Use this when: Almost anything is misbehaving. This is the first step for most issues here, and it genuinely fixes a large share of them — but only if you do it the right way.
Steps
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Do this |
What should happen |
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1. Save your open work first. |
A restart closes everything. |
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2. Start > Power > Restart. Do not use Shut Down. |
This is the important detail. Because of Fast Startup, “Shut Down then power on” keeps part of the old session, so a fault survives it. Restart does a full, clean reset. |
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3. Wait for it to come all the way back — two to three minutes is normal, longer after an update. |
You reach the sign-in screen. |
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4. Sign in and test whether the original problem is gone before doing anything else. |
You are back. |
If that did not work
It restarts, but the same problem comes straight back. The restart is not the fix you need. Go to the article for your specific symptom.
Nothing responds and you cannot reach the menu. Hold the power button for 10 seconds to force it off, wait 10 seconds, and press it once to power on. You may lose unsaved work — that is the trade.
It will not come back past a logo or a blue screen. Go to “Windows Will Not Start”.
Log a ticket
MEDIUM — Same day — The same fault returns after a proper restart, or you have to force-power-off repeatedly.
Use this when: It powers on but does not reach your desktop — it loops, sits on a spinning-dots screen, shows a blue screen, or goes black after the logo.
Steps
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Do this |
What should happen |
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1. If you see a screen asking for a BitLocker recovery key, stop here and go to “BitLocker Recovery Screen”. |
That is a specific situation with its own article — do not guess at a key. |
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2. Disconnect everything except power — USB drives, dock, external monitors. |
A USB drive left in is a very common cause of a machine that will not boot, or boots to a black screen. |
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3. Force off and on twice: hold power 10 seconds to shut down, power on, and repeat if it fails again. |
After two or three failed starts Windows automatically opens the Recovery screen. |
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4. From Recovery, choose Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart, then pick Safe Mode. |
Safe Mode loads a minimal Windows. If it reaches the desktop, the fault is a driver or an app, not the machine. |
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5. If a bad update is the suspect, from Recovery choose Advanced options > Uninstall Updates > uninstall the latest quality update. |
This reverses a recent update that broke startup. |
If that did not work
It reaches Safe Mode but not normal Windows. That points at a driver or a recently installed app. Log a HIGH ticket and tell us what changed recently.
It cannot even reach the Recovery screen. Log a HIGH ticket or call [IT PHONE]. Do not keep force-powering it — note whether it is a blue screen (and its message) or a black one.
A blue screen with a stop code appears. Go to “Blue Screen (BSOD)”.
Important: Do not follow internet guides that have you run repair commands from a command prompt, edit the boot record, or reinstall Windows yourself. On a managed, encrypted machine these can lock the disk or wipe data we could otherwise have recovered. Stop at the ticket point and let us in.
Log a ticket
HIGH — Urgent — Windows will not reach the desktop after the steps above.