Ideally, your computer should be downloading and installing updates silently in the background, allowing you to use the computer without any interruption. However, this may not always happen and you may find yourself struggling with a stuck Windows 10 update.
Going by user reports, people have reported cases of Windows update being stuck forever with Working on updates, Don’t Turn off your computer message displayed on the screen.
In such cases, Windows update can get stuck at 0%, anywhere from 55% to 99% and in our own case the computer was stuck at 105%!
Steps to Fix Stuck Windows 10 Update
If your computer is stuck, frozen and struggling to install updates, you should be able to fix the problem using the following steps.
1. Force Shut Down and Restart
Major Windows Updates are can be quite large in size and the time to download and install such updates depends on the amount of resources available on your computer and the speed of your internet connection.
Hence, it is always a good idea to be patient and give the computer enough time to download and install the updates. You can help to speed up this process by closing all open browser tabs and programs running on your computer.
However, if your computer is stuck forever at “Working on updates” message, you are left with no option – Hence, it is time to Force Shut down the computer.
1. Press and Hold the Power button, until the computer starts to shut down.
2. Patiently wait for the computer to completely shut down > Wait for 5 minutes > Restart the computer.
3. Go to Settings > Update & Security > and click on Check For Updates.
Hopefully, this time your computer should be able to Install the update.
If your computer does not go to the Login screen and starts updating again, you will have to boot your computer in Safe Mode and try to fix the problem.
2. Use The Troubleshooter
You can ask the built-in Windows Troubleshooter to find and fix Windows update problems on your computer.
1. Open Settings > click on Update & Security Icon.
2. From the next screen, go to Troubleshoot > Windows Update > click on Run Troubleshooter.
3. If prompted, enter your Admin Password.
4. Wait for Windows to find and fix problems related to Windows Update on your computer.
Most of the times the Troubleshooter is able to identify and fix Windows Update problems.
3. Delete Windows Update Cache File
It is possible that Windows Update problem on your computer is being caused due to the Windows update cache folder on your computer being filled with old update files.
This issue can be fixed by going to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution and deleting all the Files and Folders in this location.
1. Type CMD in the Search bar > right-click on Command Prompt in the search results and select Run as Administrator option.
2. When prompted, enter your Admin Password to open Command Prompt As Admin.
3. In the Command Prompt window, type net stop wuauserv and press the Enter key. This command will stop the Windows Update Service on your computer.
Note: Do not close the Command Prompt Window, leave it open and move to step 4 below.
4. Next, click on the File Explorer Icon in the taskbar to open File Explorer on your computer.
5. From the File Explorer window, navigate to This PC (Or Local Disk (C:)) > Windows Folder.
6. Once you are in Windows Folder, open SoftwareDistribution Folder.
Note: Just to be on the safe side, copy “SoftwareDistribution” folder to your desktop as a backup
7. Once you are in SoftwareDistribution Folder, select and Delete all Files located in the folder.
Note: These are just temporary files and Windows 10 will create them again from scratch.
8. After deleting Files in SoftwareDistribution folder, type net start wuauserv in the Command Prompt window and press the Enter Key.
9. After this go to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update and click on Check for Updates button.
Hopefully, this time you should be able to install Updates on your computer.