Hi and thank you in advance for any help - gratefully received! I've been running all kinds of programs on my mum's PC, including Python, GitBash, PyCharm, and they had been running fine. After months of running these additional applications, I messed about with filepaths in order to connect various files to the cmd prompt. The PC then started taking ten minutes or so to start up and I got error messages saying Failed to Connect to Group Policy Client service. I ran the fix as described here https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_7-performance/why-wont-windows-connect-to-the-group-policy/b73107f8-8447-4599-87a5-65ecc6a63aa0 The PC started up fine for a day or so, but then the error message about the Group Policy Client service reappeared. I tried to run regedit again but that was no longer installed. I opened cmd as admin and ran a scannow and windows found some files to repair. Now on opening, the PC is again taking a long time, I am also getting the Group Policy Client service error message again, and now I cannot open regedit, I cannot open the command prompt as administrator, and I cannot open task manager! When attempting to open regedit or cmd as admin, the waiting cursor appears and the eventually I get an error message saying these are not installed. When I try to open task manager, nothing happens at all. I can't try to fix this myself as all the suggested fixes I find on the internet need access to either the task manager to get access to the cmd prompt as administrator, or need access to cmd prompt as administrator, in order to access task manager... Help, what have I done? Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question. Anonymous 2021-04-05T11:58:37+00:00 You may have gone too far with what you have done. Try working in the Recovery Environment. See if this assists you with your Repair options. You can use the power button to restart your computer three times. This will start the Windows Recovery Environment. "How To Access Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 or 8.1" http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/open-advanced-startup-options-windows-8.htm " How to Boot to Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 and 8.1" http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4935-startup-options-menu-boot-windows-8-a.html There is detailed information here too. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html ______________________________________________ And please read this method: " How to Boot to "System Recovery Options" in Windows 8 and 8.1" http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2269-system-recovery-options-boot-windows-8-a.html @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Or: https://www.eightforums.com/threads/repair-install-windows-8.26095/ 0 comments No comments You may have gone too far with what you have done. Try working in the Recovery Environment. See if this assists you with your Repair options. You can use the power button to restart your computer three times. This will start the Windows Recovery Environment. "How To Access Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 or 8.1" http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/a/open-advanced-startup-options-windows-8.htm " How to Boot to Advanced Startup Options in Windows 8 and 8.1" http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4935-startup-options-menu-boot-windows-8-a.html There is detailed information here too. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2843-automatic-repair-run-windows-8-a.html ______________________________________________

And please read this method: " How to Boot to "System Recovery Options" in Windows 8 and 8.1" http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2269-system-recovery-options-boot-windows-8-a.html @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ https://www.eightforums.com/threads/repair-install-windows-8.26095/ Anonymous 2021-04-05T11:48:58+00:00 Thank you Bill. That sounds like a good thing to do. Unfortunately I cannot get into System Protection. After several minutes it times out and displays this message: "c:\windows\system32\sysmtempropertiesprotection.exe. The system did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion." Anything you can suggest please? Thank you 0 comments No comments Thank you Bill. That sounds like a good thing to do. Unfortunately I cannot get into System Protection. After several minutes it times out and displays this message: "c:\windows\system32\sysmtempropertiesprotection.exe. The system did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion." Anything you can suggest please? Anonymous 2021-04-05T11:13:56+00:00 Do a System Restore to a date before you had this problem: " 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 I suggest that you pick a point before this: I messed about with filepaths in order to connect various files to the cmd prompt. The PC then started taking ten minutes or so to start up and I got error messages saying Failed to Connect to Group Policy Client service. 0 comments No comments Do a System Restore to a date before you had this problem: " 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 I suggest that you pick a point before this: I messed about with filepaths in order to connect various files to the cmd prompt. The PC then started taking ten minutes or so to start up and I got error messages saying Failed to Connect to Group Policy Client service. Anonymous 2021-04-05T11:05:21+00:00 I suppose so. Sorry. I do have Windows 8.1 and the Windows 7 fix seemed to work. Is that the problem? 0 comments No comments I suppose so. Sorry. I do have Windows 8.1 and the Windows 7 fix seemed to work. Is that the problem? Anonymous 2021-04-05T09:55:03+00:00 You posted to the Windows 8 forums, telling us that you used a Windows 7 solution to fix a problem that you caused. Is that correct? 0 comments No comments You posted to the Windows 8 forums, telling us that you used a Windows 7 solution to fix a problem that you caused. Is that correct?