I think I found a new bar for 'Dumbest Windows Fix'.

[AshleyAshes]

So I was rebooting my Windows 10 Pro storage server and it seemed to hang on logout.  Whatever, stuff happens.  I grabbed the Logitech keyboard USB dongle and stuck it in (it normally has no peripherals in it and is operated remotely) I held the power button till it shut off and then restarted it.  BIOS, 10 HDDs being detected, 'Loading Operating System', blue windows logo with spinny dots and then it hung on a black screen with spinny dots.  Do you know how many threads there are online about 'Computer hung on black screen with spinny dots'?  About a million.  Solutions range from 'Wait possible hours till it starts' to 'Reboot in safe mode' to 'Call a priest, set your computer on fire and reinstall windows'.

 

I spent some time letting it spin to it's delight but finally I noticed something: It was kinda working.  It had started windows, all services were running when accessed, SMB shares, FlexRAID, MySQL server, but anything that didn't run as a service was NOT running.  It wasn't logged in and I couldn't RDP into it.  This gave me something much more precise to look up beyond 'spinny dots'.  And that's when I came across this Reddit thread:

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows10/comments/48zrkb/windows_10_stuck_at_spinning_circle_login_screen/?st=iud5q6gf&sh=2d7070bb

 

For those of you too lazy to read, nearly every post can be summed up as 'Just unplug USB devices till it works' or 'HOLY COW THAT WORKED!'.  ...And yeah, that worked.  Somehow me sticking in the Logitech USB dongle as it was hung logging out was preventing it from logging IN again.  Just had to pull a dongle for 5 seconds...

 

I'm a firm believer that 95% of computer problems can be solved in 2mins or less, it's just a question of how long it takes you to figure out what that 2min fix is and this is a prime example of that.

 

*throws her hands up and walks away*

[Guest]

Windows 10 ftw I gues...

[Speakerator]

This is not limited to Win 10, I'm pretty sure I've had something similar with Win 7 as well as 8. And I can confirm that it was also due to an USB dongle^^ Fortunately, one of my goto-methods when something does not work is "Unplug-everything-thats-not-definitely needed", possibly also including all hard drives except the OS drive as well as any peripherals and surprisingly often, it solves the problem, giving you room to work out which device causes problems^^ Yet, I still have no explanation what the underlying problem / root of everything is.