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Windows 10 stuck at windows logo with spinning dots


toadscorpio

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My system somehow got corrupted after CCleaner deleted old windows 7 installation folders (about 11GB). When I checked, it did not completely delete the folder. There are still over 500MB left. After closing CCleaner. I tried to open Firefox, Microsoft Edge, windows, and every app I can think of. It gives some error and does not start, and it's the same error. Sorry I didn't write down b/c I didn't realize windows won't reboot.

Anyways, I select "Update and Restart" from the Start button. Windows does its own update then restart, and it gets only to the Windows logo and gets busy rotating circle indefinitely. Never gets to the login screen. And it doesn't get to the Windpows RE display after rebooting several times. I do not see how I can get to the Windows Safe Mode. Only way is to do a System Recovery, which goes back to original factory condition. That means it goes back to Windows Vista and all files will be deleted. Then I have to upgrade to Windows 7, then Windows 10 - it's a real pain. How can I get to the login screen or at least boot up successfully? I forgot to backup my latest files, and I'd prefer not to lose them. Please help.

This is on HP laptop.

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option 1: pull out the hard drive, connect to another PC and backup your data.

of course, that assumes you have another PC and a method to connect your drive, either internally or externally.

personally, this would be my first priority since you say you haven't backed up the latest stuff.

 

option 2: turn the PC off, turn it on, let it get to the spinning, "I'm loading" symbol, hold in power button to force shut down.

Do this again.

When you try to start after interrupting Windows twice, the third attempt at starting should say "Bloody Hell, something weird is going on, I'll bring up the recovery options".

 

From there you may be able to dig Windows 10 out of it's hole.  But removing the windows.old folder is going to limit you somewhat.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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As far as I know ccleaner does not come with a rule that deletes windows.old, this should only be done by windows' in built cleaning as some files are locked from removal

 

ADVICE FOR USING CCleaner'S REGISTRY INTEGRITY SECTION

DON'T JUST CLEAN EVERYTHING THAT'S CHECKED OFF.

Do your Registry Cleaning in small bits (at the very least Check-mark by Check-mark)

ALWAYS BACKUP THE ENTRY, YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU'LL BREAK IF YOU DON'T.

Support at https://support.ccleaner.com/s/?language=en_US

Pro users file a PRIORITY SUPPORT via email support@ccleaner.com

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@toadscorpio,

CC treats Windows.old like a normal folder, it'll look within it to clean out .log, .txt, temp files etc, just as it would any other folder.

So CC will 'cleanse' it but not remove it nor delete anything that doesn't fit the cleaning options you run CC with.

 

And as @Nergal states, Windows.old is best removed (providing you don't want to downgrade back to your previous OS) by cleanmgr (run with admin rights).

I was INCLUDE'ing Windows.old in my CC but it took hours, cleanmgr takes minutes.

Backup now & backup often.
It's your digital life - protect it with a backup.
Three things are certain; Birth, Death and loss of data. You control the last.

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  • 1 month later...

help ! i'm having this very issue after using ccleaner 5.16.5551

 

and yes i do have a windows.old folder in c:\ with files in it, that should be deleted by win10 around the start of next month, did ccleaner go mess in that folder, is that the reason i can't boot right now ?

 

mta,you said "CC treats Windows.old like a normal folder" but as we can see, its not a normal folder. this folder should really be excluded from all ccleaner activities as it is clearly not a normal folder to mess around in.

 

when i ran ccleaner last nite, it warned about M$ Edge being opened although it wasn't. and about compressing the database ? is that something Edge has ?

 

Either way i know i could at least use a system restore point but for some reason the boot environment doesn't find any.

 

i swear i had the restore points enabled and set at 5% (10GB) of my c drive, but the damn wizard won't cooperate and it doesn't find any restore points.

 

what now ?

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ran sfc /scannow in command line from boot wizard, said something about resource protection couldn't complete the wanted operation.

 

What fresh hell is this ?

 

the c:\windows.old is already an old win10 installation from february, this will be my 3rd time refreshing windows in 2 months. i am not impressed with 10.

 

i want to fix this problem, not restore a backup or refresh windows, seriously what do i do now ? 

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