Severe windows 10 problems. What to do?

[Henk]

Since last sunday I got blue screens. Sunday was last windows update.
Now since two days I got black screens with only task master working.
How to recover. I have no backup or can't go back to a previous version. actually I already did that so maybe that's why the blue screens started.
So what to do. All solutiions assume that I can click on tabs but I only have a task manager where I starts cmds.
I tried chkdsk. Helped a bit for I get less blue screens than yesterday. But still no explorer task bar etcetera.
Maybe try sfc /scannow if I manage to get to safe mode.
I can't start msconfig for search button is missing etcetera.

Really big trouble.

For instance starting explore.exe from a cmd does not work. For it says can't find explore.exe.
But if I go to c:windows32 I see an explore.exe. But cannot execute it somehow.

So what to do instead of buying a new computer for that is an expensive solution. And maybe I will get these problems in the future with another computer as well.

I think it is only a software problem. But how can I restore the corrupted files.

[jdart]

I wouldn't conclude it is software - could be your disk is failing/has bad sectors.

You could try to reinstall the OS from media. You might find this helpful (no guarantees):

https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-rein ... sing-data/

[Sven]

For instance starting explore.exe from a cmd does not work. For it says can't find explore.exe.
But if I go to c:windows32 I see an explore.exe. But cannot execute it somehow.

So what to do instead of buying a new computer for that is an expensive solution. And maybe I will get these problems in the future with another computer as well.

I think it is only a software problem. But how can I restore the corrupted files.

Since problems started right after a windows update I would expect a software problem as well.

You might want to read this: https://www.groovypost.com/howto/fix-bl ... windows-10
Be sure to check which of the several options might match your case best, before taking any action.

[Eelco de Groot]

I had a colleague with knowledge of older systems etcetera and he told me, if you get blue screens, it usually is something with the hardware. In my case he was right, my computer eventually died even though it had been running for less than a year. If not hardware, maybe something basic, system routines perhaps. If Jon's advice does not get you anywhere, I would try to find someone who has a lot of knowledge/knows how to troubleshoot in case of hardware problems.

I read you say that "task manager still accessible". If you type in Google "only task master working" I get one result that is similar: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 42c1789653

Only this answer looks to me possibly bit helpful:

Time Lady

Independent Advisor

Hello, I’m Virginia an independent advisor here.
Many users are having the same/similar problems & if you can log in via safe mode the solution is to turn off use sign-in info to auto finish setting up device after update or restart in Windows 10.
For Windows 10 (Version 1709), select the Start button, select Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options, then make sure Use my sign in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update or restart is turned off.
For previous versions of Windows 10, select the Start button, select Settings > Update & security > Window Update > Advanced options, then select the check box next to Use my sign in info to automatically finish setting up my device after an update.
Another potential solution is to remove any USB devices (wireless mouse, keyboard, external hard drive/s) & wait to see if boot continues, if not then to restart with devices still disconnected (if possible).

Another thought is that the user profile has become corrupt & the solution is to create a new one within cmd prompt under task manager.
From the black screen press ctrl alt del to open task manager -> file -> run new task

type "cmd.exe" without quotes, and check the admin privileges box.

in cmd:

type:

net user /add [username] [password]

username and password without []

press enter, then type:

net localgroup administrators [username] /add

https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/co ... s/dx8r5b1/

More from that thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/co ... o_windows/

Once logged into the new account you should be able to access the old account’s folders to transfer personal files over to the new account.
Virginia - Time Lady.

The first part you need to have access to Start button, I don't know if you have that, but the other things she mentions could be done from Task Manager, so I gave that a red color. But if it is not that, the user in that thread mentions that the login wheel spins but you don't mention that so maybe it is a different sort of problem altogether and it could still be something with your hardware...

[Henk]

It is only since yesterday that I know how to start chrome.exe from tast manager otherwise I would not be able to access this website.

I already tried to create another user acccount on my computer. But giving black screens too. So it is not user profile causing the problem.

I have no start button. All buttons invisible because of black screen.

It is only since tuesday I got black screens all the time. And also blue screens which restart my computer again and again.
So I had to switch off power three times to get in repairing mode.

But I think that switching off power again and again might cause corrupted files as well.

[Henk]

I wouldn't conclude it is software - could be your disk is failing/has bad sectors.

