Archive for the ‘Windows 8’ category

4 Ways to Rename Windows Local Administrator or Guest Account

December 21st, 2015 by Admin

How to change Windows administrator account name? The built-in administrator account is one of the most Windows accounts targeted by attackers. To improve security on your computer, you should rename the administrator account to less common name because this lowers the risk of brute force attacks.

In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to rename Windows 10/8/7 user account, including the local administrator and guest accounts.

Method 1: Change Windows Account Name from Command Prompt

How to rename a Windows account from Command Prompt? Well, you can use the net user command to either reset a user password or activate a disabled/locked account, but it doesn’t support renaming user account. To rename a Windows account, we need to use the WIMC command. Here’s how:

Open an elevated Command Prompt. In Windows 10 or 8, press the Windows key + X and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the power user menu.

If you’re using Windows 7 or Vista, click Start, then All Programs -> Accessories, right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
At the Command Prompt, run the following command for renaming the administrator account, replacing Admin with your desired name.
wmic useraccount where name='Administrator' rename 'Admin'
You’ve successfully changed the built-in administrator account name.

Method 2: Change Windows Account Name in Computer Management

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type compmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
The Computer Management console should open. Expand System Tools -> Local Users and Groups -> Users and you’ll see a list of local user accounts in the right pane.
Right-click on the local account you wish to rename, and then select Rename from the drop-down context menu.
Once you click on the Rename option, you will be able to edit the account name. Type in the new name you want to give the account and press Enter.

Method 3: Change Windows Account Name from Control Panel

First of all, you need to open the Control Panel applet. Set the View by option to Large icons and then click User Accounts.
On the User Accounts window, click the “Change your account name” link.
Now you can change the account name to something of your choice. When done, click on the Change Name button.

Method 4: Rename Windows Administrator/Guest Using Local Security Policy

This method only allows you to rename the built-in local administrator and guest accounts in Windows.

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type secpol.msc and press Enter.
The Local Security Policy Editor should open. Navigate to Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options.
In the right pane, find the policy “Accounts: Rename administrator account“, and double-click on it to open the respective policy setting.
Simply enter the new administrator account name and click OK. Your Administrator account has now been renamed to the one you entered.

Note that you can also change the name of the built-in Guest account because there is also a local policy “Accounts: Rename guest account” for guest account.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

Tags: change windows account name change windows administrator name rename windows account rename windows administrator account rename windows guest account

4 Ways to Enable Built-in Administrator Account on Windows 11 / 10 / 8

December 16th, 2015 by Admin

The built-in Administrator account is hidden & disabled by default in Windows. There is always a built-in Administrator account associated for every Windows installations. It’s a super administrator account that gives you some extra privileges over the normal administrator account. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 ways to enable the built-in Administrator on Windows 11 / 10 / 8.

Method 1: Enable Built-in Administrator from Command Prompt

Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu, and then select Command Prompt (Admin). If you’re running Windows 11, choose “Windows Terminal (Admin)” instead.
In the Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter.
net user Administrator /active:yes
As soon as you execute the command, the super built-in Administrator account is enabled, and you can access it by switching the accounts.

Method 2: Enable Built-in Administrator from Computer Management

After opening the File Explorer, right-click on “This PC” (or “This Computer”) on the left navigation pane, and then select Manage.
When the Computer Management window opens, expand System Tools > Local Users and Groups > Users.
In right-side pane double-click on Administrator account. It’ll open its Properties window. Uncheck the “Account is disabled” option.

Click Apply and then OK.

Method 3: Enable Built-in Administrator Through Local Security Policy

Press Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type secpol.msc and hit Enter.
When the Local Security Policy window opens, expand Local Policies > Security Options. In right-side pane, double-click on the policy “Accounts: Administrator account status” and set it to Enabled.

Click Apply and then OK.

Note: Local Security Policy Editor is not available on home editions of Windows.

Method 4: Enable Built-in Administrator without Logging In

All the above methods are fairly simple, but they work assuming you can still log on to Windows 10/8 with admin rights. What to do if you’re locked out of your computer? Follow the procedure described below and it allows you to activate the built-in Administrator account without logging in:

Boot your problematic computer from Windows installation DVD. Make sure that your PC’s BIOS (UEFI) Setup is configured to boot from a DVD and that UEFI and Secure Boot are disabled.
After booting into the DVD media, you’ll see the Windows Setup screen.

