Unable to start laptop after aborted Windows 10 1903 cumulative update

[SuicideSquirrel]

Hello folks,

I OK'd a restart request from Windows update this morning. The swirling white progress indicator was on a black screen for over two hours. I thought the laptop was hung up on something from the update. I restarted the the laptop but encountered the swirling progress indicator again and I  let it go for another hour. I plugged in the USB recovery media created when I first set up the laptop from three years ago. The only available option was factory reset. The factory reset appeared to be progressing well, but the end result was a message screen from the Recovery Manager. "The restoration did not complete. Please select one of the following buttons ('Save Log', 'Details' and 'Retry')." I retried the recovery but encountered the same result. I saved the files RMSaveLog.wim and CtoError.flg.txt. I also saved RMSaveLog.wim from the first attempt. To the best of my recollection the update was the "2019-11 Cumulative Update  for Windows 10 Version 1903 for x-64-based Systems".

Note: I replaced the original HDD with a SSD drive a couple of months ago. 

Should I have created a new recovery USB after every major Windows 10 update?

Thank you.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

if the recovery drive you created when you first got the PC 3 years ago didn't work, the only suggestion I can offer, would be to clean install W10 by creating a bootable USB installation drive using the media creation tool at the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

After W10 has completed installing, you can install the drivers and available software from your PC's support page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-Pavilion-17-g000-Notebook-PC-series/7771368

[SuicideSquirrel]

Thanks Paul. 

Your suggestion did get me back up and running. I had to call the automated phone activation service.

That solution was only a contingency in case my backup software vendor was unable/unwilling to help me. I had a recent system backup but the recovery key on a USB was not working. It seems I should buy higher quality USB drives or store them in a different location. I only had the free version of the backup software so I was unsure the vendor would offer support. The vendor sent me a download link to recreate the recovery USB. I was able to recover from the system backup.

Thank you anyway!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.