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How To Break Out Of An Endless "Update And Restart" Loop? (W10 Pro/64)

Anonymous
2018-03-17T23:28:27+00:00

Hello,

Over the last few days I have been experiencing an endless stream of issues with two Win10 builds on a water-cooled machine. Just as it looks [crossing fingers] as though those issues have subsided [no obvious fault was found], my "other" machine has now decided to get in on the act.

I've been using the system today [all has worked well, with no issues]. When I came to switch off this evening, I can see that the Shut Down menu options have changed to the "Update and (Shut Down / Restart)" pairing that indicates OS level updates have applied. I *always* select "Update and Restart", because I like to check and make sure that all is well.

All is not well.

I've just been through that loop a total of five times, with the system returning each time to an "Update and (Shut Down / Restart)" option.

So I've checked my "installed update history" and I can see that two patches have been applied today:-

2018-03 Security Update for Adobe Flash Player for Windows 10 Version 1709 for x64-based Systems (KB4088785)

and

2018-03 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1709 for X64-based Systems (KB4088776)

That's it. So why does my machine keep on demanding to be rebooted? It suggests that there is an update or part of an update that has not applied successfully but the installed update history shows no evidence of a problem.

Now, in fairness, the second of the above updates, KB4088776, is, I suspect, responsible for the three solid days of trouble and one-stuffed-Partition-Table-Requiring-Clean-Installation-of-Windows that I've been wrestling with this week. So if there is a culprit in here anywhere, my suspicions will fally to '776 first.

However, perhaps someone can help me with the actual issue at hand? Is there a "recommended safe fix" for a machine that continually demands to be rebooted? Maybe there is somewhere in the Registry I can check to see what updates remain "un-committed"? Or perhaps there are other things I need to check first?

All helpful suggestions would be gratefully received.

Thank you.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-03-27T11:17:30+00:00

    It was legitimate and problematic - authenticity was one of the first things I checked.

    In the end I was unable to work around the problem, so had no choice but to wipe and re-install Windows from scratch. That cured it, even going so far as to apply the fix that had previously broken the update process.

    So, in summary, I have 3 Windows 10 installations, two of which are on the same physical hardware and share it via removable SSD drives. The latest major update has now screwed every single instance of Windows 10 I run, with two of those requiring a complete re-installation of the OS. 

    All 3 are new builds created after the free upgrade offer, so I am paying an awful lot of money to have Microsoft tank my systems. Fortunately, for anything serious, I use Mint Linux. Sadly, Windows 10 has never been trustworthy and now is no longer reliable. 

    Waste of time and money.

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-03-27T02:02:25+00:00

    Is this a fake update that will install a virus or is it legit and just problematic

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-03-18T16:59:14+00:00

    The problem I had with 2018-3 and 2018-2 windows 10 cumulative updates was that the update would download, it would install, I would restart the computer as directed, but after that restart, Windows update status continued to indicate that a restart was required to install the update. Selecting power option after multiple restarts would keep showing choices "Update and restart" and "update and shutdown". The solution below has stopped the "you need to restart your computer to install the update" situations for both Feb and Mar 2018 cumulative updates.

    The reply a month ago by Paul Sey fixed this month's update problem for me. It also fixed the 2018-2 cumulative update problem.

    Link to his solution is here:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows\_10-update/error-0x80070bc2-during-installation-kb4074588/81379580-874d-483a-bfc7-d422a4f43022

    You run the SC command as he describes, then restart.

    Not difficult to do Paul's solution. Maybe it will work for you.

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