Just press SHIFT + F10 to open a Command Prompt.
In the Command Prompt, type the following commands one by one, press Enter after each. That will make a copy of the utilman.exe file, and then replace utilman.exe with cmd.exe. In most cases, Windows 10 or 8 is located on drive d:\. If that’s not your case, make sure you replace d:\ with the drive letter of the partition where Windows 10/8 is installed.
copy d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe d:\ copy /y d:\windows\system32\cmd.exe d:\windows\system32\utilman.exe
Now type wpeutil reboot and hit Enter to reboot your computer. Eject the DVD media and let your computer boot from local hard drive.
Wait until Windows boots to the login screen. Click the Ease of Access button in the lower-left corner of your screen.

Since we replaced the utilman.exe with cmd.exe, a Command Prompt should open now.
At the Command Prompt, type the following command to activate the built-in Administrator account:
net user Administrator /active:yes
Close the Command Prompt and reboot your computer. You can sign in to Windows 10/8 with the newly activated Administrator account.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 8

Tags: activate windows administrator account activate windows built-in administrator enable administrator account windows 10 enable administrator account windows 11 enable built-in administrator enable windows administrator account enable windows administrator account from command prompt enable windows administrator account without logging in enable windows built-in administrator account

How to Restore Local Security Policy to Default in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP

December 14th, 2015 by Admin

Did you mess with the local security policy? Or a certain program changed the security policy that caused some strange issues? Luckily there is a simple way to reset / restore your local security policy settings to default in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP, if you mess up.

How to Restore Local Security Policy to Default in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP?

This method uses the default security configuration templates to reset the local policies (including account lockout and password complexity requirements policy). Here’s how to reset local security policy settings to their default values:

Open an elevated Command Prompt. In Windows 10 and 8, press the Windows + X key combinations to open the Quick Access menu and choose Command Prompt (Admin). In Windows 7 or Vista, click the Start menu, then select All Programs -> Accessories, right-click on Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.
Now copy and paste the following command into the Command Prompt. Hit Enter.
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\inf\defltbase.inf /db defltbase.sdb /verbose

If you are running Windows XP and need to reset the security settings to their default values, use this command instead:
secedit /configure /cfg %windir%\repair\secsetup.inf /db secsetup.sdb /verbose
This will take a few minutes to reset all the policies back to the Windows defaults. you’ll have to restart the computer to see the changes.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: reset local security policy reset local security policy to default reset windows local security policy restore local security policy restore local security policy to default

Change Account Lockout & Password Complexity Policy in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP

December 11th, 2015 by Admin

Unable to change Windows password and keep getting the error “The password you typed does not meet the password policy requirements“? How to make the system lock your account when a hacker tries to guess your password continuously? In this guide we’ll show you how to change the account lockout and password complexity requirement policy from Command Prompt, Local Security Policy Editor, or by exporting / importing your policy. These methods work on Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP.

Part 1: Local Security Policy
Part 2: Change Password Complexity Requirement Policy
Part 3: Change Account Lockout Policy
Part 4: Change Local Security Policy by Exporting and Importing

Local Security Policy

Local Security Policy allows enforcing many system-wide, user and security-related settings, such as password policy, account lockout policy, audit policy and user rights.

When you want change a security setting this is how you launch the Local Security Policy Editor:

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box.
Type secpol.msc and hit Enter.

When the Local Security Policy Editor opens, you can navigate to the security policy you’re interested.

Note that the Local Security Policy Editor is not available on the Home edition of Windows. So if you’re running Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP Home, you have to change the local security policy from Command Prompt.

