Unable to access login screen on Windows 10 stuck on Ctrl+Alt+Delete

I'm having a problem on a Dell Laptop running Windows 10 Pro. I am not able to get beyond the Ctrl-Alt-Delete screen to be able to login. As soon as Windows finishes booting up to this screen, the keyboard seems to become disabled. I have also tried using both a wireless and wired USB keyboard and they do not function either. But they do work when working in the BIOS settings or loading a Windows install disk to access the repair options, or using any other WinPE based boot disk such as Aomei Partition Assistant and such.

The startup repair option has done nothing, using the command line from the install disk using the command bootrec does not work.

Cannot access Easy of Access option from the screen, as you can see in the linked photo the only things shown on the screen is the background, Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete on the left, the time/date on the left, the wireless internet indicator and the battery icon.

https://adrt.us/store/20201017_123417.jpg

The mouse does move, when using an external wireless mouse, but the mouse pad on the laptop itself does not work when on this screen, though it does work at any point in the pre-boot and WinPE points.

Any suggestion will be great apperciated.

Jacee said:

What build number or version is your Windows 10?

What was the last thing you did before this happened?

Not 100% sure on the build number, but its Windows 10 Pro 64 bit edition. Its a computer used by a girl that works for me. She told me she was working in Quickbooks and it seemed that Quickbooks got hung up for some reason, so she decided to just completely restart the computer. I do not believe it has run any recent updates, we have updates turned of through group policy. It lets us know that there are some and then we manually run the updates, so I don't think that was done, since I am the IT guy as well and do the updates myself.

Another odd thing about this is that we had turned off the need to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete over a year ago. So until this last reboot, when she started her computer it would go straight to the password box. Then on this last restart by her, it reverted back to its old operation, but can't even access.

Like I also said, have tried multiple keyboards, and nothing. The keyboards work while in the BOIS section, or when using WinPE with the repair disk. I can run the CMD box from the Windows install disk and have attempted to do a DISM, but I can't remember all the commands to do it using a disk image and not online, since it can't do it that way. When in any other part of the boot process, the Caps Lock, numlock, etc, light up, but as soon as it gets to that screen in windows nothing works, other than the mouse moving.

Boot the computer from the installation media.

Click Next on the first screen.

On the second (Install) screen, select Repair your computer at the bottom left.

Select Troubleshoot.

Select System Restore to see if there are any recent restore points you can rollback to.

Failing that, you might try installing Macrium Reflect Free on a working computer, and create a rescue disk you can boot from on the problem computer, to correct startup problems.

Creating rescue media - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Fixing Windows boot problems - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Even though you can boot, something in the boot process may be corrupted, causing the login screen issue.

Jacee said:

Do you know the password?
Is it a Microsoft account?
What happens with a hard shutdown and then pressing the button to turn the computer on?

Yes I know the password, plus have a second account on the computer with my own password, can't even get the option to change accounts.

No not a Microsoft Account, all accounts are setup as local user accounts. I refuse to create any user accounts on my company or personal computers that are Microsoft Accounts

That image I shared is after a hard shut down. I've even pulled out the battery, held the power button for 30 second to discharge the board, removed the CMOS battery. What you see in the image is the results of all those attempts to clear and do a fresh start.

I have swapped out the hard drive and did a test install of Windows 10 and everything works normally when I did that. I have even cloned the drove to another, just in case the drive was failing and still not change. On the cloned drive it does the exact same thing as you see in the photo.

- - - Updated - - -

OldNavyGuy said:

Boot the computer from the installation media.

Click Next on the first screen.

On the second (Install) screen, select Repair your computer at the bottom left.

Select Troubleshoot.

Select System Restore to see if there are any recent restore points you can rollback to.

Failing that, you might try installing Macrium Reflect Free on a working computer, and create a rescue disk you can boot from on the problem computer, to correct startup problems.

Creating rescue media - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Fixing Windows boot problems - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase - KnowledgeBase v7.2 - Macrium Reflect Knowledgebase

Even though you can boot, something in the boot process may be corrupted, causing the login screen issue.

I've done the attempted repairs with the installation disk and it tells me that it cannot do it and tells me to look at the SrtTrail.txt file, which when I look at it, does not really give me any errors I see. The only thing I find with something listed is Disk Metadata Test
Result: Completed successfully. Error code = 0x32

There are no restore points, for some reason so can't work that way. Have tried using DISM offline, but can't seem to make any headway, guess I will try Macrium.

- - - Updated - - -

OldNavyGuy said:

Boot the computer from the installation media.

I think I had a similar issue this year, a few months back with my dad, and believe I corrected his by using a rescue disk that allowed me to go into the registry and edit something that allowed his login screen to work. Can't remember what I did, while its similar to this issue, it did not have the Ctrl+Alt+Delete command listed and such. I really wish I could remember how I did it.

Probably using Option Three in this TenForums tutorial -

Enable or Disable Secure Sign-in with Ctrl+Alt+Delete in Windows 10

You can get into regedit from the Repair environment.

Do the same steps above to get into the Troubleshoot menu.

Select Command Prompt.

At the X: prompt, enter DISKPART.

Then enter LIST VOLUME.

Note the drive letter of the volume that Windows is installed on (it may not be the C drive)

Enter EXIT.

At the X: prompt, enter the drive letter and the colon (i.e. F:)

Enter regedit.

Navigate to the registry key you want to change and select Export.

Make the change to the registry.

Exit out of the Command prompt and reboot.

OldNavyGuy said:

Probably using Option Three in this TenForums tutorial -

Enable or Disable Secure Sign-in with Ctrl+Alt+Delete in Windows 10

Once Macrium finished building my disk and I give it a shot, then this may be my next step. Just can't remember what I did with my dad's computer. I run a computer/IT service company and this is only the second time I have actually run into this problem. Believe me, I am keeping notes, this time around, LOL

- - - Updated - - -

Running Macrium right now, will report back after I am done.

The four reg keys that need to be changed to disable Secure Sign-in (Ctrl-Alt-Delete) -

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DisableCAD"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DisableCAD"=-

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableCAD"=-

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableCAD"=-

Bold items are the keys that need to be Exported for backup, before modifying DisableCAD.