Windows 10 Difficulty Refreshing PC

[Hermitkrab]

Toshiba laptop
W10 Home, version 1803

Hi, all. I'm trying to refresh my PC and getting message: "Cannot find recovery environment. Insert your Windows installation or recovery media and restart with the media." I've done a refresh in the past and it went ahead automatically. I thought the info was stored on the HDD under "Windows. Old". Is it possible I've somehow lost that folder? I don't recall erasing anything.

2nd question: Is it possible to reinstall W10 in a free version?

 

[Neemobeer]

Windows.Old is the last build you upgraded from, it should only exist for 30 days. Windows recovery environment exists either as a recovery partition

This is accessed the same way as safe mode

- OR -

You can use a windows install usb or disc to access WinRE features.

 

[kemical]

You can download the windows 10 (1803) iso from here:
Link Removed

 

[Hermitkrab]

Thanks, Kemical. I'm just curious why I couldn't refresh my PC the way I was used to. I believe that downloading W10 from Microsoft will incur cost, whereas resetting is free, like I used to do. Is that correct?

 

[Neemobeer]

The windows ISO is freely available.

 

[kemical]

I believe that downloading W10 from Microsoft will incur cost,

If you upgraded to Windows 10 for free then there's no cost.

Your activation key is stored online.

When you perform a clean install using the above iso and when asked for the activation key, you simply click 'I don't have one' and carry on with the install.

Windows will activate as soon as your online.

 

[Hermitkrab]

Thanks, Neemo and Kemical. What size media is needed to store the ISO (i.e. using a USB stick)? Will it be bootable and do I need to uninstall the current OS first?

 

[GDany]

Or better try this Repair Windows 10 Install Without Losing Apps & Data it worked for me twice and all the apps were there after the reinstall. If you can boot into windows without any problem (as i understoood) you do not need any bootable usb stick or dvd, but it is safe to make and have a recovery disk (write recovery disk in win10 search box). Just download the 1803 iso file from microsoft, mount the iso as a new virtual disk and start setup.exe. Follow the instructions on the screen and choose "keep apps" when asked. Depending on your laptop it can take an hour or two.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

 

[Mike]

Thanks, Neemo and Kemical. What size media is needed to store the ISO (i.e. using a USB stick)? Will it be bootable and do I need to uninstall the current OS first?

When you download the Windows from Link Removedt the software gives you the option to either output the download to ISO file (which can later be burned to DVD etc) or write directly to USB. You need a USB drive with a minimum of 4GB of disk space. This tool will rewrite the USB drive and make it bootable. Be aware, as well, that some machines have a problem booting USB devices larger than 64GB. Hope this helps.

 

[kemical]

What size media is needed to store the ISO (i.e. using a USB stick)? Will it be bootable and do I need to uninstall the current OS first?

If I were you, I'd download the iso first and then use the free app, Rufus, to pop the iso onto a USB.

A 8GB usb stick would be perfect.

Once created, enter your system bios and change the boot order so that your machine boots straight from the usb. (It's not as hard as it sounds to do)
How to Boot From a USB Flash Drive

Once your in the windows set up you can choose to either wipe the disk or perform a upgrade install. It's always preferable to back up your data first and then wipe the drive.

Once the partitions have been deleted simply click 'next'.

 

[Hermitkrab]

Thanks, all. I'm keeping this info for future use since my W10 machine seems to be behaving right now.

 

[kemical]

We never close threads so this information should always be accessible..

 

[Hermitkrab]

Neemo, I reread your answer and needed to kick myself. Of course, Windows Old would have been the previous OS (W 8.1) and is long since gone. I suppose there is, or was, a recovery partition on my HDD because I've used it before. I just don't know why I was getting that message when I tried to refresh the PC, "Cannot find recovery environment." Does that mean the recovery partition is no longer there? Thanks for all your assistance.

 

[Neemobeer]

Win + X > Disk Management look and see if you have a recovery partition.