PC stuck at a blurry login screen

Anonymous

I recently updated my PC and now it is stuck at the login screen. It boots up normally to the lock screen, after pressing any button or using the mouse it goes to the next screen for the login but does not load the password box and the screen remains blurry. I can use the power, network and easy of access buttons but that is it.

Safe mode will not start, restarting 3 times does not take me to the repair screen, ctrl+alt+delete does nothing, I even tried using ctrl+F8 and nothing has worked. Anyone have any ideas on how to fix/bypass the login screen?

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Anonymous

***FIX***

Initial Steps (Enter Recovery Environment):

Enter Recovery Environment (If you are unable to get into the recovery environment via a menu, you can turn off your system during the initial boot when the Windows logo is on the screen and the dots are circling. Do this at least twice and you'll see the message "Starting Automatic Repair").
Once the recovery environment loads select "See advanced repair options", then "Troubleshoot", then "Advanced options".

Method #1 (Via Command prompt - assumes basic command prompt knowledge):

Click "Command Prompt".
Change directory to your boot drive if necessary (for example, type c: and press <ENTER>)
Type "CD %windir%\system32\config\systemprofile\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\caches <ENTER>
Type "DIR <ENTER>" and make sure you are in the right path. You should see one or more .db files -- usually just cversions.3.db. If there are no files in this directory see the addendum below.
Type "DEL *.* <ENTER>"
Reboot and test

Method #2 (Via Safe Mode and File Explorer - may require adjusting permissions):

Click "Start-up Settings" and "Restart" to reboot the system and get the option to enter Safe Mode.)
At the Startup Settings screen press "4" to boot in Safe Mode.
Log into your administrator-level account.
Open File Explorer and browse to**%windir%\system32\config** (example: c:\windows\system32\config)
Gain access to systemprofile (you may be able to just double-click it to gain access)
Drill down to**%windir%\system32\config\systemprofile\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\caches**
Delete all files inside caches
Reboot and test

Addendum

Some have reported that it is necessary to clear the caches folder of the local user account also or instead of the systemprofile account. If the above procedure does not work for you, delete the file(s) in the local user cache folder (located in %localappdata%\microsoft\windows\caches) using either Safe Mode or the recovery environment command prompt.

Good luck!

Special thanks to John_E_M for first suggesting the localappdata caches folder, and to Artaeos who also narrowed down the problem to the systemprofile caches folder at the same time I did. Great job guys!

**Edited 9/6/2019 to add command prompt method, local account provision, and acknowledgements**

-Forjo

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158 additional answers

Anonymous

2019-08-27T16:13:08+00:00

Hi Saltgrass,

I'm much the same as Thornton-IT - just typing in the password doesn't work. Also as FacePlants says the blurry screen reverts to the normal welcome screen after a while. I've disabled 3rd party services, disabled the requirement to enter a password on my account, disabled the blurry screen (DisableAcrylicBackgroundOnLogon), uninstalled updates as far as I can so I'm now at Build 18362.1.

The only thing I haven't been able to do yet is uninstall the virus checker - the registry editor won't let me add the setting to enable the installer/uninstaller program as described elsewhere.
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Anonymous

2019-08-27T15:50:28+00:00

I had that same behavior with going back to the previous screen. My thought was it had something to do with hibernation state. I'm also surprised we haven't heard again from the moderator.
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Anonymous

2019-08-27T15:42:24+00:00

I have to add that my customer's machine stays at this blurry transition effect for 10 to 15 seconds and then it goes back to the log on screen with no password entry box again. The behavior looks like something is trying to load, fails, times out and goes back to the previous screen statement.

Got my hands on a new empty drive and a clean install is running okay but I have not installed all current Windows updates. I've loaded the first batch but I want to record all the updates that are installed and working so if a specific update comes in and breaks it again I will have a better idea of what did it. Will share more updates later today.

Still kind of surprised we haven't heard from a Microsoft representative on this issue yet. Perhaps just a little sanity check to let us know they're working on it?
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Anonymous

2019-08-27T14:01:50+00:00

Hey Saltgrass;

To answer some of your questions as have tried these my self;

Being able to login to a user account via Safe Mode, I was able to disable the transparency setting (Via Settings App first and then success via a registry edit) which I’m lead to believe removes the ‘blur’ from the background once a user is selected on the login screen- this however didn’t help.

Tried just tying the password as if the password field would be there- still no success.

From a powered down state and a reboot state- same behaviour.

With regards to the Video- I went as far as uninstalling the current driver and installed a fresh driver from the hardware vendor’s website. Interestingly the driver was dated 16th Aug 19- Still no change.

Again, I am only commenting on my experience.
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