SOLVED Windows update always fails

[rhancox]

I've got a problem where the latest update won't install and it keeps trying and reboots my system every morning at 3:30am.

The update is: Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3172985)

When rebooting, Windows attempts to install the update but it gets a fatal error. The message shows for a very brief time so I don't have any information about the error other than it says "fatal error". After that, the system will reboot again, uninstall whatever it attempted to do and reboots again. After all that, I have a pending notification that says this update is ready to be installed and the system is set to reboot automatically at 3:30am.

I've had this system since April and it's installed other updates with no problem.

Something worth noting is that a week before this update situation started, I started getting notifications after a reboot to "restart to repair drive errors". Every time I've rebooted, I get the same notification. I'm wondering if the driver error issue is what's causing the update to fail. If so, how do I correct the drive error?

 

[Trouble]

how do I correct the drive error?

Backup all of your critical data now. Consider creating a disk image of your current install.
https://www.windows10forums.com/threads/please-for-your-own-peace-of-mind.794/
Then, right click the Start Button and from the context menu choose Command Prompt (Admin) and in the command prompt windows type
chkdsk C: /R
hit enter
Answer Y (for yes) when prompted
hit enter
type exit
hit enter
restart your computer and go have lunch or run some errands it's likely to take hours
don't interrupt it, it will auto-restart your computer when finished
Check the results in Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Application Logs -> do a find (search) for chkdsk and see what it says regarding the test.

 

[rhancox]

How do I disable the Windows Update process that will reboot my computer a second time because the update fails? As it stands now, if I try to do the drive scan from the Disk Manager I get a message that the drive is in use and I need to restart and then scan. But the reboot tries to do the update, which fails, and then it reboots again to undo the update.

 

[Trouble]

You might give this a try
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930
It's suppose to allow you to target a specific update temporarily at least.
See if it works for you.

 

[rhancox]

That didn't work.

I can't even boot into safe mode because of this dang update.

Is there a way to interrupt Windows when it's starting to force it in to safe mode? You know, like the old days. The only way I've read is to press SHIFT as your clicking on RESTART. If I could get in to safe mode without the update getting in the way, I could run chkdsk.

 

[Trouble]

You can use msconfig to set your machine to boot into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking

 

[Johnny Netherland]

You can use msconfig to set your machine to boot into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking

View attachment 3471

I have a similar problem, New hp envy 3/2016, windows 10, 1511, beginning on 7/13/16 there have been 19 failed updates with kb3172985, it would update and shut down then complete the update when the computer was turned on, booting up it would say, unable to install updates, undoing changes. The last successful update was on 7/13/16 with kb3173428 and since that one, all windows updates have failed. When the update fails it disables the wifi adapter, no connection, i go through the diagnosis and then run as administrator and then it will have wifi connection. The last couple of days, the wifi has been randomly dropping without the windows failed update. I have ran through services and unchecked the turnoff adapter to save power, Today i have ran recovery and it failed, said unable to do the recovery. Windows update keeps trying to do the update with kb3172985, just over and over,

 

[clifford_cooley]

I have this update that I have ignored for nearly a year. I did do a short research to see if there was an easy fix and tried a few things. In the end I decided to leave it alone. I even woke one day to a failed boot and had to do a complete reinstall and still have the same update failing.

Name of the update: Update for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime (KB3001652) - Error 0x80070643

As far as I care. I don't care if it ever completes updating. Either MS fixes the update or Windows Update will remain incomplete.

 

[Norton]

rhancox I had the same failure (KB3172985) to update yesterday. I shut down the PC and ran update a second time, it successfully updated. The update notification said "update is ready to be installed and the system is set to reboot automatically at 3:30am." I chose to shutdown now and update. The sever took an unusually Long time for one update (KB3172985).

 

[Lightspeed007]

i would run 'chkdisk' to check for bad sectors on the hard disk. Also 'SFC /scannow' to repair corrupted system files, if at all possible, though by what your telling us, the diagnosis looks bad. Last resort is back up anything important to you & reset Windows to a clean fresh slate. all the best

 

[rhancox]

I managed to boot from a CD and then get to a command prompt so I could run chkdsk.

