SOLVED Windows acting weird after update (Dec. 11 2016)

[Asem RZ]

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great day.

This morning, my windows started acting in strange ways. As i logged in (PC was running over night), a notification poped up saying that windows have finished installing new updates, cool!

immediately as I started using windows, the following was observed:
1- Chrome, MS Edge refuses to launch correctly (chrome launch with blank white window, no options, tools or tabs. MS edge refuses to launch all together)
2- Windows refuses to run any media file (MP4, JPEG, Quick Time) in any media player I have. After double clicking any media file I get a message: (operation time run out). (surprisingly, PDF files runs fine)
3- Accessing the Start Menu: The start menu and the quick search option does not work at all most of the time, when it is not working, pressing the windows key or clicking the start icon does not bring the start menu. which limits what I can do with my windows on Normal Mode. Further more, and when the menu DO operate, selecting any option (like recovery/settings/add remove programs) is not responsive or insanely slow.
4- right clicking the desktop and clicking personalize bring the message; This file do not have a program associated with it for performing this action.
5- Attempting to run various programs yields nothing. the programs does not load in the task bar either.
6- Ctrl+Alt+Del brings the blank blue screen with no options. pressing Esc takes me back to the desk top

It is important to inform you that I did not install any software, hardware or drivers for the past 2 or 3 weeks. My computer was running perfectly until this morning. I do not know what caused this issue as I did not perform anything out of the usual last night (could it be the windows update?)

What I tried: I ran windows recovery. Windows picked up the last recovery date is 2 days ago. I selected this option as it was recommended, and clicked Continue. Windows warned me that this process should not be interrupted. Clicked ok and windows started working.. windows then blanked to an empty screen which I left as is thinking this is part of the process. My PC then restarted, upon logging in, windows informed me that the operation was not successful due to insufficient space in the C drive (I had 7 GB left). Now when I launch the recovery again, windows states that there is no recovery available for my computer.

Can you recommend a course of action I could take to fix it?

I appreciate all the support I could get. Thank you all,

 

[Trouble]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Evidently the most recent Cumulative Update KB3201845 has caused multiple issues for many people.
http://windowsreport.com/windows-10-kb3201845-bugs/
AND

uninstalling the update doesn’t solve the problem

Microsoft is said to be working on a fix. No recent word as to when that might actually show up.

 

[davehc]

I am also experiencing weird happenings. It is a frist for me. I have been pretty lucky, so far.
But, maybe we are all experiencing different systems, according to configs..etc.

In my case, I could see a lot of activity on the hd, after booting into the desktop. Examination of the task manager showed that it was taking an incredible time, and with a lot of failures, to load the services.
When they finally settled (more than five minutes) Everything was back to normal.
Unfortunately, this was not a "one-off". Even after logging out, or restarting, it went through the whole procedure again.
All very well for MS to state they are working on a fix. This is major, and should not have happened.
I have posted several times, regarding the lack of options to stop updates entirely, but it falls on deaf ears.
Maybe this will wake them up.

 

[Norton]

Asem I'm sorry to hear of your multiple problems. The updates from MS are unacceptable. It's sad that updates ruin users PCs and lost productivity. All I can suggest at this time is to turn off your machine and let it restart. It may resolve some issues.
Good luck!

 

[davehc]

Well, whatever happened to me (previous post), perhaps it was computer specific. Today my computer is functioning normally. Checking with other computers in my family and with colleagues, does not reveal any problems. - I am still of the opinion that the compulsory update system must be changed. MS reasons for using it are lame.
Added. I forgot that I cleared my event logs after the first incident. I had a look at it today and it seems that the hang up (10 errors) were all related to being unable to use Cortana - No idea what that was all about.

 

[Asem RZ]

Hi all, thank you for your kind replies,

I have checked with several other friends, family members and colleagues as well, they all had some degree of problems ranging from absolutely no problem to mild inconvenience. It appears that my issue is the most severe among the people I know since it completely crippled my PC from any meaningful operation.

I have tried running the PC in safe mode. it is functioning normally this way, I guess I can get by for few days on this mode since this is a personal PC at home and not my office PC.

Anyhow, I'll update this thread with more information and I invite others to partparticipate they have similar issues and/or found a solution.

Good day,

 

[Grizzly]

I have tried to recreate your issues up after installing the latest update but so far (except the Wifi issue with it) I do not experience any problems. Something must have really gone awry with your update...
I had to download the update from the catalog though cause through Windows Update it always got stuck at 9% and then failed to install (already more than 10 times).....
I am gonna wait til tomorrow when update day is happening. Who knows, they might have found a solution for this mess or, they make it worse.....again......

 

[Asem RZ]

Alright,
I have found the following links that could be helpful to others that are having similar issues:

Solving the non-working software: This article on MS community hub describes the issue and potential solutions to get your programs running again. Follow to the link and find a comment by user TM255E where s/he illustrates that creating a second windows profile might save your windows.

To fix your Wifi connectivity: follow the link for instructions

I would like to get my programs up and running again, but in my case it will require tremendous amount of work in re-installing all the programs. I would rather wait it out as I do not want to waste 2 days downloading and installing all the programs I need.

