Stuck In Limited Account After Update

saltsbrunner · 03 May 2023

Windows decided to force update yesterday, and now I’m in a weird extremely limited old version of my account. Half of my files are missing and even basic functions like connecting to the internet are totally unavailable. I see that some things are “limited by my organization.” This is a personal computer. I also can not control brightness of my monitor (laptop). I see when I first am brought to the desktop, the normal login screen appears, then is switched to this other one. I know it’s different because I get email notifications on the bottom left on this one. I have tried a lot of things, but nothing has worked. I also get a bluescreen saying stop code CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.

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It’s security update KB4598229 if that helps. I can’t find a way to reverse it either.

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Also my (D:) drive became a hidden file and is now called (E:). The last thing I saw before the update finished was that my recycling been had become corrupted.

idgat · 03 May 2023

I'm suspecting a corrupted OS, whether it's the fault of the update or co-incidental is another thing.

You need to grab a backup of all your personal data files before you do anything else; attempting any of the 3 Rs (repair/recovery/reset) may result in loss of data.

I'm assuming because of this dilemma you don't have a (recent) backup image of your sytem, so I'd be prepared for a quick learning curve on how to do a clean install of Windows 10 (AFTER you've backed up yur data)

Howvever, you will be bombarded with suggestions on which one of the 3 Rs is best, and propably numerous choices on how any one of them can be applied.

EDIT Corrupted OS, or co-incidentaly, a fail/ed/ing drive.

Ghot · 03 May 2023

If I were you, I'd just clean install Windows, and then start using backup software. ^^

Clean Install Windows 10

Macrium Reflect and AOMEI Backupper - GUIDES | Windows 11 Forum

saltsbrunner · 04 May 2023

Well thanks guys. I feared as much. Everything I want to keep is not showing up, but for empty icons on the desktop with nothing attached. I’ll look into if any option can return any of my files, and if not just clean install.

idgat · 04 May 2023

Another option that might justify a clean install is the possibility of malware, some of which are designed to hide files, either randomly and/or targeted (i.e. user created files). However, from the description there are few other things going on that can't be explained by malware, and could be totally unrelated, or co-incidental to malware. Who knows what the North Koreans are putting out there these days ... ?

saltsbrunner · 05 May 2023

Well I am sort of suspicious of that because I feel like I’m trapped in a virtual machine. Both of my hard drives have a maximum allocated space now that is significantly less than what they have always been.

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I do see the last windows update listed though.

NavyLCDR · 05 May 2023

I would boot from an OS on a USB flash drive such as Linux and use that to copy off whatever data files you can.

Paul Black · 05 May 2023

Hello @saltsbrunner,

Welcome to TenForums.

NavyLCDR said:

I would boot from an OS on a USB flash drive such as Linux and use that to copy off whatever data files you can.

I totally agree with the above BEFORE performing a Clean Install.

If it was me, I would try and get ALL my data [ Personal Folders, Files, or Important Information etc ] off as soon as possible. The below is an excellent way to do this as it does NOT put any load [ well, minimal ] on the existing HDD/SSD.

Linux Live USB / DVD:

A Linux Live USB/DVD is a good emergency method of retrieving data from an otherwise UN-bootable drive or if you are having other drive difficulties.

Basically . . .

[1] Download the Linux ISO - I always use Linux Mint although there are others available.
[2] Create a Bootable USB/DVD [ media ] using Rufus for example => Rufus.
[3] Boot the media.
[4] Copy the files, folders, videos, music, and pictures etc from the OS to an external HDD/SSD or USB.

> Download Linux Mint 20 Ulyana

I hope this helps.

saltsbrunner · 05 May 2023

Well the issue with that would be that I have no ability to connect to the internet. The only option is a greyed out airplane mode. I could theoretically get it from another source, but how exactly is is this different from just moving my files to the usb without linux?

saltsbrunner · 09 May 2023

I missed that you said if the drive is unbootable, my bad.