You could try to reinstall the OS from media. You might find this helpful (no guarantees):

https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-rein ... sing-data/

I tried 'Using the tool to upgrade this pc to windows 10'.
But did not work. For it says 'abvapi32.dll' not found.

Maybe I should try second option: Create Windows 10 installation media
But therefore I first have to buy USB with at least 8 GB. My current USB sticks only have 4GB.

[Sven]

Maybe I should try second option: Create Windows 10 installation media
But therefore I first have to buy USB with at least 8 GB. My current USB sticks only have 4GB.

A 32 GB USB stick should be available for much less than 10 EUR. So not much of a "but" ...

[Henk]

Maybe I should try second option: Create Windows 10 installation media
But therefore I first have to buy USB with at least 8 GB. My current USB sticks only have 4GB.

A 32 GB USB stick should be available for much less than 10 EUR. So not much of a "but" ...

Ok 10 Eur is doable.
But don't know if Create Windows 10 installion media works on my corrupted computer.
Remember in option 1 did not work for advapi32.dll was missing. Possible I get same or other errors when trying to create installation media.
Or maybe when installing it asks for a secret installation key. Never installed Windows myself. I bought this PC with windows 8 and upgraded it to windows 10.

Maybe I can search on internet to get a advapi32.dll replacement file.
I also run sfc /VERIFY
Result:

Windows Resource Protection found integrity violations.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

[Henk]

Maybe I should try second option: Create Windows 10 installation media
But therefore I first have to buy USB with at least 8 GB. My current USB sticks only have 4GB.

A 32 GB USB stick should be available for much less than 10 EUR. So not much of a "but" ...

Ok 10 Eur is doable.
But don't know if Create Windows 10 installion media works on my corrupted computer.
Remember in option 1 did not work for advapi32.dll was missing. Possible I get same or other errors when trying to create installation media.
Or maybe when installing it asks for a secret installation key. Never installed Windows myself. I bought this PC with windows 8 and upgraded it to windows 10.

Maybe I can search on internet to get a advapi32.dll replacement file.
I also run sfc /VERIFY
Result:

Windows Resource Protection found integrity violations.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

9:45:17, Info CSI 00004239 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:12]'advapi32.dll' of Microsoft-Windows-Advapi32, version 10.0.17763.1, arch Host= amd64 Guest= x86, nonSxS, pkt {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35} in the store, file is missing
2019-07-04 09:45:24, Info CSI 00004266 [SR] Repaired file \SystemRoot\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-advapi32_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.17763.1_none_de62e5e2130be6a7\\[l:12]'advapi32.dll' by copying from backup
2019-07-04 09:45:24, Info CSI 00004268 [SR] Repairing corrupted file \??\C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\\advapi32.dll from store

Looks advapi.dll already repaired. So maybe a restart of my computer is enough to install it for now I get same error but probably new advapi not installed.

So I restart my computer for the 30th time this week. Getting so sick of that.

[Joost Buijs]

Maybe I should try second option: Create Windows 10 installation media
But therefore I first have to buy USB with at least 8 GB. My current USB sticks only have 4GB.

A 32 GB USB stick should be available for much less than 10 EUR. So not much of a "but" ...

Ok 10 Eur is doable.
But don't know if Create Windows 10 installion media works on my corrupted computer.
Remember in option 1 did not work for advapi32.dll was missing. Possible I get same or other errors when trying to create installation media.
Or maybe when installing it asks for a secret installation key. Never installed Windows myself. I bought this PC with windows 8 and upgraded it to windows 10.

Maybe I can search on internet to get a advapi32.dll replacement file.
I also run sfc /VERIFY
Result:

Windows Resource Protection found integrity violations.
For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at
windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For offline
repairs, details are included in the log file provided by the /OFFLOGFILE flag.

Windows 10 was already installed and activated on your PC, if you install a completely fresh copy you can skip entering an installation key and Windows will be automatically activated when you come online.

If you are sure that your hard-drive and file-system are ok, you can reinstall with the option to keep your old programs and data, otherwise you have to make a backup of all your important data (if possible) and install a completely fresh instance of Windows 10, of course you have to reinstall everything in this case.

You can also try to repair corrupted Windows files by opening a console window with admin privileges and entering the following command:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Sometimes this works.

In the past this happened to me as well, not very often, last time was 5 years ago, but I know how annoying this is. So I wish you luck in solving this.