Windows 11 Home Not Working After Windows Tweaking

Sorry, too many instructions to keep track of.

Are you still unable to access the documents?

 

We need to be careful about taking steps. You renamed a Volume that is not in play.

At the Diskpart command prompt type list disk and hit Enter
Following that insert the USB drive, allow some time for it to be recognized (hopefully) then run list disk again
If the USB drive is now listed run list volume and see if it has a drive letter

I am going to be away again for a couple of hours so hang tight and don't do anything other than provide the results of the above

 

It might be related to a formatting issue.

Navigate to F:\sources and see if you locate install.swm and install2.swm files.

 

Great.

I will need some time to test the next steps since the normal way we would attempt to deal with this has been changed a bit in Windows 11. Hopefully I will post something tomorrow but it will be a busy day for me.

Thanks for your continued patience and understanding. It has been a trying process.

 

Working on it, it is a lengthy process.

 

Do you have a second free USB with at least 8GB of space?

 

Part of the delay is I am having issues (which should not exist) where some of the commands come back saying there is not enough free space on the USB when there should be plenty of space. Because of this, and your USB only showing 32GB I am trying to modify my steps to hopefully avoid the issue.

Getting closer

 

Here we go. If you have any issues stop and let me know.

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DISM and SFC From Recovery Environment Using Windows 11 Installation Disk

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• If necessary, create a Windows 11 Installation USB following the Create Windows 11 Installation Media instructions
• Right click on Desktop of a clean computer, select New, then Folder, then name the folder WIMImage
• Insert the Windows 11 Installation USB into the computer
• Open the sources folder then copy and paste the install.swm and install2.swm files into the WIMImage folder on the Desktop (this will take some time)
• Click Start, type cmd then select Run as administrator
• Type cd C:\users\***insert your user name***\Desktop\WIMImage then hit Enter
• At the C:\users\***insert your user name***\Desktop\WIMImage prompt copy and paste dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.swm /swmfile:install*.swm /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.wim after the command prompt then hit Enter
• When completed open the WIMImage folder on the Desktop and confirm you now see an install.wim file
• Remove the Windows 11 Installation USB
• Insert a second USB with at least 8GB of space WARNING! This process will remove all information from the USB drive
• Hit the Windows Key + E at the same time
• Locate and right click on your USB drive
• Click Format, under File System: select exFAT, Check Quick Format, then click Start
• Copy and paste the install.wim file onto the 8(+)GB USB
• On the compromised computer open the Recovery Environment X:\Windows\System32 command prompt as you did previously
• Type Notepad then hit Enter
• Click This PC
• While monitoring the listed drive letters insert the 8GB USB and note the drive letter that appears (I will use F: as an example but modify as necessary)
• Close any open windows
• Type F: then hit Enter
• At the F: command prompt type dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:F:\install.wim then hit Enter
• If multiple Windows editions are listed, locate Windows 11 Home (your version) and note the index number. In my example I will use 1 but use the index number associated with Windows 11 Home
• At the command prompt screen type dism /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:F:\install.wim:1 /limitaccess then hit Enter
• When the process is completed type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\windows then hit Enter
• When completed exit out of all Windows, shut down the computer then attempt to boot to Windows
• Report the results of DISM, SFC, and attempt to boot in your reply

 

Try to format using the instructions from Post #70 and don't worry about the drive letter.

Safe travels.

 

USB might be damaged.

See if you can copy install.wim into the sources folder on the Windows 11 Installation USB.

 

The USB would need to be formatted in exFAT and not FAT32.

Regarding the steps in Post #115, were you able to complete this part?

• If necessary, create a Windows 11 Installation USB following the Create Windows 11 Installation Media instructions
• Right click on Desktop of a clean computer, select New, then Folder, then name the folder WIMImage
• Insert the Windows 11 Installation USB into the computer
• Open the sources folder then copy and paste the install.swm and install2.swm files into the WIMImage folder on the Desktop (this will take some time)
• Click Start, type cmd then select Run as administrator
• Type cd C:\users\***insert your user name***\Desktop\WIMImage then hit Enter
• At the C:\users\***insert your user name***\Desktop\WIMImage prompt copy and paste dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.swm /swmfile:install*.swm /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.wim after the command prompt then hit Enter
• When completed open the WIMImage folder on the Desktop and confirm you now see an install.wim file

 

Let's try things this way.

===================================================

DISM and SFC From Recovery Environment Using Windows 11 Installation Disk

--------------------

Note: You will need a USB drive with at least 8GB of space. The below process will delete all existing information contained on the USB drive.

• Insert the USB into a clean computer. WARNING! This process will remove all information from the USB drive
• Hit the Windows Key + E at the same time
• Locate and right click on your USB drive
• Click Format, under File System: select exFAT, Check Quick Format, then click Start
• When completed download install.wim onto the USB drive
• On the compromised computer open the Recovery Environment X:\Windows\System32 command prompt as you did previously
• Insert the newly created USB device into the compromised computer
• Type Notepad then hit Enter
• Click This PC
• Identify the drive letter of the USB device. (I will use F: as an example but modify as necessary)
• Close any open windows
• Type F: then hit Enter
• At the F: command prompt type dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:F:\install.wim then hit Enter
• If multiple Windows editions are listed, locate Windows 11 Home (your version) and note the index number. In my example I will use 1 but use the index number associated with Windows 11 Home
• At the command prompt screen type dism /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:F:\install.wim:1 /limitaccess then hit Enter
• When the process is completed type sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\windows then hit Enter
• When completed exit out of all Windows, shut down the computer then attempt to boot to Windows
• Report the results of DISM, SFC, and attempt to boot in your reply

 

Let me know if you can now access it.

 

Great. It is a very large file so it may take some time.

 

Sorry, once again I was not notified of your post.

Boot to the computer Recovery Environment (repeated shut down method), not the Windows 11 Installation USB.

 

Include a space between /image:C:\ and the following /. so it should read /image:C:\ (space) /

 

We need to be able to boot successfully in order to disable BitLocker.

 

When you boot to the computer Recovery Environment it engages the computer operating system. When it does that BitLocker in invoked. When you boot directly to the USB it bypasses Windows thus BitLocker is not triggered.

Complicated stuff......

 

That is an old DISM log.

 

Can you attach a picture?

BTW I need to leave in about 5 minutes, granddaughters calling!

 

I think that is related to BitLocker. The command is trying to access the C: drive and BitLocker may be trying to protect it. Click No then see if it asks for BitLocker key.

 

We don't want to Skip this drive. On that screen did you enter the BitLocker information and select Continue?

 

Are you still able to get into the BIOS screen? If so, attempt to Enable Secure Boot.