Windows 10 finally hit the public on Wednesday, July 29 this year and has received excellent reviews—but only by those lucky enough to get it to work.
One of the frustrating issues folks seem to be running into (I was one of those folks as well) takes place after the upgrade has fully installed. Once the upgrade is finished installing, the user is greeted with a “Hi there, Welcome Back (name)” screen. On this screen is the User Name, Password box, Keyboard info, switch user text, and a Next button.
Once the password is entered and “Next” is pressed, the screen appears to freeze. Clicking around the screen causes the software to crash, resetting the computer and bringing the user right back to the Welcome Back screen yet again.
There are a few theories on the Web currently with ways to fix the problem and all of them failed for me, personally. After a ton, and I mean a TON, of troubleshooting, I was able to figure out what exactly was causing the problem.
USB devices.
Particularly, my Wi-Fi USB adapter.
If you have multiple USB devices plugged in, follow these steps to move forward and get Windows 10 running:
- Turn off your PC.
- Unplug ALL USB devices EXCEPT for your keyboard.
- Turn on your PC.
- When the “Hi there, Welcome Back…” screen appears, start typing your password.
- After your password is typed, press “TAB” until the “Next” button is highlighted.
- Press the spacebar.
These steps should allow you to move forward to finalize the preparations for beginning Windows 10.
Again, there are other theories out there and none of them worked for me. This, however, solved my problem.
So good luck, and enjoy!