Change Password Complexity Requirement Policy

In the left pane of Local Security Policy Editor, expand Account Policies and then click Password Policy. In the right pane you see a list of password policy settings. Double-click on the policy you want to modify, it will open the Properties box and you can change the setting to desired value.

password-policy

Maximum password age
Set the maximum number of days that a password is valid. After this number of days, the password is expired and Windows will force you to change the password at the next logon. You can set the Maximum password age between 1 and 999, or set it to 0 so your password will never expire.
Minimum password age
This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a password must be used before the user can change it. You can set a value between 1 and 998 days, or set it to 0 for allowing to change password anytime. This policy allows you to limit how frequently a user may change the password.
Note: The Minimum password age must be less than the Maximum password age, unless the Maximum password age is set to 0.
Minimum password length
Specify the least number of characters a password can have. You can set a value of between 1 and 14 characters, or set to 0 if you allow blank password. This policy can reject a user to set a short password that does not meet a minimum password length. For security reasons you’ll generally want passwords of at least six characters because long passwords are usually harder to crack than short ones.
Password must meet complexity requirements
If this policy is enabled, passwords must meet the following minimum requirements:
1. Be at least six characters long
2. Contain a combination of at least three of the following characters: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, symbols (punctuation marks)
3. Don’t contain the user’s user name or screen name

You can also change the password policy from an elevated Command Prompt. This is especially useful if you’re running Windows Home edition.
For example, if you want to change Maximum password age to 42 days, type the command:
net accounts /maxpwage:42

Set Minimum password age to 2 days, type:
net accounts /minpwage:2

Set Minimum password length to 3 characters, type:
net accounts /minpwlen:3

change-password-policy

Change Account Lockout Policy

In the left pane of Local Security Policy Editor, expand Account Policies and then click Account Lockout Policy. In the right pane you see three policy settings. Double-click on the policy and you can change the setting to desired value.

account-lockout-policy

Account lockout duration
Specify the number of minutes that a locked account remains inaccessible before it automatically becomes unlocked. You can set the account lockout duration between 1 and 99,999 minutes. If you set it to 0, then a locked out account will remain locked until an administrator manually unlocks that account. This policy has to set along with Account lockout threshold policy.
Account lockout threshold
Set the number of invalid logon attempts that are allowed before an account becomes locked out. The lockout threshold can be set to any value from 0 to 999. If the lockout threshold is set to zero, accounts will never be locked out due to invalid logon attempts.
Reset account lockout counter after
Specify the time (in minutes) that must elapse after a failed logon attempt before logon attempt counter is reset to 0. The available range is 1 minute to 99,999 minutes.

Note: The Account lockout duration must be greater than or equal to the Reset account lockout counter after time.

Here is how you can change the account lockout policy from an elevated Command Prompt.
For example, if you want to set Account lockout duration to 30 minutes, type:
net accounts /lockoutduration:30

Set Account lockout threshold to 5 bad logon attempts, type:
net accounts /lockoutthreshold:5

Set Reset account lockout counter after to 10 minutes, type:
net accounts /lockoutwindow:10

change-account-lockout-policy

Change Local Security Policy by Exporting and Importing

How to copy local group policy objects from one machine to another? Is it possible to disable the “Password must meet complexity requirements” policy using Command Prompt? All these can be achieved by exporting & importing the local security policy. Here’s how:

Open an elevated Command Prompt.
Type the following command and press Enter. This will export all the settings of local security policy to a text file.
secedit.exe /export /cfg C:\secconfig.cfg
Open the C:\secconfig.cfg file with NotePad and you can view and modify the policy for your own purpose. For example, if you want to disable the password complexity requirements policy, just set the value PasswordComplexity to 0 and save your changes.
Type the following command to import the local security policy from the file C:\secconfig.cfg. Of course, you can move the secconfig.cfg file to another computer and then import the policy.
secedit.exe /configure /db %windir%\securitynew.sdb /cfg C:\secconfig.cfg /areas SECURITYPOLICY
Restart your computer and the imported security policy will take effect.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: change local security policy change windows password policy export local security policy password does not meet complexity requirements windows account lockout policy windows password complexity policy windows password complexity requirements

How to Turn on / off Adaptive Brightness in Windows 10 / 8

December 8th, 2015 by Admin

Adaptive brightness is a new feature in Windows 8 / 10 that uses an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust your screen’s brightness to your surroundings. When you have mostly dark stuff on screen (like a text editor with dark background), the screen will dim automatically. While on a white background it will brighten. These changes happen automatically after a few seconds, and they can also sometimes manifest as noticeable flickering.

If the brightness switching is driving you crazy, you can disable this feature so your screen will stay at the brightness level you want. In this post we’ll show you how to turn on / off adaptive brightness in Windows 10 and 8.

