My older dual boot Windows 10/Windows XP computer was working great. The CMOS chip died so I went ahead and replaced it.  Unfortunately, I forgot to reset the BIOS to Legacy and tried to boot it several times, it tried automatic repair each time.  Now it looks like I corrupted the Windows 10 boot record.  It now continuously tries automatic repair and won’t boot. I tried and everything anything I could find on the Internet, nothing seems to work.  I would love to be able to keep all of my files and just get it to boot again. Any help would be appreciated.  For reference it’s a Dell Optiplex 755.

A few months ago I checked for system updates on my Lenovo Legion and the Windows Update patch also included a BIOS firmware update.

After the update, every time that I booted the laptop an error of:

>

popped out and did not let me continue.

I tried every possible scenario on the internet, including guides from Microsoft and Lenovo themselves, and it did not work. One solution was to re-install Windows 11 again to solve this issue, which I wanted to avoid (yes, I am extremely lazy). However, none of the solutions worked.

Today I just had this idea that I did not try Claude Code to solve this issue. So I opened an elevated PowerShell instance and explained the situation. Took me 5 minutes to fully depict my concerns, 10 minutes Claude working its stuff, one reboot and it was fixed. Plus another 5 minutes to cleanup what Claude had done by continuing the same conversation.

Verifying everything was working perfectly, I told it to create a Markdown file so that if the issue occurs again we can use that to resolve it.

As this problem was a real headache for me, I am sharing the Markdown here.

Maybe this would help someone out. Cheers!

Secure Boot "Boot Manager Blocked by Current Security Policy" — Fix Notes

Machine

• [Your machine model]
• [BIOS/UEFI version]
• [BitLocker status on/off (you can verify this using Claude again)]

Symptom

After a Windows update, enabling Secure Boot in BIOS causes:

>

and the system won't boot.

Disabling Secure Boot lets it boot normally.

Root Cause

Part of the ongoing 2024–2026 Windows Secure Boot certificate migration (2011 certs expiring June 2026, replaced by "Windows UEFI CA 2023" certs).

A Windows update updates the Secure Boot DB/KEK on the firmware side, and the on-disk Boot Manager's signature stops validating against it.

Reinstalling Windows is not required and does not fix this — it's a firmware key-database issue, not a Windows install issue.

What Did NOT Work

• BIOS Secure Boot key reset (Security > Secure Boot > Clear Keys > Restore Factory Keys) — tried, did not resolve it.
• Firmware update — not applicable, already on latest Lenovo BIOS at time of issue.

What DID Work — Internal Secure Boot Recovery (No USB Needed)

Windows ships a signed repair tool at:

C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\SecureBootRecovery.efi

Normally Microsoft's docs have you put this on a USB stick renamed to bootx64.efi and boot from it.

Since no USB was available, the same trick was done using the internal EFI System Partition (ESP) instead — the ESP already had a stale:

\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi

fallback file that was just a plain copy of the blocked boot manager, which is why the automatic fallback wasn't self-healing.

Steps

Run from a working Windows session, e.g. with Secure Boot temporarily off.

Find the ESP (should be Disk 0, ~260 MB "System" partition, no drive letter):

Get-Partition | Where-Object { $_.GptType -eq '{c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b}' }

Mount it temporarily as Z::

Add-PartitionAccessPath -DiskNumber 0 -PartitionNumber 1 -AccessPath "Z:"

Back up the existing fallback file, then replace it with the recovery tool:

Copy-Item "Z:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi" "Z:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi.bak" -Force

Copy-Item "Z:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\SecureBootRecovery.efi" "Z:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi" -Force

Unmount the ESP:

Remove-PartitionAccessPath -DiskNumber 0 -PartitionNumber 1 -AccessPath "Z:"

Reboot into BIOS (F2), Security > Secure Boot > Enabled, save & exit (F10).

