Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

cumulative update for Windows 10 needs a restart

Mar 17, 2018 6:15AM PDT

My Dell desktop has been trying to install the cumulative update for Windows 10 1709 for x64 based systems since January. It says it needs to restart to finish installing. I have even chatted with Microsoft and gave them control of my computer. The tech said it was installed but the computer didn't recognize it. For about 2 weeks it didn't try to install but now the message is back. What to do???

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
I ran into this a few times.
Mar 17, 2018 7:47AM PDT

There is an update that is broken like this that I think Grif has written about a few times. I don't recall if there was a fix as we wait for Microsoft to correct.

The times I ran into this I lucked out it was a family member's laptop and I got it before they took it to the shop or Microsoft. On startup I caught it trying to do a check disk and fail. Your everyday user may not have noticed this or recognized the messages. SO IN THIS CASE all I did was run chkdsk with the full /F /R /X switches on all drive letters and after that completed the updates finished.

Mind you that today folk don't expect to be IT specialists so at some point Microsoft needs to cover that issue. Here's a link about chkdsk and /F /R /X. https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/fix-hard-drives-chkdsk-windows-10/

Now it could be some other issue like insufficient space or some incompatible app but I'll share what I've run into.

- Collapse -
Answer
Try Installing This One With The Offline Installer
Mar 17, 2018 1:04PM PDT

First, make sure your antivirus is up to date as some of these updates won't install unless the antivirus company has installed their registry entry.

Next, click on the link below, then download the offline installer for the most recent "2018-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems (KB4088776)" to your desktop. It's the top link on the list and it's a large download so you'll want a fast internet connection.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4088776

Once the file folder is on your desktop, open the folder and run the .msu executable inside to install the latest Cumulative Update to your computer. Restart the computer after it runs.

If that doesn't take care of it, then you'll want to run Chkdsk per the instructions below:

Try running Chkdsk in "repair" mode to find any damaged files and correct them. Start by opening a command prompt as an admin. RIGHT click on the Start button, choose "Command Prompt (Admin). (Or type "Command" in the search line, then RIGHT click on the "Command Prompt" listing at the top, choose "Run as admin".) Once there, type chkdsk /f /r /x, leaving the appropriate spaces between the letters as shown, then press the Enter key. You should see a note that it can't be run till a restart is done, type "Y" for yes, then press the Enter key again. Close the command prompt and restart the computer. Chkdsk will run upon restart and will take quite a while to finish.. Don't panic when the progress bar stays at 10% for a long time. It's fairly normal and the Chkdsk process may take a couple of hours.

When it's finished, it will boot to your normal startup/lock screen and you can login normally and then see if things are working correctly again.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Post was last edited on March 17, 2018 1:16 PM PDT