Windows 10 1709 update gone bad...

[AthlonXP1800]

Is that with updates enabled? if you infrequently or even semi frequently use a device Windows 10 will kick into preparing and then downloading latest updates when you boot up/resume the device and use high amounts of CPU and disc IO for the first 30-40 minutes its ridiculous and definitely has a high impact on Atom and mobile i3 devices.

Yes all my Windows 10 devices has updates enabled, I used desktop PC with Coffee Lake 8700K CPU everyday, used other 4 devices (my Dell Inspiron 17 7737 laptop with Haswell i7 4500U CPU, Linx 10 tablet with Bay Trail Atom CPU Z3735F, Meegoopad T02 Compute Stick with Bay Trail Atom CPU Z3735F and my late dad's ancient Dell Inspiron 17 9400 laptop with Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU once every month to download updates from Windows Update and also every 6 months to upgrade Windows 10 versions since RTM build 10240. But I never noticed high CPU usage and disk IO when download Windows updates after opened task manager, issue never occurred on VMWare virtual machine running Windows 10 too.

My sister very happy with Windows 10, she also never had any slowdown while downloaded Windows updates on her Acer i3 laptop, HP Pavilion x2 2 in 1 tablet and my niece's 2 months old Acer Aspire R3-131T Convertible Laptop since xmas 2017 all running Windows 7 1709 perfect.

On my tablets Windows 8 is much faster booting on average as it consistently boots to a working desktop in like 3 seconds while Windows 10 is highly inconsistent it might be very fast one boot and drag its feet the next it also has too much going on in the background - low level performance is much more snappy with my Z3740 tablet than my newer Atom Z8750s thanks to Windows 10.

Hmmm maybe you could try update device drivers on Atom Z8750 tablet and also update all system devices drivers by click on update driver then click search automatically for updated driver software. It surprised most time that Intel chipset software or Windows Update never updated system devices drivers properly.

 

[Rroff]

I'm running the latest/best drivers. It isn't that performance isn't there - load up a game or something and the framerate is far better than my older tablet but the OS just doesn't have the low level snappiness of 8 a lot of the time.

I'm not convinced by the rest of what you are saying - I dunno how you are missing it but this kind of thing is pretty much normal update behaviour on 10 and is frequently complained about on the official Windows 10 discussion forums:

Start a device up if there is anything other than a minor update queued (which happens most of the time these days if you've not started it up in a few days) and it will sit there for 30-40 minutes while preparing, downloading and applying updates alternatively using 70-99% CPU and ~20% disc IO or 40-60% CPU and ~70% disc IO its a little less noticeable on a decent i7 based setup but still there. I've also got Windows 10 builds in Virtual Box which exhibit exact same behaviour.

I started the latest lot at 12:30 just before that screenshot so interesting to see how long it takes this time before the system is properly usable.

EDIT:

12:56 it has stopped for now but only because the last update has errored and stopped because it is waiting for a restart for the first cumulative update to proceed. To this point CPU usage has dropped below 37.2% minimum and mostly 55-99%.

Now WMI Provider host has decided to sit there using 40% CPU for whatever reason.

Restarted at 12:58 to allow the cumulative update bit to do its thing.

13:02 its installed that cumulative update - quicker than I expected TBH but still and resuming with the final update.

13:04 its telling me the device it all upto date, background tasks have settled down and I can actually use the machine.

Its nuts absolutely stupid.

EDIT2: Ooops no now Host Process for setting synchronisation and another installer module have decided to kick in using 80% CPU for about 2 minutes.

Usually I lock a lot of this stuff down using 3rd party tools or battery life takes a massive hit.

 

[slipd]

Right, the second machine I look at with upgrade issue, the Samsung laptop, won't even let me start in Safe Mode... will System Reset do anything? That can still be done can't it?

Or a fresh install via the created DVD I made from the Media Creation Tool - I basically don't want to lose him any data

 

[AthlonXP1800]

I'm running the latest/best drivers. It isn't that performance isn't there - load up a game or something and the framerate is far better than my older tablet but the OS just doesn't have the low level snappiness of 8 a lot of the time.

