OS: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
Recently I've encountered a problem when restarting or shutting down the computer, if I am logged in or not when I initiate the shut down/restart, in which the computer stays on the shut down or restart page (with the swirly dots) for at least several minutes, before an error occurs stating that loginui.exe has had a runtime error and has asked to terminate an unusual way (or something similar). Following that notice, it occasionally gives me an error code of 0x40000015 and varying locations, sometimes the notice doesn't stay up long so I was able to get this one: 0xae040aee. It seems to switch the location depending on if it is shutting down or restarting.
Upon rebooting the computer, I can log in but within a few minutes the system is frozen. I have to perform a hard shut down. If I try to sign out of the account before it freezes (I can tell if it is going to, more on that in a minute), and I don't sign out quick enough, I will often be unable to sign out due to a windows process preventing me from doing so, usually a task host window. Sometimes it doesn't say the name. Anyways, I pick the "sign out anyway" and it goes to a blank screen (blank being whatever color you have chosen to personalize your computer to display), and it sits there until the heat death of the universe. Picking "cancel" instead doesn't help either.
I can sometimes tell if I managed to get it to start up where it won't crash or not. After the first 30 seconds or so, either the desktop will be blank (the taskbar will appear but the background will be a solid color), programs will refuse to start (as in clicking on the program makes it look like it will start as the icon flashes and all of that, but it never starts), apps don't display their logos when they are started (only their background color is displayed), things start freezing (anything from the charms bar to the mouse), and, if I logged out before restarting, the wrong lock screen comes up (my personalized screen instead of the seattle screen, or vice versa).
Occasionally, if I can log into my account and log out, then begin a standard shutdown/ restart from the login page, then wait a minute, then do a hard shut down before the error message occurs, I can reboot and get into the system and it will behave normally-until another reboot/ shutdown.
Attempted and failed troubleshooting methods:
Multiple restarts of every kind (hard, soft, hybrid, full, etc.)
sfc
chkdsk
Manually replacing logonui.exe, and two other files (it was winhost and winhostex or something similar (I'm not going to bother looking it up now), in the system32 folder)
Updating software, from the OS to C++ redistributable, etc.
Removing recently installed software
Registry cleaning
Automatic repair, both with and without the disk
Looked over the startup options
A few other things that I cannot recall at the moment
Petting the mouse (didn't work)
Screaming quietly at it (didn't work either)
What seemed to work, but didn't really:
Diagnostic mode (it didn't freeze on start up, but it still wouldn't shut down correctly)
Things that won't work:
Restore point (I tried it, and I happened to try it before the system froze)
Virus cleaning (there's not a single virus on it, and I know that because almost all of my browsing goes through virtual machines, and even if there is a virus it certainly wouldn't have caused all this damage after all of the repair stuff I've tried)
What I do not want to do:
Refresh, Reset, or any form of reinstall except for reinstalling system files (I want to keep my programs and files)
I will do this as a last resort but I really think it is probably just one corrupted file that's causing all the ruckus.
My next step if no solutions are found is that I've used the easy transfer wizard to put a backup of program files and other things on a second partition, and then I'll reinstall windows and put use the easy transfer to restore (do you have any comments on how successful that will be, I also have the registry backed up?).
The attached file is a system diagnostic report since no dump files are generated to my knowledge.
Note: I posted this verbatim on Microsoft's community page and so far have gotten no response.
[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin]
