Windows 10 Auto Logon, Creators Edition & start menu failure

[schmieg]

I have three computers on a home network that perform certain functions automatically and when no one is attending them. I use auto logon on all three so that they can boot up and perform those functions. This has worked flawlessly under XP, Win7 and Win10 until the 2017 Creators Edition broke two of them and the Jan 2 security update broke the third. Essentially, the systems boot up, Windows opens, but the start menu is not functional. If you sign out and sign back in manually, everything works. I have tried creating a new profile on each machine, reinstalling the Windows apps, running SFC /scannow and the other solutions found on the web, but none have worked.

What I have noticed is that, in the past, as windows boots, there is a network icon on the lower right side of the screen with a red marker in it. That marker will change to yellow and then disappear. At that time, the User picture and name appear and the logon occurs. However, since these updates, those markers do not clear before the user icon and name appear and the result is that the start menu does not operate. This network icon is already clear on a signoff and back on so the start menu works properly. If I turn off auto logon, things work fine since I can't type the password fast enough to prevent the network icon from clearing.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on how to fix this problem and retain the auto logon function?

Thanks.

 

[schmieg]

Guess I'll answer myself since no one else seems to have a clue either as to how to reasonably fix this problem.

One machine, a 9 year old Lenovo Thinkpad T61, just healed itself over a period of several weeks. One day, the problem was there; the next it was gone. Nothing was attempted during the healing session.

The other two were problematic. I finally formatted the drives and did another clean Win10 installation (this is getting to be an annual event). It's taken me three days to get all the software, data, and settings back to where things are working properly on the network again. But, at least, this seems to have resolved the problems for now.

This wasn't that big of a deal under older versions of Windows, but Win10 seems to make things more difficult than they need to be.

Thanks for looking and at least thinking about it.

 

[schmieg]

Well, it all went south again on all three machines. Now, the only way I can get the start menu to work on all three after a boot is to sign off and sign back in. After signing back in, everything works, but this is problematic when there are scheduled maintenance routines at times when no one is at the machines. I am getting ready to give up and return to Windows 7.