Windows 10 IoT Core boot problem, OS is constantly restarted in Automatic Repair Mode. How can I repair this problem? How can I avoid this in the future?

Question

System: Windows 10 IoT Core (10.0.17763.1577) Rpi 3B
SD card: Samsung 32 GB (Microsoft validated)
Other: UWF is enabled

Case: After the power loss, I received this screens, continually restart the system again. I put SD card into a laptop and checked the file systems, but File system problem was not found.

Question: How can I repair this problem? How can I avoid this in the future?

Printscreens:

Answer 1

You should disable UWF and reboot the system. Once the system has gone through the check again. reboot to make sure it is gone. If the problem is gone, enable UWF again.

I wrote an article on this subject a while ago: Windows® 10 IoT Core Pro Boot Media and Sudden Power Loss Review, Please keep in mind not all flash drives are created equal. The Samsung should be good, but even through UWF is enable errors can still occur.

See if you can add this to the startup batch file:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures

Answer 2

Hi @IntelliSense ,

Please see this blog: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=113216
The power supply is the first thing you should check. You need a reliable 5V at the Pi.
Powering off is not a good behavior, you should avoid it. Using backup power is a good choice.
Please refer to these link following.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot-core/commercialize-your-device/uefirequirements#recovery-trigger

Best regards,
Seeya

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Answer 3

Hi @IntelliSense

I have used products similar to Raspberry Pi UPS HAT so I can do a controlled shutdown.

Personal preference for pHats with a simple DIO interface rather than SPI/I2C to keep things simple as possible.

Bryn

Answer 4

Summary and advice:

I would like to summarize the useful information about installing Windows 10 IoT Core and avoid boot problem. Since I was unable to find this information in a documentation, it may be useful to others also.

1) Check your Rpi 3B power supply

Do not use smartphone chargers to power Rpi 3B device. Use a factory USB power supply (5V 3A). If the system is operating in a critical location or there are frequent electrical problems (power outage daily or weekly), we recommend to use UPS.

2) Check and use right SD Card

If you want to use our Windows 10 IoT Core application in an industrial environment, I recommend industrial SD Cards, Swissbit 8 GB SD cards (3-45u is already appropriate, anyway I tested different version also). For example, the Samsung SD card recommended by Microsoft may not boot in some cases, this occurs in the event of a power failure.

Using the right SD card is extremely important !!!

Useful description: https://www.unipi.technology/key_feature/what-are-the-differences-between-memory-card-types-and-why-is-it-important-to-know-them-371

3) Enable UWF mode in Windows 10 IoT Core

Useful descriptions for Installation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot-core/secure-your-device/unifiedwritefilter

The description contains gaps, I add some useful information:

Download & Install SDK to your computer (Windows10_IoTCore_Packages_ARM32_en-us_17763_253.iso): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10IoTCore#!
After the installation, you can find UWF files:

 c:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\MSPackages\retail\arm\fre\  

 Microsoft-IoTUAP-UnifiedWriteFilter-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~arm~~.cab  
 Microsoft-IoTUAP-UnifiedWriteFilter-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~arm~~.cab  

Copy files (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/iot-core/manage-your-device/windowsfilesharing) to Windows 10 IoT Core and Install from powershell

After that enable UWF mode and customize to your application.

Useful description: https://www.annabooks.com/Articles/Articles_IoT10Core/Windows-10-IoT-Core-Boot-Media-Sudden-Powerloss-Rev-1.5.pdf

4) Disabling Windows Update in Windows 10 IoT Core

• Launch Remote PowerShell session on Device
• Enter PowerShell commands to disable WindowsUpdate sc.exe config wuauserv start=disabled
  sc.exe stop wuauserv

This settings is very useful because a power outage during an update can cause the problem.

5) Crash settings

For IoT Core products, it is recommended that you configure your devices to reboot on crash and also hide the crash dump screen (BSOD). This is achieved with setting the following registry keys:

reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl" /v AutoReboot /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl" /v DisplayDisabled /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Check: reg.exe query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl"

https://www.hackster.io/AnuragVasanwala/windows-10-iot-core-setting-startup-app-887ed0

6) Disable Auto Recovery Mode

bcdedit /set bootstatuspolicy ignoreallfailures

Results:

Using the above settings, I performed more than 5,000 power outages with multiple Rpi 3B devices without a single error.

Test system:

System: Windows 10 IoT Core (10.0.17763.1577) Rpi 3B
SD card: Swissbit 8 GB
Other:
UWF is enabled
Windows update disabled
Used Crash settings
Auto Recovery Mode Disabled

I hope I was able to help others with the summary above.