Why am I forced to boot into ‘Safe Mode’ ??

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[unbob]

Running Windows 10 Pro 22H2.

Discovered yesterday that I could no longer do a normal restart of my system. Instead, ‘Preparing to Repair’ was displayed followed shortly thereafter by ‘Diagnosing your PC’. Apparently no errors were found since no such message was displayed. I tried to restart several times with the same result. Finally, after many retries, I learned I could select ‘Troubleshooting’ and ‘Safe Mode with Networking’ to boot my Win10 system. Login to Windows worked A-OK as normal. Thankfully, I can use my internet browsers and do email as well as some other programs. But some programs don’t run at all in safe mode.

Thus, I now have a system that I can only boot in “Safe Mode”.

I have run all the standard Windows diagnosis programs such as chkdsk, sfc scannow, Dism, etc. No errors found. So I’m reasonably certain my Win10 image is A-OK. I’m convinced this is a boot process problem – not a Windows problem.

What is the correct fix for this problem? Any ideas or suggestions welcome! (but please don’t suggest I re-install Windows, that is off the table.)

• This topic was modified 10 months, 3 weeks ago by unbob.

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Lees7676

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unbob wrote:

What is the correct fix for this problem? Any ideas or suggestions welcome! (but please don’t suggest I re-install Windows, that is off the table.)

I had a similar problem after updating with KB5036979 on 4/26/24. I was not aware that booting into safe mode was an option, but the only “fix” for me was to restore from a backup image. I tried over the top install and it still failed to boot properly and I used Macrium Reflect’s boot repair which did not work.

In my case, I think there was something wrong with my setup, maybe a virus, that this update was “fixing”. Since this was just an extra boot (dual drive) setup on my computer, I just removed it entirely. Unfortunately the only fix I found, (after trying everything I could find including the steps you took),  would be a clean install. But, while I do not see this as a common issue for home users, there is a thread about this happening with business users.

 

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PL1 wrote:

the only “fix” for me was to restore from a backup image.

Actually, I forgot to mention, I also did a Macrium Reflect restore of my ‘C’ drive created the prior day. That made no difference whatsoever.

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PL1

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@unbob –

So you ran chkdsk, but did you use the chkdsk /a command for it to just analyze the disk? If so, try it with the /f switch which will not only scan for issues but also repair anything it finds. This will be performed immediately after a reboot, so it will have full access to everything (all files) since Windows will not have booted much at all. This also might produce different results because of having been run before Windows fully boots.

You should also run a full scan with your installed anti-crapware solution to see what it finds. This scan should be the most in-depth, thorough scan it offers. I say this because you didn’t specifically say that you’d run an anti-crapware scan in your original post.

If both of these don’t produce any results, then you can roll your machine back to an earlier time by using the System Restore feature, or you can restore to an earlier time from a backup you might have from an earlier time as well.    Just posted that it’s already been tried.

unbob wrote:

(but please don’t suggest I re-install Windows, that is off the table.)

It may very well come down to that, unfortunately, if nothing else that others may suggest works for you. An “over-the-top” type of installation can be launched from within a running copy of Windows, so it might not be as cumbersome as a “from scratch”, or clean installation of Windows can be. Although it didn’t work for @PL1 , it may work very well for you.

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PL1

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PL1 wrote:

Unfortunately the only fix I found, (after trying everything I could find including the steps you took), would be a clean install.

Thanks for the reply! The thought of a clean Windows install terrifies me and I want to avoid at all cost. I have ~200 installed third-party programs customized with various tweaks, mods, patches, settings, etc etc over a period of at least 10 years. It would be virtually impossible to re-build the system I have (had) now. I cannot lose all I have now. No way.

 

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Bob99 wrote:

So you ran chkdsk, but did you use the chkdsk /a command for it to just analyze the disk? If so, try it with the /f switch which will not only scan for issues but also repair anything it finds. This will be performed immediately after a reboot, so it will have full access to everything (all files) since Windows will not have booted much at all. This also might produce different results because of having been run before Windows fully boots.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I ran chkdsk /r c: which is the most thorough chkdsk process – it completed successfully.

