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Windows 8 [URGENT] I Cannot Open Anything (Windows 8.1)

ShoobieStomper

ShoobieStomper

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Joined
Dec 3, 2014
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49
Hey, guys! Well, everything was working good last night, but I tried to open up Chrome today and NOTHING is working. I can't open Chrome. I can't start Task Manager. I can't open Control Panel. I can't even launch apps from my Start screen. Oh, and none of my startup apps are opening. My keyboard and mouse are working properly and I have restarted my computer twice.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance! :)

- Alex
 


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Solution
Safal Piya
THE FIX OF THE PROBLEM IS HERE :wave::
  1. First exit the explorer.exe,
  2. Open up the cmd (Command Prompt) (Run>cmd.exe),
  3. Enter command "sfc /scannow" without the quotes,
  4. Wait for the command to find & fix all the problems.
Shutdown the computer, unplug the power supply of the CPU, replug it and this may solve your problem.
Hope it helps you :up:
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Great, now it won't even connect to the internet so I can't even sign in after a reboot. It is connected directly to my router. Did Microsoft release an update or something?
 


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Well, now I can sign in, but it's just a black screen and my pointer. I am really starting to worry because I have Windows installed on a USB so I decided to boot from it. None of the options are working because my drive is locked. I have no idea what to do now. I was planning on doing a system restore in the next few days, but I haven't got all of my files off of it yet. :-/ I did forget to mention that my computer woke up last night at 2:00 for a scheduled update and it has not worked properly since...
 


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Hi Alex,

ShoobieStomper said:
my computer woke up last night at 2:00 for a scheduled update and it has not worked properly since...
Click to expand...
Sounds like a mal-ware to me... have you been hitting torrents perhaps?

If you cann't get a scan to run then you will need a new boot option... btw Windows doesn't like booting from usb... dispite what Microsoft says, a hdd install is still the safe bet.
 


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Hey, man! I actually haven't downloading anything on that computer because I am still having connectivity problems. Well, it's better now that I am plugged directly into my router. Anyway, that was my first thought, too. It just doesn't make since because it's so sudden. I haven't done anything different than normal. Avast has been working properly and nothing else seems to be out of whack.

What would you suggest? As I stated earlier, I really cannot do much of anything. Do you think I should pull my HDD out and try to recover my files on another computer and then wipe it?
 


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ShoobieStomper said:
What would you suggest?
Click to expand...

Spybot is free, gets on well with Avast and is what I use at home... try it first as it only takes about 20mins for a full system scan and thats a lot less than a re-install of windows will cost you.

ShoobieStomper said:
Do you think I should pull my HDD out and try to recover my files on another computer and then wipe it?
Click to expand...
As a last option.
 


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Okay, I will look into that, but I can't actually get into my computer. I have tried everything. I can't even boot into safe mode. Do you think my RAM could be causing it?
 


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Well, I just decided to load my drive into another computer so that I could get all of my data off of it. The good news is that it's not my HDD. :) I will keep you updated. My plan is to just wipe it and then go from there.
 


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Upvote 0 Downvote
THE FIX OF THE PROBLEM IS HERE :wave::
  1. First exit the explorer.exe,
  2. Open up the cmd (Command Prompt) (Run>cmd.exe),
  3. Enter command "sfc /scannow" without the quotes,
  4. Wait for the command to find & fix all the problems.
Shutdown the computer, unplug the power supply of the CPU, replug it and this may solve your problem.
Hope it helps you :up:
 


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Solution
ussnorway said:
Good luck with it mate.
Click to expand...

Well, I finally had a chance to mess with my computer and this is what I'm running into now. My only option is to use the USB that I have Windows on. The only problem is that I get this message when I try to install.

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. the selected disk is of the GPT partition style.

I'm not sure what to do because I do not want to fully erase my drive since I would lose my recovery partition.

Any suggestions, man?

