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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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
    2014-04-08T14:21:57+00:00

    This was resolved very easily (and permanently) on my laptop without the requirement for safe mode, uninstalling silverlight or the repetitive blind hacking suggested in the selected answer.

    * The answer below was suggested by someone else here.

    Login to the MS account.

    Open Accounts settings and change the MS account into a local account.

    * i.e. disconnect it from the MS account.

    Reboot and login to the local account.

    Open Accounts settings and connect the local account back to the original MS account.

    Reboot and login to the MS account.

    After performing those simple steps everything has worked fine.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-08T07:58:39+00:00

    Thank you for the above, I am following your steps to solve the problem but I can't find Microsoft Silverlight in add/remove programs?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-06T08:46:19+00:00

    Here is how I solved the problem without even making a start with another account (which is troublesome imo since every personal setting of yours have to be set up again). Actually, I used the option of creating another account but I had to find another way to get through this xD. Btw, this tutorial is FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO USE SKYDRIVE.

    When you log in and get the Please wait screen follow the 6. method mentioned above. That is,

    Login to the error-inflicted account

    Open Run box by pressing Windows + R key

    Type taskkill /f /im restoreoptin.exe and hit Enter

    (you cannot see what you type thanks to the Please Wait screen but it works, so type carefully and hit enter)

    If your problem is the same as mine, which was due to the SkyDrive issue, this will work (temporarily). When you restart after this, it will happen again. So, 

    here is what I did...

    Go to Search, type Skydrive. Enter one of the settings options. Then turn everything off related to the Skydrive on all of the settings categories (file storage, camera roll, sync settings, metered connections). I mean like turn sync off, turn upload photos off, save documents off, etc.

    After this, go to Add or Remove Programs, uninstall Microsoft Silverlight. Then, restart. Be wary that problem will happen again at this step. Simply, follow method 6 again. Press Windows+R, what you have typed here earlier will show up so you wont have to write the command again. Hit enter.

    Now, go to search, type Windows Update. Open it and check for updates. If you are lucky as me, it will find Microsoft Silverlight update. Now, download and install this update and make a safe boot after that.

    For those who dont know, this is how to safe boot:

    http://www.7tutorials.com/5-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-8-windows-81

    Follow method 2 here, I think it is the best option.

    When you enter the safe mode, I did nothing, I just waited for a while for the programs and services to run, Please Wait screen did not show up. After this, I made a normal restart this time.

    Surprise! When you login, Please Wait screen shows up again but this time IT WORKS. Your mouse cursor is visible and you can even hit cancel and get past the screen but DONT CANCEL. Because it wont make you wait for hours or days. It didnt even last for 1 minute for me this time. Another screen shows up after this which is where I pressed something like "Dont sync my files" and the screen was gone. I made another restart and it didnt show up again.

    If you want to use Skydrive again, maybe you can try to proceed without pressing "dont sync my files" at the last step but I could not bother with the possibility of reoccurance of the problem.

    Hope this helps everyone. Have a better day without problems.

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