laptop is stuck on "preparing to configure windows so not turn off computer" screen.

[missbat89]

My laptop is stuck on "preparing to configure windows do not turn off computer"  screen for over a week now.  please help!

[Dragon-Fur]

Hi MissBat,

It sounds like the computer is not coming back on its own.

You probably want to shut it off by Pressing the Power button until the system crash-stops.  A crash stop takes about ten seconds of pressing the power button.

Let the system "spin down" completely - it takes probably not more than three seconds for the disks come to a complete stop after the system shuts down.

Then, go from there - try to power on the computer and see what it does.

If you need more help, you must provide more information - your exact computer model, your exact Operating System, and whether or not you know what the system was doing before it shut itself down and got stuck.

How to find your Product Number:

Locate the Notebook Product Number

===========   OR    ================

On your keyboard (Use the built-in keyboard, and not an external / USB controlled device):

• Press the FN and ESC keys at the same time

Which Windows operating system am I running?

Is the Windows Version on My Computer 32-bit or 64-bit?

[missbat89]

Ok I have tried shutting the computer off multiple times, and it hasn't fixed the issue. The computer will not go past the screen previously mentioned so I can't press fn + escape to get the model # but I do know it's running Windows 8.  The computer was running fine before I started having this problem. It had went dead then when I plugged it into the power cord and turned it back on it would not boot up past the configuring Windows screen.

[Dragon-Fur]

Miss Bat,

OK.  Not booting into Windows.

You can try the one or more of the following -- read FIRST, then decide how to approach your situation.

If you can get to the Advanced Options Menu...

IF your Recovery partition is functional, then F11, issued repeatedly RIGHT AFTER the system starts to boot, should work to get you into TroubleShooting and from there into Advanced Options.  See below "F11 and Recovery Options" for what the screens look like and the options.

If F11 fails, then there are a couple of other options that may work; these are outlined below:

More information on the subject of Advanced Startup Options:

How To Access Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8

• The sections you probably need are more than half-way down the page.
•  You can try to test / repair the OS from the Advanced Options menu.

Additional Bits on Advanced Startup:

Open Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8

How To Force Windows To Restart in Safe Mode

F11 and Recovery Options:

HP PCs - Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows 8)

See the Section "Recovery when Windows 8 does not start correctly "

• From Troubleshooting, select Advanced Options. 
• From there, select what best suits your situation.  For example, you might issue a System Restore to "go back in time" before the last updates were applied OR you might try Automatic Repair and have the system try and fix itself.

Recovery Options:

Assuming you were proactive and do have current backups and a Recovery disc or Image, you can bypass trying to repair the system and just Recover the Operating System.   Recovery is destructive and formats the disk -- you have to have the means to reinstall the Operating System AND your personal files, data, and programs.

Assuming you have the standard backups, for example, from File History, AND you can reinstall your personal programs (Photo Editing Software, Browsers, games -- anything not purchased through the Windows Store), then you can use the standard Refresh option if you can get to Recovery from f11. Refresh is better than Recovery or Reset as it does save most of your data and files - there is much less to reinstall after a Refresh.

Better is to have a Refresh Custom Image available, of course, so you do not lose anything at all.

For later reference:

Custom Refresh - How to reinstall Windows 8 without losing your files and programs

Advanced:

I am including the following just because it illustrates the usual limitation of using F8 to get into Advanced Options and it calls a link to allow you to add "Safe Mode" to your Windows 8 single boot machine.

F8 doesn't work well with Windows 8 because the Windows 8 OS loads very quickly at boot time.  You can slow down the boot and give the system a chance to show you the Boot Options:

Startup Options - Change Time to Wait before Default OS Runs

How to Boot to Advanced Windows "Startup Settings" in Windows 8

How to Add "Safe Mode" to Windows Boot Manager in Windows 8

===================================================================================

[lyric82]

I came across your answer and I would like to say thank you. I was going crazy I just bought an Hp laptop yesterday and only used it for 2 hours before it said , will restart in 2 days and them configuring windows for 11 hours Thanks for your help. Windows 8 sucks

[Dragon-Fur]

lyric82

I am glad the information helped -- and I am sorry your new notebook had issues so soon.

Windows 8 does seem to have its share of troubles.  It was a good idea in many ways -- and has benefited with the changes made in Windows 8.1.  No doubt things will get better with time.

Windows 8 is "OK" -- it does take some time to adjust to the changes if you have not used it before.  You do have to make some adjustments and it is true that the Operating System has its share of challenges.  There are some advantages and if you keep an open mind for just a bit, you might discover some gems in the chaos.

Once you get your system straightened out, you will want to see about getting a Recovery backup made -- and perhaps an Image of the system that contains the setup the way you expect to actually use it.  Images have a way of quickly going out of date, nonetheless it is nice to have a place to return that is not all the way back to square one. 

If you are interested, you can read more about Windows 8 backups of different types and a few other Windows 8 features in the following Dragon Document:

Windows 8 Features – A Quick Tour

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[ZacAntiemetic12]

I have been stuck on the screen on Windows 10. Idk how long but I'm on the computer it is a HP workstation xw6600 it use to run windows vista which was crap. So now it said that I have to restart the computer because it found a issue. I restart it and I'm stuck 😞

[Firemundevil]

I am having the exact same issue, though with Windows 7 Professional. I have tried manually shutting it down, removing the battery and giving it some time, and of course the three fingered salute. None of the above is doing anything to get me away from this screen. It came back once and did a scan, scan came back fine, started normally and here we are again. This is my work computer, so I am not authorized to punch through the screen. HELP!!