[SOLVED] Win10 LOOP Attempting to recover ... Undoing changes

PeterLander · Nov 5, 2019

BOOTMGR will start winresume.exe instead of winload.exe if the computer was in hibernation mode.
I believe winresume is the mechanism that "continues" an install that got interrupted by a necessary reboot.
If this is so, then I should ask if my current settings are forcing winresume.
Many others have asked this question in various forums.
I have found a heap of incorrect advices that discuss how to turn on/off the hibernate capability.
That is not the question. The question is "is hibernate's current settings the root cause of my loop?"
If no better idea emerges, I will simply disable hibernation from the command line and try yet another reboot.
But that command line is very hard to get back ... I'd like some assurance/guidance before doing something so drastic.

Anyone?

Sysnative Windows Update · Nov 5, 2019

Hibernation does not play a part in Windows repair loop. That is a power state in which the machine is powered down to consume less power, but not fully shut down.

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

Your description is only almost correct ... and misses the main point. What I hear you describing is "sleep" mode. This mode consumes very little power - but must use some power to keep the active programs alive in RAM. On the other hand, "hibernate" involves copying the active programs to disk ... and thus the power can be totally turned off. At power on time, BOOTMGR is aware that hibernate/sleep was currently applicable and invokes winresume.exe instead of winload.exe

One of the programs being run at shutdown time was the installer for update 1909.

This much I know.

But does the installer take advantage of the hibernate mechanism to manage state that has needed a betwixt re-boot?

I do not know.

It is all but self-evident that winload did not execute ... otherwise I'd see Windows.
The ONLY thing sitting between BOOTMGR and winload is winrestore.

However, I will take your word for it. I thank you for stopping me from investigating that part of the startup logic any more deeply ... it is exhausting to plow through this level of Microsoft documentation.

That leaves us with THAT question ...
How can I interrupt this "finalising install - oops - attempting recovery - oops - undoing changes - back to finalising" loop.?

Do you think there might be other BCD settings that are worth looking at?

Sysnative Windows Update · Nov 6, 2019

That works only in theory. In practice, not so much.

One final thing we can try is to launch automatic repair and see if it fixes stuff:

Please start your computer up and interrupt the boot process by forcefully shutting it down three times. On the third boot, you should see the Diagnosing your PC screen. Go to Troubleshoot and then Advanced.

Launch Startup Repair.

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

I got my troubleshoot screen via F9 at boot time ... that triple start method has so far never worked here.
No matter ... I'm in. I ran Startup Repair and got an "SRTTrail" text log to read. It executed a dozen tests successfully. Most related to being able to read the disk. The log contained a BIG surprise in its very last line ...
"The operating system version is incompatible with Startup Repair".
One forum says "problem can be fixed by disabling driver signature enforcement and then rebooting".
The possibility has been opened up that the update gave me an unverified driver?

Sysnative Windows Update · Nov 6, 2019

Strange. Please do disable driver signature enforcement and let me know what happens, use option two:

How to Disable Driver Signature Verification on 64-Bit Windows 8 or 10 (So That You Can Install Unsigned Drivers)

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

I got UEFI Firmware Settings instead of Startup Settings. And that gave me a no options "Restart to change ..."
So I did that. And got the HP Startup Menu. Which allowed me to "Run UEFI Application" ...
... which went nowhere useful.
And exit and Continue startup took me back into my loop
And I managed to get back to Troubleshoot / Advanced Options
BUT can see no way into Startup Settings ... just the ever-reliable Command Prompt

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

So I tried this in the command line ..
bcdedit.exe /set nointegritychecks on (as advised by someone I Googled for "how to do this in the command line?"}
I got dead-ended with "The system cannot execute the specified program"
Tried running bcdedit without parameters ... same result
What next?

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

This one offers a way in via the command line ...
rf How to access Advanced startup options on Windows 10 • Pureinfotech
Advice ...
shutdown /r /o /f /t 00
... which is as near to ROFL as I dare to get.
Tried it ... got "the system cannot execute the specified program"
the file "shutdown.exe" exists and I am "Administrator" ... so I remain as ever ... puzzled

Sysnative Windows Update · Nov 6, 2019

What do you see when you are in Advanced Settings? Is there a More Options button?

