Any and all advice, guides, and reviews are unbiased and based on my personal experience. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions, which helps support my website. This does not have an impact on posts or my opinion of any reviewed products. If you find this post helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!
I own a Windows 11 laptop and it started freezing randomly – the issue was truly random, which made troubleshooting hard. Was it a connected USB device, a power issue, a BIOS update? I bracing myself for the worst case scenarios – rollback updates and failing that, a full system restore. But, there was a way to fix it, took about 30minutes and all using Microsoft’s built in Windows Repair tools. There’s no need to download anything, install weird software, or edit registry entries.
If you’re technically minded, the repair process uses the following Windows system tools.
- DISM: Deployment Image Servicing and Management
- SFC: System File Checker
- CHKDSK: Check Disk (Disk Repair)
I’m sharing this, because you may be anxious about pasting random code in Windows Terminal without knowing exactly what’s going on – basically what you need to do is fix any corrupted system files which may be the cause of the unexpected crashes and freezes. The System File Checker (SFC) and Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tools can restore missing or do this task; then you scan your drive for any drive errors.
Important, an internet connection is required as DISM will download replacements for any missing or corrupted files. Also, should go without saying, but make sure your laptop is plugged into power during the repair process.
Here’s what worked for me and I hope it also works for you!
Step by Step Guide to Fix Random Freezes on Windows 11
- On Windows 11, click Start, type “cmd” in the search bar to find Command Prompt, right click and on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. Make sure you then click Yes on any User Access Control Prompts.
- In the Command Prompt, first run this DISM command
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Note: DISM will look like it’s not doing anything for up to a minute, before it starts showing a progress bar. Don’t panic if it looks like it hasn’t started work – wait, then wait some more. This is also true as it progresses through the [====XX.X%===] fixed bar, as a pause means it’s fixing something not that it has crashed. Rather unhelpfully, DISM can pause for several minutes during a repair which can be anxiety inducing. Be patient, it will be OK.
- After DISM completes, you can now run SFC. In Command Prompt, run the SFC command.
sfc /scannow
- The SFC process may take several minutes.
- After SFC completes, now is a good time to ensure all fixes are saved and applied.
- Now, as a last step, you can run CHKDSK, use this command.
chkdsk c: /f /r
- You’ll likely receive a message saying Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use. Press Y, hit enter, now restart your computer to allow the scan to run during boot.
- The SFC scan will run, it will show “Fixing” – how fast it is really depends on your drive. It will start saying it will take an hour, but quickly drops back to under 20 after a few minutes. Again, be patient.
- You’re done!
Final Thoughts
All I know is this worked for me, I’m still not sure how the files got corrupted to begin with, so there’s no preventative action. That said, I hope this advices helps someone else!
Any and all advice, guides, and reviews are unbiased and based on my personal experience. If you buy through affiliate links, I may earn commissions, which helps support my website. This does not have an impact on posts or my opinion of any reviewed products. If you find this post helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!