Win auto update won't complete - computer is unusable

Hello,

I have a workstation on our small P2P network that, upon the user shutting down last night, auto installed one update (i.e. user did not ask for anything to be installed). I have our computers set to notify of updates, but we install them after reviewing them because we don't always want the updates that are available.

The screen was the typical blue with the standard message: "Please do not power off or unplug your machine. Installing update 1 of 1"

The problem is: the update never finished installing. It ran for 2 1/2 hours last night before the user turned it off. When she turned it on this morning, the update continued to install. It's now been about 45 minutes, and the screen is still displaying the above message.

I've never seen a single update take this long. Is there a problem? How long should we allow it to continue? Is it ever safe to shut down when it says not to? Is there anything I can do to get this process to complete, as it is now interfering with productivity.

Any help appreciated.

The update FINALLY finished, and the computer shut down normally, and the user rebooted with no problem.

I see a lot of people have looked at this thread, and some no doubt are looking for answers to the questions I posed. I would still like the questions answered, because they're still things I want to know - especially the question about shutting down when the screen says not to. I would expect that could seriously damage the machine.

Good to note that all's well that ends well.
Safe surfing.

Was the update KB976932, SP1?

If so, it can take upwards of an hour to download, install and configure - it just depends how many updates you've installed before SP1 is installed.

Any time you force a shutdown while some operation is pending you run the risk of damaging/corrupting the operating system.

Try running the Windows Update Troubleshooter to see if it detects any issues.

Open the Windows Update troubleshooter

You could also see the additional info here:

Troubleshoot problems with installing updates

And perhaps consider running the Update Readiness Tool.

Description of the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista, for Windows Server 2008, for Windows 7, and for Windows Server 2008 R2

seavixen, I do believe SP1 had been downloaded and installed perhaps the day before, but I've never heard of the installation completing on a day other than the day the installation took place. Most of the other important and recommended updates had been previously installed.

marsmimar, thanks for the useful links. I will run the tools when I get a chance to access the computer without inconveniencing the user.

Windows 7 64-bit Professional. Had to re-image the machine due to weird corruption. Everything seemed to go fine, except that there were about 100 updates to install. Been working through that list, and everything has been fine for about 2 days.

Most recently saw the symbol for "close and install new updates" (don't know which ones; they were set up for automatic install). Shut down the system normally; it provides the usual "Please do not power off or unplug your machine. Installing updates 1 of 2 . . . ".

24 hours later it's *still* doing 2 of 2. Wait longer??? or kill it and try the recommendations above?

Coincidentally . . . some of the weirdness that originally caused me to re-image the system has crept back in (mostly problems with the print spooler) . . . suspect IE9 is the culprit.

27 hours later, it finished. Difficult to believe that everything's "ok now". Ripping out IE9 to see if that helps.