I'm not convinced by the rest of what you are saying - I dunno how you are missing it but this kind of thing is pretty much normal update behaviour on 10 and is frequently complained about on the official Windows 10 discussion forums:

Start a device up if there is anything other than a minor update queued (which happens most of the time these days if you've not started it up in a few days) and it will sit there for 30-40 minutes while preparing, downloading and applying updates alternatively using 70-99% CPU and ~20% disc IO or 40-60% CPU and ~70% disc IO its a little less noticeable on a decent i7 based setup but still there. I've also got Windows 10 builds in Virtual Box which exhibit exact same behaviour.

I started the latest lot at 12:30 just before that screenshot so interesting to see how long it takes this time before the system is properly usable.

EDIT:

12:56 it has stopped for now but only because the last update has errored and stopped because it is waiting for a restart for the first cumulative update to proceed. To this point CPU usage has dropped below 37.2% minimum and mostly 55-99%.

Now WMI Provider host has decided to sit there using 40% CPU for whatever reason.

Restarted at 12:58 to allow the cumulative update bit to do its thing.

13:02 its installed that cumulative update - quicker than I expected TBH but still and resuming with the final update.

13:04 its telling me the device it all upto date, background tasks have settled down and I can actually use the machine.

Its nuts absolutely stupid.

EDIT2: Ooops no now Host Process for setting synchronisation and another installer module have decided to kick in using 80% CPU for about 2 minutes.

Usually I lock a lot of this stuff down using 3rd party tools or battery life takes a massive hit.

No that not normal behaviour, the CPU should not used 99% all the time when downloaded updates from Windows Update.

I would not able to reproduced same behaviour on VMWare virtual machine after reinstalled Windows 10 and monitored task manager for 15 mins when I started downloaded and installed updates from Windows Update.

2:07pm - Preparing to download, CPU 3%, Disk 99% for few secs.

2:09pm - CPU 30%, Disk 39%.

2:10pm Installing KB4074588 14% CPU 3%, Disk 99% for few secs.

2:14pm Installing KB4074595 90% CPU 22%, Disk 29%.

2:14pm All updates installed, checking for updates, CPU 21%, Disk 33%.

2:14pm Ready to restart now, CPU 0%, Disk 12%.

CPU only reached up to 35% downloaded and installed all updates lasted about 7 mins.

If CPU reached 99% on your machine and you could not able to use your machine to do other tasks or play game then it defintely something wrong with your machine, possible Windows Update could be corrupted or Windows 10 files could be corrupted or possible it could be down to 3rd party bloatware tools that caused CPU spiked to 99%.

So I suggest you to run Troubleshoot Windows Update to try repair corrupted Windows Update then open Windows PowerShell to run SCANNOW and DISM to repair Windows 10 files to fix corrupted files.

1. Open Windows PowerShell in Admin, copy and paste "sfc /scannow" without quote and press Enter
2. Copy and paste "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth" without quote in PowerShell and press Enter
3. Copy and paste "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth" without quote in PowerShell and press Enter
4. Copy and paste "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" without quote in PowerShell and press Enter

 

[Scougar]

(p.s. Windows 10 can be very slow even when the is virtually no CPU usage or disk/network usage.... to me that isn't logical. I've also run all the stuff you suggested on the wife's laptop.. it just goes slow as molases for a while with no explanation. No viruses or malware that I have found etc.). Note: Finally got my own PC updated... and now other updates won't install LMAO.. and I also copied across the entire steam folder and it just works again thankfully.

Anyway.. I am dragging this of the OP getting help, was just bitching.

 

[Rroff]

If CPU reached 99% on your machine and you could not able to use your machine to do other tasks or play game then it defintely something wrong with your machine, possible Windows Update could be corrupted or Windows 10 files could be corrupted or possible it could be down to 3rd party bloatware tools that caused CPU spiked to 99%.

Its not 99% all the time but its constant high CPU usage and sporadic high Disc IO while it prepares for updates and mixed high CPU usage while downloading then mixed high CPU and disc IO when installing happens on all machines to one degree or another with Windows 10 its not something specific to any one machine and there are complaints all over the official forums about it.

On a reasonable spec i7, etc. which I suspect your VM is on it is mitigated a bit but its still more often a heavy impact than not - on things like Atoms and mobile i3s, etc. the impact is pretty severe.

