Fix Your PC Did Not Start Correctly (Windows 11) Message 

Quick Tips

• The Automatic Repair Tool message pops up when your system has encountered a serious error.
• To fix things, you’ll have to make use of the “Advanced options” on startup.
• If all else fails, you must reset your PC or seek professional help.

Move over, Blue Screen of Death, you’ve got a strong competitor for the worst thing to see on your monitor screen. The Automatic Repair Tool screen (aka “Your PC did not start correctly”) is a sign that things have gone very wrong on your Windows 11 machine.

All hope isn’t lost, however. In this article, we’ll be giving you some repair tips to get things working again.

Just Why Did “Your PC Did Not Start Correctly” Appear in Windows 11?

The dreaded error message appears when you start your PC because one of the first tests it runs on startup is the POST or “Power On Self-Test.” If it fails this test, you are then taken to the Automatic Repair Tool to try and fix the problem.

The causes are many, but the major ones are:

• Faulty system files or corrupted drivers
• An incomplete Windows 11 update
• Improper or sudden shutdown
• Corrupted startup data, such as the boot configuration

Repairing Your Machine

To get rid of the Automatic Repair screen and see the welcoming sight of your Windows 11 desktop again, we’ve got a few fixes to try.

Restart Your Machine

It might sound super simple, but the first thing you try should always be to restart your PC and see if the error persists. Just click the “Restart” button on the screen and wait for your machine to reboot. Hopefully that’ll fix things.

Startup Repair

Okay, so that didn’t fix things. From here, it’s time to rely on the “Advanced options” button. The first option to try is “Startup Repair.” Here’s what to do:

Step 1. Click the “Advanced options” button on the Automatic Repair screen.

Step 2. Choose “Troubleshoot.”

Step 3. Select “Startup Repair.”

Step 4. The tool will try to identify the problem and repair it automatically. You’ll be asked to enter your login details to run the process.

Step 5. Once Startup Repair is finished, restart your device.

System Restore

If a recent update caused havoc with your machine or was corrupt or incomplete in some way, you can restore a previous version of Windows, provided you have one available. Here’s how:

Step 1. In the “Advanced options” menu, click the “System Restore” button.

Step 2. If your machine has previous restore points, choose the one you want and click “Next.”

Step 3. If you think a certain program is to blame, choose the option “Scan for affected programs” to check it out.

Step 4. Click “Finish” to begin the restore.

Safe Mode

With driver issues and recent software updates, it might be a good idea to boot into safe mode and uninstall or roll back the most current operating system. Safe mode disables most advanced features on your machine, so you can focus on troubleshooting.

Step 1. Choose “Troubleshoot.”

Step 2. In “Advanced Options,” choose “Startup Settings.”

Step 3. You’ll see a list of options. Numbers 4 through 6 will all work for the task, with “4” being the simplest form of Safe Mode. Press the associated number on your keyboard.

Step 4. Uninstall or roll back any recent changes to your computer and restart once done.

Repair via Command Prompt

For boot configuration problems, you can attempt a fix in Command Prompt:

Step 1. Click “Command Prompt” in “Advanced options.”

Step 2. Type the following, pressing “Enter” after each one: “bootrec/fixmbr” then “bootrec/fixboot” then “bootrec/rebuildbcd.”

Step 3. Restart your machine once done.

Reset or Get Help

If all else fails, you can then either reset your PC or take it to a computer repair professional. If you have important files you don’t want to lose, it might be good to see if you can salvage anything first by taking your machine to a technician.