After Anniversary Update, Win10 gets into endless login prompt after boot-up, entering password goes nowhere and back

[dark_77]

Hi, Win 10 Pro, 1607, 14393.105.

Ever since Anniversary Update, I noticed that on the first switch on and boot-up, Win 10 will present me with a login prompt as usual (please note: I do not use Microsoft account, just the local account) and when I put in the correct password, the little "Logging in..." circle starts, and goes and goes, unusually long, 40-50 seconds, and then nothing happens, I am presented back with the username and password prompt, no message like "Password incorrect" or anything, just login prompt again.

The curious thing is that the problem (usually) disappears after I shut down and boot-up again. I'd class that this happens in roughly 60%-70% of cases. However there were days that I had to shut down and boot up again 3, 4 or 5 times before the password is accepted and Windows logs me in fine.

I thought it was a one-PC issue, but I see a lot of people complaining about "Anniversary Update login glitch". Also, for the PC at home I "managed" this by switching off the login prompt altogether, and boot straight into the main account. However today this started happenning on my work laptop as well! Work laptop is more important as it obviously has different user profiles on it.

Basically I'm hoping to know if anyone knows...

1. Of a possible definite fix for this?
2. Better workaround than what I did with automatic sign-in?
3. Has this been officially recognised and documented as a bug - that would at least mean they're working on it?


Cheers

 

[dark_77]

I forgot to mention a few of things, not sure if relevant:

1. one thing in common with both PCs is that they have Win 10 on the SSD, and Users folder on the second hard drive

2. Even when I put in the blatantly wrong password, the system doesn't say that the password is wrong, just keeps checking for 30-40 seconds, and brings me back to the prompt without saying "incorrect password"

3. when laptop times out and goes to sleep, and I wake it up, 3/3 attempts right now result in "password loop problem". When I manually sign out and sign back in, again, 3/3 attempts right now I am logged in okay, after setting the automatic login on the boot-up

 

[LukeFatwalker]

1. Of a possible definite fix for this? Running Startup Repair; if that doesn't work, Reformat the machine
2. Better workaround than what I did with automatic sign-in? Not that I can think of...
3. Has this been officially recognised and documented as a bug - that would at least mean they're working on it? It's due to a driver tied to your bootup process; they'll probably patch the driver but aside from that not sure.

 

[dark_77]

1. Thanks, will definitely try the Startup Repair.

3. So this is a known and a documented issue, since you know the cause? Which driver then (for which device) is giving the problem, I'd like to read up about it to see when can it be fixed.

Thanks!

 

[LukeFatwalker]

1. Thanks, will definitely try the Startup Repair.

3. So this is a known and a documented issue, since you know the cause? Which driver then (for which device) is giving the problem, I'd like to read up about it to see when can it be fixed.

Thanks!

Sort of. Your Boot Manager operates with a lot of different drivers which service the launching of the OS. Think of it as being the crew of an Airplane trying to get a plane off the ground, you need all the staff to make it happen. So when one of your drivers is corrupted it simply can't load the OS.

There's no 'cause' per se. It's a wide array of possibilities. Bad windows update, faulty sector of the hard drive, virus, etc. So really, it could be literally anything.

If it's a bad Windows Update you may want to look up that update to see if people are having similar issues. If not, it's something unique to your machine.

Best recommendation is to start backing up your data. A snapshot tool (Rollback Rx) and a disk imager (Drive Cloner) are good choices. You could even stick strictly with either but I think a layered defence would be best in case it happens again.

 

[dark_77]

Sort of. Your Boot Manager operates with a lot of different drivers which service the launching of the OS. Think of it as being the crew of an Airplane trying to get a plane off the ground, you need all the staff to make it happen. So when one of your drivers is corrupted it simply can't load the OS.

Oh, it does seem like an issue other people are having. Before here, I posted on tenforums and I found another 5-6 people that have the same issue, and another one or two on reddit. Sadly, no further info about the resolutions or developments.

You explanation makes sense en générale, I'm just slightly sceptical that a corrupt driver would cause this particular problem. The OS boots up perfectly - this appears more to be a very localised problem with "manual" username / password authentication i.e. login within the OS when it's done loading, seemingly for (only?) local accounts. What is curious that a lot of people also report that after the first shutdown the problem disappears (until tomorrow). Also, my workaround still works 100% 5 days later as I now completely sidestep the manual user/password authentication, surely if it was an issue with a bad driver, it would not be even reaching this stage?