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Bob99

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Bob99 wrote:

You should also run a full scan with your installed anti-crapware solution to see what it finds. This scan should be the most in-depth, thorough scan it offers. I say this because you didn’t specifically say that you’d run an anti-crapware scan in your original post.

Yes, I have run a full Malwarebytes scan on my ‘C’ drive. Nothing detected.

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Bob99

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Bob99 wrote:

An “over-the-top” type of installation can be launched from within a running copy of Windows, so it might not be as cumbersome as a “from scratch”, or clean installation of Windows can be. Although it didn’t work for @PL1 , it may work very well for you.

I have ~200 customized third-party programs installed on my system over many years. There is no way I could re-install everything and apply all my settings, tweaks, mods, etc that I have now. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m not aware of any Windows install that would preserve all my data and all my installed programs in their present state. My understanding is that all user-installed programs would always require re-installation in all cases.

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One of the options presented at the start of the procedure to those who want to perform an over-the-top installation is the option of keeping all of their programs and data, which sounds like it would be a HUGE amount of help to you, given the number of programs you have installed.

Thanks for the feedback on my other questions!

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Try disabling all startup programs and non-MS services (msconfig) Then if you are able to boot normally, start re-enabling in groups to narrow down the possible offending program.

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cyberSAR wrote:

Try disabling all startup programs and non-MS services (msconfig) Then if you are able to boot normally, start re-enabling in groups to narrow down the possible offending program. You should not have gone there.

Thanks. OK, guess that’s worth a try. But where is “there”?

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But where is “there”?

The last moderator email chastising me for a post that was removed.

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Bob99 wrote:

One of the options presented at the start of the procedure to those who want to perform an over-the-top installation is the option of keeping all of their programs and data, which sounds like it would be a HUGE amount of help to you, given the number of programs you have installed.

Unfortunately, the in-place repair install is not an option for me since I’m running in Safe Mode.

“You will only be able to do a repair install of Windows 10 from within Windows 10. You will not be able to do a repair install at boot or in Safe Mode.”

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cyberSAR wrote:

Try disabling all startup programs and non-MS services (msconfig) Then if you are able to boot normally, start re-enabling in groups to narrow down the possible offending program.

Tried that with no luck. Nothing changed. But thanks for the suggestion.

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At this point, the only idea I have now is to begin restoring my ‘C’ drive from my archive of Macrium Reflect image backup files. I’m running now on my restored backup from the day before I discovered this problem. I create an automated backup every Tue & Fri of every week, so I can start doing a restore in reverse chronological order until I hopefully find one that is clean and will boot normally.

I normally do a system boot every 7-10 days, so I should find a clean backup created within the past two weeks.

If anyone has a better/easier possible solution, please let me know!

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This is off the wall and I have not read every post in this thread (this may have already been suggested), but before you install an old image. Open Device Manager look at your display adapters and record the current drivers for your display adapter/graphics. If the install of an old image fixes the problem, look at those display adapter drivers. Are they the same? An updated display adapter driver can cause the adapter not to work leaving the default display settings of Safe mode as the only way to display Windows.
You could go to your display adapter (graphics) maker to see what the best driver is for your adapter.  You can look at the current driver page in Properties of the display adapter to see if the Roll Back Driver button is not greyed out and available to be selected.  Also, you could try replacing a newer driver with an older one to see if that corrects the problem.
I’ve seen this happen with separate graphic cards and their control apps. I guess it can happen with on board graphics too.

HTH, Dana:))

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unbob wrote:

If anyone has a better/easier possible solution, please let me know!

I’ve used that solution on a number of occasions, and it works just fine.  I have Task Scheduler make drive images every Sunday morning in the wee hours of my OS, Program Files and Users partitions.  Having the OS on a separate partition avoids losing any data when an image is restored.

