Failed to configure startup updates. I can't configure Windows updates - what should I do? Instructions, tips. Using manual update

Some Windows users like to reinstall the operating system when they are unable to cope with the situation and find a solution to the problem on their own. For example, if an attempt to deploy an update fails, the computer goes into a looping reboot mode, followed by the message “We were unable to configure Windows updates. Changes are being rolled back" or "We were unable to complete the updates. Cancel changes. Don't turn off your computer." The legs of one and the other have been growing since Windows 7 and they still won’t be cut off in the “top ten”. But you can still overcome them, and to do this it is not at all necessary to tear down the system and install it again. Just read these instructions, which describe what needs to be done if the OS is unable to install the Windows 10 update.

Cleaning out the SoftwareDistribution folder with Windows 10 updates

Before installing updates, the system downloads them to a separate directory. In most cases, cleaning it or moving it will help overcome the mentioned errors. This can be done either from under the system (if you have access to it) or using a USB drive with files for installing Windows 10.

Cleaning up the SoftwareDistribution folder in

This method is suitable if you were able to log in.

Using a bootable Windows 10 USB flash drive to clean SoftwareDistribution

If you cannot get into the system, then to clear the folder you will have to use the drive with the files to install the operating system. you can do it in several ways, but one way or another you will need a second computer with a stable operating OS.

After creating the boot drive, do the following:

Fixing Windows Update Could Not Complete Error with Update Center Diagnostics

As you may know, Windows has its own set of diagnostic and troubleshooting tools. You've probably come across it often, but never used it. Now you have a great opportunity to use it to solve the problem.

If you are unable to penetrate the system, then you should try another option.

Removing a duplicate profile to fix Windows Updates Could Not Complete Error

In some cases, the Windows 10 update installation process may fail due to a duplicate user account. The Registry Editor will help you fix this problem. Be careful and do not touch anything unnecessary so as not to harm the system.

If there is no change for the better after applying all the described methods, you can try saving the data.

Let's take it in order. When updating Windows services, identification for the license is carried out. In the case of a pirated version, the check does not complete successfully and an error appears.

The reason may also be user actions. Have you seen messages on the taskbar about updates or when you turn off your computer? There also appears a message that the update is in progress, for example, 47%. A bit of a lengthy process, and it often requires resources. And when you turn off the computer, the screen does not go dark, and the OS informs you that you should not try to turn off the computer, do not pull the cord from the outlet...

Unfortunately, many users, due to their inattention or stupidity in combination with other character traits, harm the OS, doing everything exactly the opposite. Now let's look at tips for eliminating this violation...

Failures of this type are characterized by 2 main reasons:

• A pirated version of Windows is installed on the PC;
• User's carelessness or negligence

Method 1:

When you try to install updates, the OS notifies you that it is impossible to configure these updates and that you are canceling the changes. The PC reboots, again updates unsuccessfully, the process repeats, repeats again, and repeats again, the evil user pulls the cord plug from the socket or presses the button on the system unit to reboot in the hope of changing something, since the computer does not turn off after Windows 7 shuts down There is no point in doing this, because the work is not completed!

You need to wait for the next reboot, or you can do it using Reset. On the laptop, press the power button. While loading BIOS click F8 to open the OS boot menu. In the menu that appears, find the launch option Safe mode and start the system.

Because Since most services are inactive in safe mode, the update download service will stop working. After loading the OS, click on the checkbox on the taskbar. Now you need to open the column My computer .

Select the local OS drive on which Windows was installed. If you have several of them, and you have no idea which OS they are on, then go through them ( of course, with a glance! the local disk with the OS is marked with a flag ), there should be a folder called Windows:

A window will open in front of you with long and strange folder names. You will need to look by date and delete the latest ones, see the picture:

If you have difficulty deleting the latest update releases, then select all existing folders and delete them. Now reboot the OS and try to enable updates, but if you own a pirated version, then updates must be disabled to avoid a repeat crash.

Of course, the screenshot with the checkboxes highlighted and updates enabled (with a green picture) shows what to do with the licensed program. Well, where everything is disabled and the checkboxes are unchecked (accordingly, the picture is red) - an option for pirated OS releases.

Reboot your PC again and look at the changes.

Method 2:

If you are not lucky enough to solve the problem, then there is this option, it is also effective and quite affordable.

