Windows update sucks

[PopeCheese]

This is the second time I have had this issue in the past few months. I spent hours trying to fix it last time and ultimately ended up reformatting my drive. I am absolutely not willing to do this every couple months.

My windows 10 will no longer update starting with Version 1703 for x64, KB4038788. It gets to 20%, reboots, says it could not configure updates, reboots again and then I can log in where it promptly downloads the update again in the background only to fail when I try again.

Why does this happen? How can I fix Windows so that it can do it's own updates?

Windows installed on ADATA SP550 250gb SSD

I also have a 1TB WD Blue and a 500GB 850 EVO SSD

Rest of specs in sig

Since I had this issue last I have updated BIOS, and replaced my CPU, RAM, and GPU.

 

[Ralston18]

First - stopping the updates:

https://www.gottabemobile.com/how-to-stop-windows-10-automatic-updates/

There are other such links available and I recommend that you check them as well.

I also googled the update and found, for example, the following link:

http://sihmar.com/fix-kb4038782-and-kb4038788-failed-to-install-download-stuck/

Any number of websites to be found with some claiming a "fix". Be very careful about that. Some of those websites will show up no matter what problem you present. Most want you to download something - not likely to be in your favor.

My thought is that your update is corrupted.

Restore your system and get things running again. Take manual control of the updates and hold off on KB4038788 until Microsoft fixes it or some other specific fix is found and published.

 

[PopeCheese]

First - stopping the updates:

https://www.gottabemobile.com/how-to-stop-windows-10-automatic-updates/

There are other such links available and I recommend that you check them as well.

I also googled the update and found, for example, the following link:

http://sihmar.com/fix-kb4038782-and-kb4038788-failed-to-install-download-stuck/

Any number of websites to be found with some claiming a "fix". Be very careful about that. Some of those websites will show up no matter what problem you present. Most want you to download something - not likely to be in your favor.

My thought is that your update is corrupted.

Restore your system and get things running again. Take manual control of the updates and hold off on KB4038788 until Microsoft fixes it or some other specific fix is found and published.

If my update is corrupted, this is an issue with Windows 10 as a whole, not this specific update, as I said before this is the second time it is happening. In exactly the same way, stuck at 20%. This was probably around 6 months ago, so obviously waiting for Microsoft to "fix" it is not a solution. In my search to find a solution the last time this happened, I came across many users having this same issue with a plethora of different W10 updates. For that reason I do not believe it has anything to do with the specific updates themselves.

I am aware of the fact that I should be wary of any third-party programs too, thank you.

My goal here is to find a fix for this issue that does not require losing everything every few months.

 

[Ralston18]

Barring some warning message or error code there may be no choice (unfortunately) other than to wait on Microsoft.

Something being fixed via an update broke something else.

Fixing that something else may be a matter of luck, trial and error, or someone finding and publishing some tweak that resolves the issue.

Will agree that that is not the way things should be - but not much we can really do about it.

 

[arniespace]

This is the second time I have had this issue in the past few months. I spent hours trying to fix it last time and ultimately ended up reformatting my drive. I am absolutely not willing to do this every couple months.

My windows 10 will no longer update starting with Version 1703 for x64, KB4038788. It gets to 20%, reboots, says it could not configure updates, reboots again and then I can log in where it promptly downloads the update again in the background only to fail when I try again.

Why does this happen? How can I fix Windows so that it can do it's own updates?

Windows installed on ADATA SP550 250gb SSD

I also have a 1TB WD Blue and a 500GB 850 EVO SSD

Rest of specs in sig

Since I had this issue last I have updated BIOS, and replaced my CPU, RAM, and GPU.

I am looking all day for a way to fix my system after update KB4038788 installed yesterday. If it won't install for you I would consider myself lucky! My computer is running considerably slower, for one thing. The worst part is black screen flashes constantly. Software that ran perfect yesterday now crashes all the time. By doing web research I have heard that the Edge browser is broken as well, but I don't use it, so I wouldn't know for sure.I have installed a fresh video driver, but same issues. I have uninstalled the update KB4038788, and I have the same problems still. The problems began literally as soon as the update finished. I had to do a clean install just four months ago after a Windoze update hosed my computer. I guess Windows 10 is about as good as Vista was, practically worthless. Another black screen as I am writing this. Flashes black and comes back after about 4 seconds, wonderful.
Update: It turns out the Windows update was not responsible for the problems I was having. I was using Bitdefender Internet Security suite, which updated the same day that Windows did. After about 3 days of computer hell I finally uninstalled the anti-virus, and the problems disappeared. I have since allowed Windows update to install KB4038788 and no problems yet (8 Hrs). Just to be fair, I thought I should mention that here