Windows 10 21H2 is getting stuck during login authentication

Question

Hi,

Since the upgrade of Window10 from 1909 to 21H2 we are incurring a problem during login authentication. This problem is not consistent I haven't been able to replicate it yet on my devices and it is just affecting random users. The workaround is to force the restart of the computer, but the same user can incur this problem again randomly in the future.

Below there is an example of how this problem will manifest on the user's PC:

1. The user logs into a windows device let's say at 9:08 am
2. The user is waiting for the GPO to finish applying but it is not, it has gotten stuck;
3. It is now 9:20am still stuck applying GPO so the user forces the shutdown;
4. At the restart he manages to log in fine;
5. Randomly the same user can be affected by this problem in the future

In the EventViewer, I can see that he logged in at 09:08 and the GPO applied correctly at 09:10:21. In total all the GPO policies applied in 83 seconds.

I can then see a Winlogon Warning at 9:11 "The winlogon notification subscriber <GPClient> is taking a long time to handle the notification event (Logon)", after that, I cannot find anything on the main System and Application logs between 9:11 and 9:20 while the computer was stuck on applying policy on the user side, I can just see a log after 9:20 that is telling me that the computer has been forced to restart.

I am not sure that there is a problem with the GPO because each user got stuck on different GPO Policies and the logs are telling me that the GPO has applied correctly. In the beginning, we believed that was a user profile problem but this is not the case because we reset a profile and the error re-occur.

Any help from the community will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Giuseppe

Answer 1

Hi. Thank you for your question and reaching out. I’d be more than happy to help you with your query.

There could be a few different reasons why Windows 10 21H2 is getting stuck during login authentication. Some possible causes include:

-Corrupted user profile: If the user profile on the affected machine is corrupted, it can cause login issues. In this case, you may need to create a new user profile or restore a backup of the profile.

-Conflicting software: If there is software installed on the machine that is conflicting with the login process, it can cause the machine to get stuck during authentication. Try to identify and uninstall any recently installed software that may be causing the issue.

-Corrupted system files: If system files on the machine are corrupted, it can cause login issues. You can try running the System File Checker (SFC) tool to scan for and repair any corrupted files.

-Hardware malfunction: If there is a hardware malfunction on the machine, it can cause login issues. You can try running diagnostic tests on the machine's hardware to check for any issues.

-Network related issues: If the machine is connected to a network, network-related issues can also cause login issues. Check your network connectivity and firewall settings.

It's also worth checking the event viewer for any error related to the login process. It would be best to troubleshoot one by one and check which one is causing the issue.

If the reply was helpful, please don’t forget to upvote or accept as answer, thank you.