Posted: 10/14/2025 12:10:48 PM EDT
[Last Edit: user4574][Edited]
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Hi I need some help please. Have a Win10 machine that runs as background for my mail and other things but was my previous main laptop and has stuff I didn't need to transfer but need accessible. Not able to upgrade to Win11 due to hardware limits. All fine until I went to check a reboot yesterday and have no desktop icons. Checked the settings and nothing changes. Went to file explorer and screen will flash and reset and no change or access. Options like Documents won't load, CMD won't load in Windows but will load in the troubleshooting options in the F key menu. Chkdsk shows nothing. Reboot to safe mode no change. Rollback updates no change. Just heard about the extended updates but would not load link either. Switched to administrator to try further (have same rights but used my own profile). Nothing different. Tried to open file explorer and now in endless loop trying to open but will go no further and won't stop. Left overnight and this morning still looping. Reboot does no change, loops once it gets to load step. What is my next options to preserve the data and regain control? This was a Win7 upgrade laptop. Saw reset option but wasn't sure if that was best, or if to do local or if it needs to download another copy (upgrade was online version, I have copy of Win7 disc). Or should I try to download a copy to a flash drive and reload from an image? Trying to keep my data but keep things as much the same as possible if possible. Help? And thanks. |
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Tagging for interest to see what goes on, what happened and resolution. Did you reboot it (if so, what caused you too) or did it lose power, reboot on its own after an upgrade? My kitchen PC, a Win10 box rebooted due to lose of power Sat, but seems OK. I thought I had it on a UPS, but I did not. |
LARUEMINATI
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
NRA Endowment Life Member
Originally Posted By Boom_Stick:
""AKs are for villagers you have to tell not to shit in their water supply.""
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Originally Posted By smullen: Tagging for interest to see what goes on, what happened and resolution. Did you reboot it (if so, what caused you too) or did it lose power, reboot on its own after an upgrade? My kitchen PC, a Win10 box rebooted due to lose of power Sat, but seems OK. I thought I had it on a UPS, but I did not. Intermittently but ever since switching to Win10 it will have a conflict after an update. I can tell because my phone will show email as new instead of downloaded and I have to reboot, or if it does successfully reboot the program is just closed. That was the case here, that it was up but the program was closed. Everything "looked" normal other than all icons on the desktop were gone. I have a couple pinned and they were fine until the looping started. Task manager would show explorer working in the background and restarting/close/reopen from task manager also hand no change. It just really decided it was tired of my actions after I went to the admin profile. |
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Are you seeing the rest of the User Interface (UI) but just not the file explorer? (The yellow file icon thingy.) Or are you seeing a blank desktop with no start button/task bar, etc. Can you get into the "safe mode command prompt" option? How are you switching to "administrator" ? Windows 10 has a "look at all the files, replace the ones that are damaged" option you can run, depending on how the thing was installed in the first place. For most larger manufacturers there is a "restore windows here is all the files to do that" function that you can initiate a "fix" from. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/techtips/repair-windows-10-command-prompt/ These things can be started from the UI if you can get into that. Can you use the command prompt to look at the files on the hard drive? "dir c:/" ENTER should show you something. |
Mercy on the criminal is cruelty to the innocent.
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Originally Posted By RR_Broccoli: Are you seeing the rest of the User Interface (UI) but just not the file explorer? (The yellow file icon thingy.) Or are you seeing a blank desktop with no start button/task bar, etc. Can you get into the "safe mode command prompt" option? How are you switching to "administrator" ? Windows 10 has a "look at all the files, replace the ones that are damaged" option you can run, depending on how the thing was installed in the first place. For most larger manufacturers there is a "restore windows here is all the files to do that" function that you can initiate a "fix" from. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/techtips/repair-windows-10-command-prompt/ These things can be started from the UI if you can get into that. Can you use the command prompt to look at the files on the hard drive? "dir c:/" ENTER should show you something. 1. Nothing on the desktop. It was in the taskbar. Click, screen would go dark blue ( not BSOD), and come back up. Desktop is just background and my temp/clock gadget. 2. Yes to safe mode. Didn't change anything. 3. Signed out. My profile and admin were login options. Set up long ago with admin rights but never had a reason before to log into admin. 4. Only thing I could see in the troubleshooting prompt outside of windows was to reset if no image. I looked into the reset and it says to give me a full wipe or *should* leave data but all apps/programs outside of OEM are gone. That said, now with the looping the only avenue I have is the F key troubleshooter. I can't log in long enough to log out of admin, don't know of a way to boot to a different profile, and it won't load long enough or stable to change anything in Windows. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out and see if it can get anything going. |
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If you get logged in can you hit ctrl-alt-del and then select task manager? I don't have a Windows 10 in front of me, but the option I think from memory is File/Run - then type explorer.exe and hit enter. Sometimes it brings it up when it won't load. You can also look at see if there are any instances of Explorer.exe running, if there are you can select and end the process. Generally the need to do this would resolve itself after a reboot, but it's worth a shot. Good luck! |