You also press F8 at startup, but now select the download option Safe Mode with Command Line Support , don't get confused. This is what it looks like, you type in it msconfig, click on Enter . The command will be executed and the window will open:

Now, a system configuration window has appeared, now go to the service and look for the line to restore the system. Windows 7 failed to configure updates

Press it's ready. After the changes have been made, also proceed to updates, and then you can decide whether to do them automatically or refuse altogether. If you forgot something, all this is indicated in the 1st method, do not forget to also check the boxes. Again, reboot your PC.

Please leave your comments via social networks. Tell us which method helped you. What else would you like to see on this site? Feel free to post your thoughts, this will help other visitors and the administration.

Each Windows product has its own life cycle. It begins when the system is first released and ends when its support and bug fixes cease. Windows 7 is no exception, and will continue to receive updates for a couple of years. In this article, we will look in detail at the main reasons why updates are not installed in Windows 7 and how to fix this problem.

Description of the problem

Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 in 2015. But despite this, the release of security updates and system error fixes will last until January 2020. Therefore, the problem when updates do not start, do not download, or an endless search for them appears is quite common and popular.

It is often associated with system problems or failures of various system components or services, but viruses should not be ruled out either. A full scan of your computer for threats and further cleaning may help, but is not a 100% guarantee.

Why Windows 7 updates won't install?

The main reasons for problems downloading and installing updates on the OS:

1. Problems with downloading. Initially, the files are downloaded into the cache memory and stored there until the user allows their installation or reboots the computer. If you download them with errors, installing updates on your computer is impossible. Unfortunately, when you download update files again, the data is not updated.
2. Windows registry problems. Often when installing updates, the problem is hidden in a failure of the registry settings or incorrect parameters set in the registry.
3. The Windows Update service has failed.
4. Lack or limited amount of free memory on the system disk. A fairly common problem, because if the required space on the hard drive is small, the update will not be installed or will be installed with errors.
5. No internet or blocked by installed antivirus. Very often, an antivirus blocks files unknown to it. Disabling it while the update is downloading will solve this problem.
6. Blocked by a virus.

What to do if Windows 7 won't update

If Windows 7 does not install updates or is endlessly searching for them, the first thing you need to do is use Microsot’s “Fix It” utility. Once launched, it will automatically fix all problems related to the update center. You can download the utility from the official website using the link.

Let's look at the main methods to fix the problem.

Clearing cached files

If the reason is downloading updates with errors, you need to clear the downloaded update files located in the cache memory. And only then download them again. To do this you should:

Registry settings

The problem with the OS registry can be resolved by removing the component responsible for updates. Follow these steps:

Starting OS services

If the installation of an update fails in Windows 7, the problem may be in a system service and can be resolved by performing the following steps:

1. Click “Start” → in the search, write “Services” → open this window.
   
2. In the window that appears, look for a service with the name « Windows Update." If the service is disabled, click “Run” and the problem will be solved.
   
3. If the service is started and running, click “Stop”.
   
4. Launch the “Command Prompt” by pressing “Win ​​+ R” → type the command “SoftwareDistribution” → “OK”.
   
   
5. In the window that appears, delete all folders and files.
   
   
6. Next we start the service « Windows Update » (point 2) and reboot the PC.
7. Go to the update center and install updates without previous errors.

If you do not have a specific update installed (the example of the update “kb2999226” is considered), you need to enter the name of the update in the search field on the site, download it and install it on your computer.

The problem is that update packages constantly released by Microsoft, even with automatic search and installation enabled, are not always installed. In this case, the system displays a message stating that the Windows 10 update package could not be installed. Why this happens and how to fix such failures, read on. There are not so many methods, but in most cases they turn out to be quite effective and eliminate problems that arise.

Why updates cannot be installed possible reasons

As for the manifestation of such failures, there can be quite a lot of situations: from the banal impact of viruses to errors in the system itself.

Sometimes the system may report that it was unable to install some Windows 10 updates or configure them due to lack of free space in the system partition, clogged with incorrectly downloaded cache update files, the Internet connection being blocked by a firewall, etc. But this doesn't happen often.

Windows 10 update fails to install: what to do first?

However, let's see what can be done in such a situation. If the user sees a message that the Windows 10 update cannot be installed, the failure may be due to the incorrect functioning of the service itself, which is responsible for the operation of the Update Center.

The first thing you can do is try to search for available updates manually. To do this, use the settings section, called directly from the main “Start” menu, where you select the update and security menu, after which in the “Update Center” you press the button to check for updates. At the end of the search, everything that is found will need to be integrated into the system or select only what needs to be installed.

At the same time, in the same section, use additional settings and make sure that the recommended automatic mode is used to check and install updates.

