Is Your Windows Update Stuck? Here are the Easy Fixes
Are you facing windows update stuck error? The Getting Windows ready, don’t turn off your computer message arrives while Windows installs updates. Windows will typically finish the installation process if you give it time—but if it’s been hours, you may need to restart your PC.
Unfortunately, it’s normal to wait a while for Windows to update, which wastes an immense amount of time. Microsoft states there are about 700 million Windows 10 devices and that the April 2018 Update will take 10 to 30 minutes to install. So, pretending an average of 20 minutes for 700 million computers, that’s over 26,000 years of humanity’s collective time wasted waiting for Windows 10 to install a single update.
How to Fix Windows Update Stuck Error?
Make sure the updates are stuck
We’re going to cover a lot of ground here for different versions of Windows and a variety of ‘stuck’ scenarios, so you may have to tweak some of these steps to suit your situation and software.
The first case to make is that interfering with updates that aren’t stuck can create a host of problems, so you want to make sure they are stuck.
If you’ve got the time and the patience, we’d suggest waiting a couple of hours, especially with slower machines – go and cut the grass or watch a movie. It may seem extreme, but you don’t want to start meddling with these fundamental processes unless you have to.
Please turn it off and on again
Do you know why have you tried turning it off and on repeat is such an IT support cliché? Because it so often works. There’s no magic trick to this – it completely clears out your computer’s temporary memory (including any stalled files or processes). It lets Windows start again from scratch with everything on the way.
If your updates are stuck in the background while you yet have entrance to Windows, you can restart as normal; if they’re stuck before or after the OS loads, you’re working to have to hold down the power button and do a hard reset. This can create issues itself, so make sure your updates aren’t progressing at all.
Check the Windows Update utility
In Windows 10, you can get the Windows Update page by launching the Settings app from the Start menu and clicking Update & Security – if there’s something wrong and Windows knows what it is, and you should find details here. Sometimes you’ll see a message telling you to try the update again at a different time.
If you click ‘Advanced options’ and then ‘View your update history, you can see recently installed successful updates and uninstall some or all of them – again, and this can be a handy troubleshooting option. Windows 10 has streamlined the update process, so you should see fewer errors.
Run Microsoft’s troubleshooter program
Microsoft feels your pain: it knows the update method can cause problems now and again, which is why it’s developed a troubleshooter program specifically for it – search the old Control Panel for troubleshooting, then choose Fix problems with Windows Update from the list on-screen.
The link should be available in Windows 7 and 8 too, but if not, you can go at it on the web as well. That said, if you haven’t yet upgraded to Microsoft’s latest and most excellent operating system, then it’s probably still worth your while, as it’s more than likely to solve your update problems at the same time.
Launch Windows in Safe Mode
Safe Mode is like a restart with extras – only the fundamental apps and code that Windows needs to run are loaded into memory, so there’s even less chance of a rogue, damaged file interfering with the update. In Windows 10, hold down the Shift key, then pick Power and Restart from the Windows sign-in screen.
On the next screen, you see pick Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, Startup Settings, and Restart, and you should then see the Safe Mode option arrive: try running through the update process again if you can. A quick search online will provide you Safe Mode instructions for older versions of Windows.
Go back in time with System Restore
System Restore has assisted solve Windows difficulties for many a year now, but it happens to be quite well hidden in Windows 10. Enter to Control Panel, System, System Protection, and then click System Restore. Go through the wizard, then choose ‘Show more restore points to see all your available options.
Pick a time and date, then finish the wizard to go back to how Windows was configured at that point (and hopefully solve your update issues simultaneously). The process doesn’t affect your files or programs, but it may not be available to you depending on how Windows was initially set up.
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