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
    2015-02-12T07:59:12+00:00

    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

    I had the same problem as others. My Dell laptop (which had been running 8.1 without issue) was infected with malware. As a result I cleared it and reinstalled 8 and then 8.1. As soon as I had processed all the 8.1 updates the 'please wait' screen appeared. Thanks to all the answers on this forum - I updated my Nvidia drivers but the problem remained. I then followed these steps from Matt_Still and have not had a recurrence of the issue. Thanks for your help. 

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-02-06T19:33:35+00:00

    I had this happen with three brand new Asus computers.  The first one resolved itself, the second one was stuck for a week and I had to restore the computer and start over, and the third one I found this solution and it worked.  All three computers are up and running now and I have saved this in case it ever happens again.  Thank you!

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-02-02T22:21:15+00:00

    In my experience (and from following along with others) this is a 1 time problem & if you can get through the OneDrive / SkyDrive setup, the problem does not ever recur. In My Opinion, as frustrating as this bug is, it is well worth getting it fixed & reap all the benefits of the tighter integration in windows 8.1. This thread details out several viable solutions to work around the problem & as much as I would like to see some sort of patch to be pushed to machines in this state, it seems unlikely given the narrow # of people that have run into this issue (vs # of people that either never had this problem, or worked around it and never looked back) & the impending release of windows 10.

    I agree with most of what you say here, especially that it is not very likely that Microsoft will patch this bug. 

    Your workarounds have been a godsend to the many frustrated users for whom they have resolved the issue and it was awesome that you took the time to share them with us.  It is frustrating, however, that Microsoft is apparently satisfied with referring its customers to your post and considering the issue resolved. 

    Some of us have either tried the workarounds you supplied (as well as a few that other users have provided) without success or we have tried them with success, only to have the bug rear its ugly head again at a later time, usually after a Microsoft update. 

    I suspect the problem is tied to users who have Nvidia cards, but I cannot say that for certain.  I also suspect, based on my own experience and comments here by other users, that the problem occurs (and sometimes recurs) when users rely on Windows Update to update their video drivers, but it does not occur or recur if users utilize Nvidia's driver update tool. 

    My computer sophistication is sufficiently low that I was not able to even attempt a few of the workarounds that have been suggested because I simply did not know how to do one or more of the steps in the process.  It is therefore entirely possible that the reason none of the ones I did try worked or the reason they seemed to work for a while, only to have the problem recur, was pilot error on my part. 

    The first time I tried to upgrade to 8.1, the one thing that did work for me was to roll back to 8.0 and stay there.  I eventually did allow Windows to upgrade me to 8.1 for the second time, but by then, I had started using Nvidia's update tool to manage my video drivers.  (I had not been doing that when I first upgraded to 8.1, but had instead been relying on Windows update only).  

    Since that second upgrade, I have never seen the "Please Wait" screen, so I did not need to do any of the workarounds.  The only differences I am aware of between my first (failed) effort to upgrade and my second (successful) effort were my use of Nvidia's update tool and whatever Windows updates I had accumulated during the several months I was rolled back. 

    Since new users have reported experiencing the bug after fully updating through Windows Update, my best guess is that those of us who have not succeeded using your workarounds, or who have had the problem resurface after we thought we had fixed it with one of your workarounds, have either our own pilot error to blame or there is a connection to the Nvidia driver update process.

    Thank you again for posting your workarounds.  Maybe Windows 10 will resolve the issue.

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