Stuck in boot loop after the July update? (Windows 11 - Dell XPS 15)

RomPereira

Hey everyone,

Is anyone else having issues with the latest Windows update from this July? My PC was running perfectly fine yesterday, but it forced an update overnight, and now I’m stuck in a loop.

Every time I turn it on, it hits the Dell logo, hangs for a second, and then either reboots or dumps me straight into the BitLocker recovery screen. I’ve tried the "Automatic Repair" thing three times now, but it just fails and says it can't fix it.

I really don't want to do a clean install because I have some work files on there that I haven't backed up (I know, I know, my fault). I’ve seen some people mention EFI partition issues online, but I'm not really a tech expert, so I'm terrified of breaking it more by messing with partitions.

Is this just a bad update? Does anyone know a way to get back into the OS without wiping the drive? Literally any advice would be a lifesaver. Thanks in advance.

AS-m7t9m

RomPereira I'm sorry for your situation, but this is exactly why the "3-2-1" backup rule exists. You shouldn't be relying on a single drive for work files in 2026. Have you tried checking your MS account for the BitLocker key yet? At least you can grab your files from another machine if you really have to wipe it.

LanceBryantGrigg

RomPereira Don't panic. Put the keyboard down for a second and take a breath. "Automatic Repair" almost never works for these updates anyway.

Try this first: Get into the Advanced Startup options (turn it on/off 3 times in a row if you can't reach the menu). Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.

Can you get to the black screen there? If yes, reply back, don't run anything yet.

Kobo_kuin_deka

Same here. XPS 15, updated last night. Currently stuck at the Dell logo loop too. Following this thread, hopefully someone has a fix that doesn't involve nuking the drive.

RomPereira

LanceBryantGrigg I managed to get to the Command Prompt. Now what?

yossefnabil2122

@LanceBryantGrigg is right. The reason this is happening is almost certainly because the EFI system partition is too small to handle the new boot files from the July update. Windows tries to write, runs out of space, and corrupts the bootloader. It's a classic technical debt issue with how Windows handles partition sizing on factory installs.

LanceBryantGrigg

RomPereira Okay, good. Type diskpart and hit enter. Then type list disk and list volume.

Tell me what you see. Are you seeing an EFI or System partition that's like 100MB or less? That's usually the culprit.

hogongee

LanceBryantGrigg Adding to that, if it is the EFI partition, bootrec /rebuildbcd usually fails because the BCD store is corrupted due to the write error. Don't waste time with bootrec yet until you confirm the partition status.

RomPereira

LanceBryantGrigg I see "Volume 1" as System (100MB, Hidden). It says "Healthy" but I can't really tell if it's full? Is that the problem?