PC stuck at a blurry login screen

Anonymous
2019-07-31T17:27:31+00:00

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?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows Hello, lock screen and sign-in

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Anonymous
2019-09-05T01:28:41+00:00

***FIX***

Initial Steps (Enter Recovery Environment):

  1. 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").
  2. 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):

  1. Click "Command Prompt".
  2. Change directory to your boot drive if necessary (for example, type c: and press <ENTER>)
  3. Type "CD %windir%\system32\config\systemprofile\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\caches <ENTER>
  4. 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.
  5. Type "DEL *.* <ENTER>"
  6. Reboot and test

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

  1. Click "Start-up Settings" and "Restart" to reboot the system and get the option to enter Safe Mode.)
  2. At the Startup Settings screen press "4" to boot in Safe Mode.
  3. Log into your administrator-level account.
  4. Open File Explorer and browse to**%windir%\system32\config** (example: c:\windows\system32\config)
  5. Gain access to systemprofile (you may be able to just double-click it to gain access)
  6. Drill down to**%windir%\system32\config\systemprofile\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\caches**
  7. Delete all files inside caches
  8. 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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  1. Anonymous
    2019-08-29T17:57:35+00:00

    Okay i might be harboring some unfair disdain of overlay installs from past experiences with older versions of Windows. It sounds like it's much more refined nowadays. And to the question asking how you would do this from safe mode: you wouldn't do it from safe mode you boot from an installation media I believe.

    That's also some good trouble shooting by the poster before you running an instance on an SSD. LogonUI.exe hanging then timing out seems like a symptom and not the cause to me. 

    This is also starting to feel like we might not get a fix from Microsoft. Everyone might just have to suck it up and do a clean install or overlay. The software environment on most of these affected machines has got to be messy. Windows 8 subsequently updated to two different builds of Windows 10 plus everything the users have loaded and done to these machines. 

    If it's in a commercial environment like a real estate or insurance office running a limited subset of programs, chances might be a little better. If it's a home computer multiple people have used including kids loading who knows what then it's a good idea to make/update backups and clean install.

    EDIT: Is anyone else posting from a mobile device? The text input gets quite buggy once the entry field has to scroll.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-08-29T17:50:40+00:00

    But, as you said, this blows away any installed software. That will be unacceptable to some. This is not an "overlay" install -- what we also call an "in-place upgrade".

    -Forjo

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-08-29T17:44:14+00:00

    At least one previous poster tried doing an overlay install as you suggested but it didn't help. Have you tried this yourself? It's a bit easier than a clean install so anyone that's still hesitant to fully wipe their machine and do a clean install might want to try this. Otherwise if you've got a 3 year old Dell notebook that has never had a clean install then it's a good idea to do it regardless. 

    I would only recommend an overlay if you need to get up and running quickly. They don't make for the best long-term solutions since any strangeness from corrupt configurations and such can still be left behind. This logon issue already looks like a conflict between a windows update and some piece of Dell drivers or software. Most of the machines here started with Windows 8 and were upgraded to Win10 which already leaves a bit of weirdness in my experience.

    I still have the original HDD from the first system u saw with this problem so if i have a chance i might try putting that back in and seeing

    Yes this "Reset PC, Keep my files" was done to a Dell AIO that was joined to a domain, that needed to get back in production. The directions I provided with "Keep My Files" also kept the machine's domain information intact, as in the computer did not need to be re-joined to the domain which surprised me honestly. 

    This is basically a clean install of Windows with saving your files and some settings, as you have to re-install all your applications and drivers after you've successfully logged back in.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-08-29T17:39:27+00:00

    How were they able to perform an overlay install?  You can't install Windows from Safe Mode and at present that's the only way to log in?  I've had no luck replacing LogonUI.EXE or the Ease of Access tools with cmd.exe or taskmgr.exe. While you can get cmd.exe to come up, the resulting Windows environment is not "complete enough" to perform an installation.

    I've got my client's PC virtualized on an SSD so I can rapidly iterate and snapshot changes. So far, nothing has worked, including some registry surgery on the LogonUI settings.

    I was able to install a remote monitoring tool and what is happening is that LogonUI.exe is using nearly 100% CPU continuously. Event logs aren't very helpful as they aren't really indicating any failures.  But it's looking like LogonUI.exe is the problem. I might try putting an older version in place, but I doubt that will help.

    -Forjo

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