If your Windows 10 keeps freezing on startup, don’t be panic, you can read this clear guide to learn why this occur and how to solve the problems with various methods.
Some people experience a range of issues when switching to Windows 10. Although some of them were resolved, one of the major difficulties that required extensive debugging was Windows 10 freezing on startup. The most aggravating aspect is that even if you perform a clean installation of Windows 10, you may encounter this issue again.
There isn't a specific reason why Windows 10 freezes on startup, therefore pinpointing the actual problem without more examination is difficult.
▶ Disk space is not enough All computers require enough free disk space to run smoothly, especially on the C drive, the system drive. If Windows 10 is in low disk space status, or your C drive has a low space warning, then it's obvious that your computer keeps freezing, running slowly, or crashing randomly.
▶ RAM is insufficient Generally, RAM is used to store operational data and machine code. PCs have different RAM needs, but if your computer runs out of RAM, it will turn to use virtual memory. When this happens, your computer may have further startup problems.
▶ System data files are damaged Due to a virus infection, a power loss, or an unexpected shutdown, Windows data files may be corrupted or even erased. System files are to boot OS from your disk. If Windows system files are damaged, your Windows 10 freezes on startup, among other problems.
▶ Drivers or BIOS are outdated Drivers and BIOS that are out of date or corrupted might potentially cause Windows 10 to hang on the starting screen. Drivers are in charge of ensuring that Windows 10 and hardware devices communicate properly. If they are out of date or incompatible with Windows 10, Windows 10 may continue to freeze at startup.
Because your PC can’t boot as usual, we need to enable Safe Mode to enter the Windows. So in this part, we’ll show how to enable Safe Mode first, then you can learn some solutions that need Safe Mode. After these, we’ll show methods that don’t require Safe Mode.
◤ Enable Safe Mode
Step 1. Press the power button for 10 seconds to turn off Windows 10.
Step 2. Re-press the power button to start the PC and hold the power button for 10 seconds to turn off it.
Step 3. Press the power button again to turn on the computer, once Windows starts, hold the Power button again for 10 seconds to turn it off.
Step 4. Retry to power on your computer until Windows fully restarts and enters WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment).
Step 5. Click "Troubleshoot">"Advanced options">"Startup Settings">"Restart”
SFC is a system file checker which is used to scan Windows system files and repair corrupted files.
Step 1. Type Command Prompt in the Windows 10 search box, then right-click on Command Prompt, then select Run as administrator.
Step 2. Enter “sfc /scannow” in the Command Prompt window, and hit Enter.
Step 3. The SFC scan will start now and may take some time to complete. Once the SFC scan is finished, restart your computer to check if Windows 10 keeps freezing on the startup problem that has been solved.
To check if your computer has enough RAM, we need to use Windows Memory Diagnostic.
Step 1. Type Memory in the Windows 10 search box and select Windows Memory Diagnostic from the list of results.
Step 2. In the Windows Memory Diagnostic window, select Restart now and check for problems (Recommended).
Step 3. PC will restart and start testing RAM automatically. The test may take some time to finish.
Since the low disk space also causes Windows 10 to freeze on startup, you can clean your C drive to see if the problem will be solved or not.
Step 1. Type Disk Cleanup in the Windows 10 search box and select the program from the list of results.
Step 2. In the Disk Cleanup window, select the type of files that you want to delete and click OK.
Step 3. Click Delete Files in the confirmation window to start cleaning up Windows 10 storage space.
Then you can restart your PC and check if the problem is solved.
If this way can’t release sufficient capacity on your drive, you can turn to a third-party tool to have a try. AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional can create a repair USB to allow users to use the software without booting into Windows. Once you see the screen of this tool, you can extend C drive space with features like “Merge Partitions” and “Allocate Free Space”.
First, we make a bootable media. The steps are very easy. You need to download this tool on a working PC, and finish the steps.
Step 1. Open AOMEI Partition Assistant. On the main interface, click "Make Bootable Media" under "Tools". And click "Next".
Step 2. Select "Burn to CD/DVD" or "USB Boot Device" according to the media you inserted. Then click "Proceed".
Step 3. There is a message that your USB drive will be formatted. Back up the information you need, and click "Yes" to continue.
Now we can use this tool. Plug this USB into the problem PC, boot your PC, and enter BIOS to change the boot order to this USB. After your PC boot from this USB, you’ll see the main window of this tool.
Here we use “Allocate Free Space” as an example. This function can directly add free space from one partition to another.
Step 1. Choose a partition that has enough free space. Right-click it and select the button "Allocate Free Space".
Step 2. Choose the size and destination drive you want.
Step 3. Please select “Apply” and "Proceed" to commit.
Just in a few minutes, you allocate free space without data loss on your C drive.
To update drivers, we need Device Manager.
Step 1. Type Device Manager in the Windows 10 search box and select it from the list of results.
Step 2. In the Device Manager window, expand the device category you want to update the driver for.
Step 3. Right-click on the device, and select “Update Driver Software” from the menu.
Step 4. In the next window, select Search automatically for updated driver software to let Windows 10 download and install the latest drivers automatically.
Now, the methods that need you to operate in the Safe Mode are finished. From here, we’ll use other ways to fix the computer keeping freezing issue.
If you have a Windows 10 installation media, USB, CD, or DVD, then we can try Startup Repair.
Step 1. Insert this installation media into your PC, press F2, Del, Esc, or other functional keys to enter BIOS, and boot your computer from it.
Step 2. When you see the Windows Setup dialog, click "repair your computer" to enter "Choose an option" windows and repeat the steps above, or press Shift + F10 keys directly to open Command Prompt for Windows startup repair.
These are how to fix Windows 10 that keeps freezing on startup. If all these ways can’t help you, then you might need to reinstall Windows. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a multifunctional tool, you can check more functions to try. It also has the Server Edition for Windows Server users.