Windows has encountered a critical problem and will restart automatically in one minute. Please save your work now.

Question

Hi, everyone. Since I have installed Windows 7 Home Premium, I had problems with an error message displayed when I start my computer. The error message is saying, as in the title, "Windows has encountered a critical problem and will restart automatically in one minute. Please save your work now.". After one minute, the computer is forced to restart, it suddenly closes, without any "Windows is shutting down" message. The problem appears really often, I mean it doesn't appear every time I start my computer. I don't know what to do, it's really annoying.

I found a microsoft forum, when someone posted an article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976586/) when it was said something about "How to enable the Do not require Kerberos preauthentication account option", but I didn't understand how to do this. If someone can help me, please do it, every response is welcome. (Sorry my poor english, I'm still studying - romanian).

Answer 1

Hi again! I managed t solve the problem myself, using Kaspersky Rescue CD 10. It was the Win32/Trojan.Shutdowner virus and rootkit causing this error. I think this is the solution to all who have this problem. Download and burn to CD the kav rescue ISO image from http://rescuedisk.kaspersky-labs.com/rescuedisk/updatable/kav_rescue_10.iso. Do a full system scan booting from the disc you created. Remove all found infection, including that stupid annoying rootkit, and you're done! At least it worked for me! Thank you again to all who tried to help me!

Answer 2

First of all to manually stop the shutdown, create a shortcut on desktop by right click and new>shortcut. in the field type "shutdown -a" without quotes and on the next screen give name stop shutdown or what ever. whenever you see the message you just double click on this shortcut within one minute countdown. Next thing goto control panel>Administrative tools>computer management>event log. In the event log check for the errors that just occured. Post them here for further permanent solution. Hope it helps!

If you are sure that your problem is the article that you mentioned. then download the kb976586 update using windows update or download from http://thehotfixshare.net/board/index.php?autocom=downloads&showfile=11661 and run it to fix this problem.

Good Luck.

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Vanshaj Daga [If this post was helpful, please click the "Vote as Helpful" (green triangle) button. If it helps in resolving your issue, click "Propose As Answer" or "Mark as Answer" button. By proposing/marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.]

Answer 3

Hi,

First of all we need to disable the automatic restart on system failure and then we can check if the issue exists in safe mode or not.

Method 1.

Step 1. Disable the Automatic Restart to prevent the restarts on system failure.

a. When your computer starts keep pressing F8 on your keyboard till you get the Advanced Boot Options screen.

b. Now, use arrow keys, select Disable automatic restart on system failure and press Enter.

Step 2. Start your computer in safe mode and check if you still get the error message. If it boots properly may be a third party application or a service is causing the issue. We can use 50-50 approach to narrow down the root cause of the issue.

Refer to the article below for steps about how to start your computer in clean boot state.

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note: When the troubleshooting is over do not forget to reset the computer to normal startup. Follow the step 7 in the above article.

Method 2.

****If you suspect any virus activity I would strongly recommend you to run an online Virus Scan.

Sometimes the installed security program might not be just enough. I also recommend  you to update your security software regularly.

a. Follow the link below to run the free online scan:

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

b. Run the Microsoft Malicious Removal Tool.

Microsoft Malicious Removal Tool - 32 bit

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=AD724AE0-E72D-4F54-9AB3-75B8EB148356&displaylang=en

Microsoft Malicious Removal Tool - 64 bit

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=585D2BDE-367F-495E-94E7-6349F4EFFC74&displaylang=en

Hope this helps.

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Thanks and Regards:

Shekhar S - Microsoft Support. Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.

Answer 4

Fisrt of all, thank you everyone for trying to help me. Second, it appears that the problem has been solved since I installed kb976586 fix from Microsoft.

1.In safe mode, the problem didn't appear, or it didn't want to (as I said, the problem appeared often, not every time). - same thing for clear boot.

2.My antivirus program didn't find any viruses.

3.The Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool didn't find a thing.

4.The anti-malware program neither.

Thank you again for your help.

Answer 5

Hi Shekhar,

I'm having the same problem with the error message that astronos2007 had but mine is that whenever i plug in the internet cable or use wireless to go online it will pop up the error message. If i don't plug in the internet cable or use wireless then it works fine. Can you tell me how to fix this problem?

Thanks a lot!!!