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Windows Won't Boot

The PC powers on but never reaches the sign-in screen, or loops on "Automatic Repair".

Windows 10 / Windows 11 desktops and laptopsabout 4 min read

Symptoms

  • Black screen, or a manufacturer logo that never moves on.
  • Message such as "Operating system not found", "Boot device not available" or "No bootable device".
  • Spinning dots for many minutes, or a restart loop.
  • "Preparing Automatic Repair" / "Automatic Repair couldn't repair your PC".
  • Blue screen with a stop code (for example INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE).
  • A blue "BitLocker recovery" screen asking for a recovery key.

Before you start

  • Protect the data first. Ask whether there is anything important that is not backed up. If yes, avoid repair steps that could change the disk and tell your lead (see Escalate when).
  • Ask what changed: a Windows update, a power cut, a new device, a dropped laptop?
  • Note any exact error text or stop code. Take a photo of the screen.

Steps

  1. Check the basics. Is the power cable plugged in and the screen on? Does the power light come on? On a desktop, check the monitor cable.
  2. Unplug everything extra: USB sticks, external drives, docking station, printers. A USB stick left in can make the PC try to boot from it. Try again.
  3. Do a full power drain. Shut down (hold the power button about 10 seconds), unplug the charger, remove the battery if it is removable, hold the power button for 30 seconds, then reconnect and start up.
  4. Check that the firmware sees the drive. Restart and press the setup key (commonly F2, Del, F10 or F12; it depends on the manufacturer and shows briefly at start-up). Look for the system drive in the storage or boot menu.
    • Drive not listed: stop here and escalate (possible hardware failure or loose connection).
    • Drive listed but the boot order is wrong: set Windows Boot Manager or the system drive first.
  5. Open the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). Either let Windows fail to start three times in a row (it opens recovery on its own), or boot from a Windows installation USB and choose Repair your computer.
  6. In WinRE go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options and try these in order, checking for a boot after each one:
    1. Startup Repair.
    2. Uninstall Updates (latest quality update first, then latest feature update) if the problem began after an update.
    3. System Restore to a point before the problem began.
    4. Startup Settings > Restart > Safe Mode (press 4). If Safe Mode works, remove recent software or drivers, then restart normally.
  7. Command Prompt checks (WinRE). Drive letters can differ inside WinRE, so first find the Windows drive: run diskpart, list volume, exit, or dir C:\, dir D:\ and look for the Windows folder. Assuming it is C:: 
    chkdsk C: /f
sfc /scannow /offbootdir=C:\ /offwindir=C:\Windows
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd
    If bootrec /fixboot returns "Access is denied" on a UEFI system, bcdboot C:\Windows rebuilds the boot files instead.
  8. BitLocker prompt? Do not guess. Get the recovery key from the place your organisation stores it (for example the user's Microsoft account or the admin portal) after verifying the user's identity. If you cannot get the key, escalate.
  9. If nothing works, the options are an in-place repair install or a full reinstall. Both need approval and a backup plan because a reinstall can erase data. Escalate rather than doing this alone.

Escalate when

  • The system drive is missing in the firmware menu, or you hear clicking or grinding.
  • The user has important data with no backup.
  • A BitLocker key is needed and can't be found.
  • You've tried Startup Repair, uninstalling updates and System Restore and it still fails.
  • Several PCs fail after the same update (possible wider problem).
  • The next step would be a reinstall or reset.

Ticket note template

Issue: PC does not boot to Windows (describe: error text / loop / black screen)
When it started / what changed: 
Data at risk (backed up? Y/N/unknown): 
Checked: power + peripherals removed [Y/N] | drive visible in firmware [Y/N] | boot order [OK/changed]
Recovery steps tried: Startup Repair [result] | Uninstall updates [result] | System Restore [result] | Safe Mode [result]
Commands run (if any): 
Result: Fixed / Not fixed
Next step / escalated to:

Notes

Steps and commands in this runbook follow Microsoft's publicly documented recovery tools. Menu names vary slightly between Windows 10 and 11 and between PC makers, so adjust to what you see.

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How to use this

  1. Search first. Type what the user is describing, like printer offline or locked out. The search reads the whole text of every runbook, not only the titles.
  2. Narrow it down if you want to. The topic links under the search box (Windows, Network, Accounts and so on) trim the list. Click one again, or pick All, to go back.
  3. Open a runbook and read down the page. Symptoms tell you if you are in the right place. Before you start lists the quick questions. Then work through Steps in order, simplest first.
  4. Know when to stop. The shaded Escalate when box lists the signs that it is time to hand the ticket on. If any one of them matches, stop and escalate.
  5. Copy the ticket note. The last section has a note template. Press Copy, paste it into your ticketing system, and fill in the blanks.
Words you will see
Runbook
A written set of steps for one kind of problem, so you do not have to work it out from scratch each time.
First-line support
The first person a user talks to. Fixes the common problems and passes the rest on.
Escalate
Hand a ticket to someone with more access or experience, with notes so they do not have to start over.
Scope
How many people or devices are affected. One laptop and the whole office are very different problems.
Ticket note
A short written record of what was reported, what you tried and what happened.

Why I built this

I'm a computer science student in Toronto and I'm looking for junior IT support and help desk roles. When I started practising troubleshooting, I noticed I knew a lot of individual fixes but not a calm order to try them in, or when to stop and hand a problem on.

So I wrote these twelve runbooks to put that in order for myself, and I built this site so they are easy to search and read. They come from public vendor documentation and common help desk practice. They are not copied from a workplace and they are not real tickets.

They are still a work in progress. If a step looks wrong or something is missing, I would like to know.