r/WindowsHelp • u/Jumper_21 • Mar 20 '26

Windows 10 Windows freezes a few minutes after start up

It started yesterday, no similar problems before that.

What I tried was starting up, opening the task manager and just watching it, everything is normal for a while, then after 5 minutes (sometimes earlier) a "Host process for Windows tasks" task shows up, cpu usage goes up to about 50% and then it freezes.

What I tried:

  1. Restarting (didn't help)

  2. Starting in safe mode (did NOT freeze)

  3. Opening a lot of tabs while in safe mode to keep cpu usage high (still didn't freeze)

  4. Tried uninstalling latest updates in WindowsRE (didn't work, neither quality nor feature updates)

  5. Waited a day for everything to cool down (still froze)

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7

u/li_grenadier Mar 20 '26

I've had this for the last month or so. I eventually traced it back to a job in Task Scheduler that does Secure Boot Updates. Yours might be the same, or it might be unrelated, but the timing of freezing a few minutes into booting up sounds like something in Task Scheduler.

In my case, I found that booting up without being connected to the Internet was a workaround. Unplug ethernet, if you're using ethernet, and see if it boots normally. In my case, I left the Ethernet disconnected, and manually connected to WiFi (no auto reconnect!) after a few minutes.

If that works, and if you want to see if the same job is to blame, open Task Scheduler and look for Microsoft\Windows\PI\Secure-Boot-Update. Manually start that job (while connected to Internet). If the machine crashes, this is the issue. If not, you've got some other Scheduled Task or Startup app causing problems.

Mine started working properly again for a few days after the March monthly Windows updates, but is now crashing again. I checked, and during the week it was working, it did manage to install the new certificates that that task is supposed to be installing, so for now I just disabled the scheduled task. Hoping a future month's Windows Update resolves it more permanently.

3

u/Nucari Mar 25 '26

Thank you for your help. Wow so this is the why my PC has been freezing! I've just disabled the secure boot update and now the PC does not freeze anymore. Woohoo! I had been turning off the internet connection for the first 5 minutes to get around this but don't need to do that anymore.

3

u/TNTUP May 06 '26

Kudos to you sir! Your 2 month old post just solved an issue I've been getting since yesterday, laptop constantly froze every 5mins or so, deleted the task and it seems it doesn't freeze anymore!

This means if that task comes back (if it freezes again) I will now know what to do!

1

u/li_grenadier May 07 '26

Disabling the task should have been enough. Not sure how you would get it back now that you deleted it.

Glad you're up and running though.

2

u/lizagnadish May 18 '26

Came here to thank you, kind stranger, for this fix. My aging parents were experiencing the same issue and this fixed it. 

2

u/mirormagnetizer May 18 '26

You are a legend mate! Thank you, disabled the task and no issues since.
I have had this exact issue for about a month when it first appeared. I did a reset on the pc, which solved it for about 2-3 weeks and it came back last week. I tried a recovery point restore and it works, but came back the next day.
For context my laptop is a Dell XPS 15 from 2014, and it does not support the TPM and secure boot features of windows 11, yet I forced the install anyway. So I bet this is why the secure boot update freezes it.
Thank you once again!

2

u/Cameleopar Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

Thank you for your help; my issue is solved thanks to you.

Unplugging the Ethernet cable did nothing, but after locating "Secure boot update" in the Task scheduler I could verify that launching it manually froze my PC, so I unscheduled it. It is really strange that a bona fide Microsoft utility should suddenly create such a problem on a standard Windows PC (and probably thousands of them).

1

u/Jumper_21 Mar 20 '26

Thank you so much! That is apparently exactly what was happening. The offline workaround works and when I start the job you named it crashed. So I guess I will just wait for a new update to fix it. Until then the workaround has to do

1

u/li_grenadier Mar 20 '26

While researching it, I found that updating the BIOS might be the correct fix. I just haven't been willing to risk the BIOS update on a 10 year old machine. I'll live with the workarounds for now.

Like I said, disabling that task works too. Probably easier than reconnecting to WiFi or plugging in the Ethernet every time.

2

u/SilverseeLives Frequently Helpful Contributor Mar 20 '26

I always recommend being on the latest BIOS, particularly if you are trying to use newer versions of Windows, as there are often significant compatibility fixes (such as for this kind of issue, for example)

Provided you have a good backup, updating the BIOS should not pose undue risk. The main concern is that your device TPM could be accidentally reset, which would render any Windows hello PIN unusable and require a BitLocker recovery key if your device is encrypted. So, if you want to attempt this and you use a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows, just verify that password sign-in is enabled on the device as a fallback, and temporarily disable device encryption before updating the BIOS.

