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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180 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-30T21:44:29+00:00

    You are welcome DonnaGo.  RTodd nailed the best way to solve this yet.  I hope you never see the "Please Wait" screen again. 

    If you do and you decide to return the computer, you should seriously consider replacing it with either a Mac or a Windows PC that does not have an Nvidia video card. 

    While we cannot be sure, it seems likely that the bug is associated with some conflict between the drivers Windows wants to install for Nvidia cards and Windows 8.1.  My guess is that the Nvidia GeForce program selects the best driver, while Windows selects a driver for the video card that creates the issue - but that is only a guess. 

    You certainly get the prize for persistence.  I have been monitoring these threads for over a year now, and none of us has hung in there like you have.  I had the advantage of having bought Windows 8.0, so I rolled back after all of the workarounds then available failed for me.

    Happy holidays and we will all cross our fingers for you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-01-05T00:15:22+00:00

    I fixed this issue by going to comand prompt administrator and went to c:/windows/system 32 and renamed restoreoptin.exe restoreoptin.txt.  Rebooted and it logged right  in to the app screen.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-01-05T13:22:37+00:00

    I fixed this issue by going to comand prompt administrator and went to c:/windows/system 32 and renamed restoreoptin.exe restoreoptin.txt.  Rebooted and it logged right  in to the app screen.  

    that's brute force for sure....did you even try R Todd's GE Force solution? Other applications may try to use your renamed module and when it's not found you'll have other issues.

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