What do I do if Windows Update gets stuck?

[BenSow]

Shut down my computer as usual and windows update started, but this time, it gets stuck at 4/40 o.o it's been well over 3 hours now and I have stuff to do, what should I do? The first response I got elsewhere was that the update will just restart if I unplugged, but then I did more research and it seems that I might likely get a corrupted windows... What should I do now? BTW it's in the install step(not download) and the circle thingy is still turning.

Thanks

 

[niemiro]

Shut down my computer as usual and windows update started, but this time, it gets stuck at 4/40 o.o it's been well over 3 hours now and I have stuff to do, what should I do? The first response I got elsewhere was that the update will just restart if I unplugged, but then I did more research and it seems that I might likely get a corrupted windows... What should I do now? BTW it's in the install step(not download) and the circle thingy is still turning.

Thanks

Hello Ben,

To be quite honest, by the sounds of it there is not a lot left to do. There is no way of interrupting it except to force a shutdown. There is a risk here, however, the chance of your computer failing to start I think is quite low.

To force a restart of your computer press and hold the power button on the front of your computer for 10 seconds, until the screen goes blank. Do not use the power switch at the wall, the reason being that the former allows the hardware to shutdown safely, and allows the hard disks to spin down and return to housing safely.

Then try to restart your computer. In the very unlikely event that something goes wrong while booting, please note it down on paper, and send it to me.

Otherwise, please download to a safe location, and install, the System Update Readiness Tool from here: Description of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2

Now please copy the C:\Windows\Logs\CBS folder to your Desktop, right click on it > Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder, and upload the new file which is created on your Desktop here.

Thanks a lot!

Richard