Question I cannot get PC to boot, or enter Safe Mode ?

[i6pwr]

I have not had any issues until the PC was shut down last night. Upon reboot I get this:

https://imgur.com/a/G9OpeyB

I cannot get the PC into safe mode also. Tried the repair and no progress. How can I enter safe mode? I think it might be an issue with available storage on the C drive. I need to delete a large screen record file

Specs
Mobo: X570 Aorus Master
CPU: Ryzen 5950X
GPU: Sapphire Pulse 7900 XT
Noctua D15
Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600
980 Pro M.2 1TB
Evga 850 G2
Storm Sniper
Win 10 Home
Alienware 34" Ultrawide AW3418DW (3440x1440 120Hz)

 

[KingLoki]

Have you tried booting from usb stick to go into recovery mode/menu options?

 

[dwd999]

If Windows can't help you, as a last resort you have to think outside the Windows box and boot from a usb containing a linux distro. At least that should give you access to the files on your disk if you think that deleting one of them will help Windows recover.

 

[i6pwr]

Have you tried booting from usb stick to go into recovery mode/menu options?

Not yet, had to run errands last night. I can try this, do you have a link I can use, I want to be sure I use the correct method.

 

[KingLoki]

Windows 10

https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/windows-10-usb-install-drive

If you know where the large file is that you want to delete, you can use the command prompt to get to the directory it is in. Do you know how to use a command prompt?

Where is the file you think is the problem? Is it just on the c: drive or in a directory?

 

[i6pwr]

Do you know how to use a command prompt?

Yeah, enough to be dangerous..lol. I did try but I'm sure I had the letter spacing wrong.

The files are in the C drive videos, not sure how to precisely access that. Not sure of the exact name of the Radeon files but if I could list them in command prompt that would be nice.

 

[i6pwr]

Have you tried booting from usb stick to go into recovery mode/menu options?

I created a Win 10 installation media on a thumbdrive from here.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[KingLoki]

To get to the videos directory...
Type...
cd c:\users\(your account name)\videos
*** No brackets on (your account name) e.g Jack
Click ENTER
Then you will be in the video directory of your account.
c:\users\(your account name)\videos

Then type.,..
dir /p to see the contents of the videos directory.

The /p is by page, then press enter to see more if needed.

Note: if its in a sub directory then type...
cd c:\users\(your account name)\videos\name of directory
Click ENTER

Then
dir /p

once you find the file you can type...
del (fullname of file) * no brackets *

 

[i6pwr]

To get to the videos directory

For some reason I have either forgotten the user..(doubtful lol) or I'm just entering it wrong. It's my name but I've tried my name with last initial, name (PC) a dozen different ways but not able to access. 😕. Likely just a space or decimal I'm missing.

I was able to use dir/s and I have about 20MB of space avail which is likely my issue. I accidentally left the screen record on and another family member shut the PC down before I could delete the file, that's what I believe is the root cause here.

 

[KingLoki]

You can look in the user directory for your account. Type in...

cd c:\users

Then

dir

This will show you your accounts so you can get the name

 

[i6pwr]

You can look in the user directory for your account. Type in...

cd c:\users

Then

dir

This will show you your accounts so you can get the name

When I enter command prompt from the windows advanced options screen, my first line reads:

X:\windows\system32>

Should this read x86?

I tried your suggestion multiple ways with spaces and no spaces and the same response reads:

The system cannot find the path specified

 

[KingLoki]

Did you get to the c:\ drive before from my earlier post, when you said you forgot your user account?

 

[KingLoki]

X:\windows\system32>

At the end of the above line type...
c:\
and press Enter, then check back here

 

[KingLoki]

Lets try safe mode first...

On the Choose an Option screen....
1. Click on 'Troubleshoot'
2. Click 'Advanced options'
3. Click 'Startup Settings'
4. Click Restart (you will see a list of options)
5. After Restart, you will have numbered options to choose from.....
6 Press the number '4' on your keyboard (Enable Safe Mode)
7. It will reboot and if it goes to plan, you can log in and see the Safe Mode windows desktop. You can then go to file explorer and the video directory to delete your problem file. (***From Recycle Bin too if needed***)
8. If this works you can restart the system as you would normally.

 

[KingLoki]

If it doesn't work, then I will show you how to get to c:\ drive from recovery command prompt