Windows 10 device starts on the Welcome Screen and as "Other user"

Applies to: Windows 10


When you turn on a new Windows 10 device for the first time, the device may start on the Welcome Screen, which displays Other user, instead of starting in the Out of Box Experience (OOBE). In this situation, you cannot log on to the device or use Windows.


This issue occurs because a critical Windows process (dwm.exe) fails to start.

In some circumstances the video driver sends a TDR (Timeout Detect Recovery) which (by design) leads to winlogon to stop and restart the DWM. If the TDR happens very early in the boot sequence (either before the winlogon state machine is fully initalized, or before winlogon has even launched the DWM for the first time) there is a condition where we can get into loop of where dwm is being terminated over and over again. Once in this loop, the session gets terminated which causes to be logged in as Other User


To work around this issue, follow these steps:
  1. Press and hold the Shift key.
  2. Press or click the Power button in the lower-right corner of the Welcome Screen.
  3. Press or click the Restart option.
If this doesn't work, press and hold the power button for 30 seconds to completely restart the computer. Check the documentation that came with your device for the exact steps.

