Windows 8/10 - Recover from Black/Grey/Flashing Screen After Reboot

[TheArkive]

In the interest of making 3rd party theme switching more stable...

I've been wondering about the baseline software requirements for the themes. Most posts here mention using UxStyle and UltraUxThemePatcher, and a new one I've only seen since recently revisiting - and that's the "Theme Signature Bypass" tool.

Is the advice being given intended to get people to install all 3?

[Nimbi]

In the interest of making 3rd party theme switching more stable...

I've been wondering about the baseline software requirements for the themes. Most posts here mention using UxStyle and UltraUxThemePatcher, and a new one I've only seen since recently revisiting - and that's the "Theme Signature Bypass" tool.

Is the advice being given intended to get people to install all 3?

Not entirely, sometimes UxStyle won't work properly on it's owns so using one of the others alongside it is sometimes suggested as a backup. Personally, all I use is the experimental version of UxTSB that works through AeroGlass [it's found on the proper page of MSFN forums, you can probably find someone here who knows the exact page]. For me it works flawlessly on it's own.

As for the UltraUxThemePatcher method, when done properly it works fine as well on it's own. As for the ThemeSignatureBypass method, that one requires secure boot to be disabled to work.

[TheArkive]

Not entirely, sometimes UxStyle won't work properly on it's owns so using one of the others alongside it is sometimes suggested as a backup. Personally, all I use is the experimental version of UxTSB that works through AeroGlass [it's found on the proper page of MSFN forums, you can probably find someone here who knows the exact page]. For me it works flawlessly on it's own.

As for the UltraUxThemePatcher method, when done properly it works fine as well on it's own. As for the ThemeSignatureBypass method, that one requires secure boot to be disabled to work.

Thanks for that! I have to admit, most of the posts I've seen don't seem to come out and say "you don't have to use all of these at once".

Part of me wonders if people are installing all 3, is it contributing to system instability? Anyways....

====================================

Just wanted to add that I've successfully recovered another PC using the same method in the OP!!

The highlights:

- boot up to command prompt (probably boot disc)

- overwrite faulty theme with windows default theme
1) delete old theme
2) copy win default folder and theme file and name as faulty theme

- boot into "forced" safe mode, shut off fast startup
(I thought I already had shut off fast startup on this other PC, hibernation was disabled - the key to disabling fast startup, maybe booting into safe mode helps "shake something loose")

- disable forced safe mode and boot into windows normally

- change theme back to default

At first I tried just overwriting the faulty theme with windows default and skipped safe mode, went straight to booting normally, still didn't work. I didn't have a 2nd user account on this PC for testing (but i do now!). After booting into safe mode (and retrying to disable fast startup), then I could boot back into windows normally. Slightly less rhyme and reason than I hoped for. That's why I suggest that maybe booting into safe mode with this process (after overwriting faulty them with win default) might "shake something loose". No video drivers to worry about, etc, while in safe mode.

I can definitely say that, with 2 consecutive successes, this method has become my lifeline for recovering a PC suffering from incompatible themes. Saving me TONS of hours worth of reinstall/reconfigure time!

[2635599]

Part of me wonders if people are installing all 3, is it contributing to system instability? Anyways....

as long as you install them in the right order you should not have problems with them.

[Nimbi]

Thanks for that! I have to admit, most of the posts I've seen don't seem to come out and say "you don't have to use all of these at once".

Part of me wonders if people are installing all 3, is it contributing to system instability? Anyways....

====================================

Just wanted to add that I've successfully recovered another PC using the same method in the OP!!

The highlights:

- boot up to command prompt (probably boot disc)

- overwrite faulty theme with windows default theme
1) delete old theme
2) copy win default folder and theme file and name as faulty theme

- boot into "forced" safe mode, shut off fast startup
(I thought I already had shut off fast startup on this other PC, hibernation was disabled - the key to disabling fast startup, maybe booting into safe mode helps "shake something loose")

- disable forced safe mode and boot into windows normally

- change theme back to default

At first I tried just overwriting faulty them with windows default and skipped safe mode, went straight to booting normally, still didn't work. I didn't have a 2nd user account on this PC for testing (but i do now!). After booting into safe mode (and retrying to disable fast startup), then I could boot back into windows normally. Slightly less rhyme and reason than I hoped for. That's why I suggest that maybe booting into safe mode with this process (after overwriting faulty them with win default) might "shake something loose". No video drivers to worry about, etc, while in safe mode.

I can definitely say that, with 2 consecutive successes, this method has become my lifeline for recovering a PC suffering from incompatible themes. Saving me TONS of hours worth of reinstall/reconfigure time!

Interesting. Sadly mine is OEM so there's no OS disc [not even a repair disc], and I don't really feel comfortable with downloading one from anywhere if it's not an officially activated version [I became rather paranoid when it comes to OS's since my dad kept installing pirated versions on my old laptops years ago and causing more problems than anything else, . I don't let anyone touch my computer now, ]. Also don't have anything large enough to make a repair disc out of. So sadly I can't really make use of this method [that I know of]. But it's definitely good to know in case I ever do get something large enough to make a repair disc with. Thanks for the info.

[TheArkive]

Interesting. Sadly mine is OEM so there's no OS disc [not even a repair disc], and I don't really feel comfortable with downloading one from anywhere if it's not an officially activated version [I became rather paranoid when it comes to OS's since my dad kept installing pirated versions on my old laptops years ago and causing more problems than anything else, . I don't let anyone touch my computer now, ]. Also don't have anything large enough to make a repair disc out of. So sadly I can't really make use of this method [that I know of]. But it's definitely good to know in case I ever do get something large enough to make a repair disc with. Thanks for the info.

That's too bad man. I understand your concern. Hopefully this info will help.

There's plenty of boot disc methods out there that are perfectly safe (as far as the boot process goes). Granted, a boot disc will give you the power to fix and totally destroy your current setup, that is true. Just need to be careful and not mistype commands.

For what it's worth, the disc image I posted came from these links:

Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (Windows ADK)

WinPE = Windows Preinstallation Environment
WinPE: Create USB Bootable drive

All official Microsoft distributions.

I usually use Rufus as my main tool for burning disc images to bootable media (mostly to USB). If you intend to mostly use discs (CD/DVD) then ImgBurn is my tool of choice there. Both tools are 100% free and have always been so.

(sorry for all the external links... not trying to advertise... just trying to help)
I have never experienced any malware/adware from any of these tools mentioned above.

As for the size, 230 MB is small enough for any media. Just larger than I'm used to, since back in the days of DOS and Win98 boot discs were 5-10 MB at the most. Any CD/DVD, or USB stick 256MB or larger would suffice.

Hope this clarifies some things. I'll update the OP so the origin of the boot disc can be known.