Stuck on "preparing to configure Windows...", rebooted and all good?

[angelbeats96]

Stuck on "preparing to configure Windows...", rebooted and all good?

I'm not sure if this belongs to here or "Windows update" section but I'll post it anyway.

Basically after disabling/unchecking internet explorer 10 and media features from "turn Windows features on or off", it prompted me to restart the system and ultimately I was stuck on that "preparing to configure..." page for three hours or so.
I got fed up with the waiting which I tried CTRL+ALT+delete to bring up login menu however it somehow froze the spinning wheel and I wasn't able to do anything.
As a result, I pressed the reset button (not holding down power button) and it booted normally with the usual safe mode options showing up due to force shut down. Before the welcome page showing up, there was a quick "reconfiguring Windows..." page which it only took couple of seconds until my desktop showed up.

I checked the "turn Windows features on or off" again and the boxes for those two settings were empty and thus got rid of IE, Windows media player and such from the start menu etc successfully.
So I guess everything went okay except for being stuck on the loading page and force shut down... I'm a bit worried about this new problem as I haven't experienced it before. Doing a quick search indicates that most of the time it happens during Windows update, which I haven't encountered yet as well.

I want to ask if this is something I need to worry about? Should I revert back to before making those changes via system restore? How do I prevent this problem from happening again in future?

 

[gregrocker]

I'd only revert if the problem becomes chronic.

You may notice you need IE for certain web functions the OS uses. I always leave it as a backup browser. It's not that bad.

 

[andrew129260]

I suggest running a sfc/scanow to make sure:


Please Run sfc /scan now using option 2 in this tutorial: SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Please post back the results.
Please indicate what message was displayed at the end:

Windows found no integrity violations

OR

Corrupt files were found, and windows was unable to fix them.

OR

Corrupt files were found, and windows successfully repaired them

 

[angelbeats96]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I'd only revert if the problem becomes chronic.

You may notice you need IE for certain web functions the OS uses. I always leave it as a backup browser. It's not that bad.

I've just performed important and recommended security updates and fortunately I didn't encounter the stuck problem while I was performing these Windows updates.

As for the certain web functions, I'm guessing things like email via outlook and such? I don't really use those and hence it's one of the reason why I decided to disable IE 10... Though maybe I should of left it as it as it didn't harm anything.

I suggest running a sfc/scanow to make sure:


Please Run sfc /scan now using option 2 in this tutorial: SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Please post back the results.
Please indicate what message was displayed at the end:

Windows found no integrity violations

OR

Corrupt files were found, and windows was unable to fix them.

OR

Corrupt files were found, and windows successfully repaired them

I've tried three times and here are the results:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\KIM>sfc/scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired
them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For
example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log

C:\Users\KIM>sfc/scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

C:\Users\KIM>sfc/scannow

Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.

Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 100% complete.

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

The first result reports that it found some corrupted files and repaired them. The latter two came up with no problems. Just to double check, I restarted the system and performed the scans again which the results were same: "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."

Also I'd like to add that on the change settings in Windows update, under the important updates the option got changed from "check for updates but let me..." to "install updates automatically...". I'm not sure why this setting got changed automatically but I reverted back to my original option... More so I'm not sure if this was the only Windows settings that was changed or not.

All in all, is it all good now? Or should I perform system restore? I'm kind of worried with the whole "stuck" problem as well as corruped files found via sfc/scanow and one of the windows settings got changed automatically...
Yeah, I'm kind of paranoid when it comes to computer errors.

 

[gregrocker]

I would set Updates to Automatic. You want a fully patched system and Windows Update errors are one in a million. The only updates I don't install are the Bingware.

Also enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3)
then Check for Updates to see if it provides any other drivers Win7 prefers as a driver-complete OS.

Install all rounds of Important and Optional Updates until there are no more offered, which may take a day or two to sort.

 

[angelbeats96]

I would set Updates to Automatic. You want a fully patched system and Windows Update errors are one in a million. The only updates I don't install are the Bingware.

Also enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3)
then Check for Updates to see if it provides any other drivers Win7 prefers as a driver-complete OS.

Install all rounds of Important and Optional Updates until there are no more offered, which may take a day or two to sort.

It's already set to "automatically" for device installation settings though like mentioned before, "check for updates but let me choose.." option is selected under important updates.

Won't this suffice? As I want to check each updates individually so that I know what is being updated/installed and I don't want to install all optional updates.

 

[gregrocker]

That's your choice. I'm only saying that in countless installs I've helped with that run perfectly, I've always installed whatever is offered under Important and Optional except Bing.

These are all vetted carefully by MS in labs I toured and was most impressed with the rigor.

 

[angelbeats96]

That's your choice. I'm only saying that in countless installs I've helped with that run perfectly, I've always installed whatever is offered under Important and Optional except Bing.

These are all vetted carefully by MS in labs I toured and was most impressed with the rigor.

I've just set it to automatic and performed all of the updates. Seems like everything went smoothly with no stuck problem.

Just to confirm, there's no need to system restore right? The stuck problem is not happening for updates, corrupted files were repaired via sfc/scannow and such...

 

[gregrocker]

Sounds good. Let us know how performance goes.

 

[andrew129260]

That's your choice. I'm only saying that in countless installs I've helped with that run perfectly, I've always installed whatever is offered under Important and Optional except Bing.

These are all vetted carefully by MS in labs I toured and was most impressed with the rigor.

I've just set it to automatic and performed all of the updates. Seems like everything went smoothly with no stuck problem.

Just to confirm, there's no need to system restore right? The stuck problem is not happening for updates, corrupted files were repaired via sfc/scannow and such...

No, no need for system restore. You are fine.

Sfc says you're all good now.