- Dec 25, 2015
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Ending the Windows 10 endless reboot loop and failure to install: A 12-Step Program
The problem is caused by a Cumulative Update that Windows will automatically install (whether your machine can handle it or not). This will prevent a variety of laptop makes & models from fully installing or updating properly resulting in an endless re-boot loop.
Here is the process I used to solve the problem:
If you don't mind one trial without the extra work of re-formatting your hard drive, you might skip to step 5. You will have to go back to step 1 if it doesn't work.
1. Start with a clean, fresh hard drive or re-format your old one. I had to do this because the multiple attempts I previously made to install Windows 10 left my HD with difficult-to-remove registry key entries and created multiple partitions with bad data which BIOS tried to boot from.
2. Since you don’t have a working operating system to launch a re-format, remove the hard drive from the laptop and use a toaster attached to another machine to re-format the hard drive.
3. Formatting the HD left me with one partition of 4 Gig, so I used MiniTools free partition manager to stretch out the partition over all un-allocated space.
4. Put the drive back in the laptop.
5. If you haven't got one, use another working machine to make a bootable Windows 10 ISO image on disk or USB flash. Microsoft finally made this available as a download on line. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10.
6. Scroll down to where is says "Need to create an ISO...?" I was not able to get my laptop to recognize a USB, even after setting the boot priorities in BIOS, but a DVD RW worked fine. Make sure you choose 32-bit or 64 bit depending on your machine's architecture.
7. Install the flash drive or disk with the ISO image in your laptop and re-boot. You might need to go through BIOS and use boot override or re-set boot priorities to boot the media.
8. Windows 10 should begin the installation process. It will ask you for your Wi-Fi password and then download some crucial updates from the web. It will ask you for your Microsoft Account login info (or create a new account). Then you will FINALLY reach the welcome splash screen. But you are not out of the woods yet.
9. As soon as you have Windows 10 running, create a RESTORE POINT by going to Control Panel/File History. Win 10 now hides the control panel and moved the "create restore point" button from "backup and restore" to this new cluster of items called "file history". This let you roll back to a stable configuration if some future update gets installed and makes your OS unstable again.
10. After that, you MUST download the "show-hide updates troubleshooter" tool (wushowhide.diagcab) from this webpage: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930. Be sure to book mark the page. Wushowhide may disappear and need downloading again each time you run it. Run the tool. You will see a list of updates that Windows 10 loaded to your computer. Tell it to hide anything that is a Cumulative Update.
11. Next, open "Settings" and find "Windows Update" and "Advanced Options" then choose "defer upgrades.” Microsoft promises that this will prevent any more cumulative updates from downloading next time you go on line and auto-installing next time you shut down. Note Microsoft has not said how long upgrades will be deferred. It’s not likely they will tell us which Cumulative Update will include a stable fix for this problem.
12. That should do it. Windows 10 should be stable at least for now. Last, but not least, make a RESCUE DISK of your stable system so you don’t have to go through the whole process over again.
The problem is caused by a Cumulative Update that Windows will automatically install (whether your machine can handle it or not). This will prevent a variety of laptop makes & models from fully installing or updating properly resulting in an endless re-boot loop.
Here is the process I used to solve the problem:
If you don't mind one trial without the extra work of re-formatting your hard drive, you might skip to step 5. You will have to go back to step 1 if it doesn't work.
1. Start with a clean, fresh hard drive or re-format your old one. I had to do this because the multiple attempts I previously made to install Windows 10 left my HD with difficult-to-remove registry key entries and created multiple partitions with bad data which BIOS tried to boot from.
2. Since you don’t have a working operating system to launch a re-format, remove the hard drive from the laptop and use a toaster attached to another machine to re-format the hard drive.
3. Formatting the HD left me with one partition of 4 Gig, so I used MiniTools free partition manager to stretch out the partition over all un-allocated space.
4. Put the drive back in the laptop.
5. If you haven't got one, use another working machine to make a bootable Windows 10 ISO image on disk or USB flash. Microsoft finally made this available as a download on line. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10.
6. Scroll down to where is says "Need to create an ISO...?" I was not able to get my laptop to recognize a USB, even after setting the boot priorities in BIOS, but a DVD RW worked fine. Make sure you choose 32-bit or 64 bit depending on your machine's architecture.
7. Install the flash drive or disk with the ISO image in your laptop and re-boot. You might need to go through BIOS and use boot override or re-set boot priorities to boot the media.
8. Windows 10 should begin the installation process. It will ask you for your Wi-Fi password and then download some crucial updates from the web. It will ask you for your Microsoft Account login info (or create a new account). Then you will FINALLY reach the welcome splash screen. But you are not out of the woods yet.
9. As soon as you have Windows 10 running, create a RESTORE POINT by going to Control Panel/File History. Win 10 now hides the control panel and moved the "create restore point" button from "backup and restore" to this new cluster of items called "file history". This let you roll back to a stable configuration if some future update gets installed and makes your OS unstable again.
10. After that, you MUST download the "show-hide updates troubleshooter" tool (wushowhide.diagcab) from this webpage: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930. Be sure to book mark the page. Wushowhide may disappear and need downloading again each time you run it. Run the tool. You will see a list of updates that Windows 10 loaded to your computer. Tell it to hide anything that is a Cumulative Update.
11. Next, open "Settings" and find "Windows Update" and "Advanced Options" then choose "defer upgrades.” Microsoft promises that this will prevent any more cumulative updates from downloading next time you go on line and auto-installing next time you shut down. Note Microsoft has not said how long upgrades will be deferred. It’s not likely they will tell us which Cumulative Update will include a stable fix for this problem.
12. That should do it. Windows 10 should be stable at least for now. Last, but not least, make a RESCUE DISK of your stable system so you don’t have to go through the whole process over again.
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