There is a hyphen bug that causes Windows 11/10 to take hours to display the login screen

A bizarre but completely fixable bug has wreaked havoc on an organization using a Windows Workgroup network with dozens of Windows 11/10 devices.

After a series of bugs that appeared to affect the booting process, a Windows network was impacted to such a degree that it caused all Windows 11/10 devices to become stuck on the BIOS screen or go completely black.

According to the Reddit user who shared the story, newer devices (laptops and PCs) were also affected, so the idea of bad hardware was scraped. The problem not only persisted, but it had spread across all networks within 2 weeks, and nothing seemed to work despite hours of looking online for solutions and answers.

The bug was a hyphen (-) in the Windows Workgroup name.

Our Workgroup name, which mirrored the company name (legally containing a hyphen, e.g., WORK-GROUP), was the culprit. Somehow, this minor detail wreaked havoc during the boot process, causing extreme delays—sometimes taking upwards of 2 to 5 hours for the login screen to appear.

It seems that this bug isn’t so documented, and many Windows users don’t know about it, so if you’re experiencing it and have a Workgroup name containing a hyphen, consider removing it.

Here’s how:

1. Login to Windows 11/10.
2. Go to Settings and access Home.
3. Click on Rename and remove the hyphen.
4. Click on Next, and finish up the renaming process.

The Reddit user says it works instantly, and the booting process acts normally after a restart. Let us know if it works for you.