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

2019-08-26T16:42:38+00:00

Just another update here. I got into command prompt from WinRE and re-enabled F8 for boot menu so i can get into safe mode without all the faffing around. (I'm betting at least some of you that weren't able to boot into safe mode didn't realize F8 won't cut it anymore.) I tried uninstalling the latest quality and feature updates. The quality update uninstalled ok but the feature update didn't seem to actually remove. I've run hard drive diagnostics, start-up repair and tried rolling back to a restore point but at this point the evidence is overwhelming:

Microsoft borked a TON of 2-3 year old Dell notebooks on Auguy 15 2019. I had already updated this machine to build 1903 some 4-6 weeks ago and it was running okay so I'm not convinced it was the 1903 update but some other update possibly.

Tomorrow is windows update Tuesday so I'll cross my fingers that a fix comes out but I would love to see a response from them.

I'm still going to try clean install on a new drive as soon as I am able to but this machine does not seem to like any of the SSDs that I have available so I have to wait for stock to come in.
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Anonymous

2019-08-26T17:12:52+00:00

I'm sure there are people responding to this issue that at much more tech savy than me. I have a 3 year old Dell "All in One." Yes very frustrated as the rest of you. I can get into safe mode which does not get to the internet. My question is kinda simple. If Microsoft comes up with a fix how will we install without internet? Just curious as to the thoughts some may have.
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Anonymous

2019-08-26T17:19:16+00:00

I'm sure there are people responding to this issue that at much more tech savy than me. I have a 3 year old Dell "All in One." Yes very frustrated as the rest of you. I can get into safe mode which does not get to the internet. My question is kinda simple. If Microsoft comes up with a fix how will we install without internet? Just curious as to the thoughts some may have.

Hey DanO-826;

When selecting which Safe Mode to use, choose option 5) Safe Mode with Networking.
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Anonymous

2019-08-26T17:24:15+00:00

To answer your question as to how you can install the fix on an already borked machine. You'll most likely need to download a hotfix from a working machine and install it from safe mode. It's also quite possible that we'll all have to just do a clean install as soon as the offending update has been repaired. I'm still working from the assumption that a clean install right now will just download and install the same update that broke it the first time.

In the meantime while you're waiting I highly recommend backing up any important information. You can backup to an external drive or you can back up over your local network from safe mode with networking support. The first thing i did was pull the customer hard drive and made a full drive image. Frustratingly they need this machine working in the next 4 days in order to renew their nursing license. Without any kind of official acknowledgment of this issue or response from Microsoft I'm now contemplating having to give a new customer a loaner machine. I run an independent repair business and cannot afford to do this regularly.
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