After update of my windows 10 I got problem Desktop is unavailable

I have 2 others drives I'm hanging onto lol... one I hope someday to get the stuff off of it... it was a backup drive (internal drive put in an external case)..then it died without notice; if I remember it's not really spinning anymore.  The 1TB one there's not much on there (I think)- I don't know why it failed in under 2 years though.  But do have a new backup drive; just have to remember to either get a second one or replace BEFORE the thing decides to take leave without notice.

LOL... Oh.. my Creaky Dell is 16 years old.  Still runs... 40GB HDD (original) is still in there.  Got the stuff I wanted off of it in case I give away or recycle Creaky Dell.  My father has older computers also- including one from the 1980s- lil thing with a tiny monitor and 2 5.25 floppy disk drives- no hard drive to speak of.  Last I remember it still works.   Between my father and I we have a LOT of computers- Mom's not thrilled.  

Makes me wish I never sold my ATT 6300 (my first computer); and as a side note- I'm close in age to you (same decade lol).

Ah read further down.  The guy I took it to seemed competent - 30 years in the business.  It was a free consult so.. eh.  Supposed to do another one one tomorrow but likely won't go (I wasn't impressed with their automated email response to my form entry). 

SMART?  I'll google info on that.    As for 'clicking' there isn't any- so far... some noise but I suspect a large portion of the noise was due to a very dusty fan (not like I can hear it or any noise unless it's REALLY loud).

No hurry... I'm spending my days job hunting (Web Dev or QA Tester).

drives are so cheap, worth a try.  I try to save all drives from recycled computers - many are perhaps not worth it but just in case I still try to use them if possible.

these days i'm a HUGE fan of backups any and all times that i think of it...   I have a 12gb array w/2 drive redundancy and still use my old/smaller drives for backup use.  Also have a drive box for both 2.5/3.5 drives and use it regularly.  There are never TOO MANY BACKUPS

EDIT:  7 years old?!  shoot most of my equipment is much older by the way.

• concerning the shop/testing:  you might try checking your memory modules.  also not necessarily to BUST on the shop you took your computer to...  your hard drive is dying or not! sounds like this shop doesn't have much experience..
• at the very least run SMART tests on the drive it will give you lots of info concerning any drive
• SMART isn't perfect (huh?) but in my opinion gives fair info
• and if the drive isn't "clicking" or such should still be OK.  also you can run file check, reformat, etc, etc
• there are many other options that could be issues.  power supply memory, cables (even fan connections) so you should NOT rely on simple ideas or such.  before you decide to move on and/or trash your current unit please consider any/and other alternate solutions.

good luck, so sorry i may not be able to reply soon as i'm headed out of town again.

Hi-

   Thanks for your reply!

   I believe I tried going through the cmd.exe route as well.  I'll give it one more go with your directions though and see what happens.

I was able to successfully start the custom install... however with THAT it got to the windows logo screen... did the devices part... then "Getting Ready"... and... froze.  Every time.

I took it to a small shop to get the pc and/or HDD diagnosed (My BIOS diagnostics said it was 'fine').  He said that it's likely that my HDD is starting to die (makes sense-- it's 6 years old... at least 6 years of use- the rest of the CPU/computer is 7 years old- or rather I've had it for 7 years...it's a Dell XPS Studio 8100.

I'll report back... The directions will be up on my Mac laptop so.. saving paper there :).

Sorry been outta town or I would have replied sooner.

You mentioned that you tried the steps I posted, however to me [please correct me if I'm wrong!] it seems that you rebooted your computer using the new USB drive (created using the Media Creation Tool) instead of booting normally into the 'failed' Windows installation.  Re this notification:

• the upgrade option isn't available if you start your computer using Windows installation media.  If a copy of Windows is already installed on this computer and you want to upgrade, remove the installation media and restart your computer

For this to work you should restart your computer and get back to the crappy desktop that only shows the Recycle Bin or such (at least this is how mine was).  You won't be able to do much of anything but at this point [make sure that your Windows 10 USB is inserted by the way] you will still be able to perform some steps.

Don't try to open the Recycle Bin, don't try to right-click on the desktop for other options.  Just use the Windows button on your keyboard and also press the "R" button at the same time [so Win button+R] and this will open a "Run Dialog" box.  

Now type "cmd.exe" which will open up Command Prompt such as this:

This example shows that the F:\ drive is currently active but you should ignore this as its just an example pic/photo.  

• Your Windows drive is C:\
• Most likely (or not) you also have a DVD ROM drive and/or additional drives that will be D:, E:, etc etc

Again, make sure that your newly created Windows 10 USB has already been inserted.  The program you need to be looking for is called setup.exe

• If you're not sure which drive this is located on you can type:
• dir d:
• dir e:
• dir f:  etc, etc.  On most general computers it will be on the 'e: drive'
• One of these will list the setup.exe program
• After this just type in "e:\setup.exe" and hit enter [again, your hard drive letter may be different]

Now Windows 10 will begin the upgrade/etc process and then ask you whether or not you want to perform a full/clean install and/or keep your personal files/data.  Of course choose 'YES' and then continue.

AGAIN MOST IMPORTANT:  DO NOT BOOT YOUR COMPUTER USING THE WINDOWS USB!!!  Probably better to remove the USB drive before turning your computer back on, then insert the USB after you get back to the crappy "nothing works" desktop.  And then follow the steps.

• I suggest that you print out these instructions on another computer before you try this
• Myself I dislike wasting paper but when I have MAJOR issues this is what I do.  I read, read, and then read again
• I'm a young dude, only 51 years old

Unfortunately I cannot replicate this because I just don't want to!  NO WAY I want to deal with this again.  However this solution worked for me.  I mentioned (I think) that whenever any major updates arrive it would be better (in my opinion) to perform 'in-place' upgrades instead of this ****. 

I wish you well, sorry for the long/late reply...  also sorry for the HUGE reply hope it helps :)