Laptop System Crash & Bootable USB With Win10 ISO Option

Background Info next followed by my main ?'s listed at the very bottom

A few months back my Laptop that came with Win 8.0, upgraded to 8.1, and finally to W10 crashed. My son installed Win7 but I didn't like it. I typed out some help issues regarding this to an on-line MS tech. The tech finally hooked me up with another MS Tech only this time on the phone (I was stunned that could happen).

I explained the above to the Telephone Tech and she, upon hearing all the details, told me not to worry and that she would help me fix the laptop. I was expecting that I would only be able to get Win 8.1. She then asked me what version of Windows did I want Win 8.1 or Win 10 I was stunned that she was offering me a clean install of Windows 10 so that's what I chose.

She then walked me through formatting a USB drive, downloading a Win 10 ISO, and also downloading a utility program to install the ISO on the USB and make it bootable.

IT WORKED!!

Fast forward to today:


My laptop recently, over the past few weeks, started to run slower and slower and it also would randomly just turn off at the drop of a dime. I tried running diagnostic programs to try and find out what going on to no avail. This morning the laptop froze up and when I turned it off and then back on, it suddenly went to a Blue Screen saying there was no way to boot because of corrupt system files.

The Blue Screen had advanced options that showed me different ways to try and fix Windows but none worked. System Restore - NOPE. Go Back to a prior Windows Version - NOPE. I tried every option offered and nothing worked. I did not try System Repair out of fear I would lose my email profiles.

Main Question:

If I use the Bootable USB will it offer me the option of doing a Repair Installation which will save my files or will it just do a clean install erasing all my data?

If the USB WILL NOT do a clean install can I remove the laptop's Hard Drive and plug it into another computer so I can use it as a second drive and remove my data in Explorer first?


Thanks for the long read. I hope I covered everything.

William Brown

Do a backup before you try anything. That way, if anything goes wrong, you can restore the backup and beingo, you're right back where you were.