Lastly - for the same problem to appear on two vastly different PCs which share no similar hardware whatsoever, and for the problem to manifest immediately after 1607 upgrade? It would have to be an insanely long shot that it's a bad driver on both machines.

 

[LukeFatwalker]

Sort of. Your Boot Manager operates with a lot of different drivers which service the launching of the OS. Think of it as being the crew of an Airplane trying to get a plane off the ground, you need all the staff to make it happen. So when one of your drivers is corrupted it simply can't load the OS.

Oh, it does seem like an issue other people are having. Before here, I posted on tenforums and I found another 5-6 people that have the same issue, and another one or two on reddit. Sadly, no further info about the resolutions or developments.

You explanation makes sense en générale, I'm just slightly sceptical that a corrupt driver would cause this particular problem. The OS boots up perfectly - this appears more to be a very localised problem with "manual" username / password authentication i.e. login within the OS when it's done loading, seemingly for (only?) local accounts. What is curious that a lot of people also report that after the first shutdown the problem disappears (until tomorrow). Also, my workaround still works 100% 5 days later as I now completely sidestep the manual user/password authentication, surely if it was an issue with a bad driver, it would not be even reaching this stage?

Lastly - for the same problem to appear on two vastly different PCs which share no similar hardware whatsoever, and for the problem to manifest immediately after 1607 upgrade? It would have to be an insanely long shot that it's a bad driver on both machines.

Not necessarily. Not all drivers are critical for the launch of Windows. That said, if you're having issues booting into Windows, it's more than likely those drivers.

Maybe you are a very special case but I would run Startup Repair and/or Reformat before anything else.

 

[Wayfall]

Greetings dark_77, sorry hear your having issues with Windows 10.
Seems a lot of people are at the moment...

May I ask is it possible for you to 'Boot into Safe Mode' and use 'System Restore' to go back before the Windows Update?
http://www.wikihow.com/Activate-Safe-Mode-in-Windows-10

 

[dark_77]

Greetings dark_77, sorry hear your having issues with Windows 10.
Seems a lot of people are at the moment...

May I ask is it possible for you to 'Boot into Safe Mode' and use 'System Restore' to go back before the Windows Update?
http://www.wikihow.com/Activate-Safe-Mode-in-Windows-10

Hi Wayfall, thanks for answering. I'm afraid I did not have System Restore enabled before 1607 update. Even if I did, not sure that I would restore it as this is maybe a mild annoyance rather than a big huge problem.

I was hoping the latest update (of two days ago) would sort it out, but no. Just yesterday I rebooted 7 times and 7 successfull logons, one more this morning, and then after 20 minutes of inactivity my laptop locked the screen, and upon entering the password kept throwing me back to sign-in password prompt. Had to shut down and reboot.

 

[Wayfall]

Yeee this is why you just set up frequent system restores and backups.

I have set my SSD to keep 10% of its size for system restore points. If you go into the system restore and click configure you can change the amount of space left for restore points.

System restore is a computer saver, has pulled my pc back from bad OS an driver updates numerous times in the past. Thou I stick to Windows 7.

 

[dark_77]

I understand and right now I would maybe consider switching it on, but even if I had it, I would not roll back to before 1607. Build 1607 fixed one minor but incredibly important issue for me that was getting on my nerves in a major way.

This is still an annoyance, but I'm glad that 1607 is there. I just wish I could sort this out. During the weekend I'll have some time so I will try the Startup Repair.

 

[dark_77]

Okay, so...

Safe Mode - Start Repair did not make any difference

Ever since then, two updates were installed this and previous Thursday, but the issue is still there, on both machines.

Now, I'm not sure if this is helpful, but I have noticed a strange pattern in behaviour:

-curiously, if I use "Sign Out" option, and sign back in, Windows 10 accepts the password and logs me in just fine, about about 10 times out of last 10!

-however, if I use "Lock screen", i.e. just lock the screen for the user, and try to unlock it, and sign back in, or if the PC goes into sleep, the password failed so far every time (about 5 out of last 5 times).