Can a Windows 8.1 recovery disk be created using Windows 10?

July 29, 2016 10:03 AM

My old laptop will not boot after trying to upgrade from 8.1 to 10. It's trying to do the scan & repair thing but it gets hung up at 12% and then shuts down completely. (Overheating, I assume, because it won't start again at all for about ten minutes, then it does the same as before, pausing at 12% etc.)

I'm using a laptop running Windows 10 and trying to create an 8.1 restore disk. So far all I've been able to do is make a Windows 10 restore disk using mediacreationtool.exe. I'm going to see if it gets me anywhere. Meanwhile, any ideas?

posted by jwhite1979 to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Is there any reason that would prevent you from backing up your personal files and just doing a clean 10 install, rather than attempting a recovery? Operating systems in general, and Windows in particular, tend to do better with fresh installation than they do with upgrade anyway. (An unfortunate truism on display in your current predicament.)
posted by fifthrider at 10:28 AM on July 29, 2016

Yeah, you'd do better with a fresh install if possible.

If there is actually an overheating problem, you may be able to get further than 12% by putting a household fan straight up against the cooling vents of the laptop. (And then, if that works, finding the hardware repair manual online and partially disassembling the laptop so that the internal components get more air flow might help further; which would also be a great first step in trying to figure out why it's overheating, maybe an internal fan that has stopped working.)
posted by XMLicious at 10:51 AM on July 29, 2016

Response by poster: I can hear the fan working, and hot air is blowing out the side vent. I actually just had the whole thing apart last week and cleaned it with a can of air. In any case, now it's just booting into a black screen and hanging, and the optical drive (lol) isn't even working. The machine is probably toast, but I ordered a thumb drive off Amazon the other day, and when that arrives I'll try to do a clean install just for kicks.
posted by jwhite1979 at 11:27 AM on July 29, 2016

Just another vote for a clean install.
posted by cnc at 12:06 PM on July 29, 2016