Most of the recovery options and Reset will not complete if your drive is full, because there is no space to generate the required files.
Try booting into Safe Mode to copy out or remove some data from the drive to clear some space.
Start your PC, just as Windows attempts to load (spinning dots), press and hold Power Button for 5 - 10 seconds to perform a Hard Shut Down
Do this twice
On the third start Windows will boot into the Recovery Environment and from there you can access System Repair, Safe Mode, Command Prompt... etc.
Go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Option - Startup Settings and click Restart
Upon restart, press 4 to enter Safe Mode

 

You do not need to take that drive out of that system

-Grab Puppy linux (it's free and only 145 mb version is enough, any version does not matter)
-Install it on a usb flash drive with Rufus ( free tool)
-Boot that USB flash drive on that system

Now grab another USB flash drive ( this one is where you will copy the files to) and copy the files from that original system drive into this drive. Delete the files on the main drive after you verify that all files you need are okay.

This is the fastest way to do it since you don't have to open up your laptop and it's more elegant as you can reuse that Puppy Linux flash boot drive in case you need to change or get into that system again.

I recommend always having a USB Linux boot flash drive with Puppy Linux always on hand, it's how I setup my windows images prior to migrating them to another new machine.
The reason is very obvious the Windows system Prep tool is a piece of junk basically only doing what the MicroStink wants. Other tools out there but they still do not do what you can do with Puppy Linux ( or any other live Linux usb distro) it's manual file deletions prior to the system image being cloned( those idiotic pesky microsoft service files and built in addons)

This approach is also how I deal with my nemesis :
Autodesk (F-U)
Adobe (F-U)
Microsoft (a big deserved F-U)

But my favourite has to be adobe what a bunch of goons, you can delete some files from within windows then power down boot puppy linux and then rename all the exe's you want.

Now run Photoshop or Premiere not only faster at first opening but all the nonsense is disabled
( note the AI nonsense is disabled as well when you do this)

 

Last edited: Apr 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM

I did clean the recycle bin but it still isn't fixed and nope I can't get it into safe mode

 

OK met me try that then

 

Oh wow i'm definitely going to have to try that

 

Puzzling that you haven't been able to boot in safe mode.

Have you tried holding down the Fn key + F8?

 

Has the make/model of the laptop been given? There was always some room for manufacturers to assign startup keys, but more for BIOS.
It might be worthwhile to look them up for that model, even just to check the box.

What kind of keyboard is used? I know when I have to do anything on my old Mac that is lower level boot stuff, I can't use my usual keyboard since it is a bluetooth Logitech that uses a micro-usb receiver. I have to connect a Mac keyboard with a usb cable or it ignores it and begins loading the full OS.

I'd put linux on the pendrive and it would be a wrap. Save and pave if you have to.

 

Last edited: Apr 29, 2025 at 9:11 PM

I thought it was hold F8 or shift and f8

 

I tried that it went to automatic repair I held down fn and F8 and it's stuck on a black screen

 

You already should have done that. It's what I told you on page one of the thread. I said use Unetbootin, if you do not want to use Rufus. Rufus has basically superseded Unetbootin. It will create a bootable usb from whatever distro you want.

Supported Distributions
UNetbootin has built-in support for automatically downloading and loading the following distributions, though installing other distributions is also supported:

Spoiler

• Ubuntu
• Kubuntu
• Xubuntu
• Lubuntu
• Debian
• openSUSE
• Arch Linux
• Damn Small Linux
• SliTaz

• Linux Mint
• Zenwalk
• Slax
• Elive
• CentOS
• FreeBSD
• NetBSD
• 3CX

• Fedora
• PCLinuxOS
• Sabayon Linux
• Gentoo
• MEPIS
• LinuxConsole
• Frugalware Linux
• xPUD
• Puppy Linux

UNetbootin can also be used to load various system utilities, including:

• Parted Magic
• SystemRescueCD
• Super Grub Disk
• Dr.Web Antivirus

• F-Secure Rescue CD
• Kaspersky Rescue Disk
• Backtrack
• Ophcrack

• NTPasswd
• Gujin
• Smart Boot Manager
• FreeDOS

You do remember that whatever key combination you press, you need to be pressing them so quickly the best way to do it is hit them first before you even hit power on button?

What manufacturer and model number is it?