Updated: For the latest build of Windows 10, open the Settings app and navigate to System -> Display, you can check or uncheck the “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes” option to enable or disable adaptive brightness.

How to Turn on / off Adaptive Brightness in Windows 10 / 8?

Press the Windows logo key + X to open the Quick Access menu. Click Control Panel.
When Control Panel is open, set the View by option to Large icons. Click Power Options.
Find your currently selected power plan and click on the associated “Change plan settings” link.
Now click on “Change advanced power settings“.
Scroll down to Display –> Enable adaptive brightness, and change the settings there to Off or On.

If you set it to off, your screen will maintain a constant brightness level. If you don’t see this setting, it means that your computer doesn’t come with light sensors.

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Tags: adaptive brightness disable adaptive brightness disable windows 10 adaptive brightness disable windows 8 adaptive brightness turn off adaptive brightness windows adaptive brightness

Fix: Windows 8.1 Update (KB2919355) is not applicable to your computer

November 25th, 2015 by Admin

Unable to install Windows 8.1 Update (KB2919355) on your computer? Even if you’ve enabled automatic update in Windows, you might find out that KB2919355 doesn’t appear in the list of available updates. If you download KB2919355 directly from Microsoft’s online website and then install it manually, Windows Update Standalone Installer will fail with the error message “The update is not applicable to your computer“.

update-not-applicable

KB2919355 is essentially a service pack released for Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, but Microsoft has decided not to call it “service pack”. It is officially known as “Windows 8.1 Update”. In this article we’ll show you an effective way to install Windows 8.1 Update on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 without such a problem.

How to Install Windows 8.1 Update (KB2919355) Successfully?

Press the Windows key + X to open up the Quick Access Menu. Next click Control Panel.
Click the View by option at the top right of the Control Panel. Set it to Large icons. Click on Windows Update.
Click the Change settings link on the left side of the Windows Update window.
Under Important updates, check the “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” option from the drop-down menu. Click OK.
When come back to the Windows Update window, click on the Check for updates link in the left pane. The search may take some time, depending on how many updates are waiting.
When the search is finished, click the link that says how many important updates are available.
In the list of available updates, select the update KB2919355, then click Install and you’re done! However, if the update KB2919355 doesn’t appear in the list of available updates, check ALL important updates and click Install.
After installing all available important updates, open your Web browse to download the Windows 8.1 Update from Microsoft’s website:
At the download page, select your language and then click the Download button.
Windows 8.1 Update contains six separate files: clearcompressionflag.exe, KB2919355, KB2932046, KB2934018, KB2937592 and KB2938439. You just need to select the file contains KB2919355 and click Next to begin downloading.
Now double-click on the update KB2919355 you’ve downloaded and it should be able to be installed successfully.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 8

Tags: install KB2919355 install windows 8.1 update KB2919355 fails KB2919355 won't install The update is not applicable to your computer

2 Options to Get out of Safe Mode in Windows 10 / 8 / 7 / Vista

November 20th, 2015 by Admin

Are you stuck in Windows Safe Mode? Every time you turn on or restart your computer and you still keep ending back in Safe Mode? In this article we’ll show you 2 ways to get out of Safe Mode in Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista, so your system will go back to normal mode.

Note: The following methods require you to log on your computer as administrator. If you’ve forgotten your password, try to reset lost Windows password with PCUnlocker.

Option 1: Get out of Windows Safe Mode Using MSConfig Utility

MSConfig is a built-in tool available in all versions of Windows, which is designed to help identify problems that might prevent Windows from starting correctly. From within the MSConfig utility, you can set Windows to start in normal node instead of Safe Mode.

Press the Windows key + R to bring up the Run box. Type msconfig and press Enter.
When the System Configuration window opens, you’ll see the Safe boot option under the Boot options section.
If Safe boot is checked, your computer will keep booting in Safe Mode. To get out of Safe Mode, you have to uncheck Safe boot and click Apply.
Restart your computer and it will start in normal mode.

