How To Resolve Windows 11/10 Getting Stuck on Restarting Screen on Laptop and Desktop

Fixing a Windows 11 or 10 PC Stuck on Restarting Screen

Alright, so here’s where I got stuck—turn on your PC expecting to jump right into work or some Netflix binge, and bam, it’s just hanging on that “Restarting” screen. Happens after an update, maybe a blue or black screen dump, or sometimes out of nowhere—one minute it’s working, next it’s frozen. It’s super frustrating, especially if you’ve got deadlines or just want to get on with your day. But honestly, this isn’t all that uncommon, and there are a bunch of things to try that can get your system back up and running—though, of course, nothing’s guaranteed until you hit the right fix.

Unplug External USB Devices

The first thing I always check—sometimes external stuff causes more trouble than it should. If you’ve got any printers, external drives, webcams, controllers, or even those little USB sticks plugged in, yank ‘em out. These devices can interfere with the boot process—especially old keyboards or mice that might be trying to initialize in a weird way. So, disconnect all that stuff, let the PC sit for a few seconds, then try to restart. More often than not, this simple move clears the hiccup and lets Windows finish its boot. If not, no worries—move on to the next method.

Force Restart Your PC

If your PC is just outright hung and refuses to shut down normally, sometimes a forced shutdown is the only option. It’s a bit rough—holding down that power button until it powers off, then pressing it again to start fresh. I’ve done this countless times. It’s not elegant, but it can break whatever deadlock Windows is in. After that, keep an eye on what happens—sometimes, this quick and dirty restart clears whatever was preventing Windows from finishing its restart sequence.

Using Keyboard Commands to Restart

If you’re more comfortable using the keyboard instead of mousing around, you can try Alt + F4 when your desktop is active—sometimes it brings up the shutdown dialog. Or press Win + X to get the quick access menu, then arrow down to Shut Down or Sign Out > Restart. But if these are unresponsive, force shutdown remains the fallback. Ctrl + Alt + Del often brings up options like “Sign Out” or “Task Manager,” but if Windows isn’t responsive, you’ll be stuck trying the power button anyway.

Use Command Prompt to Restart Windows

Here’s where I finally saw more reliable results: dropping into the Command Prompt. If the GUI won’t do it, open the *Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command Prompt* from Windows Recovery. If you can’t boot into Windows normally, you might need to trigger WinRE by turning the PC off and on three times during startup, or boot from a recovery drive. Once there, you’ll see a black screen with text.

Type this command:

shutdown -r

and hit Enter. This should kick off an immediate restart. If you want it to be super quick and force-close apps, you can add parameters like /f and /t 0:

shutdown -r /f /t 0

This basically ignores anything unsaved and restarts immediately. It’s not perfect if you’re working on something, but honestly, in my experience, it’s one of the quickest ways to get around a stuck restart when GUI options refuse to cooperate.

Close Unresponsive Applications

Sometimes, Windows gets stuck because some app is hanging—or maybe a background process is frozen. Open Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc and scan the processes. End any that look unresponsive or that are hogging resources. This often frees up enough to let Windows finish shutting down or restarting. If not, you might need to boot into Safe Mode to kill stubborn processes without interference. It’s surprisingly effective in these deadlock scenarios.

Update Your BIOS

Now, this one can sound scary, but updating the BIOS sometimes fixes weird restart issues, especially after hardware upgrades or Windows updates. BIOS bugs can cause all sorts of startup hiccups, including getting stuck on the restart screen. I’ve seen it happen on both Intel and AMD machines.

If you decide to go this route, check your motherboard manufacturer’s website for the latest BIOS version. Usually, they have a utility like Q-Flash (ASUS) or Live BIOS tools (MSI, Gigabyte) that let you flash it right from BIOS. You’ll need to download the file, carefully follow their instructions, and be patient—interrupting the BIOS flash can brick your motherboard. Also, make sure your power supply is stable, and don’t turn off during the update. Sometimes it takes a couple tries because new BIOS versions aren’t always perfect out of the gate.

Uninstall Recent Updates

If your PC started acting up right after a Windows update, it’s worth removing that update. Windows updates aren’t always perfect, and some can create conflicts that mess with restart cycles. To uninstall recent updates, go into the Advanced Startup (hold Shift while clicking Restart, or interrupt boot three times), then navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Uninstall Updates.

Choose to remove the latest quality or feature update. If you can’t get into recovery mode, try going into Windows Settings > Windows Update > Update History > Uninstall Updates. Keep in mind—some critical updates can’t be easily uninstalled, and sometimes, Windows refuses to remove certain patches, especially if they’re deeply integrated or part of the core system.

Perform a System Restore

If your PC was fine before and suddenly got stuck, rolling back to a previous restore point can often resolve the issue. This only affects system files and settings—not your personal data—but it’s a quick safety net. To do this, boot into Recovery mode again, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore.

Select a date when your system was behaving normally, and follow the prompts. I’ve used this method a few frustrating times—sometimes it works after multiple tries, especially if recent updates or driver installs caused instability. It’s worth a shot before trying something more drastic like a full reinstall.

Honestly, troubleshooting Windows boot problems feels like a puzzle—lots of trial and error, especially when you’re tired late at night. But these methods, from disconnecting external devices to BIOS updates and system restores, are usually enough to crack the case. Just remember to back up your important stuff first, because some fixes carry risks. It’s a pain, yeah, but hanging there and working through it beats throwing the whole system out the window.

Hope this helped — it took way too long for me to finally fix it myself. Anyway, hope this saves someone else a weekend of head-scratching.