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I'm looking for the Windows 10 equivalent of this process described in this support page:
http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971760
Or does basically this same procedure also work to try to go back to a previous Windows 10 version?
Would the "bootsect" command be different (i.e., is the flag /nt99 or some other number) or does it need to be run at all when the prior version is also Windows 10?
Details: Why I'm looking for this, rather than the standard Rollback procedure:
My Windows 10 laptop recently forced a version upgrade (from a prior Windows 10 version to the latest), and it failed spectacularly for unknown reasons. Now the machine won't even boot. I researched and attempted the usual, well documented rollback options. But the recovery options told me I couldn't go back to prior versions of windows (though it also couldn't explain why), and that my only option was a total reinstall.
The disk seems fine though. I was able to mount it (thus far read only) via an external drive case, and I'm not finding any disk errors. And, at least right now, I still have windows.old there. I'm hoping that maybe the entire working prior installation is still basically there in Windows.old. So before I do a total reinstall, I wanted to try manually putting the prior installation back, as kind of a Hail Mary. I was thinking I'd mount the drive as an external drive on a working PC, or maybe even Linux, and do the equivalent steps that way, rather than attempting to do it on my now nonfunctional laptop.
1So a rollback if the PC will not boot into Windows? – Moab – 2019-01-16T22:13:05.463
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See this page...https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options
– Moab – 2019-01-16T22:14:11.610Thank you Moab. That's right, I'm looking to do a rollback b/c the PC won't even boot.
I'm aware of the standard Recovery options. I already attempted what's described in the "Recovery options in Windows 10: Go back to the previous version of Windows" section. It didn't work-- "Sorry, Windows won't be able to bring you back to the previous version" or similar error. And yet I do have Windows.old which looks OK. Maybe the new install was so damaged, Windows' remains didn't know how to oversee the rollback.
That's why I want to try the manual strategy if it still works in Win10. – pz99 – 2019-01-16T23:27:40.100
There was a manual way in Windows 7 but not sure if it will work for W10.....https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/971760/how-to-restore-a-windows-7-based-computer-to-a-previous-windows-instal
– Moab – 2019-09-15T13:09:52.827