Had to reinstall my Windows due to an update cocking up rendering my install completely FUBAR.
It screwed up my networking so certain programs couldn't get online and broke local streaming from my PC, and basically nuked everything Windows related. Including the Update manager, any form of recovery, and the Advanced Startup Screen.
This means I couldn't just roll back. None of the usual scans and auto repair things worked of course.
Weirdly, Windows would still launch fine and I could still do most things. I could go online with a web browser, access most of my files, but all of my Windows Apps with the exception of file explorer were dead, the icons had disappeared. I couldn't even open the settings menu without a weird workaround involving right clicking on the search bar and opening the taskbar settings and then using the Home tab to get there. I also couldn't use the search bar, it was there, but I couldn't type anything into it. The Run command worked fine though. I also had to actually go into System32 to access cmd.exe.
I couldn't even download Windows or Repair it using the Windows Media Creation Tool. I had to use another PC to download the ISO, use Rufus to format it for UEFI, and reinstall from my BIOS.
I ended up having to wipe the drive, which wasn't so bad as I could easily back up everything because I could still access it, and most of my files aren't on my Windows OS Drive anyway. I install very little there to begin with. Even if Windows had completely broken beyond the point of launching, I'd have still been able to access everything to back it up because of my Linux alt-boot. I use Linux for most things that aren't playing video games, and sometimes even that.
All in all, it was a huge pain in the ass, but actually took less time than a lot of times I've previously had to reinstall Windows.
It screwed up my networking so certain programs couldn't get online and broke local streaming from my PC, and basically nuked everything Windows related. Including the Update manager, any form of recovery, and the Advanced Startup Screen.
This means I couldn't just roll back. None of the usual scans and auto repair things worked of course.
Weirdly, Windows would still launch fine and I could still do most things. I could go online with a web browser, access most of my files, but all of my Windows Apps with the exception of file explorer were dead, the icons had disappeared. I couldn't even open the settings menu without a weird workaround involving right clicking on the search bar and opening the taskbar settings and then using the Home tab to get there. I also couldn't use the search bar, it was there, but I couldn't type anything into it. The Run command worked fine though. I also had to actually go into System32 to access cmd.exe.
I couldn't even download Windows or Repair it using the Windows Media Creation Tool. I had to use another PC to download the ISO, use Rufus to format it for UEFI, and reinstall from my BIOS.
I ended up having to wipe the drive, which wasn't so bad as I could easily back up everything because I could still access it, and most of my files aren't on my Windows OS Drive anyway. I install very little there to begin with. Even if Windows had completely broken beyond the point of launching, I'd have still been able to access everything to back it up because of my Linux alt-boot. I use Linux for most things that aren't playing video games, and sometimes even that.
All in all, it was a huge pain in the ass, but actually took less time than a lot of times I've previously had to reinstall Windows.