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

My path is "Choose an option" >> "Troubleshoot" >> "Advanced options"
and then my choices are ...
System restore (no way)
System image recovery (I believe Win10 upgrade disabled saving system images)
Startup Repair (ru already with results as discussed)
Command prompt (which I had such hopes for)
UEFI Firmware settings (went nowhere - as expected)

That menu of startup settings that I have seen so many lovely pictures of ... I don't get

PeterLander · Nov 6, 2019

re BCDEDIT (and explorer) blocks ... I found a ref to "unblock-file" command ... which looked like it might allow me to start moving forward again.
Nope. "dir unblock* /s" tells me that this potentially useful tool does not exist on my computer.
I suspect that it is because it is only supplied to Powershell users. But, anyway, I see no way to unblock BCDEdit

PeterLander · Nov 7, 2019

This laptop I am using to talk about my desktop woes - woes caused I am sure by MS update - just threatened to die because it was full. 30gb of event error messages at a rate of more than one per second ... you guessed it ... caused by MS update which effectively mandates the App store. A thing called "Surface" which I never asked for nor allowed to be installed was constantly complaining that it could not access the "Device.Store". I'm about up to here with Microsoft. Have they never heard of testing?

Anyway, the HP desktop is still dead and I am still searching for ways to prevent integrity checking at OS load time.
All suggestions are appreciated

PeterLander · Nov 7, 2019

Does anyone know if this is the correct registry entry for turning integrity checking on and off?
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity

A seemingly knowledgeable advisor says it is BUT "Hypervisor" is such a childish name that I have doubts

Comments, anyone?

Sysnative Windows Update · Nov 7, 2019

I've consulted and both me and my colleagues agree that your best bet would be to reinstall the OS from scratch at this point.

PeterLander · Nov 7, 2019

Sorry to be so slow replying ... just out of bed here.
OK, and I dare say you are right.
But I might as well play with possibilities pending the inevitable destruction.

Is that registry entry the correct one for disabling integrity checking?
Or is there something else somewhere else?

Sysnative Windows Update · Nov 7, 2019

If you are referring to the option to disable Digital Signature Enforcement, that should be done via the Advanced Options menu.

PeterLander · Nov 7, 2019

Correct. But, as you know, I have no access to the Advanced Options menu. If you could help me get it back, that would be great, but you and I have already travelled down that path.
So now I am left with regedit as the only tool still working (plus command line input). So, another Google entry says that Digital Signature Enforcement can be disabled via that registry entry. As much as I can find out about it, it 1) might not actually do the job and 2) might make fresh problems.
Hence my Q ... will this registry change work?

PeterLander · Nov 7, 2019

Oh ... and I didn't say it in detail, but this computer was a gift. So re-installing Windows means that I must first purchase Windows.
In other words, MS destroys my Windows and forces me to purchase a replacement.
This goes against the grain ... if I thought it would do any good, I would have called Consumer Affairs days ago.
So, you see, I really am trying hard to avoid that "easy" answer.

PeterLander · Nov 7, 2019

I used F11 tapping at boot time to get started. After "Choose a Language". I got the now familiar "Choose an option" menu. This time, instead of Troubleshoot >> Command Line I decided to see what "Select an Operating System" gave me. I got a choice of two ... one blank choice that did not contain any hint what it was all about ... the other "Win 10".
Win 10 seemed like a pretty dumb option, but having absolutely nothing to lose, I selected "Win 10"
I am now typing this on my functioning HP desktop.
Why does Win 10 refuse to start using the normal power up sequence but works OK by using an F11 option to use Win 10?
Who knows?

The other bit of good news is that it is now totally clear that there is nothing wrong with my HDD.
Plus I have disabled automatic Windows updates. If I never see 1909 again in my life that will be too soon.

Thank you for trying.

[SOLVED] Win10 LOOP Attempting to recover ... Undoing changes

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