Just this morning I did an OS restore because Windows Media Player Legacy had stopped working, dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and sfc /scannow found nothing wrong, and I remembered distinctly that I had watched an mp4 file last week without difficulty.

Having the OS on a separate partition also makes restoring an image a matter of less than 5 minutes.  After the restore, everything works as it should.  A couple of years ago I had to go back through a couple of months of images before I found one prior to the problem I had had at that time.  There is nothing that beats a drive image for solving problems.

Also, I do not allow automatic driver updates (blocked in Group policy), so I know that a driver has not caused any of my occasional problems.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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UNBob,

Do you have Fast Boot enabled? If so turn it OFF! I’d also Disable Hibernation.
Then SHUTDOWN the machine.

Restart it and see if that fixes it. You could have a corrupted file created by one of those two items that are run at boot.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
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cyberSAR

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Try disabling all startup programs

Sysinternals autoruns provides a deeper look at what apps/programs are starting on boot than Task Manager does.  Just click the “logon” tab on the Sysinternals main screen.  You might might find a single likely suspect.  It can be temporarily disabled for boot up testing.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

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Go to Home > Windows Administrative Tools > Windows Configuration.

Click the Boot tab. The Safe Boot box should normally be un-ticked.

Click the General tab. The Startup selection should normally be either Normal startup or Selective startup, depending on your system’s configuration.

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In Para 1, I meant System Configuration – not Windows Configuration.

Oops.

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Magnus wrote:

Click the Boot tab. The Safe Boot box should normally be un-ticked.

Thanks for the reply! Yes, Safe Boot box is un-ticked.

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Drcard:)) wrote:

before you install an old image. Open Device Manager look at your display adapters and record the current drivers for your display adapter/graphics.

Great post! And excellent advise. However, in my case, that is a non-issue. I disabled driver updates long ago due to a fiasco I had with a graphics driver update that caused me much grief for many weeks. This happened in Feb ’23 and I’ve never updated any driver since.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is rule #1 for driver updates!

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bbearren wrote:

I’ve used that solution on a number of occasions, and it works just fine. …. Having the OS on a separate partition avoids losing any data when an image is restored. ….  Having the OS on a separate partition also makes restoring an image a matter of less than 5 minutes. After the restore, everything works as it should. …. There is nothing that beats a drive image for solving problems. Also, I do not allow automatic driver updates (blocked in Group policy), so I know that a driver has not caused any of my occasional problems.

Another excellent post! Agree with everything you said and I do the same – including blocking driver updates – don’t “fix” if it ain’t broke!

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TechTango wrote:

Sysinternals autoruns provides a deeper look at what apps/programs are starting on boot than Task Manager does. Just click the “logon” tab on the Sysinternals main screen. You might might find a single likely suspect. It can be temporarily disabled for boot up testing.

Yes, I use autoruns also. I’ll take a look-see there also. Thanks!

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Update: I finally did a Macrium Reflect image restore of my ‘C’ drive (partition) from a backup created only 5 days earlier – and it worked! Problem solved!

I wasted a lot of time before doing the restore – but not really. I learned a lot in the past two days so I guess it was time well spent. (?)

Lesson learned: I will henceforth do a system restart at least once or twice a week to assure I discover a restart failure sooner rather than later. Also, will do an image restore before spending a lot of time exploring other possible recovery methods. Maybe schedule system backup every other day instead of just twice a week. Differential backup runs in ~5-10min so no big deal.

Thanks for all the replies! Much appreciate.

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One more thing … I plan to do a forensic analysis of my Windows event log to see if I can identify the cause of this “mishap”. If anyone can recommend software that would assist in that task – please post here. Thanks!

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Look at Nir Sofer’s site (Nirsoft.net). FullEventLogView will be helpful in analysing your event logs.

HTH. Regards, Phil

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unbob

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I finally did a Macrium Reflect image restore of my ‘C’ drive (partition) from a backup created only 5 days earlier – and it eliminated the failing system restart. Problem solved!

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TechTango

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