failure configuring windows updates. reverting changes!

[BumbagBunny]

All of those PC's rebooted back to a working desktop to which I then break up the updates
into smaller batches of similar updates, proceed to do all of them again methodically a
batch at a time. Rebooting in between sets. Till I get to the Windows 8.1 Free Upgrade
Continuing on to finish the pc with no further problems. All the while actually completing
every single update!

Hey thanks. I was facing this problem trying to update to 8.1 and this solution worked. I empathise for your utter frustration in the process. The whole thing takes forever, and many screens have zero feedback, so you have no way of knowing if the computer has hung or not.

 

[joele]

I have a new Asus netbook (x200CA Celeron 1007u thing).. I luckily did a complete HDD image before doing anything as I was putting an SSD in it (refuse to use PCs without them now)...

What happened with mine is from fresh system (not one change out of the box) it does 99 updates and gets stuck on this restoring from bad update error.. The difference in mine to the tech in here is that mine never finishes, I left it four 4 hours and still at same screen, I found others on Asus forum that have left it for 2 days...

As I said lucky I have an image, I tried MS suggestion the second time by doing a 'clean boot' with no services running, but the same thing happens.. Will go with the suggestion here and do half a dozen updates at a time..

Once it gets through (if it does) I will do another image, never had this trouble with my desktop, though it is regularly updated so never done 99 at once, maybe in their usual shortsightedness windows 8 just can't handle such a big batch?

 

[joele]

Well that failed too, first few updates OK so I did a batch of ten x86 windows security patches (around 24mb total) and it failed.. Hopefully it doesn't take 2 days to revert changes, took almost an hour to do them.

I did also run the update troubleshooter which fixed one error, or so it said...

I honestly think Microsoft screwed the pooch here, I never had these problems with windows 7, I know many people having lots of issues with 8 from update problems to black screen of death on bootup, the whole windows 8 edition has been a screw up, windows millennium all over again..

 

[joele]

Well after two days and a lot of reloading/repairing and lots of small batches it finally got through, took an entire day and well into the night..

Windows 8.1 now loaded and drive imaged so not doing again on this PC.

 

[ioioioio19]

All of those PC's rebooted back to a working desktop to which I then break up the updates
into smaller batches of similar updates, proceed to do all of them again methodically a
batch at a time. Rebooting in between sets. Till I get to the Windows 8.1 Free Upgrade
Continuing on to finish the pc with no further problems. All the while actually completing
every single update!

Hey thanks. I was facing this problem trying to update to 8.1 and this solution worked. I empathise for your utter frustration in the process. The whole thing takes forever, and many screens have zero feedback, so you have no way of knowing if the computer has hung or not.

Wow glad I've found this thread discussion!!

Exactly the same sentiment I have regarding this latest (recent) windows updates!
It has wasted me weeks for restart and repair! Very appreciated
sledgebeast 's advice on the windows update, now honestly I don't know what I
should be doing.., or I should looking forward to windows 10 : D

Thank you everyone for their input.

 

[Surgikill]

I'm having the same problem. Waiting on it to revert. May try to just install windows 8.1 and bypass windows 8.

 

[sigovesus]

It appears in most cases this problem stems from a hardware driver that is incompatible with Windows 8.1. To fix this, before downloading any updates or before upgrading to 8.1 from 8, first visit the web site of your PC's manufacturer (Dell, Acer...etc) (PLEASE NOTE: I highly recommend shutting off automatic updates before beginning this procedure to ensure no Windows updates are installed before the PC is prepared.) Go to the support section and look up your model number. When you are asked which OS you have installed choose Windows 8.1 whether you have it or not. Download every driver that appears in the list (make sure to ignore any bios updates). Install all the drivers after downloading. If Windows says it already has the driver installed, install it anyway, if possible. After you are finished make sure you re-boot your PC if you haven't already. After that you should be fine to proceed downloading your Windows updates as normal. For what its worth, I am also a computer service technician with 25+ years experience. I deal with this problem every day as well.

 

[Procrasturbate]

i joined just to answer this thread.

First off.. "just jump to 8.1" is bad advice and wont work off a fresh 8.0 install. W8 demands you update 145-160 files before you can download and install 8.1, and most of us are getting stuck at this huge download.

2nd, installing a few check boxes at a time will not work. when you hit the file(s) that are causing the issue, they will uninstall ALL files you have updated recently, resetting you back to solid 8.0.

3rd here is the fix. go here. run this MS app.
it will find and fix your issues and work after that.
I just built a pc. Installed 7, fully upgraded that w/o issue.
Then got an 8 upgrade disc, installed no issues.
Then when you want to jump to 8.1 it demands you install 160 updates first, which is where i got my issue of 98% then a 3 hour install and revert back.

