"Preparing to configure windows" Message EVERY time I boot up

[RAWhitelock]

"Preparing to configure windows" Message EVERY time I boot up

Hi all.

Every time I boot up my computer (Win7 home premium 64-bit), I get the message that says "Preparing to configure windows", right after this, I get the "Configuring windows updates" message where it shows the progress from 0-100% before it loads windows 7. This has been happening all day today. I have never seen it happen more than once. Nothing is wrong with my computer that I can tell, this is just a nuisance because it pretty much doubles my startup time! I am familiar with the windows update process and I understand that from time to time windows will automatically install updates when you boot up after downloading updates. Why is it now showing this every time I start up, and what can I do to fix it? I really appreciate any suggestions and help!

Ps. When I try to search for updates thru windows 7, it takes a log time and then I get an error code 0x80040154 I do not know if this is related to what I'm experiencing, but I assume so.

Cheers,

Russ

 

[Maguscreed]

I believe you can beat this by deleting the pending.xml file located @ C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml

I've only done that on vista not win 7 so you may want to back up the file to another location before removing it. Just in case.

 

[RAWhitelock]

I just updated my post to include the error code I get when I try to run windows update. Here it is: 0x80040154

 

[Maguscreed]

The error code represents a problem in your registry, actually kind of a rare thing in win 7. It's the "Class not registered" code. Hopefully someone else has a fix for you. Short of running a system restore I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

 

[Golden]

Maguscreed : would a sfc /scannow do any good in this situation?

Regards,
Golden

 

[RAWhitelock]

The error code represents a problem in your registry, actually kind of a rare thing in win 7. It's the "Class not registered" code. Hopefully someone else has a fix for you. Short of running a system restore I can't think of anything off the top of my head.

Could the problem in my registry have anything to do with the fact that I clean my registry with ccleaner about once a week? Maybe this week, it created this registry issue?

 

[Maguscreed]

It is possible I've actually quit using ccleaner's registry feature because it kept killing the nvidia drivers on my other machine. If you used the backup feature in it you should be able to reapply the changes from the .reg file it created in your user folder.


...and sfc only checks core file integrity it doesn't affect the registry.

 

[RAWhitelock]

It is possible I've actually quit using ccleaner's registry feature because it kept killing the nvidia drivers on my other machine. If you used the backup feature in it you should be able to reapply the changes from the .reg file it created in your user folder.

How do I restore from a previous registry file? I know what folder all the backups are in, I just don't know where to go from there. Thanks for your help!

 

[Maguscreed]

you should be able to just right click the reg file and choose merge.
It will prompt with "are you sure" or something to that basic effect.
Or are you talking about the system backups?
because it would be just as easy to use system restore in that scenario.

 

[RAWhitelock]

I will try to merge with the registry backup and if that doesn't work, I'll do a system restore. I'll post tomorrow to let you know if it worked.

 

[niemiro]

Hello!

Technically, this error means that a CLSID is missing, and you know how much registry cleaners love deleting "unused" CLSIDs.

System Restore is your best bet for the registry: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

However, this error is actually very common, and has many more causes. I do not think that in this situation CCleaner is to blame, but maybe this has encoruaged you not to clean the registry.

Please run this tool in Aggressive Mode: How do I reset Windows Update components?

Then run this tool if, and only if the problem has not been already resolved above: Description of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2

Then paste for me here C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CheckSUR.persist.log.

Thanks!

Richard

P.S. SFC will do not harm, and may do a lot of good. I recommend!

 

[RAWhitelock]

Ok guys. I merged my registry backups and I still had the issue so I ran system update and restored to a point just before my last windows update. That seems to have done the trick. The last thing I remember downloading is the miscrosoft update to the new bing bar (which I do not use, ever), I also download a program called "@BIOS" from gigabyte to update my BIOS. Either way, everything seems to be working now. Thanks for your help.

 

[Maguscreed]

That's odd I don't use bing and I'm never offered any updates for it either. I'm guessing you installed the bar or something at some point...

 

[RAWhitelock]

That's odd I don't use bing and I'm never offered any updates for it either. I'm guessing you installed the bar or something at some point...