Option 2: Get out of Windows Safe Mode Using Command Prompt

Before get started, you need to open a Command Prompt with administrator privileges. If your computer is current running in Safe Mode – Alternate Shell, you should be now at an administrator Command Prompt.
Type the following command directly at the Command Prompt. Press Enter and it will turn off Safe Mode.
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot
Reboot your computer with the command:
shutdown /r
Now your computer will boot back into normal mode. That’s it!

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista

Tags: disable safe mode get out of safe mode get out safe mode windows turn off safe mode windows safe mode

How to Upgrade to Windows 10 without Using Windows Update

November 18th, 2015 by Admin

Windows 10 is available to public as a free upgrade to every qualified computers running a genuine copy of Windows 8.1, 8 or 7. (Enterprise editions do not qualify.) Just download the official Media Creation Tool from Microsoft and it allows you to upgrade to Windows 10 as well as create installation media such as bootable USB or DVD drive. This tutorial will show you how to upgrade your current or another computer to Windows 10 directly without using Windows Update.

How to Upgrade Your Computer to Windows 10?

Head over to Microsoft’s website to download the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Media Creation Tool. Pick the 64-bit version if you want to run Media Creation Tool on Windows 8 or 7 64-bit OS. Otherwise opt for the 32-bit version.

If you don’t know whether you’re running Windows 32-bit or 64-bit, right-click on “My Computer” or “This PC” icon on your desktop and select Properties, the field labeled System Type will indicate if you are using a 32-bit or 64-bit OS.

system-type

Run the Media Creation Tool and follow the steps below to upgrade your current computer or another PC to Windows 10.

Option 1: Upgrade Current Computer to Windows 10

Run the Media Creation Tool and then select the Upgrade this PC now option.
The Media Creation Tool will download Windows 10. When it’s done, accept the EULA, you’ll be presented with three options:
- Keep personal files and apps
- Keep personal files only
- Nothing
Select the first option to ensure your PC upgrades and you keep your files and applications. Windows 10 will start installing and after a few reboots and customization you’ll be upgraded.

Option 2: Upgrade Another Computer to Windows 10

Run the Media Creation Tool and then select the Create installation media for another PC option.
Select the language, edition and architecture (32 or 64 bits) of Windows. Make sure your selections match those of the computer(s) you wish to upgrade. So, if you currently have Windows 8 Pro (32-bit), choose Windows 10 Pro 32-bit.
Select USB flash drive. If you plan to burn this to DVD instead, select ISO file and, after the process is over, you’ll have to use a DVD burning program to write the ISO to disc.
Click Finish when the process is complete. If you don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 10 right away, you can remove the drive and stop here.
Insert the created CD or USB flash drive into the computer you want to upgrade, and then run setup.exe. Follow the on-screen instruction to complete the upgrade process. If the software asks you for a product key, you are using the wrong edition of Windows 10 to upgrade.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

Tags: upgrade to windows 10 upgrade to windows 10 from windows 7 upgrade to windows 10 from windows 8 upgrade windows 10

2 Ways to Set Password Hint for Windows User Account

November 9th, 2015 by Admin

“I have activated the built-in guest account on my system so guests can use to work on my computer. To log on they must enter a password. How can I set a password hint to inform users of the correct password when entering wrong password? Please help!”

windows-password-hint

The password hint is used to remind you of your password in case you forget it. In this article we’ll show you 2 ways to set up a password hint for any user account in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP. The first method is the most common way of setting a password hint, but it doesn’t work for Windows guest account. While the second method is a bit complicated but it works with any situation.

Method 1: Set A Password Hint Through Control Panel

It’s super easy to set up a password hint when you change or reset your Windows user password. Follow these steps:

Open the Control Panel. Set the View by option to Large icons. Click on User Accounts.
Once on your user account page, click on the Manage another account link at the bottom.
Click on the user account whose password hint you want to create or change.
In the next window, click on Change the password.
Type your current password and set a new password. Next enter a word or sentence for your password hint that will help you (and you only!) remember your password. Click Change password when you are done.

Method 2: Set A Password Hint Through Windows Registry

It turns out that the password hint is stored in Windows registry as a readable format after you set up it through the Control Panel. Here we’ll walk you through the steps of set a password hint directly from the registry.

Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM. To go beyond SAM you have to give yourself permission by right-clicking the second SAM Key and selecting Permissions….
In the Permissions for SAM dialog box, highlight the “Administrators” and click the “Full Control” box, click Apply and OK.
Press F5 to refresh the registry and you’ll be able to navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users.
You’ll notice a Names subkey with a registry key for each user account. Click on your desired account and you’ll see the RID of your account in the right pane. In my example, 0x1F5 is the RID of the built-in Guest account.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\{User_RID}. Right-click on an empty area in the right pane. From the pop up menu, select New > String Value.
Rename New Value #1 to UserPasswordHint. Next double-click on UserPasswordHint, type your password hint and click OK. Close the Registry Editor and it’s done.

After setting the password hint, log off or restart your computer. Type in a wrong password at the Windows login screen and it will show you the password hint as a reminder of the password. Make sure you choose a good and secure password hint. If you’re locked out and the password hint couldn’t remind you of the forgotten password, you have to use PCUnlocker to reset the login.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Tags: change windows password hint set password hint in windows windows password hint

Fix Automatic Startup Repair Loop in Windows 10, 8 and 7

November 6th, 2015 by Admin

A customer recently mentioned that his Windows 8 laptop was stuck in an Automatic Repair loop. When he turned on the computer, it came up with the ‘Preparing Automatic Repair’ screen, and then rebooted automatically and ran Automatic Repair again, becoming caught in the loop again and again.

There could be many reasons for a failed automatic repair. However, the most common problem is corrupted registry or missing files on the hard disk. Here I will give the complete solutions on how to fix this issue in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

All the solutions below require you to run certain commands at the Command Prompt. Here is a way to access the Command Prompt at boot:

Insert your Windows installation DVD, turn on the computer, and wait until you see the message “Press any key to boot from CD or DVD“. Just press any key to continue. (Note: If you don’t see this message, you probably have to change the boot order in the BIOS)
After a while, you’ll get to the Windows Setup screen. Press Shift + F10 to open a Command Prompt.

Solution 1: Running check disk to see if your hard drive is the problem

Chkdsk could be used to check and repair your hard drive for filesystem corruption. Before running the chkdsk command, you have to find out the drive letter of your system drive. Depending on how your system is setup, this could be either C: or D:.

Type dir C:\ and press Enter.
If you see the common folders: Program Files, Users and Windows, then you have found your system drive.

If the drive is not your system drive, repeat the step above, changing the drive letter to D, E or some other letter until the system drive is located.

When you have located your Windows system drive, type the following command and press Enter. Replace d: with the actual drive letter of your system drive.

chkdsk d: /f

chkdsk

The scan should start. This could take several hours depending on the size of your hard drive. Once the scan is done, exit the Command Prompt and reboot your computer to check if the problem has been solved.

Solution 2: Manually attempt to rebuild the BCD and repair MBR

Running the bootrec utility to rebuild the BCD / MBR might fix the automatic repair loop problem. Type the following set of commands at the Command Prompt, one by one.

bootrec /fixmbr bootrec /fixboot bootrec /rebuildbcd

fix-mbr

The /fixmbr switch writes a new MBR (Master Boot Record) to the system partition, the /fixboot switch writes a new boot sector onto the system partition, and the /rebuildbcd switch scans all disks for Windows installations and provides a choice of which entries to add to the BCD store.

Solution 3: Disable Automatic Startup Repair

If the automatic repair couldn’t really repair your PC and just get you stuck in a repair loop, it’s better to disable the automatic startup repair. Type the following command and press Enter:

bcdedit /set {default} recoveryenabled No

disable-automatic-repair

Now you’ve successfully disabled the automatic startup repair feature in Windows.

Solution 4: Restore your Windows registry

A corrupted registry settings can also cause a auto-repair loop. Here is how to restore your registry from the RegBack directory. The RegBack folder is located in :/windows/system32/config, which is used by Windows to hold a recent backup copy of the registry hives.

Assuming your system drive is d:, run the following command to restore Windows registry:

copy d:\windows\system32\config\RegBack\* d:\windows\system32\config

restore-windows-registry

if prompted to overwrite existing files, type All and hit Enter. Type exit and hit Enter to close the Command Prompt window. Restart your computer and most probably, you may able to access your Windows system as before.

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Tags: startup repair loop windows automatic repair loop windows startup loop windows startup repair loop windows startup repair stuck