Windows Update is a key part of the system to ensure smooth system performance. Windows 10 automatically downloads and installs important updates from Microsoft Server, but sometimes update installations get stuck or freeze when processing updates on Startup.
You may see the following message: “Working on update 100% complete. Don’t turn off your PC. This will take a while.” and you will be stuck on the Windows update screen. There are many reasons for the issue, but most of the time it caused by the conflicts with software or drivers.
Now, it’s time to see how to actually fix the “Windows update stuck at 100” issue with the below-listed troubleshooting guide.
How to Fix the “Windows Updates Stuck at 100” Issue
- Remove any USB peripherals
- Run Windows Update Troubleshooter
- Rename SoftwareDistribution Folder
- Perform a Clean Boot
- Uninstall the Particular Update
- Run DISM in Safe Mode
- Run Automatic Repair
- Perform System Restore in WinRE
It’s frustrating to encounter the “Windows stuck on update” error frustrating, but you should notice that your update probably isn’t stuck, and you’ll just have to wait for a while to complete the installation. If it is still stuck at the interface, you can try the methods below.
Method 1: Remove Any USB Peripherals
If your Windows update stuck at 100, the first thing you can try is to remove any external device connected to PC and make sure you also disconnect any device connected via USB like pen drives, mouse or keyboard, portable hard disk, etc.
Once you have successfully removed any USB peripherals, try to update the Windows again and check if the issue has been fixed or not.
If you are still stuck on the screen, then you should restart your computer in Safe Mode before you do any operations. You can use Windows 10 recovery bootable media like a DVD/USB bootable drive to enter WinRE to enter into Safe Mode. Here are the steps:
Step 1: Insert your Windows installation CD/DVD or USB bootable drive to your computer, and start the computer.
Step 2: Enter the BIOS. If you don’t know how to do that, read this post — How to Enter BIOS Windows 10/8/7 (HP/Asus/Dell/Lenovo, any PC).
Step 3: Choose the DVD or USB flash drive as the first boot device and boot the Windows 10 PC from the device.
Step 4: Click Repair your computer to enter into WinRE successfully.
Now, you can continue to enter Safe Mode.
Step 2: Click the Startup Settings option.
Step 3: Click the Restart button.
Step 4: Then you will see multiple options for startup. Press the F4 key to enable Safe Mode.
Now your PC will restart in Safe Mode. Then running Windows Update Troubleshooter is the easiest and fastest method to fix the “Windows update stuck at 100” error. Windows Update Troubleshooter is a built-in feature designed to fix Windows update errors.
Now you can follow the instructions step by step below to run Windows Update Troubleshooter:
Step 4: It will start to detect the existing problems and you just need to wait for the process finished. Then click Apply this fix.
Step 5: Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the repair process.
Restart your computer and then check if the “working on updates 100 complete” issue still exists. If this method cannot fix the error, try the next methods.
Method 3: Rename SoftwareDistribution Folder
The next method for you is to rename the SoftwareDistribution folder. Here is how to do that:
Step 2: Now type the following commands to stop Windows Update Services and then press Enter after each one:
net stop wuauservnet stop cryptSvcnet stop bitsnet stop msiserver
Step 3: Next, type the following command to rename SoftwareDistribution Folder and then press Enter:
ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
Step 4: Finally, type the following commands to start Windows Update Services and press Enter after each one:
net start wuauservnet start cryptSvcnet start bitsnet start msiserver
Reboot your PC and check if the “working on updates 100” issue has gone.
Method 4: Perform a Clean Boot
Performing a clean boot can help you start Windows through a minimal set of drivers and startup programs, which can avoid software conflicts while installing Windows updates. In order to perform a clean boot, you need to do:
Step 1: Type msconfig in the Run box(pressing the Windows + R keys), and press Enter.
Afterward, you can restart the computer to update Windows again. If the “working on updates 100% complete” error doesn’t occur when in a clean boot state, then it indicates that one of the programs was causing the error.
If the error still occurs, you can also try uninstalling the particular update that causes the issue. The steps are as follows:
Step 1: Open Control Panel. Click the Programs and Features section.
Step 2: From the left-hand menu, click View installed updates.
Step 3: Now right-click the particular update which is causing this problem and select Uninstall.
Restart your PC and the “Windows update stuck at 100” issue should be fixed.
Method 6: Run DISM in Safe Mode
You can also try running DISM, which allows you to repair corrupted system files. Please refer to the following steps:
Step 2: Type the following commands and press Enter after each one:
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealthDism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealthDism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Step 3: Let the DISM command run and wait for it to finish. If the above commands won’t work, then try the commands below:
Dism /Image:C:\offline /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:c:\test\mount\windowsDism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:c:\test\mount\windows /LimitAccess
Reboot your PC and this should fix the “Windows stuck on update” issue.
Method 7: Run Automatic Repair
If the working on updates 100 complete issue still occurs, you have to run Automatic Repair. I will show you how to run it step by step.
Step 1: Click Repair your computer in the bottom-left corner to enter WinRE.
Step 2: You need to click Troubleshoot in the popup window to continue.
Step 3: Click Advanced options to go to the next page.
Now, when the process is finished, you can restart your computer and run Windows update to check whether the working on updates 100 is solved.
Method 8: Perform System Restore in WinRE
If the previous methods don’t work, you should perform a system restore via WinRE. Here is how to do that:
Tip: Only if you have created a restore point in advance, you can try this method.
Step 1: Enter WinRE.
Step 4: Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the restore.
Now, try to run Windows update and the issue should be fixed.
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After solving the problem of Windows update stuck at 100%, you had better create a system image to restore your system when it crashes.
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Here are the instructions to create a system image with MiniTool ShadowMaker:
Step 1: Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker, then click Keep Trial.
Step 3: MiniTool ShadowMaker selects the source by default. Thus, you just need to choose the backup destination.
Step 4: Wait for MiniTool ShadowMaker to finish backing up the operating system.
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Final Words
To sum up, this post has introduced what causes the error of Windows update stuck at 100 and shown 8 solutions to fix it. If you come across the same issue, try these solutions. If you have any better solution to fix the issue, you can share it in the comment zone.
After fixing this problem, it is recommended you create a system image. If you have any problem when using MiniTool program, please feel free to contact us via the email [email protected] and we will reply to you as soon as possible.
Originally published at https://www.minitool.com on December 14, 2019.
