Windows 10 Restarting
Hello everyone,
I recently reinstalled True Image after my Western Digital Drive had to be replaced and I just finished backing up my computer. I did not create a bootable image, Just a complete backup of everything, but now when I restart Windows from the Windows desktop, instead of booting to the login screen it restarts to the True Image "DOS" window asking me if I want to restore or back up the computer. The only way to get out of this menu ( closing the window only restarts the computer and goes back to the True Image backup window) is to completely shut down the computer and then turn the power back on. Is there an option somewhere to disable this behavior so that resetting Windows goes directly to the login screen?
Thank you.
Bob
Thanks for the tip about deleting my email address, I already get enough spam! 😊
The only external drive I have is my Western Digital backup drive, and the CD is a music CD.
It was a straightforward Full backup with the following updates limited to incremental files. This is actually my second attempt at a backup because the first one I mistakenly also selected the option to create a bootable section. When I realized that was a mistake, I deleted that backup and And get just the full backup.
Should I just wipe the backup drive and start all over again?
Bob
Bob, when you took the option to create a bootable Survival Kit this would have been created on your external WD drive, and your BIOS settings must be set to boot from that drive ahead of booting from your normal Windows drive (or Windows Boot Manager).
You can test this by leaving the WD drive disconnected when restarting Windows.
Just deleting the backup where the Survival Kit was created does not remove the latter!
Thanks Steve.
If I reformat the external Western Digital drive will that allow me to boot directly to Windows while the drive is still plugged in?
Bob
Hi Steve,
sorry that I haven't gotten back to you, but I was away for about a week and just tried to correct the problems with my backup drive. I tried everything that you suggested, but nothing worked, so I just tried pressing the reset button on the back of the drive. My new problem is that the drive is no longer seen by Windows. The reset procedure that I followed was to first unplugged the data cable from the drive, press and hold the reset button, and then reboot Windows. True Image now starts at the " Name Your Drive" Window, but when I select the Choose Destination window I get an error message saying that there's no drive connected.
Do you have any other advice?
Bob
Bob, at this point you need to see if the WD drive is seen as being connected to your PC but is just either not formatted or not initialised to allow Windows Explorer to show it?
To do this, open an Administrator level command prompt, which you can do by searching for CMD then right-click to use the 'Run as Administrator' option.
In the black prompt window, type in:
diskpart
list disk
and see how many drives are shown in that list?
If I do this on my own PC, I see as follows:
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.870] (c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.610 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: STEVE-9OP3KKF0 DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 465 GB 0 B * Disk 1 Online 1863 GB 0 B * Disk 2 Online 1863 GB 0 B DISKPART>
My PC has 2 internal drives (disks 0 & 1) and one external drive (disk 2) where the sizes help me to recognise these, though doing a further command: list volume will give more information to confirm the partitions found on my drives.
DISKPART> list volume Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info ---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- -------- Volume 0 C Windows NTFS Partition 200 GB Healthy Boot Volume 1 G SSD-Data NTFS Partition 263 GB Healthy Volume 2 SYSTEM FAT32 Partition 260 MB Healthy System Volume 3 Windows RE NTFS Partition 978 MB Healthy Hidden Volume 4 D Data NTFS Partition 919 GB Healthy Volume 5 E Backup NTFS Partition 943 GB Healthy Volume 6 F ESD-USB FAT32 Partition 32 GB Healthy Volume 7 S Seagate2TB NTFS Partition 1831 GB Healthy DISKPART>
In the volume list, volumes 0,1,2 & 3 are all on my disk 0 boot SSD, volumes 4 & 5 are on my disk 1 internal HDD, and volumes 6 & 7 are on my external USB HDD.
Note: setting clear labels for the drive partitions make identification a whole lot easier! See images below showing this in Explorer.
Thank you so much for the detailed explanation Steve, unfortunately, it appears that my external drive is dead because the only drives that are listed are my internal SSD and 2 conventional hard drives. Here Are the results from your suggestions:
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.906]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.610
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: DESKTOP
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 596 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 931 GB 0 B *
Disk 2 Online 931 GB 2048 KB *
DISKPART> exit
Leaving DiskPart...
C:\WINDOWS\system32>diskpart
Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.610
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: DESKTOP
DISKPART> list disk
Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt
-------- ------------- ------- ------- --- ---
Disk 0 Online 596 GB 0 B *
Disk 1 Online 931 GB 0 B *
Disk 2 Online 931 GB 2048 KB *
DISKPART> list volume
Volume ### Ltr Label Fs Type Size Status Info
---------- --- ----------- ----- ---------- ------- --------- --------
Volume 0 F Audio CD CDFS DVD-ROM 375 MB Healthy
Volume 1 E Multimedia NTFS Partition 596 GB Healthy
Volume 2 D Storage Dri NTFS Partition 930 GB Healthy
Volume 3 Recovery NTFS Partition 300 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 4 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 5 NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 6 NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 7 C Bootable SS NTFS Partition 930 GB Healthy Boot
Volume 8 Recovery NTFS Partition 300 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 9 FAT32 Partition 100 MB Healthy System
Volume 10 NTFS Partition 504 MB Healthy Hidden
Volume 11 NTFS Partition 450 MB Healthy Hidden
DISKPART>
It looks like I've got another bad drive from Western Digital, but this will be the last one I get from them. Do you agree?
Bob
Bob, if the drive isn't being shown and does not connect then essentially it is a doorstop!
Bob,
Since this is an external drive you are not seeing you should look at changing what port it is connected to so you can eliminate it being a bad port connection or possibly a bad cable.
By changing the port do you mean plugging the drive into a different USB port? I'll also double-check the connection with a different cable.
Bob, see webpage: External Drive Not Showing Up or Recognized? 5 Potential Fixes to Try - that may also be helpful here!
I can finally report success! Thanks Steve!
The drive was plugged into a USB port on a hub that allowed data transfer (I tried the same port with my microphone and it works) so I know the port wasn't the problem. I then tried plugging the drive directly into the computer and I could finally access the drive. I'm not sure why that made a difference since the drive has an external power supply but, for whatever reason, I could now access it.
Now I could see that there was a 2 GB partition on the backup drive that was labeled "ACRONIS HM" that apparently is part of the Survival kit. I erased the data on that partition, and now I can backup the drive and when I restart the computer it boots directly to Windows. My only remaining question is can I delete that 2 GB partition?
Thanks again for all your help, I appreciate all your advice!
Bob
Bob, the 2GB FAT32 partition can be deleted but you may need to use a partition manager tool to do this. Download a copy of the free MiniTool Partition Wizard software and use this (after installing it) to remove the unwanted 2GB partition safely.