Windows Misc

From time to time, a user with Windows will run into an unexpected problem, and in these scenarios it helps to 'be prepared'. This page will list some general troubleshooting techniques so you have something to work off of.

General Troubleshooting of BSOD or Related

System won't boot, stuck at startup screen

(these are paraphrased liberally from linuxhint.com)

• Unplug all unnecessary external devices and peripherals.

This can manifest in multiple ways. The simplest is that the system won't boot with say e.g. a webcam connected. Another one is that the system won't boot (sometimes) when you connect a certain peripheral to a specific usb port. In one scenario I had a hdd that would break bootup 40% of the time when plugged into the back USB ports, and 0% of the time when plugged into the front usb ports. Reasonably common.