Same thing happened to my 7 system about 3 months ago. Hmmm.
buy a new puter. start over. Curse the name of Bill Gates.
How old is that computer? Could be a hardware failure.
Windows updated my computer into total disability like yours.
I tried the same things you are. Couldn’t get a last good configuration.
I had to eventually reset it back to the original out of the box condition.
Lost everything.
After about 6 months same thing happened, Windows updated it into complete disability. (I backed everything up this time)
I reset it again and turned off updates.
My PC just went through some sort of lapse, and wouldn’t start from sleep. I had stepped away for dinner, or wear it.
Anyway it seems fine now. But since I said that............It’ll go to ‘H’ in a hand basket as soon as I post this.
I suggest turning off automatic updates, I use setup is advise me of updates available but let me decide when to download them.
Upgrade to Linux Mint
Just went through this with my win10. Seems customers around here using Windstream are not getting a complete down load and ending up with corroded files.
Toshiba builds in a complete reset to out of the box condition.
Otherwise you’ll need to have made a set of image discs when you set it up originally.
Drop back a couple of updates - mine did the same this evening. The latest windows Update included some kind of C++ update.
Startup repair could go for hours. Stupid, but true. 18 minutes is nothing when you get into windows “repairing” things.
Windows update creates a new system restore file every time it updates. Go to control panel—>recovery—>system restore.
You will see a bunch of them listed with dates.
Try using them one by one going backwards until computer is running properly.
Ping!
Can you start up computer in safe mode?
“Thank you for calling Microsoft technical support! This is Shahandar, how may I help you?”
“Yes, my computer won’t start.”
“Please give me your name, 24 digit system registration number, and your birthdate.”
“Is that all necessary?”
“Oh yes, you will need this information when we wipe your hard drive clean and reinstall Windows!”
Wait. Wipe it clean??”!!
“Of course, you haven’t done this in the past 6 months, have you?”
......
... and so it goes.
win 7 support ends 14Jan20 so they don’t care
Buy an inexpensive external disk drive and a backup program. Once you reload your system or get a successful repair and it is running OK, turn off automatic system updates. Run a complete system backup at least once a month with a backup boot thumb drive. Run system updates manually from the control panel.
If you can’t get it running install Linux Mint on a USB drive and run as Live ,you can get your stuff for a fresh install of win 7 ,D’oh
Pry open your wallet and upgrade to a new PC with Win 10. Do this before the Linux nerds hijack this thread and shame you for using an MS operating system. In my experience, Win 10 is near flawless for the average user when running a system designed for Win 10 with software designed for Win 10.