Windows won't boot

So, Windows defender started giving me a message about the threat service being stopped and needing to restart it, which I couldn't do. Looked online and all I could find was unhelpful posts about "this is because you installed a third party AV" (not true) and you need to change the DisableAntiMalware registry key to 0 (which I didn't even have anyway) but I tried it and it didn't work

Figured I'd try and do a system restore from a few days ago which failed with the appsxstaging error, which I've had before but always managed to sort my problem out another way. Googled that again and found the "solution" about doing takeown on the WindowsApps folder, then icacls then deleting or renaming the folder. Tried that but all I got was access denied errors (getting mighty tired of useless "solutions" people post). Decided to boot back normally, oh wait that doesn't work now. Just sits there on a black screen and I can't do any kind of startup repair.....

I've had to reinstall over the top. Couldn't even boot to do an upgrade so had to do a custom install and get stuff from Windows.old.

What I was getting was hp logo...then a black screen with a mouse cursor with a spinning blue loading circle and the "project menu" if I pressed the button. Other than that, absolutely nothing.

Tried dism stuff then SFC scannow, said it found stuff but still not working. The "fix issues" option from the recovery options failed and it told me in the srttrail that bootres.dll was corrupt. Couldn't find a way to.fix that.

Never had such trouble with a pc before

1) Find a flash drive that you can format ( > or equal 8 Gb ).

2) On a working computer create a bootable Windows 10 iso:
Download Windows 10
The Windows 10 iso can be used to repair computers that have Windows 7, 8,and 10 so plan to label the iso so that if there are any computer problems in the future you have the tool readily available.

3) Insert the windows 10 iso flash drive into any USB port on the problematic computer

4) Power on the computer

5) Repetitively click the applicable F key to open the bios boot menu.
For the HP notebook that I use it is the F9 key. For your computer it may be different.
List of PC brands with their corresponding hot-keys

6) Select external USB HD

7) It may take 5 - 10 minutes for the iso to load while viewing the Microsoft Windows icon

8) Select language, time, currency, and keyboard, or click next

9) In the left lower corner click repair your computer (do not click install)

10) Click troubleshoot

Some of these steps may have been already attempted. Please repeat any step that may have already been done that is on this list so that there is new information about the command and result available in the thread.

11) Click startup repair > if startup repair fails advanced to the next step

12) Click system restore > start with the oldest restore point and keep repeating to the most recent restore point. If system restore fails or if there are no restore points advance to the next step

13) Click command prompt. This should open a black box with title bar: Administrator: X:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe and with prompt: X:\Sources

14) For these steps find a camera or smart phone camera to take pictures and post images into the thread. All steps are for commands to type. Any comments will be in parenthesis.

15) bcdedit /enum
16) bcdedit | find "osdevice"
16) diskpart
17) list disk
18) list volume
20) select disk 0
21) detail disk
22) list partition
23) select partition 1
24) detail partition
25) select partition 2
26) detail partition
27) select partition 3
28) detail partition
29) select partition 4
30) detail partition
31) (If there any additional partitions continue in the same fashion)
32) select disk 1
33) detail disk
34) list partition
35) exit
36) chkdsk /r C:
(This may take many hours and typically displays ETA)
(If prompted to reboot then reboot)
37) (After reboot reopen command prompt > Administrator: X:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe > X:\Sources> and type:)
38) c:
39) dir
40) d:
41) dir
42) e:
43) dir
44) bootrec /fixmbr
45) bootrec /fixboot
46) bootrec /scanos
47) bootrec /rebuildbcd
48) (reboot and report results into the thread)
(Please post images of the commands and results into the thread)

49) What are the status of the files on the drive?
50) Had the files been backed up to another drive or to the cloud?
51) Had a backup image been made?
52) Would you be able to perform a clean install?
53) What is the status of the drive?
54) When was the drive hardware last tested?

55) HP has default UEFI diagnostics in the BIOS.
Typically repetitively clicking the F2 key opens the BIOS UEFI diagnostics.
The diagnostics have different versions.
The default version only tests RAM and HD.
If the updated version was installed it tests all of the major hardware components and has an extensive and loop until failure test.
Perform whatever tests are available and report into the thread what was tested.
The testing may take 4 hours and the duration is mostly based on the size of the drive and the amount of RAM.

56) If there is a hardware problem detected by the HP UEFI diagnostics the testing is designed to automatically abort and post an error code.

57) If the computer is unable to boot to the Microsoft WIndows 10 iso flash drive then report that into the thread and other troubleshooting can be performed.

58) If you need immediate access to the files on the computer that can be accomplished with Kyhi boot rescue:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums
In addition Kyhi boot rescue has options to test the drive and to backup files to another drive.

Thank for the suggestions but I just reinstalled windows. Given I was having g issues with system restore anyway which I was struggling to fix a fresh install seemed best. I had tried the fixboot stuff but that didn't work. Given I was getting a mouse cursor and the projection menu it was unlikely to be a boot issue. Just for some reason couldn't load some part of windows

Sure. I've just got myself another HDD for backups and have been trying to find a good backup program to use. Will look at macrium.

1) Update the specs in the "My Computer" section:

System Specs - Fill in at Ten Forums | Windows 10 Tutorials
In the left corner below in your post you find 'My System Specs'.
After clicking it you can find a link a little below that says 'Update your System Spec', click on this link to get to the page where you can fill in your system specs.
System Info - See Your System Specs - Windows 7 Help Forums
Include PSU. cooler, case, peripherals and anything attached to the computer by wired or wireless (mouse, keyboard, headset, printer, xbox, USB wireless network card, etc.)

2) With the clean install of Windows all drivers should be installed from the HP website:
HP Software and Driver Downloads for HP Printers, Laptops, Desktops and More | HP® Customer Support
The website has an auto-detect feature or you can enter the product or serial number or model.

3) Perform Windows updates after installing the drivers

4) Once drivers, and applications are installed you can make a backup image.
Alternatively you can make a backup image after files are installed.
Then you can make a second backup image that has incremental backups.
For any future unexpected hardware, software, firmware, or malware, problems you will then have two backup images.
There are many methods for file backup and recovery.
Macrium is very popular and highly recommended in Ten Forums:
Macrium Software | Your Image is Everything
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect | Windows 10 Tutorials