EDIT: This is a bit beside the point though actually - my main complaint isn't about the fact that Windows update can be heavy and disruptive on the use of a system - update in Windows 7 at times can be lengthy and you are best off not using it - but the fact that in Windows 10 you have little to no control short of messing about with 3rd party programs or doing advanced tweaking (which within the confines of what MS "lets you" do is only semi reliable in taking control) as to when the system will start doing that and that is the problem - generally if you pickup a tablet its for convenience of using it - if it launches immediately into updates because its been off for awhile with limited ability to stop it doing updates then it makes it very poor for actually doing anything with the device.

The developers really have to be rather dense and "special" to have not put back in proper manual control without stupid complications (or resorting to 3rd party programs and all the potential issues that brings) by now.

 

[Danny75]

Ran into problems earlier this afternoon with update KB4074588. First thing I noticed while playing a game was the sound suddenly begin to crackle, and I thought to myself what are the odds this is some update coming in? Sure enough, when I clicked the Power dropdown/button, it said "Update and Restart" or "Update and Shutdown". So I restarted. That's when the fun really begun.

Black screen for around 30 seconds, then endless turns of the wheel on the Windows logo screen, till it finally booted to desktop. Then, it still said "Update and Restart" etc. Seven times I restarted and/or shutdown, till that finally went away. But the lag remained, and then I experienced lag clicking weblinks, or even clicking on "Update & Security" and other things in Windows Explorer.

Contacted Microsoft through the GetHelp feature, more to have a bash at them than expecting any help. Allowed Remote Assistance (don't normally like this but I thought what the hell, I may learn some things from watching him lol). Among the things he tried, was deleting all the Temp and System Temp and Prefetch files. There was no improvement, and after a while he said he was escalating the matter to Level 2 support and that they'd call me tomorrow.

However, after thanking him for doing his best and finishing the conversation, I restarted the computer and hey presto - sorted. So... to me it looks like deleting all the files in the folders mentioned above did the trick. It just needed a restart after that, which he didn't try as it would have ended the remote assistance, I imagine.

I'll mention something else just in case it makes a difference to others with the same issue - I saw that he changed the Number of Processors to start Windows with, to 1, and then to 5, in msconfig > Boot > Advanced options. After the restart that fixed everything, I noticed it was still running 5 processors, so went in and unticked the relevant box so it would run all 8. Restarted and everything was still good. Only mentioning it in case that happens to be part of the fix along with deleting Temp/SystemTemp/Prefetch files, even though I don't see why it would be.

Hope this helps anyone with the same symptoms.

P.S. Besides manually deleting the above files, he also carried out a Disk Clean-up (right-click boot drive in File Explorer, click Properties, and the option is there).

 

[AthlonXP1800]

On a reasonable spec i7, etc. which I suspect your VM is on it is mitigated a bit but its still more often a heavy impact than not - on things like Atoms and mobile i3s, etc. the impact is pretty severe.

EDIT: This is a bit beside the point though actually - my main complaint isn't about the fact that Windows update can be heavy and disruptive on the use of a system - update in Windows 7 at times can be lengthy and you are best off not using it - but the fact that in Windows 10 you have little to no control short of messing about with 3rd party programs or doing advanced tweaking (which within the confines of what MS "lets you" do is only semi reliable in taking control) as to when the system will start doing that and that is the problem - generally if you pickup a tablet its for convenience of using it - if it launches immediately into updates because its been off for awhile with limited ability to stop it doing updates then it makes it very poor for actually doing anything with the device.

Well I powered on my Linx 10 tablet to download updates from Windows Update and it never hit 99% CPU, it only hit less than 50%. I able to open Snipping Tool, Chrome to open 2 tabs, OCUK forum to type on this thread and Imgur to upload images, CPU stayed just over 50% able to use other tasks.

 

[trent94]

Hello,

Have you tried already something ? If you're still in the loop "Windows could not complete the installation"
I found a solution - excuse my english, I'm French.

The fix which worked for me, hope it will be good for you !

Cheers from France.

trent94


https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...e/520e3a8b-ca77-43c1-b2ce-a5b64b31c897?page=6

Tommytrain :

Here is the fix for "Windows could not complete the installation":

So I managed to get it started up. I turned the computer off and on 3 times to start advanced recovery. Choose advance options. I was about to restore windows (reinstall windows and removing all apps and programs by keep personal files). Select reinstall and keep personal files. And then on the next screeen hit cancel. So I hit cancel at the next prompt. I then selected start windows and it continued installation as normal without the error.

