Windows 10: I have met my match "file name is not valid" and "no more files"

Hi, your means of identifying this if you want to do that is Autoruns. I would guess repairing system files is unlikely to help.
Logically, it's a difference between what's running in Safe Mode, and what's running after a clean boot.

If that's true, it's unlikely a repair install will solve this. (Although I note your comment that SFC /SCANNOW has never passed).

Current 14393 is 14393.1358

Now, for reference only: just considering a repair install: if you were to do that you would have to have an iso or boot medium for the Anniversary edition. If you have one already, fine. If not, you will need to download an appropriate one. Or, you upgrade to the current build- which is what would happen if you used the media creation tool to download one.

Given your comment that SFC /SCANNOW has never passed, and the possible age of your disk, please check your disk:
Download
Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) portable).
Portable Software - HDD Tools Downloads
If that doesn't work for you, then e.g. Crystal Diskinfo (portable) and run that, and Macrorit DiskScanner (portable) and run a surface scan.

Then post a screenshot of the result. Thanks.

 

Hmm, think I'll start by comparing what programs and services are running in Safe Mode versus normal then, and see if I can identify the culprit that way.

DISM also failed, by the way - it was unable to find a source ISO. (This was an in-place upgrade from 7 Ultimate, which was an in-place upgrade from Vista. So, not much surprise I suppose.). I would have to download the ISO on another machine then transfer it.

 

Yes, but as above, you'd need to get a compatible build to do that.

Try the disk check first (that's easy) and then from a clean boot, use Autoruns carefully to disable progressively possible startups considering them carefully.

If you really wanted a comparison:
If you were able to save from Autoruns you could save the configuration from Autoruns in Safe Mode, and open a second instance of Autoruns having done a clean boot, and load the Safe Mode configuration into that- two instances, once with the current config, one with Safe Mode config.

 

Since I don't have the ability to (easily) download and install new programs, I ran the built-in ChkDsk, which found no problems. (I run it around once a month due to the disk's age.). I also defragged and did a disk cleanup while I was at it. Time for the clean boot or auto runs, I think...

 

Do try a disk check- use the portable version. You can download that on a different PC and run it from a flash drive...

Or, you could boot to Safe Mode with networking and download and save it that way. Get a them all - a couple of people have found HDS portable wouldn't run for them- no idea why. I think that was having booted from a boot disk though.

chkdsk can pass on a failing disk - they look for quite different things

 

Based on your feedback, I did a careful comparison of all services running in safe and normal modes. From this I discovered that the service "Connected User Experiences and Telemetry", aka DiagTrack, is causing the problem. Stopping it immediately restores normal function.

Any idea what this service is? I've never heard of it and am going to start researching.

 

Good- interestingly it happens to be disabled on mine- I don't actually know why- maybe some choice of setting.

How To Disable Microsoft's 'Spying' Service On Windows 10 | Lifehacker Australia
Microsoft renames Diagnostic Tracking Service to Connected User Experiences and Telemetry - gHacks Tech News

(And interestingly it's linked to another thing that has caused a couple of people a problem - a hangover from upgrading from older OS's)
Disabling Windows Compatability Telemetry - Microsoft Community

That leaves your DISM failure of course- and there I'd start first with the disk check as a basic step before any repair, upgrade etc.

 

Yep! I must have opted in to letting Microsoft spy on me at some point - or, perhaps more accurately, failed to opt out. Well at least I won't miss it.

Yeah, I'll still give the disk checks a try; can't hurt anything. And I researched the DISM error code - turns out it was just reporting an error because it didn't have a source ISO to look at; it didn't actually report any other problems. So I think I'm good there. Still need to check SFC's log file though.

Thanks again for your help. At least for now, I'm up and running again.

 

One thing puzzles me:

- and you reported problems saving documents

When I have that service running it does not affect saving documents - and nor would I expect it to.
So while disabling it helps you, the effect is unexpected.

You may also encounter red 'Some settings are managed by your organisation' as a result in Settings.