Windows 10 occasional stuck at boot BEFORE spinning dots

I have a problem where sometimes, when I start my computer it won't boot past the windows logo - the spinning dots don't even show up. Usually, a power down and power up again solves it - but sometimes it happens more than once in a row. And sometimes it doesn't happen at all.

I seem to remember something like this being a problem with Windows 8/8.1 too, and back then it was because of issues with USB 3 devices. But I have tried all combinations of disabled/enabled USB xHCI and eHCI devices that I can think of, and updates all of the USB drivers.

I can't find ANY log info or any errors in event log of what is going wrong when it doesn't boot. Is there any way to log boot info that early in the boot process?

Solution 1:

How do I enable boot logging?

1. Press Windows+R, type msconfig and press Enter.

2. Switch to the "Boot" tab and in the "Boot options" section:

   • Enable "Safe boot"
   • Enable "Boot log"

3. If you want the logging to persist across multiple restarts then enable "Make all boot settings permanent" as well.

4. Click "OK".

5. Restart your PC.

6. If your PC starts OK in Safe Mode repeat the above but disable "Safe boot" to get logging of a normal boot.