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

2019-09-06T17:02:59+00:00

I'm being told that the problem does have something to do with the local appdata even though I know that the systemprofile appdata is a factor. Has anyone tried this with multiple users? I wonder if clearing the local appdata of multiple users may be required in some cases if the presence of a bad cache file in any of the locations can trigger the issue..

Has anyone tested this or has anyone had to clear caches across multiple users in order to get the login screen to reappear? Can this issue be reproduced by deleting/moving the cache file with the GUID and leaving the cversions3.db file in the directory by itself?

-Forjo
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Anonymous

2019-09-06T12:59:47+00:00

All of my systems have two files, the cversions.3.db and one with a {GUID No.}.3.ver0x0000000000000001.db. There were both added the day of CU and servicing stack updates.

KB4497932 or (servicing stack) KB4500109 cversions.3.db

KB4505903 or (servicing stack) KB4508433 {GUID}

I tend to discount just the blurring effect to be the problem since I have systems of all ages that had no problems and I assume your systems are no longer having the problem the blurring..

Another observation, the {GUID} version is the same size and date as a file in the 1033 folder called StructuredQuerySchema.bin
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Anonymous

2019-09-06T10:15:43+00:00

So the cache folder in the laptop I was investigating had only 1 file in it, which probably means that it was the one responsible for the issue.

The file in question was cversions.3.db, and was promptly recreated in the new Caches folder created once the old Caches folder was renamed to Caches.old

The reason the display goes blurry is because Windows tries to diffuse the image to focus attention to the login dialog box, but this login dialog box fails to appear due to the system not being able to read the list of users / other info needed to display the login screen from the cversions.3.db file (my hypothesis). Once the file is recreated / rebuilt, the system can show the login dialog box properly and you can log in.

So although I don't yet know why or which file / process is responsible for the issue, I managed to narrow it down to possibly 1 file that's at least somehow involved. If anyone can analyse the file or its use please update the thread.
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Anonymous

2019-09-06T08:53:10+00:00

Hi Forjo,

Thank you - I change the name of the %localappdata%\microsoft\windows to %localappdata%\microsoft\windows.old and this has resolved it...

Weird as I couldn't find any other caches in the directory!

I'm all sorted - thank you
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