"Preparing To Configure Windows. Please Do Not Turn Off Your Computer"

Anonymous
2009-12-03T01:02:16+00:00

Hi. I just got my new laptop yesterday with Windows 7 Home Premium. When I left for school this morning, I shut down my computer and saw that it had 22 Windows Updates to download. When I turned it back on this afternoon, it was stuck at a screen that said "Preparing To Configure Windows. Please Do Not Turn Off Your Computer." I decided to wait but it stayed the same for as long as I waited. Finally, I powered it off by holding on the power button, and just normally booted the system. Will there be any damage done to my new laptop? Is there any way I can prevent this update glitch from happening again? Thanks.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-04-23T05:50:01+00:00

Hi. I just got my new laptop yesterday with Windows 7 Home Premium. When I left for school this morning, I shut down my computer and saw that it had 22 Windows Updates to download. When I turned it back on this afternoon, it was stuck at a screen that said "Preparing To Configure Windows. Please Do Not Turn Off Your Computer." I decided to wait but it stayed the same for as long as I waited. Finally, I powered it off by holding on the power button, and just normally booted the system. Will there be any damage done to my new laptop? Is there any way I can prevent this update glitch from happening again? Thanks.

I just bought a Toshiba Laptop for a Client with windows 7 home,

As a favour for my clients I usually run windows update for them so they get it all working and are 100% confident that when they get it as up to date as possible,

I ran into the exact same problem as above, i read this thread and read all different reply's but none of them realy worked for me and i didnt have time to wait...

this is what worked for me:

  1. Hold down the power button and switch of your machine
  2. Restart your computer and just before windows boots hit the F8 button
  3. Boot into safe mode
  4. login (if nessecary)
  5. Make sure that any virus scanners at this point are disabled before continuing
  6. Click "Start" > "Accessories" > "System Restore"
  7. Click "Next"
  8. Pick an earlier restore point and then click next, (its best to pick the 1 just before you had problems)
  9. Click next and follow the prompts and it will start a system restore
  10. wait till your computer does this System Restore process
  11. Regardless of whether the system restore process fails or passes it should now get you out being stuck at "Preparing To Configure Windows. Please Do Not Turn Off Your Computer."

Now...

  1. login if required

13 Disable Virus Scanner before moving on

  1. Run windows update
  2. now it should run without any problems
  3. if you do have problems and run into a loop Call your Computer Manufacturer or the company that you purchased it off and see if they can help you,

Thanks

Michael

Was this answer helpful?

500+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

142 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-06T18:43:53+00:00

    Hi twinclouds & acerracer,

    Several community users confirmed that the solutions given in this thread resolved their issues. Your individual issues, although with similar symptoms, are different from the ones posted here. Refer to the link in my post on 11/22/11 and create a new thread so that your specific issue can be seen by the community. Because this thread is old and a confirmed answer has been given, it is unlikely that many of the experts in this forum will look at this thread.

    Hi, Dena:

    I tried all the "solutions" proposed.  Some of them didn't not work and the others were not applicable.

    Since the phenomena are the same, I think the are the same issue that Windows 7 has.  The underline causes may be different but it is not possible for the user or even the experts to find out without the detailed debugging process and that can only be done by Microsoft technical support team.  As such, I don't see how open another thread can help.

    This is obvious a bug introduced by Windows 7 since Windows XP does not have the same issue, at least I didn't aware of.  Thus, my question is: does Microsoft aware of this problem and willing to resolve it.  I believe the community forum can only help if there is a solution but some of the users are not aware of.  I don't believe the forum can replace Microsoft's technical support team.  If you are work with  Microsoft could you raise this issue to their technical support team?  If you can let me know how to in touch with Microsoft technical support team, I will be happy to explain the problem to them.

    I am very disappointed about my experience on this forum and not really interested in open another thread to have the experience repeat again.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2011-12-06T14:21:12+00:00

    Hi twinclouds & acerracer,

    Several community users confirmed that the solutions given in this thread resolved their issues. Your individual issues, although with similar symptoms, are different from the ones posted here. Refer to the link in my post on 11/22/11 and create a new thread so that your specific issue can be seen by the community. Because this thread is old and a confirmed answer has been given, it is unlikely that many of the experts in this forum will look at this thread.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2011-12-03T05:09:03+00:00

    I'm having this same issue with an Acer Aspire One; seriously just devistating from a usability standpoint; the computer is basically useless--hours and hours of 'prepareing to configure windows' at every power up. I've tried a number of the solution and nothing is working-- luckily, this is a netbook, and my data is safe, but I'm going to have to wipe this thing and either reinstall windows using my product key (no discs were provided with this computer) or just opt for linux and use this thing in a very limited form... blah... I've been a die hard MS supporter since the early 80's and this is by far the most annoying bug yet...come on Microsoft...you software should be bullet proof and simply work.

    This is exactly my feeling.  I don't understand how Microsoft can get away with this.  Are there anybody from Microsoft monitoring this board?  Can someone give an answer to this???

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2011-12-03T04:51:13+00:00

    I'm having this same issue with an Acer Aspire One; seriously just devistating from a usability standpoint; the computer is basically useless--hours and hours of 'prepareing to configure windows' at every power up. I've tried a number of the solution and nothing is working-- luckily, this is a netbook, and my data is safe, but I'm going to have to wipe this thing and either reinstall windows using my product key (no discs were provided with this computer) or just opt for linux and use this thing in a very limited form... blah... I've been a die hard MS supporter since the early 80's and this is by far the most annoying bug yet...come on Microsoft...you software should be bullet proof and simply work.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments