Windows 8.1 pro not shutting down/restarting

Since yesterday everytime I shutdown or reset my laptop(Dell XPS15) it eithewr gets stuck on the restart screen forever or just goes to blanck screen with the power still on if I shutdown. So then I have to hold the power button down to switch off in both casesI stupidly don't have any recovery option inplace and when I try and do a fresh reset or anything from Advanced system options it gets stuck on a blank screen because it can't reset properly.Also anytime I try and disable or uninstall drivers in device manager it will constantly say it's uninstalling or will go to not responding.Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I would try to re-install your copy of windows 9. Alternatively if that step is too drastic for you, try opening a command prompt. You can do this by pressing: "windows button + R". Then type cmd.exe and hit enter. After that type in "shutdown -r -t 0 -f". The PC should then reboot. If that works then we know where to troubleshoot. Could you also mention the computer specs of your PC?

EDIT: Never mind about the specs, I googled "Dell XPS15" and found out that it was a really maxed out laptop.

I'm trying your suggestion as we speak, it's currently been on getting windows ready for about 10mins, is this normal?Edit- now stuck on the restart screen not doing anything

Then I would try either restarting the OS, but if that step still is to drastic for you I would try creating a new User Profile and see if the problem persists or if it's connected to your PC.

I'm happy to try restarting the OS, is there a way I can reset it without having the original disk?

Make sure you have your product key ready and download this file. Then you either mount the .iso file, put it on a flashdrive or burn it to a CD. It's up to you, if you dont know how to do any of these options, don't hesitate to ask.

Upgrade Windows with only a product key - Microsoft Windows Help

i have lost my original product key and microsoft haven't been helpful when I tried to find it. Is there no other way? Thanks for the help so far.

Nnnnnnnnnnnno legal ways of doing it as far as I know. But you can retrive your product key easily. Just press the "windowsbutton + e" then right click "This PC" and select properties. At the bottom of the list you will see a section saying "Windows Activation" Below that you can see the text "Product-ID:" followed by your product ID. And voilá, you've got your product key.

I have a programme called wipedrive that will wipe the whole computer. I have been thinking about reverting back to windows 7 recently, am I right in thinling that once everything has been wiped I just need a windows 7 installation disc to start again?

christian92 said:

Nnnnnnnnnnnno legal ways of doing it as far as I know. But you can retrive your product key easily. Just press the "windowsbutton + e" then right click "This PC" and select properties. At the bottom of the list you will see a section saying "Windows Activation" Below that you can see the text "Product-ID:" followed by your product ID. And voilá, you've got your product key.

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sorry but the product id # is not the windows key that's needed to reinstall windows

Sbradfield9 said:

, am I right in thinling that once everything has been wiped I just need a windows 7 installation disc to start again?

Click to expand...

yes ,but you will need a win7 activation key to go along with the win7 disk.

If the laptop cam with win8 originally ,have you tried hitting the proper key on bootup [my dells were always f10 or f12] to get to the Dell factory recovery option ,to reinstall win8 back to day you bought it