Windows 10 installation: infinity loading on set-up

Question

Recently, i bought a used laptop and wanted to upgrade to Windows 10. I used an original Windows 10 home .iso from Microsoft's website and a Rufus utility to make a bootable USB.

The installation process goes smoothly at first: I choose partitions to install, and it finishes. Then it reboots. Then the Windows boot screen appears ('getting things ready' or something). And then, a blue screen with white loading circle appears with text under it 'Just a moment...' - and it keeps going like this infinitely.

I tried many things, including:

1. Rebooting and trying again;
2. Running system repair; after rebooting through there, it finally boots, but it requests password for 'defaultuser0'.. which is an impasse (right?)
3. Creating new user in cmd - it boots defaultuser0 anyway, and i can't switch it (commands used: 'net user /add [username] [password]' and 'net localgroup administrators [username] /add')
4. Trying installing other .iso images of other windows builds - but the same symptoms appear
5. Trying other tools for usb creation and installing successfully with them - but that infinity loading appears anyway

I suspect that the problem is in the keyboard, though i have no idea how to fix it. It looks like the right 'shift' key is pressed all the time. And on that moment - when installation ends and it starts setting everything app - 'sticky keys' warning beeping appears, and that table appears too ('do you want to turn on sticky keys?'). And after few seconds (regardless if i press yes or no), SUDDENLY the blue infinite loading screen appears (the same i described above).

The previous owner was having problem with the shift key, and he couldn't fix it. He just could apply a weird partly-fix - he would turn on the screen keyboard and press '2' - and after that numbers can be typed on physical keyboard again (the main problem wasn't the shift, but the fact that u can't use numbers - it typed @#€_& instead. The partly-fix eliminates this problem, and keyboard becomes even usable - only right shift doesn't work)

Do you have any ideas about this? Or maybe a method to fix/disable that keyboard through BIOS or cmd (so i could use an external keyboard)?

Answer 1

First, if you plug in an external keyboard, it is possible that the BIOS will defer to it and automatically disable the onboard one. No guarantee.

Second, if you don't mind disassembling the laptop, you could do that and take the keyboard up/out and see if there is something easy to fix with the defective shift key.

Third, and this is a longshot, but if you don't mind physically disassembling the laptop you could unplug it from the systemboard and then reconnect the power and boot it up and see if Windows continues setting up. If so, then:

1. Shut the laptop down again (press the power button and let Windows cleanly exit Setup).
2. Plug in a mouse.
3. Start up again.
4. When Windows has started up again, use the mouse to activate on screen keyboard and use that to finish Setup.
   • OSK is found under the accessibility icon that looks like a wheelchair.