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×InformationNeed Windows 11 help?Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
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×InformationNeed Windows 11 help?Check documents on compatibility, FAQs, upgrade information and available fixes.
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- HP Community
- Notebooks
- Notebook Boot and Lockup
- Screen says preparing automatic repair

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02-18-2021 05:52 AM
Unfortunately, this message nearly always means that a recent Windows Update failed and Microsoft then tried to recover from that, but that failed, so it's trying over and over again -- and will never succeed because Windows Update got corrupted in the process. Unfortunately, this is NOT a new issue with Win10 Windows Updates.
This problem is very difficult, if not impossible to fix -- from the standpoint of making repairs and leaving your stuff intact. Some steps for trying this are listed below, but they are very hard to do and if they do not work, you are faced with doing a complete Windows reinstallation to get your PC back working again.
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First thing you need to do is see if you can restart in Safe mode -- by doing these steps: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2304-boot-into-safe-mode-windows-10-a.html
If you don't know how to start using Advanced Startup Options, then read this: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-boot-advanced-startup-options-windows-10-a.html
Then, follow these steps to reset Windows Update: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/24742-reset-windows-update-windows-10-a.html
If these work, when you finally reboot, you should then be able to login to a working Windows desktop.
If these don't work, then report that back here as we will then have to provide you information on reinstalling Windows.
I am a volunteer and I do not work for, nor represent, HP