This post shows a couple of effective ways to help you solve the Windows stuck on welcome screen issue and introduces a piece of professional data recovery software - MiniTool Power Data Recovery to get your lost data back.
Recently, many users are worrying about the Windows stuck on the welcome screen issue. A true example from social.technet.microsoft.com is shown here:
My Windows 10 pro PC was locked this morning. The PC is almost new HP Windows 8 and was upgraded via Microsoft offer to 10 pros. Windows 10 is stuck at the welcome screen. I performed all advanced options to restore, but luckily, I do not have the original Win 10 pro DVD, only Windows 8 pro. Any ideas? Thanks for the quick response!!!
social.technet.microsoft.com
As you can see, Windows 11/10/8/7 stuck on the welcome screen is a serious problem. Fortunately, today we are going to show you how to cope with it.
Recover Data First Before Fixing Stuck on Welcome Screen Issue
Before fixing the “stuck on the welcome screen” issue, you need to recover your files first of all in case of data loss.
However, you may be wondering: “How to effectively recover data when PC won’t boot without damaging the original data?
MiniTool Power Data Recovery, the best data recovery software is recommended here.
This read-only data restore tool offers the Bootable Media Builder feature that can help you recover data when Windows 10 is stuck on the welcome screen. And, it is fully compatible with almost all operating systems including Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server.
Tip: The Bootable Media Builder is only provided in registered editions. Here MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal is recommended.
Now, let’s see the detailed steps to recover data when Windows is stuck on the welcome screen.
Process 1. Create MiniTool Bootable Drive by Using Bootable Media Builder
Step 1. Download and install MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal on a working computer according to the prompts on your screen.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2. Launch this professional data recovery software and then click the Bootable Media icon as shown below.
Step 3. Select WinPE-based media with MiniTool plug-in.
Step 4. Create a bootable drive by following: Create a Bootable CD/DVD/USB Drive with Bootable Media Builder.
Process 2. Boot PC From the Burned MiniTool Bootable Drive
Step 1. Connect the burned bootable drive to your PC that gets stuck on the welcome screen and boot from it by following: Boot from Burned MiniTool Bootable CD/DVD/USB Flash Drive.
Step 2. Click MiniTool Power Data Recovery in the main interface of MiniTool PE Loader to get its main interface.
Process 3. Recover Data When Windows Stuck on Welcome Screen
On the main interface of MiniTool Power Data Recovery, you can click Scan Settings to specify needed file systems as well as file types. For instance, if you only want to get lost pictures back, you can only check Picture, then click on the OK button to apply your changes as shown below.
Step 1. Under the Logical Drives section, select the target drive that contains wanted files and then click the Scan button to start scanning it (If you are not sure where the wanted files are located, you can move on to the Devices section and select the whole device to scan).
After scanning, you will see all files on the selected partition are displayed. To quickly locate the desired ones, you can make use of the Filter and Search features.
Filter: You can filter out unwanted files by file type, file size, file category, and date modified.
Search: In the search box, you can type part or all of a file name and press Enter to search for specific files.
Step 2. Preview and check all needed files, then click the Save button and choose a directory to store them.
Note: Never store recovered files in their original path, otherwise they may be overwritten, and overwritten files cannot be recovered anymore.
With data safely transferred, now you can try the following ways to fix Windows stuck on the welcome screen with confidence.
7 Solutions to Fix Windows Stuck on Welcome Screen
- Disconnect your USB devices.
- Disconnect from the Internet.
- Perform an Automatic/Startup Repair.
- Check for errors.
- Restart the Windows Update service.
- Restore Windows by using System Restore.
- Replace a hard drive.
7 Solutions – Stuck on Welcome Screen Windows 11/10/8/7
Method 1. Disconnect Your USB Devices
Some users like using all sorts of USB devices such as the mouse, keyboards, speakers, Bluetooth speakers, USB dongles, USB Wi-Fi adapters, etc. However, these connected devices might cause Windows 10 stuck on the welcome screen for a long time.
Therefore, a common solution to this problem is to disconnect all externally connected devices from your PC.
Method 2. Disconnect From the Internet
According to users, sometimes Windows 10 gets stuck on the login screen because it’s trying to connect to your wireless connection. If your Windows gets stuck on the welcome screen, you should make sure that you are not connected to the Internet before proceeding to log in.
Method 3. Perform an Automatic/Startup Repair
Some users reported that they fixed the Windows startup issues including Windows 10 freezing on startup, Windows 7 hangs on the welcome screen, PC turning on but no display, and others by performing an Automatic Repair.
Here, you can do it by following these steps:
Step 1. Create a Windows installation media. Then insert this media into your PC and boot the computer from it.
Step 2. Enter your language and other preferences and click on the Next button to continue.
Step 3. Click on Repair your computer.
