On Windows XP, 7, and 8, if you could start but couldn't get into Windows, you could put any legal copy of Windows into the optical drive, restart, and it would take you to a help menu that would get you into safe mode. This is legal, because you are only getting into your own computer.
Granted, most of us don't have 10 on a DVD, but would it work? I'm afraid to try it as an experiment, but if I loaded my legal copy of XP or 7 into my optical drive and restarted 10, would it take me to a help menu?
If you can still access Windows you can make a system recovery disk that will allow you to do what you want.
See System Repair Disc - Create in Windows 10
Good link, Phil. I intend to make a recovery disk as soon as possible.
But my question is, if someone is already fouled up and can't get into Windows, can he use any legal copy of Windows (even if it isn't 10) to get into 10?
He can always use another PC to create the recovery disk. Not sure that you can use an older version of Windows, it will boot but will load all the wrong system files into memory and run incorrect versions of the key windows processes. If you have an old W8 disk you might be able to boot from it then ask it to restart in advanced troubleshooting mode and hope that it bypasses the CD drive and triggers the W10 OS instead.
Phil, I made a DVD rescue disk, so the problem is solved. I didn't need one (yet) but at least I'm ready.
Hey Vince Massi,
If you're unaware of Kyhi's Bootable PE Rescue Disk, it's something you might want to check out. SUPER useful.
b1rd
Phil, I made a DVD rescue disk, so the problem is solved. I didn't need one (yet) but at least I'm ready.I agree. @Kyhi's rescue media is the best, and has helped me and others in many situations.Hey Vince Massi,
If you're unaware of Kyhi's Bootable PE Rescue Disk, it's something you might want to check out. SUPER useful.
b1rd
I've booted a Windows 10 install USB flash drive to get to a Command Prompt so I coudl run chkdsk on a Windows 7 X86 system, ditto on a Vista Pro X64 system so I suspect it will also work on XP as long as the bitness is the same.
Why not try it and let us know.
I'll have to try it, because the rescue disk I made doesn't work. Following the directions carefully, Win 10 did exactly what the tutorial said that it would. Then I put it in my DVD drive and rebooted. It hesitated a while and then Windows 10 opened normally.
I do have three partitions (XP, 8, and 10) and it is set to automatically open to 10.
But you are not really going to get into the windows 10 OS..Good link, Phil. I intend to make a recovery disk as soon as possible.
But my question is, if someone is already fouled up and can't get into Windows, can he use any legal copy of Windows (even if it isn't 10) to get into 10?
you are going to get into a very limited version of windows pe
where via the command prompt you can access the disk,
but why use a command prompt to access the disk..
Now if you have three OS's on different partitions,
yes you can boot into another OS and gain access to the windows 10 OS files..