The first time, I ran chkdsk c: /f. It took a few seconds to complete and reported some errors, but no bad sectors. The second time I ran chkdsk c: /f/r and it finished almost immediately and now it reports no errors.

I still have the notification to restart to repair drive errors and the update still fails.

I thought the /r option was meant to read the entire disk looking for bad sectors.

 

[jaxonbur]

If you use chkdsk /r you don't need to add the /f as it is implicit in /r. The command will not only find errors, but also (try to) correct them. Also, when you do append two switches to a command, you should have a space between the switches - /r /f

 

[Chris Raisin]

Several things I found in my updates of over 10 PCs from Windows 7 to Windows 10:
1. You must have an MBR (or equivalent on a system with SSDs) of at least 100MB in size
If you do not have enough space, at the end of the Install a cryptic message "Fatal error" appears, the
upgrade fails and the system reverts back to W7.
2. If you are having a problem with touchscreen and have it turned off (by uninstalling the driver) update to
Windows 10 will TURN IT BACK ON presenting problems if you require a password to log in on startup.
For that reason (and to avoid others that may occur) it is best to turn off requirement to enter a password to sign in (you can turn that back on after W10 is fully in place). All faulty drivers turn off will be turned back on
(Microsoft should have realized this and stopped them being turned back on). Even removal of the driver
does not help since the upgrade will download required drivers. Actually It may not be the driver that is at
fault but could be the device itself, so be prepared for faulty devices to re-active after install of W10.
(I worked around this by preparing a batch file on my desktop to turn off the the faulty driver and assigned
hot-key to the batch file so it was easy to activate without needing to use the mouse (impossible when touch-
screen is having problems).
3. You must (and this is important) TURN OFF Windows update (change it to "Never Update") before you start
your Windows Download and Install (Download the file from the Microsoft site the run Windows Update
Wizard). If you do not do this, download and update will stop at 99% and not proceed. This
is because Windows starts updating when it senses updates are required to the present system (W10
currently partially in place) and starts changing the scenario in the upgrade, causing confusion in the update
(the download of a fresh update starts followed by the install, only to find things have changed since it
started its download, so everything stops).
4. You must turn off any Virus checking program before starting the download and update. If you do not do this the update process will stop at 33%.

Maybe some of these things may help you solve your problem.

 

[rhancox]

I managed to get the automatic updates to stop getting in the way during a restart. I did this by changing a setting in the group policies (something I found while Googling possible solutions). Now the updates are totally manual. I get notified that there are updates available, but I have to download and install them.

Now my problem is the drive error issues.

After a couple of restarts to get the automatic updates out of the loop, I did another restart by clicking on the 'drive error' notification. The system restarted just fine and never came back with the drive error notification, until about 8 hrs later.

If the drive error notification to reboot is supposed to set up CHKDSK to run on the restart, it's not making any difference. The restart process doesn't appear to change. I was expecting to see some sort of message to wait or something while the drive errors were being corrected, but I see nothing and ultimately, the notification comes back.

I haven't tried rebooting again from the CD yet but probably will this evening if I have time. When I do, I will run chkdsk c: /r

I'll report back what happens.

As for the updates, I am holding those off until I resolve the drive error issues.

 

[rhancox]

I realized why chkdsk never took very long to run, when I ran it after booting off a CD. I was running it on c:, which was the CD. DOH!

So I ran chkdsk d: /r and it seems to have repaired all of my problems. There were no bad sectors but there were a number of problems with files and directories. Everything appears to have been fixed and so far, I have not gotten the notification that the system needs to be rebooted to fix a drive error.

At the end of the day, if there are no drive error notifications, I will download and install the updates.

I will report back what happens.

 

[rhancox]

Updates installed without a problem. I am finally back to normal.

Thank you to all for your help.