Step 4. Select Troubleshoot > Advanced options. Then click Startup Repair (Depending on the Windows versions that your computer is running on, this option may be displayed as Automatic Repair instead).
Step 5. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the repair.
After completing the repair process, you can restart your PC to check whether the stuck-on welcome screen issue has been solved. If not, try the following methods.
Top recommendation: If the Windows Automatic Repair doesn’t work, you can refer to this post: How to Fix “Windows Automatic Repair Not Working”.
Method 4. Check for Errors
In some cases, corrupt system files on your computer will cause this problem – stuck on the welcome screen Windows 11/10/8/7. Therefore, to fix it, you can run CHKDSK and SFC to scan your computer to see if corrupted files are causing your startup problem.
Here are detailed steps to scan your computer and check for errors.
Step 1. Insert the Windows installation media into your computer and boot from it.
Step 2. Select your language preferences, and click on the Next button.
Step 3. After selecting the language, you can press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
Step 4. Type the following commands in the Command Prompt window and press Enter after each of them:
- sfc /scannow
- chkdsk c: /f /r
- bootrec /fixmbr
- bootrec /fixboot
- bootrec /scanos
- bootrec /rebuildbcd
Step 5. Wait for the repair process to complete. Then type exit and press Enter.
Step 6. Restart your PC to see if the stuck-on welcome screen issue has been fixed.
Method 5. Restart Windows Update Service
You can try restarting the Windows Update service and then renaming a few files if you still get stuck on the welcome screen in Windows 10.
Here are the steps:
Step 1. Boot from the Windows installation media and select the language preferences. Then press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
Step 2. Type net stop wuauserv in the run dialogue and press Enter.
Step 3. Type cd %systemroot% and press Enter.
Step 4. Type ren SoftwareDistribution SD.old and press Enter.
Step 5. Type net start wuauserv and press Enter.
Step 6. Type exit and press Enter to close Command Prompt.
Step 7. Now, reboot your PC/laptop and check if the stuck-on welcome screen issue has gone.
Method 6. Restore Windows by Using System Restore
System Restore is a useful feature that allows you to restore your operating system to a previous state and fixes any boot problems.
Step 1. Insert the Windows installation media into your PC and boot from it.
Step 2. Click on Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore.
Step 3. Choose an administrator account, and then input the correct password to continue.
Step 4. Click the Next button when you see the System Restore interface as follows.
Step 5. Follow the instructions on the screen to restore your PC.
If the “stuck on welcome screen Windows 10/8/7” issue still exists after restoring Windows, you may consider replacing a hard drive.
Method 7. Replace Hard Drive
Sometimes, a physical problem with your hard drive is certainly a reason why Windows is stuck on the welcome screen. If all the solutions above cannot help you, you need to consider replacing your old hard drive with a new one and then reinstalling Windows.
One Useful Tip for Stuck on Welcome Screen – Backup Data
According to experience, data loss can be caused by many factors like stuck on the welcome screen, booting to a black screen, boot configuration data file is missing, etc. Therefore, learning how to reduce the possibility of data loss is important.
The best way to prevent data loss is to back up all important files. Here we introduce two data backup tools to help you protect your files.
1. MiniTool ShadowMaker
MiniTool ShadowMaker is an all-in-one data protection solution used for backing up files, folders, systems, disks, and partitions to internal/external hard drives, USB drives, etc. in Windows 11/10/8/7.
The good news is that this file backup tool provides you with a 30-day free trial allowing you to check whether it fits you. Therefore, you can download and try to use it without worrying.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
For a detailed guide to using MiniTool ShadowMaker and other file backup ways, you can refer to this post: How to Backup Files on Windows 10? Try These Top 4 Ways.
2. MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard offers the features of Copy Disk and Copy Partition to help you copy all data from one disk or partition to another one without any data loss. So, you can download it to back up your data on external hard drives, USB flash drives, and more.
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Hi! It is recommended to back up data to avoid data loss!Click to Tweet
Bottom Line
Hope these solutions above can help you solve the stuck-on welcome screen issue. If you have any other good solutions, please share them with us by leaving your comments in the comment zone below. We’d appreciate it.
If you have any questions about using MiniTool software, please contact us via [email protected]. We will solve them as soon as possible.
Stuck on Welcome Screen FAQ
- Too many devices are connected to the computer.
- System file corruption.
- Hard drive damage.
- Windows trying to connect to the wireless connection.
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Del key combinations on the keyboard.
- Click the Power icon.
- Click Restart.
- Perform a hardware reboot.
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Shirley graduated from English major and is currently an editor of MiniTool Team. She likes browsing and writing IT-related articles, and is committed to becoming a professional IT problem solver. The topic of her articles are generally about data recovery, data backup, and computer disk management, as well as other IT issues. In spare time, she likes watching movies, hiking and fishing.