 

Last edited: Apr 29, 2025 at 9:35 PM

If you have indeed wiped the R. Bin and it didn't fix the boot issue then something else is fuxed other than just that.

I take it you have been attempting to run the "repair" from system drive (which seems broken). Have you tried making a win (whatever version) install disk/flash and running "repair" from that?

If all else fails - DO you have a latest full system backup image? Not ms windows backup, but from a proper system imager that uses a WinPE core base to boot with.

 

Last edited: Apr 30, 2025 at 12:09 AM

THAT is usually a sure thing, and of course you lose any changes made since the backup, and most people don't do them every day...or week...month...or ....ever, unfortunately.
It's worth a backup drive and doing FULL system backups.
My backups have reached 83 Gig each, and that's with quite a few large folders moved off the OS drive and symlinked.
The actual OS disk has 160Gig used, so that's pretty good compression for the speed (using EASEUS Todo Home backup - registered version..although the registration may be alternative ).
Restoring takes a while ... i just did it and i think it took just under 45 minutes restoring via usb3 from 5400 RPM drive to PCIe M.2 drive. (I was off doing some other stuff for 45 mins ands when I came back it was done).
Anyway there is NOTHING like having things EXACTLY as they were just before the apocalypse.

 

The one time I tried the Windows repair stuff it spent hours with the hard disk light on continuously, then rebooted and hung completely. I examined the drive on another PC and C:\Windows was completely empty, so not great as a repair... The rest of the drive was fine so I had no option but to install Windows from scratch (I used a new SSD) and copy over the other stuff from the old drive.

I think the OP will end up doing the same. Filling up the C drive does not stop a boot into Safe Mode so something important is corrupted.

 

Method Three - The Function Key method

This is great if you can’t boot into Windows 11 at all.

1. Completely shut down your computer.
2. Press and hold the power button for 10 seconds.
3. Turn the computer back on while holding down the F11 key. (Some devices may require F8 instead.)

Note: On certain machines, this may require additional steps or a registry hack.
Check your device's manufacturer's website for more details on this.

Method Four - The ‘When all else fails’ method

If you’ve tried everything else and still can’t trigger safe mode, there’s a workaround.

1. Turn on the computer, then hold down the power button to interrupt the boot.
2. Repeat this process two more times.
3. On the third reboot, you’ll see the Startup Repair option.
4. Choose Advanced Options from here to enter Safe Mode.

Navigating the Recovery Menu

After following the steps outlined in any of the methods listed above, your PC will reboot into a recovery menu. At this stage, you will need to complete these steps:

1. Click on ‘Troubleshoot’
2. Click on ‘Advanced Options’
3. Click on ‘Start Up Settings’
4. Click on ‘Restart’

At this point, you'll be presented with three Safe Mode options: Standard Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, and Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

- Standard Safe Mode: This is the default option that runs without internet access and is ideal for basic troubleshooting.

- Safe Mode with Networking: If you need access to the internet while troubleshooting, select this option. However, remember that this mode still disables some security protections.

- Safe Mode with Command Prompt: This version of Safe Mode boots to a command line interface instead of the desktop. It's suitable for advanced users comfortable navigating Windows via command prompts.

- Whichever option you choose, your machine should then boot in Safe Mode.

 

The only way to truly protect the system once everything is tweaked and ready for production is to make a complete backup image of every physical volume on the system. Redo the all the images every time major changes are done to the system - it might sound like a monotonous task but it's way better than dealing with things like these for days with no real resolution. If you don't make a lot of major changes then you really don't need to re-image the system all that often. The backup images can be set up and made overnight and not interfere with daily production - then store the images on OFFLINE hdd's NOT on the system itself. And do not use any mickeysoft "tools" like windoze backup or other such lame os "features" to make your images. Acronis backup and other third party tools of similar ilk are there for a reason - because mickeysoft backup shit don't cut the mustard. Whatever 3rd party imager tools you use just make certain the system boots to the TOOL ITSELF (completely separate from the system being backed up) and uses WinPE or reasonable facsimile thereof as an operating environment. Do not use a backup tool that boots to a *NIX or other non-windows based operating environment.

As a last note I would suggest the use of checksums on all the backup image files. Especially when moving them offline. You want to make certain than the you get an exact duplicate of your image files onto the storage medium. Might seem redundant, but it will ensure that if/when you have to use those images that they are pristine as the day they were made.

 

Last edited: Apr 30, 2025 at 10:44 PM