Windows 8 rebooting loop

[fafhrd]

Automatic Repair is meant to preserve data - it troubleshoots and hopefully repairs just boot and startup problems.

How the Windows 8 Automatic Repair feature works - TechRepublic

goes further with some boot recovery commands if the automatic repair is unsuccessful - hence the implication to attempt to run this three times.

Shawn's tutorial covers automatic repair from the boot menu: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html

If the Preinstallation Environment command prompt is available, it can be used to back up files from the hard disk to external USB storage, but it requires some degree of competence with the Windows command prompt shell console. It is a pity that WinPE and WinRE do not have a simple GUI file manager. It is possible to install 7-zip in WinPE, I think, which has quite a useable file manager interface.

Much simpler is a small live linux, either USB or CD, such as Puppy linux, to manage transfer of important data from hard disk to external storage, or indeed, cloud storage,

 

[David Bailey]

One last idea.
Since you can get to a command prompt, try:

rstrui.exe

A recovery window should pop up, from which a restore point can be chosen.

Good luck.

 

[FlemmingK]

Install Ubuntu

Hi Pathele

I hope that your PC is now up and running fine.
I ran into a boot loop on my desktop PC. Windows 8.1
I also have Ubuntu installed which means that I get a boot screen with the selection of Windows, Ubuntu and a line that says: "Change defaults or choose other options".
I clicked that line and got all the boot options that you can normally select from within Windows 8.1 (if it's not boot looping, that is).
I am not sure what I first selected, but Windows offered to repair the boot procedure. I tried that to no avail.
Next trial was to restore windows to the latest restore point. That solved the problem.
Now there is "only" ten Windows updates to test one at a time.
My conclusion is that if you can get to the F12 boot menu, you can install Ubuntu or another Linux distribution on your machine from a CD or DVD. You then have the possibilities that I just described.

Good luck everybody.
(There will surely be others)

BR
FlemmingK