This program found and fixed 5 issues. Update worked perfectly.
Fix Windows Update Error messages and other Windows Update issues

 

[oduodu]

has anyone tested this fix ??

does it work ??

 

[sledgebeast]

Its me again. Lately I have just assumed this problem is just going to continue to exist & MS cares not to address it! At a cost of a but load of extra time getting thru this update fiasco on each and every W8 PC! I had a rather simple but much needed breakthru tonight. I believe I have found the problem! And MS and VAR's Tech support should have been able to tell us how easily it is to solve this problem when asked months ago!!!!!!!
So I was searching an error code associated with this failure relating to a security update and there it was! "TURN OFF SECURE BOOT IN THE BIOS, DO THE UPDATE, TURN SECURE BOOT BACK ON!" WALA! It worked! So my advice is when beginning the Update phase of reloading a W8 PC is to first boot into the BIOS and turn off Secure boot! Remember to turn it back on afterwards. How could MS not know to tell us this when support calls were placed. How easy and simple a fix to such a exasperating problem that was let be ongoing with no answers!

I would ask anyone trying this method or fix to the "Reverting Changes" issue to let us know if it indeed works for them?

Hey Admin's... If anyone else confirms this work'd for them,,,, I would like to mark this one "Solved!"

 

[Johnyy]

I can confirm this is not a fix (turning off secure boot)

I have a second PC on which I test stuff and use for backups occasionally. I turned it on today, for the first time since October and got the reboot update loop after updating. Tried the previous post fix and because it is an older (about 6 years) PC the secure boot option is not available in BIOS ie. it is not a UEFI bios. I left it running and rebooting for a couple of hours until it finally started. I turned off the AV realtime monitoring and searched for updates. There were 50 of them so I selected just 10 system updates and installed them. It decided to install all 50 regadless. Microsoft I am not at all impressed by this. I am still waiting for the reboot fail loop and will report back later. Like a previous poster I repair PC's a lot - but not as much as him

 

[sledgebeast]

Well now I will say that all the machines I am experienceing this on are all fairly modern W8 OEM Machines with a W8 factory recovery partition & UEFI BIOS. And pretty much all have Secure Boot Option in the BIOS. So If y0u have no option at all in the MB relating to Secure Boot on/off and do experience the initial problem there is no way to even try this solution. However, so far every machine I have turned S.B. off in I have been able to do all updates at once and have not experienced the Issue as of late. So I am still seeing promise with the discovery of this possible workaround on the Bulk of the W8 PC's I typically get in the door to do.. Sorry your situation did not work on a pre-UEFI MB. I'd dare a guess yours did not come out origionally with W8 on it or is a older home build. You might want to test your RAM if you always fail out of, or can never complete, the update process on this computer. I do eventually get thru this issue on them all.... even before finding out about this fix.

 

[sledgebeast]

Solved!

My Final comments on this Issue.

For my purposes. I am reporting this problem solved. Since discovering the Secure Boot Trick I have Re-Loaded approx. 50 Windows 8 OEM PC's. None of them have "Reverted Changes" During the Update Process with S.B. turned off. This exact Issue/Fix does not apply to Very Old Machines where they have been upgraded to 8 as they do not have UEFI BIOS's w/ Secure Boot Technology & would not be running GPT Partitioning scheme. For the rest that do this solution works! As a matter of technique I Make it a Point to turn off S.B. as soon as I finish running the Factory Recovery Partition. My only problem is always remembering to turn it back on after everything is done at the end of the day. Tie a string around your finger.

Admin your welcome to mark this Thread SOLVED!

 

[tulip]

Actually NOT Solved...

My Final comments on this Issue.

For my purposes. I am reporting this problem solved. Since discovering the Secure Boot Trick I have Re-Loaded approx. 50 Windows 8 OEM PC's. None of them have "Reverted Changes" During the Update Process with S.B. turned off. This exact Issue/Fix does not apply to Very Old Machines where they have been upgraded to 8 as they do not have UEFI BIOS's w/ Secure Boot Technology & would not be running GPT Partitioning scheme. For the rest that do this solution works! As a matter of technique I Make it a Point to turn off S.B. as soon as I finish running the Factory Recovery Partition. My only problem is always remembering to turn it back on after everything is done at the end of the day. Tie a string around your finger.

Admin your welcome to mark this Thread SOLVED!

Sorry mate, but you are WRONG. Just because you have solved the issue for your circumstances does not mean it has been solved. You seem to have a rather high opinion of yourself, and yet it took you more than a year to solve your own issues according to your own testimony.

I have recently encountered a desktop with W8.1 and a UEFI BIOS and switching off Secure Boot does not do a damn thing to fix the problem.