However, I have a question, does running my PC in safe mode allow the PC to fetch future windows updates that could potentially resolve the issue? If not, how can I be sure that my PC under normal mode is still open to receive updates? I know it is connected to the internet since I can ping it using Command Prompt

Thank you alll

 

[Asem RZ]

After 4 sessions with MS tech, and after several attempts to resolve the issue. It appears that MS is well aware of the problem but they only have ONE way to solve it.

This method is the least destructive to your windows (I used this method myself):
Create new account > Copy the content of your original account (c:\users\old-username\) copy all contents (full folders) to a local drive or removable storage device > Paste the copied content onto the new account (c:\users\new-username) > delete old account and all its data > connect new account to your MS account

Will this solve the issue of files not working? yes
issue of the start menu? yes
overloaded hard drive? yes
will this maintain functionality of ALL softwares? no. Although most of the programs I have remained functional, many needed to be reinstalled.

is this a proper fix and something you would expect from MS? Abso-f***ing-lutly not, but it does the job with minimum damage and considerable time to spend bringing your pc back to its previous functionality.

What I recommend to everyone, contact tech support and have them guide you into the solution.

Hope this helps someone

 

[Norton]

I'm glad your machine is operational again. But what MS is delivering as updates is absolutely unacceptable
in the modern day computer technology. All MS provided you with was a workaround not a solution to the problems.

 

[Trouble]

What I would give for a plain brown wrapper, stripped down version of Windows 10. Just something that I could install my everyday win32 applications on and count on it booting every time I turned it on and running without nonsense.
There is not a single Metro / Modern / Universal App that I could not live without, among which I would also include Edge.

I'd love to see a version for those of us who could care less about Cloud First, Mobile First, Windows as a Service.
Maybe they could call it the "Don't give a crap version"
While a cross platform OS might be attractive and look good on paper, it's becoming more and more clear that the actual product leaves much to be desired.
My Windows 10 phone ROCKS.... my Windows 10 Desktop, not so much.
I'm pretty sure it's just marketing. They convince you that you need it and you believe it.
But is it really all that much better than Windows 7 on a desktop, from a normal, everyday users point of view? I don't really think so.

It is fun to see if you can fix it when it breaks but at some point, you me and everyone else is going to need to actually get some work done and that's when reliability and system resource availability becomes a factor and I can't afford to watch spinning circles of dots, or a network that doesn't seem to want to function or a disk that is so busy it doesn't have time to do the things I need to do.

GIGABYTE Z97X - Gaming 7
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 4001 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
256 Gig Samsung SSD
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 2Gig DDR5 DX11

Seems like with those specs that Windows 10 could afford to give me a little "ME" time.
I wonder how Windows 7 would perform on that hardware.

 

[Norton]

I'm seriously thinking of going back to Win 7 Pro on all (3) of my machines. Win 10 offers nothing special for me. I don't use any apps, cloud, edge or cortana. Win 7 is for the old regular blokes like me that want reliability, functionality, Windows 7 is the Rolls Royce of OS. That is, it doesn't break down, the HD just wears out. Windows 10 has none of these attributes. All I've done since I installed Windows 10 is wear out my USB HD with images, images, images and differential backups...But on the other hand, if I had stuck with Win 7, I would have never met the great folks on this forum.

 

[Michael Bell]

I am also experiencing weird happenings. It is a frist for me. I have been pretty lucky, so far.
But, maybe we are all experiencing different systems, according to configs..etc.

In my case, I could see a lot of activity on the hd, after booting into the desktop. Examination of the task manager showed that it was taking an incredible time, and with a lot of failures, to load the services.
When they finally settled (more than five minutes) Everything was back to normal.
Unfortunately, this was not a "one-off". Even after logging out, or restarting, it went through the whole procedure again.
All very well for MS to state they are working on a fix. This is major, and should not have happened.
I have posted several times, regarding the lack of options to stop updates entirely, but it falls on deaf ears.
Maybe this will wake them up.

Up date is most of my issues I have asked that MS lets you know one is being downloaded but MS refuses too. Your devises quit working like the mouse tells me a down load is being done.
I always check to see if there is one before putting mine to sleep. I bought AVG tune up run once a week seems to help. I use troubleshoot up date then restart my computer helps also. Big thing I record in my One note all I have run into and how I fixed it or I am writing my own Manuel which I have bought books but none cover what problems pops up.

 

[Michael Bell]

how about forum on what we the users find out on our own to fix issues ? a good name could be " God helps those who helps them selves"

 

[davehc]

Could be something in my configuration, but, if I "shutdown" , not knowing an update download is in progress, an extra message pops up in the shutdown menu, giving me an alternative to update first and then shut down.(automatically)

 

[Michael Bell]

that is the issue I do not shut down I go into sleep. Past MS version a bubble pops up saying a up date was in progress Win10 there is no such thing. I work from home could be ready to go to work close my laptop the up date could be going on but my internet connection will be broke. A computer to me is not a toy its work. My wife's computer she close the lid it was in the middle of up date she lost the se of her mouse. When I found out what the issue was restarted her computer , up date restarted.