Gray screen after attempted login on windows 8.1 HP laptop?

My laptop is is an HP ENVY m6 Notebook PC, serial code: CND3010HN6

Hello, the past couple of days whenever I have tried to login to my laptop I am presented with a blank gray screen. Here's how it typically goes down:

Turn on laptop using power button (after hard shut down)
Boot screen with HP logo on top and spinning dots on bottom happens
HP logo screen disapears and I am greeted with gray screen for about a minute
Gray screen is replaced by lock screen
Lift lock screen and login to account using password
I now have a gray screen that does not turn into the desktop

Here are some things that happen on the gray screen after login:

I can move my mouse and the cursor pops up and sometimes has the blue loading circle next to it
I can open the task menu by using CTRL + ALT + DELETE but cannot open task manager.
I cannot use any windows key commands (opening the metro screen, popping up the search bar on the side)

Before this happened I was installing a driver for a bluetooth adapter (my laptop does not have bluetooth built in) and had accidentally triggered a restart while it was installing. On the login screen there is an option to login using the bluetooth security tag (I don't know how to use this so I don't know if it will help.) it may also be worth noting that e laptop also has a fingerprint scanner but I don't know if that changes anything (I use that to log in most of the time.)

Thank you so much for reading my wall of text, I hope you can solve my problem!

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Bill Smithers

Hi,

Do a System Restore to a date before you attempted to install that driver:

"How to Do a System Restore in Windows 8 and 8.1"

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4692-system-restore-how-do-windows-8-a.html

If necessary, follow this path to do a System Restore in Safe Mode:

"5 Ways to Boot into Safe Mode in Windows 8 & Windows 8.1"

http://www.7tutorials.com/5-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-8-windows-81

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If you can't access Safe Mode by the above means due to the fact that you can't Boot into Windows

"Windows Startup Settings (including safe mode)"

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-AU/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-safe-mode

If you can't start (boot) your PC, follow these instructions to get to the Windows Recovery Environment. You'll need to connect a keyboard to complete the steps.

Do one of the following, depending on whether you have installation media (such as a DVD or USB flash drive):
- If you have installation media for Windows 8.1, start (or boot) your computer from the installation media. Insert the DVD or USB flash drive and restart your computer. If you see a message asking you to “Press any key to boot from DVD,” do so. If you don’t see the message, you might need to change the boot order in your computer's BIOS settings so that it first starts from the DVD or USB. When you see the Install Windows page, tap or click Repair your computer to start the Windows Recovery Environment.
- If you don’t have installation media, use the power button to restart your computer three times. This will start the Windows Recovery Environment.
- etc.

Cheers.

___________________________________________________

Bill Smithers - Microsoft MVP July 2013 - Dec 2020

Gray screen after attempted login on windows 8.1 HP laptop?

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