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Question

Clean Install Troubles; Error code: 0xc0000185

Sep 26, 2018 4:29PM PDT

I have a Lenovo, newer. It was running 10. The HD crashed. No biggie because I have drives laying around.

I wiped an existing 500G drive clean and installed it. I created an installer USB from another Windows 10 machine I have. I ran the installer on the new machine and everything appears to go well up until it's time to restart. When the machine restarts, I get this message:

Your PC/Device needs to be repaired.
The operating system couldn't be loaded because the system registry file is missing or contains errors.
File: \\Windows\system32\config\system
Error code: 0xc0000185

So, I go through all the steps. 1) I reformatted and attempted the installation again: same result 2) I re-created the install media and tried again: same result 3) I recreated the install media on a different USB: same result 4) I attempted with a different, newly formatted HD: same result.

I've tried multiple permutations of USB drives, HDs, work order, removing the UBS, leaving it in... I tried about ten times, and get the same result every time. If I remove the USB stick before re-boot, I still get this result. The installer runs, and upon re-boot, I get this message. If I restart the computer, this message consistently comes up. Running the repair does not work.

I think there were two occasions of getting this error when a restart gave me a slightly different error: a BCD error.

I need to get W10 installed on this machine pretty soon. Any thoughts on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Post was last edited on September 26, 2018 7:35 PM PDT

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
Let's clear up a few things.
Sep 26, 2018 4:43PM PDT

1. We don't need to format in advance of a clean OS install as we can trip up the Windows install. Start with a blank no partition HDD next time.

2. This W10 USB. You say its from some other PC. I can't guess what that is. Just google this and make it fresh.

"Windows Media Creation Kit."

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Clearing up
Sep 26, 2018 5:45PM PDT

Thanks for the questions:

1) I should have been more clear. Yes, I used a black, no-partitioned hard drive. The only formatting I did was the one the installer asked me to do where it creates four partitions.

2) The Windows 10 USB is a USB drive I made on a separate laptop with the Windows install media creation tool.

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Just last month
Sep 26, 2018 5:52PM PDT

I installed W10 to a blank no partition drive and the install never used the words format, formatting, partition, or anything of that nature. When folk tell me they formatted the drive, I take their word for it and we get to start again.

as to the W10 USB drive. Did you answer the question about "Is this for this PC or for another PC?" The right answer is for another PC or you could have issues like above.

These are the 2 simple areas we need to clear up before we get into the PC itself. It's common to have PCs that the OS crashed and the install fails. You have the HDD covered but let's get another common issue. UNPLUG ALL USB THINGS FROM THAT PC. Even a printer can upset the OS installer.

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Let me try again.
Sep 26, 2018 7:45PM PDT

I think we're crossing wires.

I prepared the install USB in an Asus this afternoon to help me with this work on the Lenovo. That's the second question.

The first question: when I run the installer, I can see the new drive in the setup utility. It is listed as "unallocated space." When I click "New" the Windows installer does its thing and then returns to show me four partitions, one of which is the main partition that has been properly formatted for an install. That is the one I choose for installation. While it doesn't say "format" or "partition" explicitly, but it performs those operations. My bad.

No USB devices are plugged into the laptop. Just the power cord and the USB installer.

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Also
Sep 26, 2018 7:46PM PDT

I mistyped the code in the OP. I corrected it.

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That means the drive is not blank.
Sep 26, 2018 8:29PM PDT

When it shows the 4 partitions we delete those and it will show us ONE empty space. Tell W10 to install their.

IF there are pre-existing partitions, W10 is known to fail to install.

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Again, clarification...
Sep 26, 2018 8:40PM PDT

...I only see the four partitions AFTER the installer creates them. Of the ten or so times I ran the installer, one of two things happens:

1) It shows one empty space, as you say. Since the installer cannot install there, so I say "New" at which point it tells me it is going to create the partitions that Windows requires. When it is done, it shows four partitions: a recovery, MSR, System (reserved), and then Primary. The last one accepts the install. One could just click Next and skip that part, but Windows does it anyhow.

2) I have done it without wiping the drive, in which case, as you said, I delete any partitions that show up until I am left with one unit of unallocated space, at which point, do what I did in #1.

Post was last edited on September 26, 2018 9:05 PM PDT

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Something's off.
Sep 27, 2018 8:38AM PDT

Windows has yet to have me create the partitions. The Windows installer just does that for me.

I worry something is bum about this drive now. Go get DBAN to give the drive a single wipe and retry.

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Solution...
Oct 1, 2018 3:45PM PDT

It was the installer.

I had to go to the machine I was making the install disk from. I had to clear out all of the support file folders, clean the disk, restart that machine, and then re-download the utility that creates the install media.

I did that and everything went fine. Until I did that, it turns out poorly with every installer USB I used.