 

[Rroff]

That level of utilisation is going to have an impact on usability and it is certainly the complaint of many people but that is kind of beside the point - the system should not be doing something like that without end user control.

 

[james.miller]

cpu usage spiking isn't normal behaviour, no. But it is happening to people and its not clear why. Unfortunately Rroff seems to experience the worst of it, all the time, which somewhat skews his experience of windows 10 in general.

 

[Rroff]

cpu usage spiking isn't normal behaviour, no. But it is happening to people and its not clear why. Unfortunately Rroff seems to experience the worst of it, all the time, which somewhat skews his experience of windows 10 in general.

Only people I've not seen complain about it is those that leave their system on overnight (and tend to live more predictably around the 9-5 life) so encounter updates themselves less frequently. Whenever I've had anything to do with other people's systems it is the same story though - constant high system utilisation for anything upto 30-40 minutes more often than not when updates are available.

That in itself isn't what I'm complaining about (it isn't particularly different in 7) but the fact it will be initiated by the system with no real life contextual awareness and little ability to take control of it.

 

[james.miller]

I certainly don't leave my surface pro on 24/7 and it's on the fast ring for insider builds so that's download updates and installing a lot and honestly cpu usage whilst doing so has never been an issue. My pc stays on more than the surface but again cpu usage isn't an issue. That's not to say I don't have other issues with both machines though!

we have the ability to pause updates for 7 days, i'm not sure if that works 100% or not. That was introduced in build 1703 i think (although it was 35 days when it was first introduced), so most people releases haven't seen it yet. Well, that's assuming 1701 is still the latest public build, it's difficult keeping up with what features are insider only

 

[Rroff]

we have the ability to pause updates for 7 days, i'm not sure if that works 100% or not. That was introduced in build 1703 i think (although it was 35 days when it was first introduced), so most people releases haven't seen it yet. Well, that's assuming 1701 is still the latest public build, it's difficult keeping up with what features are insider only

1709 is pushed out - don't think deferring updates actually works once they've started though and the OS will often still do preparation work if updates are available and depending on metered settings and/or whether it is going to take any notice of them often still downloads them even if it doesn't apply them.

As I mentioned before over Christmas when I had family staying and couldn't use my normal setup I pulled out one of my Windows 10 tablets as it has a nicer screen than the Windows 8 one I've mostly gone back to using and tried to watch the latest episode of the Grand Tour - frequent pauses, rebuffering, sound crackling, etc. because Windows update had kicked in in the background. I don't really want to go messing about with 3rd party applications and/or messing about forcing the update service to not run as these systems are often used away from home where security updates are more important and that makes it messy to stay updated but I need proper control over when and how updates are running or I might as well just stay using my older Windows 8 tablet if it wasn't for the needs of being able to run certain Windows programs I'd go back to Android/Linux tablets :s

I mean honestly what is so wrong with a "Updates are available do you want to download and install them now" prompt?

 

[V F]

I mean honestly what is so wrong with a "Updates are available do you want to download and install them now" prompt?

It’s because we live in a world one size fits all.

 

[slipd]

Tommytrain :

Here is the fix for "Windows could not complete the installation":

So I managed to get it started up. I turned the computer off and on 3 times to start advanced recovery. Choose advance options. I was about to restore windows (reinstall windows and removing all apps and programs by keep personal files). Select reinstall and keep personal files. And then on the next screeen hit cancel. So I hit cancel at the next prompt. I then selected start windows and it continued installation as normal without the error.

You absolute legend... ^^ that, appears to have worked a treat, nice one!

Make a note people

 

[trent94]

Very happy it worked for you too.

Simple and elegant solution for my point of view.

I was helped a lot of times by other people, so I'm happy to help - i posted the solution on french forums too.

 

[slipd]

Very happy it worked for you too.

Simple and elegant solution for my point of view.

I was helped a lot of times by other people, so I'm happy to help - i posted the solution on french forums too.

No, massive help trent94! Saved me a lot of time and messing that has, many thanks