windows 8.1 hangs on Please Wait screen (restoreoptin)

Anonymous
2013-10-19T03:11:39+00:00

When logging in, a Please Wait screen shows up along with a Cancel button. I tried letting it sit there for more than half an hour but nothing happens. I noticed the application is letterboxed and I can use Win+D to see that the desktop show up. The screen stays on top blocking all mouse activity and most of my screen.

Eventually I logged into another account and found restoreoptin running and terminated it. That removed it from my original account however it will do it again if I log out and log back in.

Any ideas?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2013-10-25T17:25:19+00:00

<Modifying post to help other find the answer quickly>

I found another workaround that allows for still using skydrive, and further confirms the relationship to skydrive setup.

(This is the method I used)

  1. login to the affected account
  2. Press Windows Key + L to lock the computer
  3. Switch to a user account with administrator priveledges
  4. open task manager & switch to the "Processes" tab (Press "More Details" if don't see a processes tab)
  5. find restoreoptin.exe & end task that process
  6. switch back to affected account (Start Page, click your account name/picture, click the account you want to switch to)
  7. Open Charm menu (windows key + C), select "Settings", then Change PC Settings
  8. Select Skydrive
  9. Modify the File Storage, Camera Roll, and Sync Settings (not sure which one does the trick)
  10. logout & log back in
  11. you should no longer be prompted with the blank 'please wait' screen

Another workaround that should achieve the same, as posted by others:

  1. login to the affected account
  2. Press Windows Key + r
  3. Type:

taskkill /f /im restoreoptin.exe 4. Open Charm menu (windows key + C), select "Settings", then Change PC Settings 5. Select Skydrive 6. Modify the File Storage, Camera Roll, and Sync Settings (not sure which one does the trick) 7. logout & log back in 8. you should no longer be prompted with the blank 'please wait' screen

and just for completeness, you could also try:

  1. login to the affected account
  2. Press: Windows Key + r

Type:

taskkill /f /im restoreoptin.exe 3. Press: Windows Key + x

Press: a

Press: <Alt + Y>

(run cmd as administrator) 4. Type:

cd c:\windows\system32

restoreOptIn.exe /Ramp
  1. Complete the Wizard

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Anonymous
2014-01-03T18:25:43+00:00

I fixed it much more simply. I had to recently rebuild my dell xps 27 and started with 8.0. Setup everyone's account since I have a home network and domain setup. Then upgraded, I ran into the same issue as everyone here in the post. What I had to do to fix is is unassociated all the windows live/Hotmail/outlook accounts from the domain accounts and then re-apply them. This then asked me to verify that the account has permissions to skydrive, and asked for verification. Texted me, I put in the verification code and it was fixed on all accounts. Someone also mentioned making it a local account and then reassigning to your windows account. Seems to fix it as well.

Steps for Domain accounts:

  1. Remove association from your windows account
  2. Re-add your windows account
  3. verify that the pc has permissions to back up your info to sky drive/turn off sync with sky drive.

Windows Account:

  1. Make it a local account
  2. Re-add your windows account
  3. Verify that the pc has permissions to backup your info to sky drive/turn off sync with sky drive.

Appears to be a bug in the 8.1 upgrade where the pc and sky drive trust is broken, it didn't happen until I received a windows update, but I could see this happening if you download the patches during the upgrade process.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-30T09:11:23+00:00

    you may very well be right. you may have to keep repeating it as how many people will read through 14 pages of posts. (check page 9 folks)

    I will NOT roll back my driver (that I updated using GE Force) to challenge since it seems to be stable.

    I've tested with one microsoft account and will test with two starting tomorrow. I only had the problem on one of two accounts but some people have reported the problem using a single account. 

    OK so to expand on what I put in page 9 here is the link for the GeForce update software you need to install:

    http://www.geforce.co.uk/geforce-experience

    Install that and let it check for the latest drivers for your device and let it update everything it wants to. When it has done that and it shows everything as being up to date then reboot your laptop and then try the onedrive setup again.

    If you are stuck in the loop where you can't get to the desktop to run it because you just boot up straight to the onedrive setup page then that is where you need to follow the other instructions posted on stopping restoreoptin.exe and or logging in as a local account and updating the drivers from there before continuing to use a Microsoft account to login with.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-12-30T09:05:36+00:00

    Hi Donna glad to hear it is fixed eventually.

    One thing to mention after installing the updated Nvidia drivers is to do a reboot before trying to go through the onedrive setup screen again. After installing any updated drivers a reboot should always follow even if not prompted to do one by Windows as this will then ensure the new driver is loaded and being used.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-12-30T01:20:19+00:00

    SMHogan and RTodd,

    I used my laptop a few times today and it seems to be working without the presence of the beautiful yet annoying PLEASE WAIT screen.  I did update my drivers using the NVIDIA GeForce program and I still had a visit from the PLEASE WAIT screen.  I deleted the Restoreoptin.exe process from task manager using another account and it was gone.  It happened 2 or 3 times but never came back.  The only thing I can think of is that maybe the laptop was still installing the driver update and when it finally took, the glitch stopped?  I'm not technical at all - although I have learned a lot this past week! 

    I'm going to begin installing the programs that I use regularly and hope for the best.  I do have a 90 day return policy so if anything occurs in the next 90 days, I plan to return the laptop. 

    I thank you for all the workarounds and the fixes.  Will check back in a week, assuming PLEASE WAIT doesn't return before that.... :-)

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