Windows 10: PC will only boot into Safe mode

Hello,

My PC has been stable for several months, since I upgraded from Win 7 to Win 10. On Friday something changed (not triggered by any user action) and the PC is now no longer able to boot successfully.

The boot cycle now goes BIOS->Blue Windows logo with spinning dots -> Blank screen with spinning dots.
And it hangs at this last point (I left the PC overnight twice - both times, no progress).

I can boot the PC into Safe mode and Safe mode with networking, which both work fine. But every other attempt to boot into any other configuration results in the same hanging state. Even when I try to boot into "Diagnostic Startup" mode which shouldn't load many drivers at all, it hangs at the "Blank screen with spinning dots" phase.

I've tried several restore options:
- the auto-fix startup issues tool runs for about 20 mins then crashes with an error, and doesn't improve anything
- the tool to roll back to a previous configuration seemed to work but no improvement
- I've enabled and looked at the boot log but nothing obvious leaps out at me
- I've disabled Windows Defender as it looked like few of the defender services were having load problems.
All with no improvement.

So it seems to me that some service is having difficulty starting up, but I have no idea which one it is as the boot log file doesn't tell me where it is hanging (a bit frustratingly!). Only what it has loaded successfully.

Any ideas what should be the next step?

:)

 

Windows 10 only lets me boot into Safe Mode

Hi Mike75831012 , Thanks for the update. If you have bootable Windows 10 media, I would recommend you boot from it. At the Install Now screen, click 'Repair your computer. This will boot you into the recovery environment. Click Troubleshoot Click Advanced
Options Click Command Prompt Run the DISM commands again. If you don't have boot media, you can download and create it using the following instructions on a working computer. How to Download Official Windows 10 ISO files Using Media Creation Tool or Directly Using your Web Browser
Best, Andre Windows Insider MVP MVP-Windows and Devices for IT Andre Da Costa (@adacosta) | Twitter

 

Windows 10 only lets me boot into Safe Mode

Thank you for the reply.

I was able to run the first two commands with no issue but the third seemed to fail.

C:\Users\Mike>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.15063.0

Image Version: 10.0.15063.0

No component store corruption detected.

The operation completed successfully.

C:\Users\Mike>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.15063.0

Image Version: 10.0.15063.0

[==========================100.0%==========================] The component store is repairable.

The operation completed successfully.

C:\Users\Mike>Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

Version: 10.0.15063.0

Image Version: 10.0.15063.0

[===========================85.7%================= ]

Error: 0x800f0906

The source files could not be downloaded.

Use the "source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. For more information on specifying a source location, see Configure a Windows Repair Source.

The DISM log file can be found at C:\WINDOWS\Logs\DISM\dism.log

 

enter msconfig in run command and uncheck boot in safe mode if that is already has a check mark in it.

 

I have the exact same problem since Friday as well, also haven't been able to make any progress since

 

Hello,
When I try to boot in any other mode other than safe mode, the PC never finishes the boot cycle. This is the problem I am trying to solve.
Thanks

 

Try a clean boot after disabling all non-MS services. If that works then turn on services one by one (or in batches if you have lots) until you find the culprit.

Clean Boot - Perform in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts - Windows 10 Forums

 

Hi,

I tried the clean boot exactly as described, and unfortunately it didn't work - the PC still hangs at startup.
The same hanging happens if I try to boot to Diagnostic Startup mode.

I'm not sure what is different between Safe Mode and Clean Boot mode, but something is... and that difference is enough for the PC to hang.

Any ideas for next steps are very welcome!
thanks