Safal Piya said:
THE FIX OF THE PROBLEM IS HERE :wave::
  1. First exit the explorer.exe,
  2. Open up the cmd (Command Prompt) (Run>cmd.exe),
  3. Enter command "sfc /scannow" without the quotes,
  4. Wait for the command to find & fix all the problems.
Shutdown the computer, unplug the power supply of the CPU, replug it and this may solve your problem.
Hope it helps you :up:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, but I cannot access my computer and my drive is locked so I cannot run any scans from a USB or anything. :-/
 


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Hi

Since you have retrieved all your data from your hard drive and you still have a recovery partition I'd try using it.
You will have to reinstall all you software but at least your data is all safe.

When you get everything up and running make a System Image so you can quickly recover when things go bad.

Mike
 


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ShoobieStomper said:
Windows cannot be installed to this disk. the selected disk is of the GPT partition style.
Click to expand...

This error indicates you have the usb formatted incorrectly for gpt and/ or the mbr boot file is kicking in… generally happens when the old Microsoft (W7) formatting tool is used.

I recommend;
1. Remove the bootmgr file on the root of the (usb) media… this forces efi as the only option and may fix the install but if not then.
2. Use rufus 2.1 Link Removed to format your usb drive into a gpt compatible device... then remove the bootmgr file from the usb before installing Windows.

P>S Temp turn any anti-v programs off when making images on DVD or USB... speeds things up a bit.

For more info you can read this from Microsoft https://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/library/hh825112.aspx or this "If you select the first option (MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computer), the USB will be bootable in BIOS-mode only (even on UEFI systems), and if you select any of the other options, the USB will be bootable in EFI mode only (and not bootable on a BIOS system at all)." about rufus https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ
 


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Thanks, man! Will Rufus 2.1 completely format my USB? Will this install just replace my existing Windows partition and nothing else?
 


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ShoobieStomper said:
Thanks, man! Will Rufus 2.1 completely format my USB?
Click to expand...

Yes all formatting tools wipe the data currently on the device and this includes rufus.

I'll make you a quick video but I want to make it clear that these steps are for making a Windows 8 or 8.1 gpt install usb… don't try these settings with a legacy install like Vista / 7 or on your own head be it.


* Sorry for the poor quality but the forum only allows certain host sites and they restrict size and frames… I had to cut it in two but it should be passable.



ShoobieStomper said:
Will this install just replace my existing Windows partition and nothing else?
Click to expand...

Windows 8 or 8.1 gpt install can be customized:

1. Link Removed

2. I assume your laptop has a recovery drive so unless you want to wipe it, (which I don't recommend) then a custom install should be done

a. Any drive that shows as a 'Primary' partition can hold the install… other types such as; recovery, system and MSR will resist normal install attempts and should generally be left alone.
prim drives.webp

b. This image is my sshd and yours will be different… for reference only.


Notes;

A lot of laptops have something called 'Safe boot' to prevent accidental system wipes and you generally have to turn them off before installing a new operating system… generally a setting in the bios security options.

IMO it is safest to remove the old hdd first and install a new blank one of about the same size before attempting a re-install of Windows as (even laptop) drives have become very cheap this avoids formatting your data until the new system is back up and a clean install to a blank hdd is considerably less stress for all of us mate… it's your computer/ decision but that’s my advice.
 


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Thanks again for all of this! Here's where I'm at. I had some time last night so i downloaded the Windows 8.1 ISO and then I used Rufus. I made sure that it was set to GPT and everything seemed to worked perfect, but I got the same problem when I tried to use it. I did notice that I forgot to delete the bootmgr file... could that be why? Oh, I'm pretty sure this doesn't matter, but I have a desktop. :-)
 


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I think it also defaulted to NTFS. Should I have switched it back to FAT32? How can I tell if I am for sure booting in UEFI?
 


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ShoobieStomper said:
I think it also defaulted to NTFS. Should I have switched it back to FAT32? How can I tell if I am for sure booting in UEFI?
Click to expand...

An iso from Microsoft will default to mbr install = NTFS and 4095 bytes... you have to chage it to gpt install = fat32 and 16 kilobytes
gpt.webp

if you watch the 1st vid on my post above it shows this at about 1:50 in
 


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