How to fully recover Windows 10 without original computer?

0

I have a hard drive that came out of a computer I no longer have access to. The drive contains data that cannot be accessed without booting up the system (i.e. simple file recovery).

I currently have the hard drive connected to a USB3-to-SATA3 docking station that is plugged into a laptop.

What could I try to recover the system without the possibility of having access to the machine the hard drive was used in? I need it to actually boot up to be able to recover my files.

For example, perhaps buying exactly the same motherboard/ram/cpu would help?

Also - when I try booting it, black screen just flashes and my laptop restarts without any sign of the operating system. I can still access my files as just files - but that is not what I am looking for, it doesn't help in this case.

Jack

Posted 2018-01-04T21:12:23.017

Reputation: 349

Question was closed 2018-01-11T12:51:47.473

1Navigate to the folder that contains the files you want to access, take ownership of the folder with a valid Administrator user, that exists on a working Windows installation. At that point just transfer the files to another location. – Ramhound – 2018-01-04T21:29:25.983

@Ramhound Do you mean just clone the partition to another disk and try to boot the system? What about MBR and such? I'm thinking the problem might actually be related to that. – Jack – 2018-01-04T21:52:28.700

Please describe how you connected the hard disk to a docking station. If you inserted it into some random laptop, that is highly unlikely to work unless the new laptop is exactly like the old one you don't have anymore. – CAB – 2018-01-04T21:53:35.410

@CAB I had a PC and now it's in a laptop, so it is cardinally different on every single level actually. There isn't anything in common, not even the amount of RAM. – Jack – 2018-01-04T22:50:00.643

@Ramhound I apologize if I didn't explain it properly... I meant that I want to boot the system itself. I can access all the files, however I need to boot the actual system, in other words. I hope this clears things up a bit now. – Jack – 2018-01-04T22:50:03.313

@Ramhound Then what would I have to do to be able to boot into the system? Would buying similar motherboard, CPU and memory be enough for it to boot? Or even that wouldn't work? And is there a simpler way to go about it (if it would work)? – Jack – 2018-01-04T23:08:29.600

"there is data that cannot be accessed without booting up the system"...what exactly is this data? Are your sure you can't access it from another system? – I say Reinstate Monica – 2018-01-05T00:16:59.820

Did you look into your BIOS to see what the boot order is? You will need to inject some drivers with DISM /image:c:\ /add-driver /driver:<<some location>> – cybernard – 2018-01-05T00:17:32.360

@TwistyImpersonator I've edited it again. Thank you for the tips. :) And yes, I am sure it cannot be accessed without booting the system, unfortunately. I have already tried everything I could think of and it didn't work. It's a couple of programs, and there is no support for such a thing because one should make backups, and so should I have. Unfortunately I did not do that, but now I am backing everything up to the cloud. :-) – Jack – 2018-01-05T00:24:33.190

@cybernard yes, I checked it. I also boot from the boot menu (F12 on my laptop) and I also tried taking out laptop's SSD just to test if that might work - it didn't. However, can you give me more details on what you mean with DISM? I haven't used that before. Also - I will add this to the post after I post this - the system just doesn't boot - black screen flashes and that's it... – Jack – 2018-01-05T00:27:00.600

I edited your question for clarify. If I've messed something up, either fix it, or roll it back if I've done too poor a job. – I say Reinstate Monica – 2018-01-05T00:27:10.993

@Ramhound What do you mean by "taking ownership?" I can copy files no problem from that drive as it is. Or will that do something else? – Jack – 2018-01-05T00:27:58.627

Can you be more specific about what requires the system to run in order to access the data? Perhaps there's a way you're not aware of, in which case we can help you get your data instead of you having to forfeit it. – I say Reinstate Monica – 2018-01-05T00:29:46.773

@TwistyImpersonator I edited the question again myself, to add about how the bootup process works. Thank you for the tips and help in actually asking the question correctly! And the data is Ethereum wallet that I had a long time ago. I've looked into various ways to recover it - and I remember that it worked perfectly before I shut the system down and took out the hard drive for my travels and safekeeping. I've tried copying over anything I found about the wallet files, but it still did not work, and there is no support for such things far as I could find. – Jack – 2018-01-05T00:31:48.720

Have you tried look at the location the wallet was stored? If you have ownership of the files just copy the file to your new HDD. How you import an existing Ethereum wallet is well documented. – Ramhound – 2018-01-05T00:38:48.723

I can't speak specifically to Ethereum, but I find it highly unusual that a functioning wallet requires something that is Windows installation specific. – I say Reinstate Monica – 2018-01-05T00:42:36.237