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Update: I was able to catch a Ctrl*alt*del in between the looping and sign out of administrator. Logged back into my profile and still issues but no looping. F key troubleshooter I mentioned above appears to be Windows PE, would run some of the CMD steps from the previous link but some said limited by resources. Thing the DISM and SFC did say they found and fixed errors but no changes on reboot. Ran again in CMD as admin mode in my profile and found some more but no change. Right clicks don't bring up many options. When I right click the explorer icon and get a list of folders linked to it, I clicked on Documents and it thinks for 10-15sec then says "The item you selected is unavailable.". The it goes away, blue screen, comes back up, no change. Did some poking and it is part of the update that came down 10/13. Found in the system info under running tasks the explorer.exe version is 10.0.19041.6392, 10/13/2025 11:46pm. Then looked at loaded modules and found a bunch of other stuff in the same date update. Explorer also showed a .dll file explorerframe at 11:47pm. Can't uninstall the updates. Selecting causes a soft crash and resets like it never happened. Getting really frustrated with it. So, anything else to try? |
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Originally Posted By user4574: Hi I need some help please. Have a Win10 machine that runs as background for my mail and other things but was my previous main laptop and has stuff I didn't need to transfer but need accessible. Not able to upgrade to Win11 due to hardware limits. All fine until I went to check a reboot yesterday and have no desktop icons. Checked the settings and nothing changes. Went to file explorer and screen will flash and reset and no change or access. Options like Documents won't load, CMD won't load in Windows but will load in the troubleshooting options in the F key menu. Chkdsk shows nothing. Reboot to safe mode no change. Rollback updates no change. Just heard about the extended updates but would not load link either. Switched to administrator to try further (have same rights but used my own profile). Nothing different. Tried to open file explorer and now in endless loop trying to open but will go no further and won't stop. Left overnight and this morning still looping. Reboot does no change, loops once it gets to load step. What is my next options to preserve the data and regain control? This was a Win7 upgrade laptop. Saw reset option but wasn't sure if that was best, or if to do local or if it needs to download another copy (upgrade was online version, I have copy of Win7 disc). Or should I try to download a copy to a flash drive and reload from an image? Trying to keep my data but keep things as much the same as possible if possible. Help? And thanks. Reload the thing and use safe mode to log in. Safe mode logs in with a whole bunch of stuff disabled and turned off and it can work when many things are broken. There are also a lot of things you can do in safe mode that you can't do out of safe mode. It's not easy to get into safemode anymore. Go read, you have to read if you don't know how to get into safemode already. https://www.techbloat.com/how-to-boot-in-safe-mode-windows-10-a-comprehensive-step-by-step-guide.html Write notes and keep the page up so you don't have to remember it all. ------------------ If you can / once you are into safe mode (choose normal safe mode) You're going to tap the windows key or such and type in CMD. You need to launch the command prompt (if you're an oldster, it'll look and act like a dos window). Once you are in, you need to first run: CHKDSK /f /r This could take freakin forever. It's forcing checkdisk to check the entire disk and every bit of it and if it finds any bad sectors it marks them. /F forces it, /r is repair. CHKDSK may want to run multiple times or run a startup again. Just let it do what it has to. Once it is done In safe mode, open a command window again, and type: SFC /scannow This is the system file checker. It will run and examine the system files and try to fix anything wrong that it finds. It'll let you know if it finds something wrong and can or can't fix it. Run it again till either it comes back and shows no errors, OR it keeps showing the same error. Once that's done, in the command window, you are going to type: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth This is kinda sorta like SFC in that it checks system files, but it is far more robust and capable t han just regular old SFC. Read about it here: https://www.itechguides.com/dism-exe-online-cleanup-image-restorehealth-what-it-is-and-how-to-use/ Be darned careful that you type in all this stuff exactly as you should. If you can't get it back to working just exactly as it should and showing no errors on SFC or DISM as given above and as you read on those links, but you CAN get it into safe mode still, call your IT buddy and have him manually back up all your stuff to an unencrypted external hard drive in a USB enclosure / dock (you should do this yourself anyways, or be learning to do it, it's an absolute life saver). There are more advanced and more involved repair tools and there are error logs and all sorts of things, but you'll have to be interested enough to dig in and read, willing to break your install, and able to reinstall and restore your stuff from your manual settings, if you go that route. Let us know your progress! |
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I should have read the thread ... Op, this may help: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5486-uninstall-windows-update-windows-10-a.html Multiple options to unistall updates in windows 10. With 10 going EOL and you knowing the update breaks things, find out if it's a windows update, or a driver and software update, and make sure the bloody thing doesn't redownload. If you've been using 10 with a lot of your personal info and a MS sign in account and the cloud and all that, where your computer getting compromised is a big problem, you might consider changing habits and removing things from the computer that you can't let get compromised. windows 11 is spyware MS control-freak to the point that it's just not worth having. If you *have* to keep using the computer in wide open mode, get someone to load you one of the windows user friendly builds of linux and show you the basic ropes. I have had a lot of success forcing windows 10 to behave with https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 You have to be VERY careful with that software, if you don't know exactly what you're turning off or on or blocking, you can break stuff. Don't even use the reccomended settings. In your case I'd find out which kind of update was breaking your box, and toggle *just that* to where you can control it and block that update. This may involve you having to manually update and keep up with stuff. If you turn off auto updates you have no other choice besides "pray you don't get screwed." MS has backed everyone into a corner. |