It is odd. I use Chrome and my wife prefers IE, so maybe she installed it at one point. I also remember that she updated to IE9 from IE8 so I don't know if somewhere along the way, something was corrupted. But I do know that everything works now.

it's also of note that once I completed my system restore, my desktop gadgets disappeared and I couldn't even open them at all (I like to have the weather on my desktop). I didn't think the restore would affect my gadgets because I've had the same setup since I built the computer about a year ago. I was able to get the use of gadgets back by running sfc /scannow. After the scan and reboot, everything is back to normal. Strange, huh?

 

[Maguscreed]

probably wouldn't hurt to follow up with a deep scan for malware just to finish it off. Glad you are back to normal though.

 

[techmonkey74]

That's odd I don't use bing and I'm never offered any updates for it either. I'm guessing you installed the bar or something at some point...

"Bing Bar" is being offered in Windows Update. I myself have not taken it but it's here ready to download.

 

[ocsurfer]

Configuring Windows Update - Persistant

Just to let you know after the last round of Windows Updates I now too get this "Configuring Windows Update" each and every time I startup.

History, I have a fully legit and registered copy of Windows Home Premium 64 bit that I purchased directly from the Microsoft Store.

About 6 months ago (about a year after I upgraded my laptop to this OS) I began getting errors that my version of Windows wasn't valid. I spent countless emails and phone calls with Microsoft TS to get the issue resolved, but never really got it resolved. I finally installed a hack that prevents Windows from checking authenticity. I felt bad having to do that but since it IS a Legitimate copy, and I DID go through Due Dilligence with Microsoft, I felt it was justified.

That was about three months ago, and now after the most recent round of Windows Updates, now I'm getting this Configuring Windows Update message every time I start up which delays my startup for an additional 1-2 minutes.

I've read this thread but I'm still not sure what I should do.

What should I use to do a deep scan for Malware before I try and fix the missing registry stuff.

 

[Maguscreed]

Could this possibly address your issue?

The update is not installed successfully, you receive a message, and the computer restarts when you try to install an update in Windows Vista and Windows 7

 

[polaris2005]

Hi all.

When using the P2P Adjust wizard to restore an image to different hardware, there's a possability that users could experience a re-occurring message at Windows startup that states “Setup is preparing your computer for first use”.

The error occurs when a Windows installation was not completed correctly. The error will not have been displayed on the original computer, and is only visible after restoring an archive and performing a P2P adjustment.

Steps to correcting this error:
****NOTE: It always recommended to perform a backup before editing the registry.

1. Within Windows, Click Start - Run, type 'regedit' and press Enter.

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup

3. Within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup you will need to change the following values:

**Here is an example of what the registry values could look like

"SetupType"=dword:00000000
"SystemSetupInProgress"=dword:00000002
"SetupPhase"=dword:00000004
"CmdLine"="" (This field should be Blank )
"OOBEInProgress"=dword:00000001

** This is what the values needed to be changed to:

"SetupType"=dword:00000000
"SystemSetupInProgress"=dword:00000000
"SetupPhase"=dword:00000000
"CmdLine"="" (This field should be Blank )
"OOBEInProgress"=dword:00000000

Source: Setup is preparing your computer for first use” - Wilders Security Forums

 

[karlsnooks]

Ok guys. I merged my registry backups and I still had the issue so I ran system update and restored to a point just before my last windows update. That seems to have done the trick. The last thing I remember downloading is the miscrosoft update to the new bing bar (which I do not use, ever), I also download a program called "@BIOS" from gigabyte to update my BIOS. Either way, everything seems to be working now. Thanks for your help.

I very strongly advise that you follow the advice from Niemero on this matter. He a very strong expert in this area.

Next time you want to restore to a previous restore point then review this writeup and you will notice that the restore will tell you what programs will be affected.

RESTORE TO A PREVIOUS SYSTEM RESTORE POINT
1) WIN | type SYSTEM RESTORE | ENTER | NEXT
| Choose a different restore point radio button | NEXT
2) Show more restore points checkbox (lower left)
3) Highlight the desired restore point
4) Scan for affected programs (lower right)make a note of affected programs
5) CLOSE | NEXT | FINISH


WIN = key with the wavy Microsoft flag on top.