7 Ways to Overcome Your PC Did Not Start Correctly in Windows 10

You may be worried now that you are getting the “Your PC did not start correctly” error message, but there are several ways to fix this error.

You may encounter the error message “Your PC did not start correctly” right after booting into Windows. Even though this error is not fatal, you should be aware of it if you encounter it repeatedly.

Various causes can trigger this error, such as a hardware upgrade, driver update, or file system corruption. If this is the first time you've seen the error, try restarting your PC and see if the error appears again. If so, try the following solutions.

How to Overcome Your PC Did Not Start Correctly

1. Run the Startup Repair Tool

Run the Startup Repair Tool

Startup Repair is a built-in Windows utility that attempts to diagnose and fix any PC problem. To use Startup Repair, first, trigger the “Your PC did not start correctly” screen, then select Advanced options.

Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Repair. Log in to your user account and let the process complete. Restart and see if you can now boot into Windows. If not, try the next fix.

2. Boot Into Safe Mode

Boot Into Safe Mode

Safe Mode allows you to troubleshoot Windows by starting your PC in a limited state. If you need to retrieve important data from a computer that is not working, you can use Safe Mode then transfer data to a flash drive. Plus, booting into Safe Mode and restarting the PC normally can fix the “Your PC did not start correctly” error.

To boot into Safe Mode, navigate to Advanced Options > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings. Click Restart. When your PC restarts, you will see a list of options. Press 4 for Enable Safe Mode, and this will boot the PC in Safe Mode.

If you need to transfer any data, now is the right time. When finished, restart the PC. If all went well, the error should disappear. If not, try the next fix.

3. Use System Restore

Use System Restore

If you recently made changes to the system, it could cause new errors to appear. However, if you're not sure what changes may have caused the error, you can get the system back to the point where it was working fine. You can use the System Restore feature which is one of the most powerful Windows recovery tools.

However, you can only use System Restore if your system has previously created a restore point. Luckily, if System Restore is enabled on your PC, Windows will create restore points whenever you make important changes, such as installing drivers or Windows updates.

To use System Restore (or check if your system has a restore point), click Advanced options > System Restore. At this point, you may need to select and log in to the administrator account you wish to restore if you have multiple administrator accounts.

Select a restore point that was created when the system was working properly, and click Next. If you are worried that it may remove an important application you recently installed, click Scan for affected programs on the next screen, and you will see the programs that will be missing after recovery.

Click Finish to continue and let Windows complete the process. Once done, hopefully you'll be able to boot into Windows again.

4. Check For Missing Or Corrupted System Files

Windows may have problems booting if one or more system files are damaged or missing. You can fix the problem with System File Checker.

From the “Your PC did not start correctly” error screen, navigate to Advanced options > Command Prompt. Use the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) tool first to download the necessary system files for Windows to boot properly.

Check For Missing Or Corrupted System Files

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Next, run the System File Checker utility.

sfc /scannow

SFC tool scans your PC for missing or corrupted system files. It will augment or replace it with a stable copy downloaded by the DISM tool if one is found. While the tool is scanning and repairing system files, use the shutdown command and restart your PC.

shutdown /r

5. Repair Boot Configuration Data

In Windows, BCD stands for Boot Configuration Data. This is information that the Windows runtime environment relies on to instruct the Windows boot loader about where to look for boot information.

If none of the previous fixes worked for you, it might be worth trying to repair your system's BCD if one or more files have become corrupted or missing. To repair BCD, open Advanced Options > Command Prompt from the error screen.

In the Command Prompt, run the following command:

bootrec /rebuildbcd

If the bootrec command identifies one or more Windows installations, press Y or A to add them all to the boot list. Next, run all of the following commands one by one:

bcdedit /export c:bcdbackup

attrib c:bootbcd -h -r -s

ren c:bootbcd bcd. old

bootrec /rebuildbcd

Press Y and Enter. When finished, restart the PC.

6. Repair the Master Boot Record

Master Boot Record (MBR) is the first sector on your HDD. This helps the system identify where your OS is located so it can boot into your PC's RAM (Random Access Memory).

If damaged, the computer will have difficulty booting normally. To repair MBR, go to Advanced options > Command Prompt and use the following command to start the repair process:

Repair Master Boot Record

chkdsk /r

If this doesn't fix the error, run the following commands one by one:

bootrec /rebuildbcd

bootrec /fixmbr

bootrec /fixboot

Restart your computer and see if this fixes the “Your PC did not start correctly” error message.

7. Update Windows Or Uninstall Recent Updates

Update Windows Or Uninstall Latest Updates

If there's a common problem that many Windows users face, Microsoft can recognize it and roll out an update to fix it. If this is the case, you need to update Windows. However, if you are unable to boot into Windows, you will need to update Windows from Safe Mode.

Follow the same process illustrated under the “Boot into Safe Mode” heading in this guide, with only one modification. In the final step, press 4 to Enable Safe Mode with Networking. Then, when you boot into Windows, follow the same process to update Windows as usual.

Otherwise, if you started experiencing errors after the update, you should uninstall the update. Again, if you can't boot into Windows normally, boot into Safe Mode.

Navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall Updates. Look for the latest installed update, right-click on it, and select Uninstall.

Conclusion

So that's how to fix Your PC did not start correctly. We hope that one of these methods can fix the error and your PC can boot into Windows normally now. If you're still having trouble booting into Windows, don't worry, all that's left to do is spend a little more time troubleshooting.