@Ramhound What exactly do you mean by "having ownership?" Do you mean the possibility of copying it or something else? Sorry, but I don't understand - I do not have enough such knowledge. And yes, I have copied it along with every single other file I could find disk-wide, hidden, system, everything. It still did not work - it didn't show any wallets. I do not have another access to that wallet, and it would be very helpful for me to have access to my Ethereum that I mined a long time ago and even forgot about... So I'm willing to try absolutely anything. – Jack – 2018-01-05T00:42:52.283

@TwistyImpersonator So do I, but that seems to be the case. I cannot think of why it doesn't work otherwise, as it worked perfectly beforehand. Alas awhile back - I haven't used that computer for awhile before it was stolen. – Jack – 2018-01-05T00:43:52.427

On your previous computer was secure boot enabled? You need to make sure the secure boot and EFI match what your previous hardware was set at. Depending on how old or new this laptop is compared to your other computer you might have a GPT issue. For example, a HP z400, doesn't support GPT so when it encounters a GPT formatted hard drive it just gives up. A new computer can read either MBR or GPT, but an old computer is GPT only. – cybernard – 2018-01-05T01:25:38.333

@Jack File permissions, obviously, files you don’t have access to will not be shown in File Explorer – Ramhound – 2018-01-05T01:45:21.420

@cybernard That makes so much sense! That computer was in GPT and this one is in MBR. This is from 2012 or so and has BIOS, not UEFI... Could getting plugging it into a newer computer fix the problem? (and I think you meant that an old computer is MBR only, just to correct it for anyone who might be reading this someday) – Jack – 2018-01-05T02:54:35.590

@Ramhound Ah, well, I use Total Commander with system and hidden files visible. Would not all files still show up this way? – Jack – 2018-01-05T02:55:12.770

Answers

2

There is a way to work around this but its a bit clunky. You need a 2nd hard drive of equal or greater size but less than 2TB(2.2 max) or MBR will be incompatible.

Per the discussion in comments its clear that the hard drive is GPT and the computer its attached to now does not support it.

Converting GPT to MBR (I developed and tested this method)

  1. wipe the 2nd hdd so you can MBR it.
  2. Then you need to connect both hdd to the same computer.
  3. Next boot from partedmagic or gparted either ISO or USB.
  4. Launch GParted.
  5. Copy only the 500mb and the multi-gig partitions. The 2 <128mb ignore
  6. Place the 500mb partition in the 1st postion on the new drive
  7. Place the second partition after it.
  8. Apply your changes, and wait and wait
  9. and wait
  10. right click the 500mb partition and mark it bootable
  11. apply changes if needed
  12. shutdown
  13. disconnect old hdd
  14. Try and boot from the new hard, you may still set a stop code 0xc000000e
  15. If said errors occur, boot from Windows ISO,DVD, or USB
  16. bootrec /fixmbr
  17. bootrec /fixboot
  18. bootrec /rebuildbcd
  19. You may have to use diskpart to make the C drive active.
  20. Reply here for unexpected errors.
  21. You should now get the Windows boot logo even if windows doesn't boot. a. It might boot
  22. You may now have to inject drivers for the existing hardware
  23. Boot from Windows ISO,DVD,USB again and get to the screen with the Install Windows option
  24. Press Shift and F8 or F10 and the same time
  25. You should now have a command prompt
  26. The drivers that are most critical are the hard drive controller driver and sometime the chipset.
  27. Place all these drivers on a thumb drive in a folder named drivers which I will call E:.
  28. dism /image:c:\ /Add-Driver /Driver:e:\drivers /recurse

Note: Your C: drive, the drive with the windows folder may not be the C: drive in this mode so swap C: with the correct letter.

  1. Remove the USB,DVD, and etc
  2. It should now boot to the desktop even if many thing don't work due to missing drivers.
  3. Make sure you install network drivers.
  4. Goto http://devid.info and download and install driver agent
  5. Install all drivers that aren't PS/2 or synaptic drivers as these are usually select in error.
  6. wait for download
  7. wait for installing
  8. wait for reboot
  9. Most devices should now be working.
  10. If any device remain with out drivers visit the manufacturer website
  11. Download and install them.
  12. Reboot
  13. Done

cybernard

Posted 2018-01-04T21:12:23.017

Reputation: 11 200

Thank you! I will try that and report back the results. :-) – Jack – 2018-01-05T03:37:55.600

This actually worked! Unfortunately Ethereum did not work, but it was so fun doing this! Thank you! – Jack – 2018-01-05T20:20:09.537

Asked: 2018-01-04T21:12:23.017

Viewed: 108 times

Active: 2018-01-05T04:04:03.727