Windows Boot Manager fails its policy check as before, but firmware automatically falls through to:

\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi

which now runs the Secure Boot Recovery tool (blue Microsoft screen).

It repairs the Secure Boot key database and reboots automatically into normal Windows.

If no automatic fallback/blue screen appears and it just shows the same blocked error: use the one-time boot menu (tap F12 at power-on) and pick the generic "Internal Storage" / "UEFI OS" entry (not "Windows Boot Manager") to force it to use:

\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi

Verify It Worked

Confirm-SecureBootUEFI

Should return True.

bcdedit /enum firmware

{bootmgr} should point to:

\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

Cleanup

Once confirmed working, restore the fallback file back to normal so it doesn't stay pointed at the recovery tool long-term:

Add-PartitionAccessPath -DiskNumber 0 -PartitionNumber 1 -AccessPath "Z:\"

Copy-Item "Z:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi.bak" "Z:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi" -Force

Remove-Item "Z:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi.bak" -Force

Remove-PartitionAccessPath -DiskNumber 0 -PartitionNumber 1 -AccessPath "Z:\"

im trying to create a windows to go windows 10 usb, but when rufus finishes, i try to boot with the usb with windows to go on, but the bios doesnt even see the usb with windows to go, i tried doing it with an hdd, but my bios still doesnt detect the hdd, those issues are the same with every device that has windows to go, i even tried on a different pc and some of my laptops, even the other devices with other bios wont detect the windows to go device, i tried to downgrade version of rufus, creating windows to go with mbr instead of gpt, tried to turn on vmd on my bios, tried to turn on sata controller on my bios, tried to enable legacy boot options in my bios, but it repeats the same issues, even if its not a usb stick and its an hdd, it gives always the same issues, i tried to re install windows to go on an hdd that alredy had that and was working, now that i tried again it gives me same issues AGAIN, i have secure boot off from day one of my pc, and windows to go in the past always worked, im talking abt 6 months ago and 4 months ago, i tried to get updated windows 10 isos, i even risked viruses to try every single windows 10 iso's, but its repeats same issues, help me pls im desperate

i deleted the folder after a little bit of research online which said that it wasn’t required and can be deleted if it takes up too much storage. right after deleting it my taskbar had stopped working and i’ve tried plenty of fixes but have had zero solutions and i’m unsure if my pc is just ruined.

I recently decided to see if I could make a legacy 2015 HP laptop actually usable in 2026 without spending a dime on hardware upgrades. The specs are incredibly humble: an AMD A8-7410, 8GB of RAM, and the ultimate bottleneck—a 1TB 5400RPM Toshiba mechanical hard drive.

Out of the box, Windows 10 absolutely brutalizes older mechanical drives. Between the telemetry, background indexing, and pre-loading, the laptop was locked in a perpetual state of 100% Disk Usage.

I spent the weekend methodically cutting the OS down to size. If you are stuck on an older machine or a cheap budget laptop with an HDD, here is the exact surgical strike I used to make the system snappy again.

1. Stop the Page File Thrashing

By default, Windows dynamically resizes the page file (virtual memory). On a spinning disk, this dynamic expansion causes severe fragmentation and system-wide stuttering.

The Fix: Press Win + R > type sysdm.cpl > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Change Virtual memory. Uncheck "Automatically manage", select Custom Size, and lock both the Initial and Maximum size to match your physical RAM (in my case, 8192 MB).

2. Kill the "100% Disk Usage" Culprits

Windows constantly scans a mechanical drive to build search indexes and attempts to predict what apps you'll open next.

The Fix: Open Services.msc. Find SysMain (formerly SuperFetch) and Windows Search. Right-click both, set Startup type to Disabled, and Stop the processes. Your file searches will take a second longer, but your idle disk usage will drop to 0%.

3. Disable Telemetry & Scheduled Scans (PowerShell)

The "Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" loves to wake up and scan your entire drive to evaluate your system for Microsoft, completely freezing older laptops. The DiagTrack service does the same for diagnostic data.