On this particular PC I have narrowed the cause down to a particular update dated April 2014 - KB2919355. This is a prerequisite for every update since that time. Once you get this update installed things should start to become smoother, but again this is only in this specific case. I NOT am claiming the issue is solved for everyone else here, as my ego is not that inflated.

There are various issues with this update. Here are Microsoft's own suggestions:- Install the Windows 8.1 Update (KB 2919355) - Windows Help

If none of the above applies, then you can try Microsoft's Update Troubleshooter:- Fix Windows Update Error messages and other Windows Update issues

If all else fails, then see if any of these issues apply:- Troubleshoot problems with installing updates - Windows Help

 

[sledgebeast]

I am not coming from a position of just one computer that I have had this problem with. In Running a computer repair business I have now reloaded well over a hundred towers that have been solved by turning off Secure Boot. So I stand by my guns. You may have experienced a similar problem that doesn't fit the solution provided here, but that's just the Junk we are forced to deal with by Microsoft. Turning off secure boot does help and has helped with the problem in this thread And has now helped countless times. I can appreciate the fact that it did not help in your case. And No not all Reversions are apparently caused by Secure Boot. But the Bulk of them that occur during a clean reload are. As long as you don't have bad ram or the like. One other thing to note some machines like HP resist having secure boot disabled if you didn't enter the code after reboot it voids your change in the BIOS.

 

[sledgebeast]

To Put it Another Way.

Let me put this another way. In 2014 our computer store invoiced over 200 W8 Factory Wipe'n'Reloads. Over 90 percent of those had the Reverting Changes during the clean OS update phase. We had not started experiencing this Issue till close to the end of the First Quarter(MidSpring) of that year. I too suspected a BS update put out by MS to be the culprit. At the time We found ways of minimizing the occurance as I mentioned way back in this thread. Now, this half-year of 2015 since discovering the link between failing the update stage/Reverting changes & Temporary Disabling Secure Boot in the BIOS, we have invoiced over a 100 W8 RLd's... And experience only about 2% that Revert. Call it ego inflated or Wrong but for our retail computer store & repair shop's purposes we do in fact consider it solved. Barring a few unstable PC's w/ Quirky configurations, we no longer experience this ISSUE!

 

[philwmail]

Telephone support

Let me put this another way. In 2014 our computer store invoiced over 200 W8 Factory Wipe'n'Reloads. Over 90 percent of those had the Reverting Changes during the clean OS update phase. We had not started experiencing this Issue till close to the end of the First Quarter(MidSpring) of that year. I too suspected a BS update put out by MS to be the culprit. At the time We found ways of minimizing the occurance as I mentioned way back in this thread. Now, this half-year of 2015 since discovering the link between failing the update stage/Reverting changes & Temporary Disabling Secure Boot in the BIOS, we have invoiced over a 100 W8 RLd's... And experience only about 2% that Revert. Call it ego inflated or Wrong but for our retail computer store & repair shop's purposes we do in fact consider it solved. Barring a few unstable PC's w/ Quirky configurations, we no longer experience this ISSUE!

can you provide phone support on this?

 

[steven decker]

My computer won't even load now it keeps spinning around saying failure configuration window updates. Ive tried everything nothing works it won't even let me do a system recovery either.

 

[newtothisstuff]

newbie has question about this "secure boot" thing

Is this something you can only do after a new or re install? Or can I get into bios and change the setting when this message finally goes away? If so, How do I get there?
QUOTE=sledgebeast;485036]Well now I will say that all the machines I am experienceing this on are all fairly modern W8 OEM Machines with a W8 factory recovery partition & UEFI BIOS. And pretty much all have Secure Boot Option in the BIOS. So If y0u have no option at all in the MB relating to Secure Boot on/off and do experience the initial problem there is no way to even try this solution. However, so far every machine I have turned S.B. off in I have been able to do all updates at once and have not experienced the Issue as of late. So I am still seeing promise with the discovery of this possible workaround on the Bulk of the W8 PC's I typically get in the door to do.. Sorry your situation did not work on a pre-UEFI MB. I'd dare a guess yours did not come out origionally with W8 on it or is a older home build. You might want to test your RAM if you always fail out of, or can never complete, the update process on this computer. I do eventually get thru this issue on them all.... even before finding out about this fix.[/QUOTE]

 

[newtothisstuff]

Is there any new info on this reverting changes message?

I am waiting for the change to revert. And waiting, but the computer was super slow to begin with, so I have faith it eventually will finish. ? I hope. So my question is when it does, if there is no new info on how to fix this, should I try secure boot or installing only a few at a time or what? Is there a way to try to change to secure boot setting in bios if you are not doing a new install or re install? Assume I know nothing about computers in your reply Please. Or is there a new fix yet? Please help, I have to get this thing up and running for my daughter who just went back to school. Thank you.