Avoiding the dreaded "processing Windows updates" message for many hours when booting PC

[Mortimer]

Of the various Windows 7 PCs that I've set up for customers, I've heard of
two which have got stuck in the "processing Windows updates" phase when the
PC is booting up - though this is only two of probably about twenty that
I've set up without any problem.

The problem is that once the PC has got into this state, it stays there,
with the disk light flashing away, for many hours - one of my customers said
that it stayed like that for about 12 hours before finally booting to the
desktop and working perfectly ever since. There is no way (as far as I know)
to break out of the update process or to prevent it happening on the next
boot, and there's always the risk of corrupting the disk if you turn the
power off.

Does anyone have any hints and tips on how to avoid the PC getting into this
state? Is it best to download updates manually, maybe chooing to do just a
few at a time, rebooting and then doing a few more, rather than letting the
automatic Windows Update process run when it has been scheduled?

Is there any advantage in having the PC connected by Ethernet rather than
wireless while it is going through the critical first round of Windows
updates to take it from the factory state to the current list of Windows
updates?

Am I right that the updates are downloaded over the network connection while
that PC is still booted up, and that any work done as the PC shuts down and
as it next starts up is simply installing those downloaded updates without
using any network connection?

 

[Bogey Man]

Something similar happened to an XP machine that I had when I got impatient
with an update that was installing upon shut down. I pressed the power
button. The next boots took forever. I had to uninstall the last update and
then go back to the update site and re-install it. It worked fine after
that.

 

[Boscoe]

Of the various Windows 7 PCs that I've set up for customers, I've heard
of two which have got stuck in the "processing Windows updates" phase
when the PC is booting up - though this is only two of probably about
twenty that I've set up without any problem.

The problem is that once the PC has got into this state, it stays there,
with the disk light flashing away, for many hours - one of my customers
said that it stayed like that for about 12 hours before finally booting
to the desktop and working perfectly ever since. There is no way (as far
as I know) to break out of the update process or to prevent it happening
on the next boot, and there's always the risk of corrupting the disk if
you turn the power off.

Does anyone have any hints and tips on how to avoid the PC getting into
this state? Is it best to download updates manually, maybe chooing to do
just a few at a time, rebooting and then doing a few more, rather than
letting the automatic Windows Update process run when it has been
scheduled?

Is there any advantage in having the PC connected by Ethernet rather
than wireless while it is going through the critical first round of
Windows updates to take it from the factory state to the current list of
Windows updates?

Am I right that the updates are downloaded over the network connection
while that PC is still booted up, and that any work done as the PC shuts
down and as it next starts up is simply installing those downloaded
updates without using any network connection?

Svchost or Service Host is important and controls a lot of background
processes, and you may have several instances of it running. They can
cause trouble and a lot of the time it’s due to the Windows Update
Service, which Svchost controls. I would switch Automatic Updates off
and remember to download updates manually from time to time.

 

[Mortimer]

Something similar happened to an XP machine that I had when I got
impatient with an update that was installing upon shut down. I pressed the
power button. The next boots took forever. I had to uninstall the last
update and then go back to the update site and re-install it. It worked
fine after that.

The problem is that you can't get at the PC to uninstall anything! Once it's
happened, you are stuck. If you turn the power off (or press the reset
switch) you can't even get into Safe Mode because it starts the
"installation tasks after a reboot" phase in the same way as for normal
startup.

 

[Mortimer]

Svchost or Service Host is important and controls a lot of background
processes, and you may have several instances of it running. They can
cause trouble and a lot of the time it’s due to the Windows Update
Service, which Svchost controls. I would switch Automatic Updates off and
remember to download updates manually from time to time.

OK, I'll try that for any future Windows 7 PCs I set up. Will it actually
make a difference, though? The download of the updates (whether automated or
done manually from time to time) seems to complete fine, and the PC shuts
down reasonably quickly even if there are updates that install during the
shutdown phase. It's only when the PC starts back up again that it goes into
stupid mode.

Still, it's worth a try.

 

[Boscoe]

On 28/05/2010 5:32 PM, Mortimer wrote:>

OK, I'll try that for any future Windows 7 PCs I set up. Will it
actually make a difference, though? The download of the updates (whether
automated or done manually from time to time) seems to complete fine,
and the PC shuts down reasonably quickly even if there are updates that
install during the shutdown phase. It's only when the PC starts back up
again that it goes into stupid mode.

Still, it's worth a try.

I had a problem with an update after I started my PC and it always runs
one particular svchost.exe process which slowed it down to such a slow
crawl, for the best part of two hours.

Unfortunately I don’t think there is a cure.

 

[Trimble Bracegirdle]

Turn Auto-Updates to manual & leave it like that always.
Despite Microsoft's constant Nagging we don't need the updates anyway.

There's many that are not needed for many users ...e.g. The Language Packs.
Windows will still work if you never ever install any update.
(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") mouse

 

[Gilgamesh]

The problem is that you can't get at the PC to uninstall anything! Once
it's happened, you are stuck. If you turn the power off (or press the
reset switch) you can't even get into Safe Mode because it starts the
"installation tasks after a reboot" phase in the same way as for normal
startup.

Is it possible that your users (like Bogey Man) pressed the power button on
the shutdown before the PC had finished its processing thus causing the
power on problems you are describing.
Rhetorical question - the answer is yes, they just won't admit it to you.