1y ago

Has Windows startup repair or a troubleshooter ever fixed your issue even once?

Yeah, basically that. I'm back at work in Windows land on a Monday morning, and pondering what sadist at Microsoft included these features. It's not hyperbole to say that the startup repair, and the troubleshooters in settings, have never fixed an issue I've encountered with Windows. Not even once. Is this typical?

ETA: I've learned from reading the responses that the Windows troubleshooters primarily look for missing or broken drivers, and sometimes fix things just by restarting a service, so they're useful if you have troublesome hardware.

126 comments

Yeah, on Win98 (or maybe Win2k), it would always find this obscure sound card driver for this crappy sound card in this Packard Bell I had. Amazing.
But not once ever for any other issue before or since.
- The troubleshooter was legitimately good in Win2k. And has sucked since they unified kernels.

strangely Network Troubleshooter always helped me when I was out of ideas why the network just... stopped working
tho never said the problem, things just got fixed in the meantime while it analyzed n shit and then it reported no issues :P
- That one usually is successful by disabling your network adapter, then re-enabling it. Basically....
  Have you tried turning it off then back again?
  
  yeah, but if the troubleshooter does that it's somehow works, if I do each step manually what the troubleshooter does, it never works.
  there's some black magic involved...
  like the way how unresponding apps suddenly come back to life if I open Task Manager...
  
  I believe the troubleshooter also does a WINSock reset as well. I'm not sure, though. I know it definitely disables/enables the adapter.
  https://www.howtogeek.com/785351/how-and-why-to-perform-a-netsh-winsock-reset-on-windows/

Yes it has.
I used to have a sound issue and the repair wizard would always fix it. It would happen again, I think after the next reboot.
- I've only ever had it fix a sound issue, as well. Bad driver?
  
  This was nearly 20 years ago, i really do not recall what the issue was, order of if I ever fixed it. I may have replaced the card or something.
- I feel like I've seen a unicorn!
- Sounds a bit like the repair tool broke the sound everytime itself you shut down to polish its image
  
  Possible! I have also used it when I disabled my network and it was quicker to run the repair tool than it was too try and remember what exactly i had done to disable it.

Never. I've been using since Windows 3.11
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows xp
Vista
Windows 8
Windows 10
Not once has it solved a problem
- There was a troubleshooter in 3.11?
  
  No. That was meant as a statement of I've been using windows for that long and since the beginning of Windows (and when ever they introduced the trouble shooter) it's never worked
- Then use it more, because it does work.
  ~Sinisterly, someone who has been using Windows as long as you but also has used Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows 7 and Windows 11.
  
  ? Use it more because it "works" even though it's never worked for me.
  That's your logic?
  So you are saying the system uses a powerful AI that learns and adapts? That way over time it will start fixing the issues?
  Look at the other comments to see how many people have had no luck with the system. Maybe it works for you but in general it fails.

I once had the troubleshooter fix a networking issue I had. I'm still shook.

Well, it helped me boot into USB drives so I can remove windows and swap it with Linux on some annoying computers that would boot windows very fast...

the troubleshooter is great! – “problem not found” – it’s exactly the same problem you couldn’t find yesterday, or the day before, or the day before …
(I think I just keep clicking it out of a sense of ritual – it fixed itself once, so I keep doing the same unrelated set of steps in the same order in some forlorn hope of appeasing the Windows daemons)

The network troubleshooter often works alright. Just never run it if you have setup a bunch of virtual switches in hyper V or something, because it will delete them or otherwise fuck them up and it's pretty annoying to restore (you have to remove them via device Manager and stuff)

No, in 15 years in IT I have never once had any sort of Windows auto repair actually do anything. Otherwise it would've already done it behind the scenes.

No, however I think there might be a bit of a trap here that skews perception for some. Namely, that the automatic tools are intended to fix problems simple enough that more technical minded people would attempt the solutions it uses themselves before resorting to a troubleshooter.