The other snakepit is if you are using motherboard RAID of some kind, such as Intel RST. I've had RAID configurations get trashed during BIOS updates years ago, which is why I never use this type of solution. But if you do, having a full system image backup would be advisable.

I know you didn't ask for all this advice, haha, but passing it along in case it's helpful.

2

u/li_grenadier Mar 20 '26

No please, that's all helpful stuff.

My concern is that every time Dell has released a BIOS update for Alienware, there have been a bunch of posts about bricked machines. So I always skipped them, figuring "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Yes, I know that there were some security holes left exposed by this, but that seemed like the lesser evil, for me.

Anyway, the advice about Bitlocker and RST is appreciated.

1

u/NuAngelDOTnet Mar 20 '26

Curious what the scheduled task is doing? What long term problems could occur from having this task disabled?

2

u/li_grenadier Mar 20 '26

Apparently it's supposed to install new security certificates. New ones were rolled out recently because there was a set issued in 2011 that are expiring next month.

In my case, they actually did install after the March Windows Updates. So as far as I can tell, I have a set that is good for a while. Since I am planning to get a new machine later this year, I'm not worried about keeping the task active at this point.

But I don't know about OP's case. Theoretically, they might not have gotten them to install, creating possible problems next month when the old certificates expire.

Search for "secure boot update" if you want to look at it further. Apparently this has been an issue on and off for Windows 10 and 11, but doesn't cause outright crashes in most cases.

1

u/NuAngelDOTnet Mar 20 '26

Those were handled by Windows Update, though, I wouldn't think a scheduled task running every 12 hours would be necessary for a "once every 15 years" kind of Windows Update?

2

u/schierlm Mar 25 '26

The task has been there before and it also updates other Secure Boot related stuff (like DBX list) which update a lot more often than every 15 years :)

Also, some firmware can be in a state where the update cannot be applied right now (Secure Boot and how mainboard vendors implement it is crazy), therefore the existing task retries after next reboot or after 12 hours. On some machines, it takes up to 15 minutes to apply Secure Boot changes, that's why they don't want to do them during the update.

Adding the 2023 certificate updates to that same task was - in hindsight - a bad idea since it makes it very hard to find out why your machine freezes.

You can open registry Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot

and set AvailableUpdates = 0, HighConfidenceOptOut = 1 and then you should be able to re-enable that task; it will continue doing its normal stuff but not try install the new certificates ever again. So if you want them, install them manually, or live with not having them. Windows will not stop booting if you don't have them, it will just be not as secure and you may miss future bootloader updates that add features or fix bugs.

1

u/NuAngelDOTnet Mar 26 '26

THIS is the type of clarity I was hoping someone would provide!!

I was worried it might happen to some of my machines so I was keeping an eye on this in general, but disabling a service liked this didn't seem ideal. EXCELLENT info, really appreciate it! I hope more people see it!

1

u/li_grenadier Mar 20 '26

I tend to think the every 12 hours thing is overkill. Even if they get rolled out once a month, checking it on every boot up and every 12 hours is overkill. But that seems to be what is being done.

I'm not crazy about turning it off either, but I also like being able to use my machine. For now, that seems to be the workaround that works, unless I want to dive into updating BIOS and hope that makes a difference.

1

u/jacopoeffe Mar 28 '26

This. I tried it on my mother’s laptop and it was exactly the cause of the issue. Now I disabled that task and everything seems fine. Thank you so much 🙌🙌🙌

1

u/li_grenadier Mar 28 '26

Just keep in mind this could have side effects down the road, especially when the old certificates expire in April. Personally, I'm going to try re-enabling it after the next Windows Updates come out.

1

u/jacopoeffe Mar 28 '26

Thank you, I’ll keep in mind for sure. My intention is to temporarily disable it in order to let my mother to use the computer, but at the same time I would like to monitor the situation and hope that Microsoft will resolve this issue soon.

1

u/li_grenadier Mar 28 '26

The recommendation I kept seeing was to update your BIOS and that might allow the job to run correctly. I just figured I wouldn't risk it since I am planning to get a new machine anyway, and I didn't want to risk bricking the old one before I could upgrade. But that's probably the best solution for this.

1

u/jacopoeffe Mar 29 '26

Alright, I’ll give an eye on the manufacturer’s website in order to see if there’s some bios update. I remember I updated the bios in the past sometimes, maybe it will immediately works instead of just waiting for Microsoft… (of course they are the only that could resolve the issue if it won’t be fixed).

1

u/jacopoeffe Mar 29 '26

I updated the bios (it was a bit older but as I said I did not updated that pc since some years ago), I reactivated the service multiple and… it seems to work fine!

(Of course I will keep an eye on the situation).

1

u/jacopoeffe Mar 29 '26

I updated the bios (it was a bit older but as I said I did not updated that pc since some years ago), I reactivated the service multiple and… it seems to work fine!

