Question BSoD on boot and unable to restore after a System Restore ?

[nphuracm]

Issue description:
After a system restore, Windows stopped booting correctly. It now throws a Stop error CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED on boot. The boot logs indicate that the error occurred after the point where CLFS.SYS was loaded.
The restore was done in WinRE, and therefore the restore could not be undone. Any further attempts of using restore points failed with the code 0x80070002. I was unable to uninstall updates. 'Dism /Image:<windows drive letter>:\ /Cleanup-Image /Restorehealth' fails with error 'The system could not find the file specified.' Attempting to boot in Safe Mode does not circumvent the issue. Running CHKDSK /F /R on all Windows-related drives came up with no errors. The BCD data was verified to point to the correct volume.
Automatic system repair did not fix anything, but these lines from SrtTrail.txt look curious:

Test Performed:
---------------------------
Name: Check for pending package install
Result: Completed successfully. Error code = 0x2
Time taken = 1266 ms

Desired solution:
Fix the system, while keeping changes to the system volume as less as possible. Reinstalling Windows should be the last resort. Ensure that apps and personal data that reside there are intact.

Reference:
Earlier symptoms (according to the oral description of another user of the computer):
The standard user, when logged into the system, found that the Explorer stopped functioning, despite that the desktop is present. The user then tried launching Steam - which resides on a separate drive than the system drive - and only saw it being stuck on a loading screen. The user then rebooted the system, and witnessed the system to be stuck in a blank screen. After multiple hard resets, the user then ended up in WinRE, and performed a System Restore with a restore point created by the user on 2023/7/22.
Even earlier symptoms: an earlier post I created (on this forum)

During startup, after the initial startup screen provided by Bootmgr/Winload, the startup process now freezes at the following black screen for a significant amount of time. After the wait, the fan would spin up to a speed noticeably faster than normal, and Windows would not enter the login screen before that point.

Points worthy of notice here:
1. Even by taking the issue mentioned in the post referred by the link above into account, the aforementioned user describes that they no longer have a clue whether they waited for the blank screen delay as mentioned above. That is, the user may have erroneously assumed the later startup attempts as failing, leading to the attempt of a System Recovery, breaking the system.
2. A later restore point was available, dated on 7/27. The user did not choose to use that restore point for unknown reasons.

 

[Darkbreeze]

System restore ALMOST never works, so do not rely on it. In fact, I 200% turn it off after any new installation or after any major update (Because it re-enables it for the primary Windows partition at least) because it uses a ton of resources when it's running AND it sucks, period.

Do not EVER rely on it and don't let it suck down system resources in the future. Get a BETTER solution like Acronis true image or even for free, Macrium reflect, and MANUALLY make your own backups either on a schedule or manually every couple of days. Then, you will never be posting stuff like this again in regard to system restore nor will you have to worry about lost data. The fact is that it doesn't work, and trying to fix Windows problems, for MOST people, takes longer than simply doing a clean install and then reinstalling and configuring your programs, which is what I recommend you do. Or your client does. Or you do for your client.