The Fix: Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Stop-Service -Name "DiagTrack" -WarningAction SilentlyContinue; Set-Service -Name "DiagTrack" -StartupType Disabled Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience\" -TaskName "Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser" Disable-ScheduledTask -TaskPath "\Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program\" -TaskName "Consolidator"

4. Stop P2P Update Sharing & Nuke Hibernation

Windows 10 quietly uses your disk and bandwidth to upload Windows Updates to other people on the internet (Delivery Optimization). It also holds a massive, multi-gigabyte hiberfil.sys file on your drive.

The Fix: In Admin PowerShell, run:

# Disable Hibernation powercfg -h off # Force Windows Update to download only from Microsoft, not peers $path = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DeliveryOptimization\Config"; if (!(Test-Path $path)) { New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null }; Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name "DODownloadMode" -Value 0 -Type DWord

5. Disable Start Menu Bing Search

Every time you hit the Windows key to search for a local app, Windows pauses to ping Bing for web results, causing the Start Menu to lag on older CPUs.

The Fix: In Admin PowerShell, run:

$path1 = "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer" if (!(Test-Path $path1)) { New-Item -Path $path1 -Force | Out-Null } Set-ItemProperty -Path $path1 -Name "DisableSearchBoxSuggestions" -Value 1 -Type DWord

6. The Final Touch: File System & Defrag

NTFS wastes disk I/O logging a timestamp every single time a file is touched. Disable it, then do a deep defrag.

The Fix: In Admin PowerShell:

fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1 defrag C: /U /V /H

The Result: After a reboot and letting the defrag run overnight, the transformation is night and day. The disk usage idles at 0-2%, the Start menu opens instantly, and RAM usage is strictly limited to the apps I actually open.

You don't always need an SSD to make an old laptop viable—you just need to stop Windows from treating your hardware like a server! I still feel like there is still a lot more to optimise!

I’ve seen a few posts regarding the error code but can seem to find a way to fix this.
Happened completely randomly that I turned on my desktop and got the blue screen. I’ve tried everything I’ve found online and nothing seems to work… I’ve gone to the BIOS menu, restarted many times, tried troubleshooting… I read somewhere this happened to a lot of people when windows 11 came out??
Is my computer saveable ???

I installed WSL2 in order to use Docker.

The installation worked and Docker ran correctly after a system restart.

I was in the middle of streaming a show, paused it, and when I came back there was suddenly no audio. I performed the turn-it-off-and-on-again test to see if that would fix it.

Upon doing so, my monitor was met with odd purple and green artefacts.

Turned it off and and on again (again) and then found myself on an endless bootloop where it sometimes reaches the Windows logo and loading swirl, other times it seems sluggish throughout even the BIOS menu stuff before reaching the Windows bootloader.

There was nothing wrong with the PC before installing WSL and Docker. This particular install has been running for 2 years with no issues. I rarely use the pc for anything other than streaming / YouTube.

Any help regarding how to fix this (ideally retaining my windows install as it currently is) would be appreciated.

Any information about *why* WSL/Docker caused this issue would also be appreciated.

Specs (It's old but competent):

HPz220

I7-3770

24gb Ram

GTX 750ti

Windows 11 LTSC 24H2

The PC does not have hypervisor, etc. It is below the minimum requirements for Win 11 but Windows functions perfectly fine on it.

Edit: The PC now displays no picture when booting and the fan is going crazy.

Good evening People

I have a pc build. Where I want to reset the pc.
So as many other times I have made myself an installation media usb.

Yes I have tried it all in my mind. But Maybe there’s a fix?

Whenever im downloading Windows, the entire thing freezes. Dosent matter which disk, usb / different usb and different windows 10 / 11.

I usually freezes in the downloading files part Where the % counts.

And Will freeze in there anyways after a bit when before the % Behind to Go up.