Troubleshooting using system tools

Another method for fixing a situation where the system fails to install the Windows 10 update is to use the built-in troubleshooting tool, which is called from the classic “Control Panel” (control command in the “Run” console), where in the system and security section, select the search bar and fixing problems.

Next, you select to use the “Update Center”, click the “Advanced” button in the new window, after which you can run as administrator (you can also check the box on the automatic application of patches line).

Next, the troubleshooting process is activated. The results will most likely indicate that the Update Center database itself is damaged, after which you need to use the line to apply the patch. After this, a report of the resolved failures will be shown.

Fixing crashes with a utility from Microsoft

Let's consider one more remedy. Let’s assume that even after using the described tools, the updates could not be installed (the Windows 10 update log may contain information about errors).

In this case, you can go to the official Microsoft website and download a small utility from it to prevent errors of this kind from occurring. It's called Windows Update Diagnostic.

After running the utility, you just need to follow the instructions, after which the report will show the problems that were resolved or not. If there is an entry regarding the Service registration component, you will have to check the integrity of the Windows system files (sfc /scannow in the command line launched with administrator rights).

Activating the Update Center service

However, the system may be unable to install Windows 10 updates simply because the service itself is in a deactivated state.

You can check this in the corresponding section, which is called by the services.msc command in the Run console. Here you need to find the Update Center service, double-click to edit settings and check it. If the service start button is active in the window, it means that it is really turned off. We press the start button, and at the same time check the start type (it needs to be set to manual, as it was by default).

Actions with the system registry

Rarely, of course, but sometimes you can encounter update errors associated with duplication of user profiles. This problem can only be fixed using the Registry Editor (regedit in the Run menu).

In the HKLM branch, you need to go down the directory tree and find the ProfileList directory there, as shown in the image above. Each directory should check for the presence of the ProfileImagePath parameter. If several sections contain a link to the directory of the same user, the extra lines must be removed. They can be identified quite simply. Only those for which the value of the RefCount parameter is set to zero, or those lines whose names contain “.bak” at the end will be superfluous.

Software Distribution Catalog

Finally, very often problems with installing updates are associated with the SoftwareDistribution folder and its contents, which is located in the main directory of the system. To fix the problem, this directory must be renamed by adding, for example, “Old” at the end of the name and first disabling the Update Center service, as shown above, but booting the system in safe mode.

This can also be done from the command line starting with administrator rights (or from removable bootable media), where the command ren c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old is entered. After this, the system is restarted in normal mode. Next, you can check for updates. If the installation goes without problems (a new folder with the initial name will be created automatically), the renamed directory can be deleted and the update service can be re-enabled.

Updated: 05/02/2017 Published: 2016 or earlier

Description

Windows does not load or takes a very long time to load and says “Windows updates could not be configured Cancel changes. Don't turn off your computer."

Cause

During the installation of updates, a critical error occurred that the system must correct. Since Windows doesn't know exactly which update caused the problem, it uninstalls any patches that were last installed. If there are a lot of them, the system will take a long time to load, which will create the feeling of a stuck boot.

The main reasons for incorrect installation of updates are an unexpected power outage or an internal error in the code of the patch itself.

Solution

Step 1 - go to Windows:

We are waiting for the system to boot. This will happen sooner or later (sometimes you will have to wait up to 12 hours).

If you can't wait:

1. We boot the system in safe mode - this does not always help, since Windows can also start rolling back updates in it.
2. We start Windows recovery from the installation disk - you will have to work on the command line.

Step 2.1 - if you managed to wait for the system to boot or start it in safe mode:

Right-click on Computer - Properties - Windows Update - Settings.

In the window that opens, in the section Important updates choose Look for updates, but the decision to download and install is made by me:

and press OK.

Now open Windows services and disable Windows Update:

Go to the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download and delete everything that is in it.

* most often, the system drive is C, but this is not always the case. Please take this note into account and replace the letter if necessary.

Step 2.2 - if you started Windows recovery from disk:

Select Command Prompt as your recovery tool.

Run the following commands:

> ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download.old

* this command will rename the Download folder to Download.old, thereby making downloaded updates for the system unavailable.

> sc config wuauserv start= disabled

* disable Windows automatic update service.

Step 3 - start Windows in normal mode:

After making the settings in step 2, restart the computer. It may happen that the system will start rolling back updates again. In this case, you will have to wait until the procedure is completed and restart the computer again.

Now we turn on the update service and manually install Windows patches. But let's not install all the packages at once, since this is what leads to problems. We select several updates, wait for them to install and restart the computer. Continue this way until all the fixes have been installed.