Definitely, it is the first thing I always run. It is really great at checking all the "obvious" user errors like having no internet connection or having a full disk drive.
I can run it and go do something else.
It is also great to explain how to use it over a phone to people who aren't tech savvy.
Afterwards it gives you extra information about the issue if you click on details.
- It is also great to explain how to use it over a phone to people who aren't tech savvy.
  Ive never seen it solve anything and Ive certainly never heard of someone non-savvy being successful with it, even when Ive prompted them to do it (I have them do it because it gives them a few min to calm down)
  Afterwards it gives you extra information about the issue if you click on details.
  Can you give one example of it giving correct and relevant information there? I have never seen it once.
  
  I have them do it because it gives them a few min to calm down
  This is downright genius
  
  The sound troubleshooter will fix the issue sometimes if it is a driver or weird input issue.

The Windows network troubleshooter is black magic from the depths of hell itself and is very opinionated and selective in choosing which issues to fix and whether you'll need to bargain your soul to recieve said fix. I have red hair and find it doesn't bother bartering with me, but your mileage may vary.
- This is the truest comment on the post.
- It fixed an issue for me once back on like Windows Vista I think.

Yes -- frequently, but this is a bad thing.
The issue was that their automatic updater makes my computer unable to boot, due to some compatibility problem with an update. Which it keeps trying to apply. Then every time it fails, startup repair or some troubleshooter rolls back the update and it works again for a while.
Since I cannot turn off updates, it's stuck in this loop forever. However, I can turn off my computer via the power button (sending shutdown signal, not hard power off), and this avoids applying the update most of the time.
This is an older computer that is only used for games, and a slicer for my 3D printer. I've decided to leave it in this state -- at this point it's more a piece of performance art than a reliable computer. I moved my business and my clients away from MS a few years back.
This cost me a lot of easy money though -- there's no maintenance work for me to do and I've had to move on to more productive things.
- Why didn't you just disable updates?
  
  This guy thinks you can do what you want with Windows.
  Disabling updates is such a ridiculous thing because sometimes it works, and sometimes Windows just ignores you.
  I've literally had two exact model laptops running as local render servers, fully updated, then disabled updates/reboots on both, around a month later one updated and rebooted dumping my workload and corrupting my database. Disabling anything on Windows doesn't always work, it does what it wants.
  
  Haven't found an option that does this with any degree of permanence. Always re-enables updates after a short time without prompting. Then reminds me every 3 days to set up a MS account.
  Not very concerned -- it's not worth my time to fix. I don't have free time.

Once. It was a long time ago, and I don’t remember exactly what was wrong, but it did fix it. Since then I’ve run it probably 10 more times and it’s never worked again. Even when the thing that’s wrong is something that it should be able to fix, like I formatted the EFI partition, and it just needs to add its own boot loader again.
- Ha! That's one of the problems that it has failed to fix for me. I converted several machines from netboot to local boot; the EFI partition was there, but the startup repair couldn't even handle copying the bootloader files onto it. (Or even diagnose that they were missing.)

I've occasionally had success restoring a network connection with troubleshooter. Generally if you switch between Ethernet and WiFi, Windows will get confused, but the troubleshooter will turn the network devices off and on which gets it back. I find it's easier to turn off the device I'm not using, but if that's too complicated for someone usually "run the troubleshooter" works.
- My WiFi just is unable to connect sometimes and the troubleshooter fails. Useless.

Troubleshooter maybe once, but otherwise no.
Startup repair yes though, after doing the right set of SFC scan and updating Windows cache whatever thing

On windows 8 the network troubleshooter would restart my wifi driver and that usually fixed the problem. Aside from that nah
- This for me, the only success I've had is with network issues.

I've used startup repair many, many times to repair systems. The troubleshooters have never worked for me, no matter how minor the issue that needed to be fixed.

Yes, and I've also had success using tools like SFC and DISM to repair Windows.
- You fixed things with SFC and DISM? You are a god among mortals!
  