Has anyone tried This before.

I also tried with RUFUS and some file my friend Said might work… it didnt.

Plz Help or I have to buy all new stuff haha

So i have this drive that has an install of windows 10 from 2016. Im trying to get around the passwords. I know about the utilman work around, but that requires recovery mode or safe mode. Whatever it may be, i can't get into it. There isnt a power menu button anywhere.

I think I could boot ubuntu to access the files, because that's ultimately what I'm trying to do. But, my ubuntu USB is busted and I dont have a chance to make a new one for a while. Would it be even worth it to side boot? Would the files are encrypted? Id not, ill just side boot Linux when I can. I am out of ideas.

If I can use the utilman exploit, I would prefer that, but if anyone has any other ideas, I'd really appreciate the help.

I have a 4gigs or ram i3 1.80ghz cpu intel hd 4000 and 500gb hdd 6gigs left

I'm experiencing a strange Windows issue where file confirmation dialogs appear briefly and then immediately close before I can select an option.

My Windows version: Windows 11 Home Single Language, Version 25H2, OS Build 26200.9168

The issue happens across multiple unrelated applications, including:

• File Explorer
• Cursor
• Visual Studio Code
• FileZilla
• Notepad
• Snipping Tool

It happens when:

• Saving over an existing file
• Using Save As with an existing filename
• Pasting/replacing an existing file
• Renaming/replacing a file
• Deleting files when confirmation is enabled

The confirmation dialog appears normally, but disappears almost immediately. It feels as though something is automatically triggering Cancel/No, although I cannot identify any keyboard input causing it.

What I've tried

• Restarting Windows
• Checking for stuck keyboard keys
• Testing with the On-Screen Keyboard
• Disconnecting/reconnecting keyboard and mouse
• Reinstalling keyboard drivers
• Reinstalling mouse/pointing-device drivers
• Antivirus/malware scans
• Windows Clean Boot
• Disabling startup applications and non-Microsoft services
• DISM
• SFC

Important findings

Windows Safe Mode: The issue does NOT happen. I can save and overwrite files normally and the confirmation dialogs stay open.

Run as Administrator: Running affected applications as Administrator also appears to fix the problem. I tested this with Cursor and FileZilla, and the confirmation dialog stays open normally.

The issue is also not limited to my PC. Other users are reporting the same behavior around August 10–12, 2026, including users with different hardware and Windows versions.

For example, another user reported Windows 11 23H2, OS Build 22631.6199, while my affected system is Windows 11 25H2, OS Build 26200.9168.

There is also a report of the issue affecting 5 PCs in a domain across Windows 10 and Windows 11.

What I'm trying to figure out

Since Safe Mode fixes the problem, I'm trying to identify what component loaded during normal Windows startup is causing the confirmation dialogs to close.

I'm particularly interested in whether this could be related to:

• A recent Windows update
• Microsoft Defender/security components
• A driver
• Windows Explorer/shell components
• A third-party service or startup application
• Something intercepting keyboard/window input

I have not identified the root cause yet.

If you're experiencing the same issue, please share:

1. Exact Windows version/build (winver)
2. When the issue started
3. Whether Safe Mode fixes it
4. Whether running the application as Administrator fixes it
5. Recent Windows/Defender updates
6. Which applications are affected

I'm hoping we can find a common factor between affected systems.

Здравствуйте, я хочу обновиться до windows 11, но при переключении в биосе в режим UEFI Биос перестает видеть диски и загружать Винду. Я почитал из-за чего это может и наткнулся на то что мой диск был в формате MBR, но после того как я смог через команду mbr2gpt преобразовать диск в формат gpt ничего не меняется. Компьютер как запускался только в режиме CSM так и запускается. Я даже пробовал полностью сносить Винду и ыорматировал диск полностью и сразу при установке винды диск преобразовался в gpt, но ничего не помогает. Помогите пожалуйста