Desktop Constantly Refreshes

[Sage]

Two days ago, I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on my desktop PC. Every few minutes, I notice the desktop refreshes so the shortcut icons flash on and off. I did a search and I see a lot of folks have the same problem. I've tried the solutions some have suggested but so far, nothing has corrected the problem. Perhaps there is a solution I have not yet tried.

 

[Regedit32]

So what have to tried up to this point?

Also, what brand of Desktop are we talking about?

 

[Vince Massi]

Sage, I found two possible solutions to your problem.

Go to Settings--Updates and Security and see if you have any upgrades stuck in the process. If so, send them through while leaving your rig alone while it upgrades.

Right-click your taskbar, select Task Manager--File--Run New Task, and type powershell into the box. You MUST check the box underneath that, giving yourself Administrative Privileges. PowerShell needs several seconds to open. When it does, type sfc /scannow into the command line. It will take about an hour and a half to scan your rig for errors.

 

[Sage]

Vince, there are some updates for Windows 2010 32 bit that must be stuck. My system is a 64 bit so of course, when I try to install the updates, they fail to install but remain on the list. I don't know how to get rid of the updates. I've tried the system scan before and it indicates there are corrupt files but doesn't indicate how I fix them. I suppose it's possible the files in update that won't load might be causing the problem. I'm running another scan so I can tell you exactly what it says when I get the results.

Rege... the computer is a custom built ASUS. I can't tell you everything I've tried because I frankly don't remember. I opened Device Manager to see if there was an indication of a name for this machine and I noticed that the Device Manager window flashes open and then closed so it is unusable... I don't know if this is another problem or related to the refresh.

 

[Sage]

The results of the scan are this:

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.log windir\logs\CBS\CBS. log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios.

Okay. I don't know what that means

 

[Vince Massi]

Courage, Sage! At least we know what the problem is.

Go back into Powershell and type (or copy and paste) DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth into the PowerShell window and press the [Return] key. This will download files from Windows Update to replace the corrupt ones and, again, this may take some time.

 

[Sage]

Vince, okay, it's off and running!

 

[Sage]

Crap, now it's telling me:

The source files could not be found.
Use the "Source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. Then it gives a web site address to go to and look for a specific log. Then I need to go to another website to find the specific log???

Error: 0x800f081f

At this point, I'm wondering if I should revert back to Windows 7 and then try upgrading again.

 

[Sage]

I managed to revert back to Windows 7. I'll try upgrading in a month and hopefully, the same problems won't exist. Thanks, Vince, for your try!

 

[Vince Massi]

Okay. Thanks for letting us know what happened.

 

[Sage]

I'll most likely be back when I try it again

 

[Sage]

Well... I tried the suggestions, turned off the virus and malware detectors... unplugged all external devices and upgraded to Windows 10 ... again... my third try.

Guess what? The desktop is once again frequently refreshing and the shortcut icons blink on and off every few minutes. And again, some drop down menus that show options when you right click a function flash on and then back off so you have no chance to click on an option.

I'll try it for a week or so and hopefully, a fix will show up. If not, I'm going back to Windows 7 and won't mess around with Windows 10 again until MS no longer supports the system.

I figure if I'm required to buy the upgrade, MS owes me a fix for these irritating bugs.

 

[Trouble]

The results of the scan are this:

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.log windir\logs\CBS\CBS. log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios.

Okay. I don't know what that means

IF you have again, reverted back to Windows 7, it might be a good time to retry the native System File Checker on that installation and see if it produces the same results.
IF it does then you might try

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

AND see if that produces the same results

Crap, now it's telling me:
The source files could not be found.
Use the "Source" option to specify the location of the files that are required to restore the feature. Then it gives a web site address to go to and look for a specific log. Then I need to go to another website to find the specific log???
Error: 0x800f081f
At this point, I'm wondering if I should revert back to Windows 7 and then try upgrading again.

IF it does then.... You'll need to specify the install.wim location in the sources directory of the installation media, such as

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:wim:D:\sources\install.wim:1 /limitaccess

Where D:\ is the drive on which your installation media is located.
Afterwards, IF it completes successfully, reboot
Then open another admin command prompt and run
sfc /scannow
again and see if this time it reports that it was in fact able to repair the problem

 

[Sage]

I'm still using 10. This time, the refresh isn't occurring nearly as often as it was so I can probably live with it. I use SlimCleaner Plus for cleaning the computer. If you think DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth works better, I can switch to that one.

 

[Sage]

I ran the scan and this is what I got:

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios.

I remember running a scan the last time I attempted to upgrade to 10 and received the same message.
Unfortunately, I'm not computer literate enough to know what it means.

 

[Sage]

I finally figured out the service tool but it seems hung up at 20%. Should I use D or C? C is my primary system.

 

[Trouble]

It just appears to be hung at 20 percent. It will either continue or fail shortly.
IF it fails then you need to note the error, which will probably be as I indicated above, where you need to have "Installation Media" containing an install.wim on a drive attached to your computer that you can point to to resolve the "source" issue in the message.

EDIT: If you do not have the installation media then you can obtain it here
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/techbench
Choose Windows 10, the first item in the first drop down (not single language at the bottom)
Next choose your language and your bit version (32 or 64 bit to match your system architecture or in the case of an upgrade, to match your currently installed version of Windows).
That will provide an ISO that will upgrade, repair (or clean install) either or both Windows 10 Pro and Home.
Once you have downloaded the ISO you can use ImgBurn to burn it to a DVD http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
OR
Rufus to burn it to a USB ThumbDrive http://rufus.akeo.ie/

 

[Sage]

Trouble.... okay, following your instructions. Downloading now.

 

[Sage]

Well this is scary. It indicates that if I use the setup that I won't be able to revert back to Windows 7.

 

[Trouble]

Use what "setup"??
I thought you were downloading the ISO to create installation media so that you could point DISM to the install.wim file on that media in the sources folder?