Consequences of turning off computer during Windows Vista update ("Do not turn off your computer")?

My system has been stuck at "Configuring updates" for about an hour with the percentage stuck at 25%. If I do a hard reboot, what are the likely and worst-case consequences?

Larry O'Brien

Posted 2009-11-27T20:56:03.723

Reputation: 237

Answers

Likely, the update it is currently on will fail, but you can continue using your computer like nothing happened - You may want to run chkdsk on your hard drive just to make sure there are no problems.

Worst-case usual scenario - It is in the middle of updating a system file / half way through the process and a restart means it is missing as it is does not exist at the moment. However, Windows Vista is quite good at repairing itself and may boot into the recovery mode and roll back the update for you, so you will be out of action for a short while (probably under 30 minutes)

Utter worst case unusual scenario, it is updating a boot file (but not sure how many updates do this) and restarting will give the message "Operating System Not Found" or similar. In which case you will need to put in the original disk and do a startup repair or at very worst case, a reinstall of Windows.

William Hilsum

Posted 2009-11-27T20:56:03.723

Reputation: 111 572

how do you run 'chkdsk'? – Dark Templar – 2011-10-08T21:14:27.270

@DarkTemplar Go to Command Prompt and then type chkdsk when you are on the drive you want to check. To change drive, type <drive letter>: for example, to get to the C drive, I would type c:. If you can't find Command Prompt, go to run and type CMD. – William Hilsum – 2011-10-08T21:19:12.210

Worst Case: Your computer will no longer boot, and you will have to do a repair install from the OS disk. (Or, VERY unlikely, your disk will become slightly corrupted, so make sure to run a chkdisk /f after rebooting)

Best Case: Your computer will boot fine, and install the updates again perfectly.

edit: Just to be more specific, a repair install will not wipe any of your files or settings or programs away.

Phoshi

Posted 2009-11-27T20:56:03.723

Reputation: 22 001

What will a repair install actually do? – Dark Templar – 2011-10-08T21:17:44.267

@DarkTemplar; afaik, it simply reinstalls the operating system over your existing copy. Often won't do much good, but in this particular case where the main danger would be from corrupted OS files, it's in its element. – Phoshi – 2011-10-09T00:16:19.727

Is it a Vista machine?

Exact same thing happened to me, only my machine took it upon itself to turn off midway through, totally borked my OS, nothing would boot or update. I ended up running a linux live CD to backup a few files I wanted then reformatting the bugger!

Toby

Posted 2009-11-27T20:56:03.723

Reputation: 679

The laptop was shutdown while Windows 10 was getting an update. It happened on 4/16, one day before I need to file my taxes. I couldn't load into Windows anymore. I freaked out. I mean I really freaked out. I was just about to file my taxes and then lost everything. I was so furious. ... ... ...20 minutes after panic ...I googled and googled ...I tried boot in saft mode but it didn't work ...then I tried to take out the hard drive ...then I got an idea. I tried to run Disk Cleanup to remove temporary windows files and wola...it fixed the problem after I put the HD in.

Johnny Chu

Posted 2009-11-27T20:56:03.723

Reputation: 101

Welcome to Super User. Your story made me laugh, it made me cry; it was a roller coaster of excitement. But it didn't resemble a solution to the problem until the very end, and then it was light on the how-to details. Can you revise it to get right to the solution, and provide more detail? Thanks. – fixer1234 – 2018-04-17T04:01:39.923