If your Windows 10 installation is exhibiting unusual behavior, such as built-in apps not working or launching, you can perform a repair upgrade to fix the problem. A repair upgrade is the process of installing Windows over the existing installation on your hard disk, using your installation USB, DVD media, or ISO file. This process can repair broken operating system files while preserving your personal files, settings, and installed applications.
Downloading the Windows 10 ISO File
The first step is to download the latest ISO file available for Windows 10 from Microsoft. You can download the official ISO media by following these steps:
- Go to the Microsoft Windows 10 download page.
- Click the “Download tool now” button under the “Create Windows 10 installation media” heading.
- Once the download is complete, launch the Media Creation Tool.
- Approve the license terms when prompted.
- Select “Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC”.
- Select the language, edition, and architecture (64-bit or 32-bit) for Windows 10.
- Choose “ISO file” as the output media.
- Click “Next” and wait for the ISO file to be created.
Starting the Repair Upgrade Process
Once you have the Windows 10 ISO file, you can start the repair upgrade process. Here’s how:
- Navigate to the location where the ISO file is saved.
- Right-click the ISO file and select “Mount”.
- Double-click the “setup.exe” file on the mounted ISO to start the installation.
- If prompted, click “Yes” to allow the setup to make changes to your device.
- Accept the license terms and click “Next”.
- On the “Ready to install” screen, click “Change what to keep” to make any necessary adjustments to your personal files, settings, and apps.
- Once satisfied with the settings, click “Install”.
- Wait for the repair upgrade process to complete, which may involve several reboots.
- After the process is finished, sign into your Windows 10 account.
It’s important to note that the repair upgrade process will replace every operating system file, moving the previous version to a “Windows.old” folder. This allows you to roll back to the previous version of Windows 10 if needed.
By following these steps, you can effectively repair your Windows 10 installation using an ISO file. This process can resolve various issues, such as missing system tray icons, backup problems, and other unusual behavior.