Laptop got stuck in Just a moment screen

Question

I just got my new laptop. It has windows installed on it. After I have set the region, keyboard, language and wifi, it downloaded an update and installed it (perhaps it is still installing). Then, it got stuck at a “Just a moment“ screen. It’s been 1.5 hours. What should I do?

Answer 1

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your question. I understand how frustrating it is to be stuck on the “Just a moment” screen after setting up your new laptop, especially after waiting so long. It’s completely normal to feel anxious when something goes wrong right after purchase.

Often, this hang during the Windows Out‑Of‑Box Experience (OOBE) is caused by connectivity issues or attached external devices. If your device is connected to the internet, Windows may be waiting to fetch settings or policy info—this can stall the setup for a long time. Similarly, USB peripherals like external drives, mice, or keyboards can trigger delays in OOBE.

Here’s what you can do next:

Try disconnecting your laptop from the internet either unplugging the Ethernet cable or switching off the Wi‑Fi. Then give it some time to see if it progresses past the “Just a moment” screen.

If it’s already disconnected, or that doesn’t help, unplug any USB devices (including hubs, external drives, wireless dongles) and restart the machine sometimes these cause the onboarding process to stall.

If neither of these steps resolves the issue, you can boot into the Windows Recovery Environment by restarting your device three times in a row (power it off when you see the spinning dots). From there, you can:

➤ Run a repair installation, or

➤ Perform a clean install using a bootable USB created with the official Microsoft Media Creation Tool.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best Regards,

Noel