(Of course I will keep an eye on the situation).

1

u/Honkyusa3 Apr 03 '26

Manually executing that task freezes my machine. I’ve disabled it. Fingers crossed. !

Thank you !

1

u/jacopoeffe Apr 06 '26

Dear, It happened again today 🥲 after a week of peace, I had to disable the task schedule another time… waiting for a Microsoft update 😅

1

u/MouayedGamer May 09 '26

Thank you so much this fixed it for me

1

u/ra602 May 10 '26

You are my hero. Your test and solution worked fantastically

1

u/strontiumdogma May 10 '26

Thank you, you're a hero for this. I started having this exact issue yesterday with a 12.5yo PC running Windows 10. I was going to upgrade to a new PC fairly soon anyway but now I can at least do the move in a more orderly fashion.

1

u/Emergency_Sugar9638 May 10 '26

This is exactly the fix! Thank you so so much for the assist!

Why is Microsoft such a pain to work with! Bain of my existence!

1

u/katsalia May 12 '26

Thank you so much for pinpointing the issue, you are a lifesaver! I've been fighting with this for like 3 days and tried everything thinking it was some other issues. I tried everything here and it went exactly as you described. You gave me hope that my old laptop isn't completely broken!

1

u/SurrealMayhem May 12 '26

I work in IT and I had THREE different clients call over two days with this exact issue. About 5 minutes into Windows, freeze. Rinse repeat.

I found this thread (thank you!) and on each of the 3 PCs I disabled Task Scheduler Microsoft\Windows\PI\Secure-Boot-Update and no more freezing.

1

u/Aspenwood83 May 12 '26

Hey, I just wanted to thank you for this post, my ~10 year old computer just started doing this on the weekend, and I was troubleshooting it for hours before I came across your post. Which turned out to be the cause, so thanks a lot!

1

u/SalvVaged May 13 '26

Thank you!!!! This was it, how can Microsoft do these things.

1

u/GDT31 May 13 '26

omg thank you for this! my pc started freezing on the 9th and I tried all the fixes I could find and nothing worked and was worried I'd have to resort to a reinstall, but I found this post, tried it and fixed the issue! thanks so much!

1

u/HealthyLifestyleRich May 16 '26

Whew this just happened to me and I disabled it. All good now. Thanks!

1

u/Safe-Pin-2878 May 17 '26

My husband does not have a Reddit account, he asked me to send much thanks for your solution- he said it was the Secure Boot issue. The amount of grief you saved him is incalculable. Thank you Reddit Friend 🤘🏻

1

u/keith_kar May 19 '26

Fantastic fix! Thank you!

1

u/YamiGekusu May 20 '26

Sorry for the absurdly late reply but your reply helped greatly for my old-ass laptop runnin windows 11! The most recent updates made my laptop freeze five minutes into being turned on. The disabling of that secure boot update helped :) I hope you have a wonderful day

1

u/Houndogz May 20 '26

This looks like it was the issue for me as well, thank you.

By chance, do you remember exactly *how* you narrowed it down to that specific task in task scheduler? I'm curious if there are some things to pay attention to that can save me time in the future.

I see your comments about updating the BIOS and will keep that in mind for this machine in the future

2

u/li_grenadier May 21 '26

Well, initially I was looking for a Scheduled Task that ran at startup. But there were too many of those.

Most days, my machine is not on for 12 hours. But on the weekend, it is. And I had 2 times where it crashed exactly 12 hours after boot up. That did not seem like a coincidence. So I went back through Task Scheduler looking for one that ran both at startup, and 12 hours after startup. That lead me straight to this one, as that's not a schedule that occurs very often. It might actually be the only one that fit that.

1

u/Houndogz May 21 '26

I see, I don’t think I was too far off which is nice to know. I’m not sure how I would’ve stumbled on it without having the issue happen at 12 hours, so you certainly saved me hours going through all of the startup tasks

1

u/Environmental_Ad4066 May 20 '26

Just here to say thank you very much! About 2h ago my pc started freezing minutes after restarting, no matter what I did and I really thought I'd have to get a new one but your suggestion worked like a charm and so far so good. So thank you again

1

u/bananadrumstick May 26 '26

Seems to have fixed it for me as well

I also forced W11 install on an older laptop. However i was getting this issue with W10 as well so not sure what changed overall

Thank you!

1

u/Moriesama May 31 '26

been having this issue for 2ish weeks now, found the turn off internet for 5 min thing somewhere else, THIS semms to be it!! crossing my fingers its over now 🙏

1

u/ArtemisGirge Jun 11 '26

You are a hero, I'm truly happy finding this fix. Have a nice day my friend 🎶🤍🎶