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

Anonymous

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.

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

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:

Hold down the power button and switch of your machine
Restart your computer and just before windows boots hit the F8 button
Boot into safe mode
login (if nessecary)
Make sure that any virus scanners at this point are disabled before continuing
Click "Start" > "Accessories" > "System Restore"
Click "Next"
Pick an earlier restore point and then click next, (its best to pick the 1 just before you had problems)
Click next and follow the prompts and it will start a system restore
wait till your computer does this System Restore process
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...

13 Disable Virus Scanner before moving on

Run windows update
now it should run without any problems
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

0 comments

142 additional answers

Anonymous

2010-03-02T15:08:13+00:00

I'll be watching this thread for an answer (even though I started another, oops!) because I am having a similar issue. 2 day old HP laptop and it seems to be stuck on update 4 of 14. I had already successfully completed several series of updates. 4 started at 10:30pm last night, and the update was still on 4 at 8:30am this morning. I turned off the laptop while at work so I'm hoping it will all go away when I go home. I really don't want to have to send my new laptop in for repairs (especially since it was purchased at a Wal-Mart 1 hour away from my home!)
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2010-03-04T16:05:20+00:00

I wish I would have know it would take so long, I would not have shut it down last night so it could update! Bought the laptop for work, and know I can't work today because it is "preparing to update" all day!!!!!! AAAGGGHHHHH!! Glad this thread is here though, so I know I am not alone!
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2010-04-17T06:02:40+00:00

OK, at 10 hours I finally lost patience. Hard reset ... asked it to start normally ... laptop went straight to the "Preparing to configure ..." screen - however lasted only a few seconds, then "Updating Windows ... " and (hey!) - a progress indicator. Eleven updates then applied in a few seconds. And all is now well. Lucky?

So - in my case the update process had actually hung - the animated cursor does not indicate that anything is actually happening. Given the speed, it looks as if some of the updates had been applied (in the background) and these were not undone by a hard reset. YMMV!

Same for me. I did a hard reset after waiting long enough, then selected "Start Windows normally" when it said the computer hadn't shutdown properly. When the "Preparing To Configure Windows" screen appeared again, it started configuring the updates and the whole thing took only a few seconds. So, for me too, it was just stuck.

I've had this Win 7 computer for a couple months and never had a problem installing Windows updates before today... I was doing a total of 10 updates this time.

I probably won't do any more updates from now on, unless Microsoft acknowledges the problem and fixes it.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2010-04-19T11:14:11+00:00
Same problem for me with brand new Lenovo ThinkPad 510 with Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate.

Based on comments above, I took the plunge and powered down after about a 1 hour wait.

Initially I selected the "Start Windows Normally" option, but this took me back to the "Preparing to configure Windows..." message. I waited a bit, but still not progress, so powered down again.

This time, I chose the "Safe Mode" start and then got a message about Windows Updates not being configured correctly and Windows restored (ie. reversed) configuration automatically.

Once back in Windows, I chose to install updates manually. I had about 50 important updates and 38 optional updates. The initial installation appeared to have failed on:
- Security Updates for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB978601)
I initially installed about 20 Win 7 updates, including the above, which installed fine after download and reboot (showed the "Preparing to configure" message for about 15-30 seconds then quickly jumped to progress screen and installed them all in under a minute).

I then rebooted and installed the remaining updates manually.

Based on my experience, I think Windows Update just got "stuck". It definitely shouldn't take that long to install. My suggestion is to power down and reboot, but you may be more patient than me!
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments