Chaos - Windows Blurry Login Screen Fix

Problem

When going to log into Windows, the screen blurs, but the password field does not appear.

This is capturing some corrected instructions, mostly for myself. Assumes you know how to do basic cd/dir navigation in the command prompt.

Solution

1. Open the Shutdown menu from the lock screen.
2. Hold Shift and click Restart.
3. Pick Troubleshoot and navigate down to Command Prompt. The exact menu seems to vary by version.
4. Log into the recovery environment. This should work.
5. Find your boot drive. Drive letters are probably shifted about because the recovery environment seems to claim C. %WINDIR% probably expands to that, instead of your real install too! Try one past the end of your usual highest drive letter.
6. Change directory to system32\config\systemprofile\appdata\local\microsoft\windows\caches under your Windows install.
7. Check (dir) there's a cversions.3.db in here, that you've got the right place.
8. Move the files away (mkdir \temp, move *.* \temp).
9. Reboot.

References

• Microsoft Answers post that's a little wrong and might vanish in some site update
• Microsoft documentation on the Recovery Environment