Thanks for all the suggestions ... no it is not in a domain
No I don't have a useful backup as my stupid 3Tb Seagate drives packed up (one of the heads stopped working and a second drive purchased at the same time also had a failing head). I will never EVER buy Seagate crap again! I have been burned before but never again.
I left it updating over night last week and didn't immediately notice there was an issue until it started popping up saying I need to restart - I did but no sign of updates installing and when it rebooted it just popped up again which is when I checked what was going on. There are no older restore points.
A number of side issues - I have Windows 7 and 10 dual booting (mostly use 7 as I hate 10) but it has the unfortunate effect of I can't boot from a Windows 7 repair or installation DVD because the boot sectors tell it I have windows 10 and the installer complains it is not the right version. This means an in place upgrade is not happening - there doesn't seem to be any way of restoring the W7 boot code as I can't get to the 'Repair your computer screen' (I don't mind trashing the W10 dual boot if I can get the W7 boot system working again).
Re. system restore points - it does create system restore points - I can only assume that in all my efforts so many restore points have been created that the useful ones have been deleted.
I have been checking system integrity - SFC reports issues it can;t fix but there is noting the CBS.LOG file to give me a clue.
I ran Microsoft's System Readiness tool (which basically actsa as DSIM in Windows 7) - this was much more helpful and identified 8 corrupt or missing files. It fixed 7 of them. The 8th is listed as this:
servicing\packages\Package_for_KB976933_vpc~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~nb-NO~7.1.7601.17514.mum
servicing\packages\Package_for_KB976933_vpc~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~nb-NO~7.1.7601.17514.cat
The manual fix instructions say to download the correct from from MS Dowload Centre but nothing is listed there under KB976933
Download the package from Microsoft Download Center or Microsoft Update Catalog.
Copy the package (.msu) to the %SYSTEMROOT%\CheckSUR\packages directory. By default, this directory doesn't exist and you need to create the directory.
Rerun the System Update Readiness Tool.
I think the original file was part of SP1 - any ideas how to extract it from the SP1 package or do I need to reapply SP1 (if windows will let me - I seem to remember last time I tried that it just said already installed?)
System error log seems to have a lot of errors that look like this:
- System
- Provider
[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Tm
[ Guid] {4CEC9C95-A65F-4591-B5C4-30100E51D870}
EventID 1
Version 0
Level 3
Task 0
Opcode 0
Keywords 0x8000000000000000
- TimeCreated
[ SystemTime] 2018-07-19T03:53:34.581684300Z
EventRecordID 2332315
Correlation
- Execution
[ ProcessID] 13864
[ ThreadID] 21048
Channel System
Computer OFFICE-PC
- Security
[ UserID] S-1-5-18
- EventData
TxUow {DFDD7667-8AA1-11E8-99CA-50E549C546E8}
TxDescriptionLength 0
TxDescription
ClfsStatus 0xc0000061
The Transaction (UOW={dfdd7667-8aa1-11e8-99ca-50e549c546e8}, Description='') was unable to be committed, and instead rolled back; this was due to an error message returned by CLFS while attempting to write a Prepare or Commit record for the Transaction. The CLFS error returned was: 0xc0000061.
The details vary but "was unable to be committed, and instead rolled back; this was due to an error message returned by CLFS while attempting to write a Prepare or Commit record for the Transaction. The CLFS error returned was:" is common
There also seem to be quite a few of these:
- System
- Provider
[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-BitLocker-Driver
[ Guid] {651DF93B-5053-4D1E-94C5-F6E6D25908D0}
EventID 24620
Version 0
Level 2
Task 0
Opcode 0
Keywords 0x8000000000000000
- TimeCreated
[ SystemTime] 2018-07-18T15:48:43.551730900Z
EventRecordID 2330167
Correlation
- Execution
[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 56
Channel System
Computer OFFICE-PC
- Security
[ UserID] S-1-5-18
- EventData
ErrorCode 0x80000010
Volume \\?\Volume{3ccee3f6-1e28-4872-994b-a3c9066ba7e6}
WritePhase 0x0
Encrypted volume check: Volume information on \\?\Volume{3ccee3f6-1e28-4872-994b-a3c9066ba7e6} cannot be read.
Which is odd (I am not using BitLocker - the drives are not encrypted). I suppose this might be related to drives that have been removed (the knackered Seagate drives for a start).
I am away for 10 days from tomorrow - I am not being rude if I don't reply to ideas quickly - I will be slaving behind a cello and my only tech access will be sporadic via an Android phone. I will check out any ideas when I get home. Thanks everyone.