  DISM usually needs an install.wim in order to be effective lol
- Sfc and DISM have each worked exactly once for me.
  
  That's because most people use them incorrectly. You need to run DISM first to repair the component store, but for that to work properly, you'll need source files/wim that matches the same OS patch level as that of the machine you're trying to fix. Once the component source is repaired properly, then run SFC, which would replace the corrupted system files from the now repaired component store.
  If you ran SFC on its own, it may not do anything if the component store is corrupted, and if you ran DISM on its own, it won't fix the actual issue. You need to run both, in the proper order, against matching source files.
  
  I'm hitting over x3 now. I know, I can't believe it myself.

No, but you have to think that if they had an automated fix for a problem, they'd probably run it in the background before you even realised you had a problem.
Like if I have an network issue, they'd probably retry connecting immediately, rather than waiting for me to hit a Connect button like some caveman with a 56k dialup modem.
Like just cloning a drive and swapping your boot device, internally it's probably freaking the fuck out about why it's on NVME2 instead of SATA5 all of a sudden, but it just gets on with it.

Back with windows 7, it did. I’ve never seen it work since then.

I often use the network troubleshooter because I know that all that is needed is to turn the adapter off and on, which the troubleshooter will always do, saving me a couple of clicks to do it myself 🤷

Start up repair, yes. Troubleshooter, never.

Well, this is very specific, but the Windows 3D Builder repair tool is probably the best error fixer for 3D printing I have encountered, so at least they got that one right... I couldn't believe it when I saw it actually worked as intended lol
- That sounds like it has nothing to do with the troubleshooter or other OS repair, though.
  
  Hey, it's technically an auto-fix troubleshooter thingie included with the OS made by Microsoft!

Yes. Once a Win10 troubleshooter solved a backwards-compatibility problem with an old XP game.

I have tried this a few times actually but only on Windows 8 of all systems!
I don't remember the problem, but it actually found the problem and fixed it all by itself!
I remember I even liked Windows 8 after that because I thought this would finally be a turning point!
It didn't.

Windows's ability to troubleshoot itself or at least point you in the direction of a solution is non-existent. One reason I switch to Linux fully.
- You mean "something went wrong :(" is insufficient?
  
  I know, right? It's 2023. They should really provide a QR code or something.
  
  No, just spent the better part of half a day helping a friend troubleshoot his PC because it kept crashing when trying to game.
  BSOD was useless, dug in logs to find the errorcode. Error code was some generic Nvidia driver had an oopsie daisy, all it confirmed was that it was a software issue. Spent next 3 hours finding and reinstalling drivers until finally reinstalling the chipset drivers seems to have resolved it.
  
  If you want more info, you just open up the Event Viewer.
  It really isn't that difficult.
- Say you have no knowledge about Windows without saying you have no knowledge about Windows...
  Do you see all the comments on this post telling you it fixed their issues? Because I do.

I've never needed the startup repair, but the troubleshooter does occasionally fix network or audio related things. I don't do enough to need it very often anymore.

I often had an issue that an audio device wouldn't show up or work. Just running the troubleshooter for it probably triggers some audio device rediscovery, which managed to fix it every single time I had the issue.

Windows startup repair did unbrick my system a couple of times, and the network troubleshooter fixes the issues most of the time, so yes they have.

A while back I had network issues, ran the troubleshooter and apparently the IP address was incorrect. Went into Control Panel, changed it and it worked again. Not sure why the troubleshooter couldn't do that but whatever.

Yes, a network issue fixed automatically. I was shocked as anyone.