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Sure you didn’t run out of space? Has this problem on a virtual machine this week. Tried to log in and wouldn’t load desktop or explorer. Thankfully I have a management platform that I could use to get on the machine and see the OS drive was completely filled. Deleted some stuff, forced a reboot and was back in action. |
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Originally Posted By BooJangles: Sure you didn’t run out of space? Has this problem on a virtual machine this week. Tried to log in and wouldn’t load desktop or explorer. Thankfully I have a management platform that I could use to get on the machine and see the OS drive was completely filled. Deleted some stuff, forced a reboot and was back in action. Yeah it was in the update that MS so graciously bestowed on me. I haven't had time to get into it lately so it is on basic life support until I can. |
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@FlashMan-7k So I was able to get some time today to dig into your recommendations. Using the tenforums link, I am having to use the command prompt for anything. Control panel is explorer based, WinRE is limited too. Turned off Win update via command (wuau) to hopefully not have it keep fighting my changes. Thinking shouldn't be an issue since EOL but rather have off so it doesn't try to seek out. Looking at updates via wusa prompt seeing dates but not the same package numbers listed in my update history in settings. Looking in dism seeing dates but nothing specific for the packages either. Am seeing a same version number for a media player package as my explorer package. State says superseded, probably from when I did the earlier rollback and then it redownloaded? Other thing is could it be linked to a servicing stack? Read those can't be removed once installed. There is one that is .6389, the explorer current version is .6392. Nothing in dism says explorer clearly, one for Internet explorer but that was back in May. Thinking of removing everything with a date from October forward. Worked fine before the updates mid Oct. Wondering though if it was in a stack as when I did the previous rollback it did not revert. Or is it possible to rollback and it still not rollback everything? Or if it ends up in the stack files am I SOL no matter what? At that point would reloading Windows be best option, it would it even reload/repair on top of the existing updates to fix? |
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I admire your efforts and your willingness to learn, but your system seems irreparably corrupted at a system level.. II would have nuked and reinstalled that box approximately 10 business days ago. Back up your data and flatten that thing, it's not going to get any better. |
God's children are not for sale.
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Originally Posted By user4574: @FlashMan-7k So I was able to get some time today to dig into your recommendations. Using the tenforums link, I am having to use the command prompt for anything. Control panel is explorer based, WinRE is limited too. Turned off Win update via command (wuau) to hopefully not have it keep fighting my changes. Thinking shouldn't be an issue since EOL but rather have off so it doesn't try to seek out. Looking at updates via wusa prompt seeing dates but not the same package numbers listed in my update history in settings. Looking in dism seeing dates but nothing specific for the packages either. Am seeing a same version number for a media player package as my explorer package. State says superseded, probably from when I did the earlier rollback and then it redownloaded? Other thing is could it be linked to a servicing stack? Read those can't be removed once installed. There is one that is .6389, the explorer current version is .6392. Nothing in dism says explorer clearly, one for Internet explorer but that was back in May. Thinking of removing everything with a date from October forward. Worked fine before the updates mid Oct. Wondering though if it was in a stack as when I did the previous rollback it did not revert. Or is it possible to rollback and it still not rollback everything? Or if it ends up in the stack files am I SOL no matter what? At that point would reloading Windows be best option, it would it even reload/repair on top of the existing updates to fix? I'm not a pro, just a schmuck who breaks his stuff and very hard-headedly keeps att efforts to fix it. There are even ways to force DISM to reference a clean windows intall disc/usb and use an image out of that to restore your system. You'll have to make the bootable media, plug it in, ask the appropriate glorified autocomplete or the actual human expert the commands to make dism do it, and have dism reference only the image on that install media. IDK where it stands in the realm of the ai systems, but copilot seems to do really good at helping you fix arcane windows errors (I'm guessing it got access to everything MS has for training) - but you will have to be really careful and confirm stuff it tells you, you need to search your error log files it points you at, etc. At one point even managed to get it to show me how to run CHKDSK on physically connected hard drives that were only showing in drive management and didn't even have a drive letter. |
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Originally Posted By MMcCall: I admire your efforts and your willingness to learn, but your system seems irreparably corrupted at a system level.. II would have nuked and reinstalled that box approximately 10 business days ago. Back up your data and flatten that thing, it's not going to get any better. You are likely right. OP should have backed up his data manually long ago in this process. That said, sometimes soldiering away on errors like this is one of the most productive ways to learn how to fix stuff. I cut my teeth on windows ME because it is and was a horrible OS. |