Solved Advice Please - Win10 PC Corrupted So that I Can't Get Past Login

Screen photo of root folder on boot drive is attached.

Bastet, I can't seem to be able to attach a text file in response to you.

PeterOz,
For your suggested Method 4, downloaded an installed the AOMEI Partition Assistant. To Make Bootable Media requires the Pro edition, license costing $50 for 1 year or $60 for lifetime. Tried to use the free function Win To Go, to create bootable USB media (not sure how useful this might be, since there was no promised inclusion of AOMEI Partition Assistant), using previously loaded Windows10.iso file from Microsoft support site, but it hung at 5% for over 15mins, and can't seem to be able to cancel it without invoking Task Manager. I'll try again later with their own image available for downloading, but I suspect this is barking up the wrong tree.

Bastet,
I can't get the PC to do anything other than go to the login screen, when booting off the original boot drive C:. None of the "tricks" with Shift key, power switch, or anything else seem to alter the boot sequence, in any way. The only control that I seem to get over this "runaway beast" is through booting off separate media (a bootable USB stick, made from the Microsoft Support web page). This gives me a Troubleshoot menu. The only Troubleshoot function which seems to do anything useful is the Command prompt. Everything else returns one form or another of failure message. The only other Troubleshoot option which I have not tried would be to restore a previously-saved image of the boot drive, but I do not have such an image.
Thank you for trying.

PeterOz,
It turns out that I should have been more patient with the Win To Go, as their own AOMEI website led me back to the Microsoft web site download of the Windows10.iso file, which I already had. I have now waited a much longer time, and the burning process has progressed to 30%. I cant understand what could make burning an ISO image an from an SSD to USB so slow, but I'll be patient. I still don't hold much hope that the outcome of this operation will be useful for this particular purpose, but I'll keep an open mind.
Thank you for trying to help.

Bastet,
I understand from your signature block that you are fond of Macrium Reflect, but could you please explain what advantage you see in your suggested creation of bootable USB media made from that app, over the bootable USB which I have been using since last Sunday, made by the Microsoft Windows 10 Support web site, and which contains the necessary tools for Microsoft's Troubleshooting, plus the data to re-install Windows 10 ?
Thank you.

PeterOz,
I've given myself this week to try fixing this problem, without deleting everything off the boot drive.
There's a lot that's only in there, including lots of apps, games, their upgrades and logs. Desktop links. I can't even remember them all, I'm sure. No data as such, including emails. About 65% full though, as you may have noticed.
It will be a pain to rebuild all that. I'm still open to trying new ideas.
Thank you for trying to help me.

Bastet said:

Macrium has the option to automatically fix Windows boot problems.
If you’re reluctant to follow my suggestions then I can’t offer any further help.

Click to expand...

Hi Bastet.
I'm not reluctant to accept any help, but please allow me to describe my current situation here.
1. I have a machine which boots fine, up to the stage of the login screen. It just won't load any user environment, or anything else, past the point of password entry. Everyone trying to help me has focused on finding a way to make the machine boot. It boots - repeatably and reliably. After booting, it requests a registered user selection and password. It's the rest of the startup process from that point, which seems to be broken.
2. I have now tried many things suggested by people in this Forum, and the last suggestion made (prior to your Macrium Reflect one) was to create another bootable media USB drive, other than the one which I already made last Saturday, using the Microsoft Support web site. The specific bootable media utility app suggested required the non-trivial purchase of a software license, which I would prefer to avoid for a one-time use. The alternative free method suggested by that app consisted in burning the Windows10.iso image to a USB drive. I downloaded that ISO file from the Microsoft Support web site when the trouble started, in case it might be useful later. This agonisingly slow burning process was launched on my Win10 laptop yesterday, about 28 hours ago, and has now only just reached 80% completion. When it's finally completed, and I have had a chance to see if anything useful can come out of it, I will then look at using up a third USB drive to follow your suggestion, using Macrium Reflect.

Please have patience with me, and thank you for trying to help me.