Thanks. I did that, except I didn't delete the MyAsus and Recovery partitions since they are at the end of the drive, i.e. "to the right of" the data partition when looking at Windows Disk Management Are they no longer relevant with the new Windows installation, or can they still be used for recovery?

[edited to add:] I just looked at Windows Disk Management and I notice a new Recovery partition after the C: (and before the F:) partition. I assume that will eliminate the need to keep the Recovery partition at the end of the drive?

Spunk · Jan 6, 2026

The My Asus partition has drivers and Asus bloatware installers that were issued from the factory.
Depending on how old the computer is, there may be more recent versions of the drivers. You do not need the bloatware, unless you use them and need to reinstall the apps.
You can leave everything as it is, you will not gain very much space if you delete the unused Recovery Partition, there is no harm. If you want to find out what recovery partition is still usable press the Windows key +X and choose Terminal (Admin) and type

Code:

reagentc /info

Too Many Recovery Partitions?

Hi, Can you help please? My main SSD which has basically only Windows 11 on it has a number of 'Recovery Partitions', see attachment.. This drive has upgraded a couple of times Windows 10, and most recently upgraded to Windows 11. So my question, can some of those Recovery Partitions be...

www.elevenforum.com

Again, you can just leave everything as is with no harm done.

wpcoe · Jan 7, 2026

Spunk said:
You can leave everything as it is, you will not gain very much space if you delete the unused Recovery Partition...

Agreed, but it's a sign of the times that gaining an additional 1GB of space these days is considered not very much. My first computer had a 20MB hard drive.

Thanks!

zbook · Jan 7, 2026

Please run the V2 log collector > post a share link

BSOD - Posting Instructions

BSOD - Posting Instructions This will show you how to help provide needed information about your system and dump files. It will not contain any personal or sensitive information about you or your data. To get better help with your Windows BSOD issue, please read these instructions and follow...

www.elevenforum.com

x509 · Jan 7, 2026

wpcoe said:
Agreed, but it's a sign of the times that gaining an additional 1GB of space these days is considered not very much.

Not when you can afford a 16-20 TB drive.

wpcoe said:
My first computer had a 20MB hard drive.

10 MB here. 8" HDD requiring AC power. Like 45 years ago.

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