Your PC restarts, shows “Preparing Automatic Repair” or “Diagnosing your PC,” and then ends up on a blue screen saying “Automatic Repair couldn’t repair your PC.” You restart and the same thing happens again. Windows is giving you a list of options, and one of them can wipe the files you are trying to save. Before you click anything, it helps to know what the loop means and how to get your data out first.
What the Automatic Repair loop means
When Windows fails to start twice in a row, it automatically launches its recovery environment and tries to fix the problem. If it cannot, it reports a failure, sometimes pointing to a log file named SrtTrail.txt, and the cycle repeats on each restart.
The message tells you that Windows cannot start. It does not tell you why. Common causes include:
- A Windows update or driver that went wrong or was interrupted
- Damaged system files or boot records, often after a power outage or forced shutdown
- File system corruption on the drive
- A failing hard drive or SSD that can no longer read parts of Windows reliably
The first few are software problems and your files are usually untouched. The last one is the one to watch for, because every restart puts more load on a drive that is already in trouble.
Signs the drive may be the real problem
- Clicking, ticking or grinding sounds from the computer
- The loop began after a drop or a spill
- The computer had been freezing or running very slowly in the days before
- The drive is missing from the BIOS or UEFI setup screen, or appears only sometimes
- Each repair attempt takes a very long time and then fails
If any of these apply and your files matter, stop restarting and power the computer down. Repeated boot attempts and repair scans are the wrong thing for a failing drive.
The option to avoid: Reset this PC
On the recovery screens, Troubleshoot leads to Reset this PC. It looks like the obvious fix, and it is where most avoidable data loss happens.
- Remove everything deletes your personal files and reinstalls Windows.
- Keep my files is designed to preserve your personal files, but it still removes your apps and rewrites much of the drive. If it fails partway through, or the drive has a fault, you can be left in a worse position.
Do not use either option until your files are copied somewhere else. The same goes for reinstalling Windows from a USB installer.
Before you try anything: find your BitLocker key
Many Windows 11 laptops encrypt the drive automatically, often without the owner realizing it. If the drive is encrypted, you may be asked for a recovery key in the recovery tools, and you will need it to read the drive on another computer.
From a phone or another computer, sign in to your Microsoft account at account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey and save the key. If this is a work computer, your IT department may hold it. Without the key, encrypted data cannot be read by you or by a recovery lab, so sort this out first.
How to get your files off first
If the drive seems healthy, you can often copy files straight from the recovery environment. You will need a USB flash drive or an external drive with enough free space.
- Choose Advanced options, then Troubleshoot, then Advanced options, then Command Prompt.
- Plug in your USB drive and type
notepad, then press Enter. - In Notepad, choose File, then Open. Set the file type to All Files. This window works as a basic file browser.
- Find your files under Users and your user name. Drive letters can be different here, so C: may not be your Windows drive.
- Right-click a file or folder, choose Copy, go to your USB drive and Paste. Start with what matters the most.
The window can look frozen while it copies, so give it time. Another option is to boot from a Linux live USB created on another computer, which gives you a normal desktop for copying files. If copying stalls or errors appear, stop there. That is a strong sign the drive is failing.
Then try the low-risk fixes
Once your data is safe, or if you have a current backup, you can work through these from the Advanced options menu:
- Uninstall Updates: a good first choice if the loop started right after an update.
- System Restore: takes system files back to an earlier point without touching your documents, if restore points exist.
- Startup Settings: try Safe Mode. If it starts, you can copy your files and remove a recently added driver or program.
You will also find advice online to run chkdsk /r or a series of bootrec commands. Those can fix a healthy system, but they make changes to the drive, and chkdsk /r reads the entire volume. On a drive with hardware problems, that long scan can cause further damage. Keep them for after your data is safe.
When to stop and get help
Stop if the drive is making noise, cannot be seen reliably, or the files you need will not copy. The same applies if the data is business-critical and there is no backup. A recovery engineer works from a copy of the drive, so the original isn’t put through more failed boots. Our laptop data recovery page explains how this works for notebooks, and our encrypted drive recovery page covers BitLocker-protected drives.
Need help with a PC stuck in a repair loop?
Power the computer down and call Data Retrieval at (213) 986-4855. An engineer will evaluate the drive and give you a fixed quote, and recovery only starts once you approve it. We work on-site across Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and Ventura County, and we accept mail-in recoveries from anywhere in the US.