Windows Explorer Erratic Behavior Renders Computer Useless

So the computer boots normally. Windows loads. The sign-in screen comes up fine. Once I sign in, I get a black screen and the mouse arrow. The arrow responds fine.

Eventually (several minutes) explorer sort of half-loads.The taskbar is visible, but when I hover over it the arrow turns to the blue "loading" arrow. The taskbar does not respond to clicks. Desktop icons do not come up, and the desktop background doesn't come up either.

CTRL-ALT-DEL works. When I try to open task manager, it takes a good 3-5 minutes to come up, and responds very slowly when it does (eg when changing tabs). Looks like there are no processes using CPU.

Other keyboard shortcuts do not work (eg WINDOWS+R). I tried to see if I could run a program using "run new task..." in task manager. I was able to get the command line to open (after a lengthy wait), and that pretty much it. I can't use file explorer (constantly displays "working on it..."). When I try to type in a program's path manually, the program will not run (just blue "loading" mouse cursor forever).

I have no idea what could be causing this issue. I have tried multiple things, including:

- System restore (made no difference at all)
- Reset PC keeping files (got an error message, PC could not be restored)
- Booting into the various safe modes (made no difference at all)
- fix startup (startup was never an issue but figured why not)
- SFC /scannow command (found no problems)
- chkdsk (found no problems)

I'm willing to entertain any suggestion at this point.

Desktop
AMD FX-6300
Onboard graphics
8 GB RAM
Asus M5A7BL-M board
Windows 10 Home Version 1703 Build # 15063.483

Thank you very much for taking a moment to help out!

Booting into safe mode produces the exact same result, the only difference being the build number being at the top of the screen and the "safe mode" text in the corners. Taskbar still non-functional. Still long delay between opening task manager and it actually opening. File explorer still doesn't work. Still can't run a program by typing it's path manually.

Yes it was previously running normally with that build.

The computer was left on over the weekend (it's an office computer). Upon returning Monday morning, it had restarted and was installing an update.

I initially thought the update broke the computer. I tried to use system restore to return it to its pre-update state, but though it said the restore was successful, nothing changed.

Unfortunately the only connected USB devices were mouse and keyboard.

bulshoy said:

The computer was left on over the weekend (it's an office computer). Upon returning Monday morning, it had restarted and was installing an update.

I initially thought the update broke the computer. I tried to use system restore to return it to its pre-update state, but though it said the restore was successful, nothing changed.

The usual way to return to the pre-update state would be to uninstall the update rather than try a system restore. System > Update & security > Windows update > Update history > Uninstall updates.

Look in the Update History first to see which update was installed over the weekend. It's unlikely to have been the latest cumulative update (KB4025342) as that was released two weeks ago. You may have to look in the 'Other updates' part of the history to find the update concerned. Let us know what you find before trying the uninstall.

Yes I agree. However I am unable to navigate to "system," or anywhere else.

So far the only thing i've been able to do is open the task manager (which takes quite a while). From there I have successfully opened a command line window, and that's about it. Even entering a program's path manually will not work.

Opening a run box (WINDOWS KEY+R) also does not work.