Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

Cannot open computer past the wallpaper

Mar 15, 2017 1:15PM PDT

I am so stuck. Hoping maybe someone can help?
Ive searched the internet till I'm exhausted.
I was trying to go to safe mode on my Windows 10 "old Acer Travelmate". (holding the shift key and clicking on the restart button ).
But instead of entering safe mode, I ended up with a "wallpaper" and No option to the next step to log in to my desktop. (And consequently no Start Menu).
From this wallpaper page, I've only had the options to
1). completly power down and start it up fresh
2). Do the restart button
With both of those options above, Ive made many attempts to reboot while
-repeatedly clicking F8, (I believe this is for versions prior to windows 10)
-windows key and "1" and
-holding the shift key while rebooting.
All attempts just finding me back at the wallpaper where I began.
So stuck.
Even though I have a pretty recent backup, I made some huge changes to 2 companies's files along with my personal files.
I was cleaning it up to have a nice organized backup and put this laptop to storage. Sad
I'm so hoping I can access it one more time.
Any help here would be soooo greatly appreciated!

Discussion is locked

Kathygdot has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
If The Above Steps Don't Get It Done...
Mar 15, 2017 5:17PM PDT

Then your best option is to use the bootable Recovery Drive you should have created. If you haven't already created a Recovery Drive with USB, etc., then you'll try the next steps to create a bootable installation drive using the Media Creation tool.

You can also create a bootable USB or DVD on a separate PC to run a repair. A Windows 10 installation drive is very much like a Windows 10 recovery drive. The major differences are that the installation drive defaults to reinstalling Windows.

First, you’ll need to download the media creation tool. Once you have it, plug in your flash drive, run the tool, select Create installation media for another PC and follow the prompts.

When you're ready, boot from the USB drive and the Windows Setup screen will come up. On the second page of the wizard, ignore the big “Install now” button and click Repair your computer in the lower-left corner. That brings you to the options which are nearly identical to the Recovery Tool where you can repair your installation of Windows.

Hope this helps.

Grif

- Collapse -
On to recovery drive next
Mar 16, 2017 7:53AM PDT

I've gone through the first several steps. The curser is present and I did try to "sign in" as you suggested. It's so odd. Even "alt control delete" and such things are not working.

I will follow your notes for the recovery drive next. I am sure this next step will do the trick.
I'm really thankful to you for replying in such a thorough way. (Right down to how to use the old F8 method and how to create the repair for windows).
Thank you Grif!! This is so appreciated.
Kathygdot

- Collapse -
frozen Windows 10 only wall paper
Mar 19, 2017 8:28PM PDT

I have tried to install the media creation tool on a usb for another PC. The PC I am trying to repair does not recognized the USB. It wont reboot from the USB even though I have set the bios to boot first from the USB. I am unable to get to the screen to Repair your computer. IT will not allow me or repair Windows.
HELP!!

- Collapse -
Well, You Don't "install the media creation tool on a usb"..
Mar 21, 2017 6:14PM PDT

You use the creation tool to create a bootable USB or DVD which contains the Windows 10 installation files. This can be done by downloading an ISO or by allowing the tool to create the bootable drive. If you've done that wrong, then you need to try again..

If you've done it write and the USB will boot on other computers by simply won't on the problem machine, then it's possible you need to access the BIOS settings and enable USB booting, which may be an issue on some older computers as it may not be enable by default.. and then make it first in the boot order.

Hope this helps.

Grif

- Collapse -
Answer
Just A Thought.. If You See A Mouse Cursor at the Wallpaper
Mar 15, 2017 4:55PM PDT

These procedures allowed some to login to their computer when Windows 10 froze at the black screen and a cursor was visible.

Sometimes, the login spaces are actually there but can't be seen and it might be possible to login "in the blind", so at the "wallpaper" (I'm guessing it's the lock screen), press the space bar once. Now type in the password to the person who was last logged in (yes, I know you can't actually see it on the screen), then press the "Enter" key. Hopefully, Windows loads correctly.
________________________

If that doesn't work, at the "wallpaper" page, try pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del, at the same time to open and select Task Manager. If it opens, then click on "File" in the upper left, choose "Run New Task" and type "cmd.exe" and press the Enter key to open the command window. If that brings up a command window, then type in the command line below to "enable the older boot menu" option. Restarting the computer and pressing F8 repeatedly, should bring you into Safe Mode.
________________

As long as you still want to load the computer into Safe Mode, in order to get Windows 10 to load Safe Mode with the old F8 key method, you need to 'slow down' the boot process. Therefore, please follow these steps. Open a command window with admin privileges, then type the text below and restart the computer.,:

To enable the older boot menu screen:
bcdedit /set "{current}" bootmenupolicy legacy

To revert back to the original Win10 boot menu :
bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

Once you've used the first command, you can restart the computer into Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key repeatedly at startup.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Post was last edited on March 15, 2017 5:02 PM PDT

- Collapse -
Answer
Fast Boot may be the problem
Mar 16, 2017 8:28AM PDT

It's a hibernation type file and when it becomes corrupted you can often correct the problem by starting a new one. wo ways is either hit reset button after booting as far as you can, or unplugging if a desktop, pulling battery if a laptop, while the windows is still active.