Friday, July 5, 2013

Windows 8 (mis)adventures: (Re)starting grinds to a halt!

When you get a Windows 8.0 computer, you will undoubtedly be asked to install updates...and your system may grind to a halt whenever it is (re)started. It *will* (re)start, but it may take 20 minutes or more. No, it's not your computer. It's Windows 8. The problem has been around for quite a while. It's a crime that Microsoft hasn't fixed it by now, but presumably it will go away with Windows 8.1 this August.

The problem is with one of the updates. The KB2770917 update will appear to stall at about 13%. Wait 20 minutes (or more? Go to dinner.) and it will eventually appear as though everything is updated, only the update has failed. The computer will now be sluggish to (re)start to the point where you'll be tempted to return it as defective.

Here's a work-around from the Microsoft Answers website that worked for me.

  • Press windows key + R at the same time to open Run command.
  • Type in "msconfig.exe" (without quotation marks) and press enter
  • Go to the Services tab on the top.
  • Check the box on the bottom that says hide all Microsoft services (This will allow you to disable all non-Microsoft services easily.)
  • Click Disable all (This will disable all third-party services but allow all Microsoft services to run.)
  • Restart the computer
  • Install update
  • After installation, follow the same instructions but click enable all instead of disable all and restart again and everything should be good.

Good luck!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for these instructions, Jerry! Upgrading to Windows 8 can be a challenge, and a privilege at the same time. It's important that users can have comprehensive knowledge about the features of this new applications and know how they'll be able to handle their previous files. I hope you'll be able to share more about storing and updating files when you upgrade to Windows 8. You know, it's hard to compromise important data after an upgrade. :)

    Ruby Badcoe @ Williams Data Management

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