I sometimes tell people to try the network troubleshooter if they're having issues because it's idiot proof. All it'll do is occasionally disable and enable a network adapter which can fix some common problems. If you're even the slightest bit tech savvy though, ignore it.
Startup Repair has been useful when I've actually gone to use it, but I can count on one hand how many times I've gotten to that point.
Otherwise, no.
- I sometimes have a weird issue with my laptop WiFi where it intermittently drops speed to 0 without disconnecting... Network troubleshooter always fixes it despite the fact I never can lol.
- Network troubleshooter has on more than one occasion fixed my networking issues when somehow it got an invalid IP configuration, it's usually my last step that I do before system restart, that being said the only decent thing starter prepare has done for me is giving me a way to easily get into the recovery menu When It ultimately fail
- Yeah, the network wizard helped me with a dhcp problem with zero hassle, so that one's definitely useful

I think that back in the day I used the startup repair to restore a broken MBR.
But generally no, and I don't believe that the purpose of the tools are to repair anything, as much as it is to give a remote support tech some time to google the issue, while the wizard is running a lot of NOPs. Thus giving the customer a feeling that something is being done, while really just being on hold.

Yes, probably about 5 times over 20 years and 100s of attempts. I usually try it when annoyed and want to see Windows fail.

Not for me. I dual booted Fedora and W10 and W10 decided it could no longer boot.
Tried all those powershell commands to fix boot but no bueno. Gave up Windows after.

I think it pointed out the right direction at least once, back when i was doing tech support (xp and pre-xp). Back when the toolkit includes whole stacks of cd's containing every driver known to exist. I don't even remember what it is, but it was something Realtek.

Yeah, startup repair fixed multiple pc's for me. And troubleshooter fixed both network and audio issues for me. Usually by restarting a driver or something dumb but it's lot easier to let the program do it than to restart your audio driver manually.

I was missing printer drivers it found the drivers (iirc)

Folks, Windows's own system image couldn't be restored from Windows. I had to go download some program called Macrium Reflect and use the underlying VHD files.
What broke? Oh, you don't know? It was a bad Windows update that had a broken driver or something causing driver verification to fail.

Not that I've ever seen. It usually means it's time to reinstall.
- It's weird to me that we accept 'reinstall the whole operating system' as a fix, it's so absurd. I've literally never had to do that with any other operating system.
  
  It isn't accepted as a fix, because it doesn't fix the issue.
  Reinstalling is done for speed. Because it is quicker to nuke something and build it back up, than to go around and fill all the cracks with concrete.
  In business, it is more important the system is back up and running than to have found the fix to the issue.
  This is true for every OS.
  
  Overall ya, but I've done my fair share of reimage or reinstall. Either because it would be faster(biz setting, Becky in accounting gotta get payroll done ASAP) or I just don't want the headache of it at that moment.

It will sometimes wipe your static IP configuration and switch it to DHCP which could theoretically fix something, but I've only ever seen this break things instead.

I can't say I've ever had a problem solved by any of the troubleshooters, yet I always go to them just in case one day they do.
Usually they either direct you to the most generic solutions possible (that you've already likely done by the time you're resorting to the troubleshooter), reset your networking (thanks Windows, I felt like having to reconnect to all my networks again) or come back saying they couldn't find a problem...
Which clearly isn't the case Microsoft, because if there wasn't a problem, why the fuck would I be using the troubleshooter? For the shits and giggles?

only once for startup repair, twice for system restore. all client systems, not mine, since the introduction of those features. one of those ended up needing a full backup and reinstall soon after anyway.
plus the one time shadow copies from automatic system restore points saved a client's cad, docs, images, pdfs, and other files from a poorly-executed ransomware attack (that failed to clear out those vss copies). a nirsoft utility was able to save everything.
the 'fixit' troubleshooters are nearly worthless.

both fixed things many times

Many times.

My old desktop seemed to have something wrong with its LAN port and the troubleshooter fixed it pretty consistently.

This would only be possible if it installed Linux.

I would usually have issues with my wi-fi, where the connection after a reboot won't work and the wi-fi GUI would reset itself everytime i tried. Network troubleshooter would fix it 100% every time and quite quickly, so there was no reason to actually figure out what was at fault.

It broke itselt, it broke Win2Usb and it broke grub. Thats it hahaa

No. Tried it like 3-4 times in my life for really f-ed up not booting machines and it never worked for me. Haven't tried it since the ealy Win10 times, though.

126 comments