Latest Vista Update stuck in Stage 3/restart loop

Anonymous
2009-07-26T19:43:12+00:00

I have Vista Business system on a Toshiba notebook, latest Service Pack and with all updates.  It was fully functional when i last shut it down.  I just booted it up to find the Stage 3 page of a Windows update.  0% progress shown, then it restarts, and opens at the same page again.  Stuck in this loop.  Have tried using F8 to get last good installation, and to stop auto restart, without success, it just keeps returning to the Stage 3 page and reboots.  Tried Systems Repair which offered a System Restore, but that wouldn't start.  System Repair now just keeps showing progress (for 3/4 hour) without any HD activity.  I shut it down and it still restarts at same Stage 3 page.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2009-07-29T01:37:10+00:00

Configuring updates stage 3 of 3. 0% complete

Road Map:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358

Use the System Recovery options to rename the Pending.xml file and edit

the registry:

On the System Recovery Options page, click Command Prompt.

Type cd C:\windows\winsxs, and then press ENTER.

Type ren pending.xml pending.old, and then press ENTER.

Type regedit, and then press ENTER.

Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

On the File menu, click Load Hive.

Locate the following folder:

C:\windows\system32\config\components

When you are prompted for a name, type Offline_Components.

In Registry Editor, locate and then delete the following registry

subkey:

HLKM\Offline Components\AdvancedInstallersNeedResolving

HKLM\Offline Components\PendingXmlIdentifier

Exit Registry Editor:

At the command prompt, type exit to exit Registry Editor.

Press ENTER.

Click Restart.

Kindly reply to me if the steps worked.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-02-28T15:33:42+00:00

    worked for me. thank you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-20T19:59:12+00:00

    yes sir, thank you kindly, these steps have really helped me out a lot, thank you.

    Starting out as the resident technician where i work...staples... its very good that people and techs have the opportunity to explore the options for quick fixes...thanks

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-19T22:29:52+00:00

    Thank you. I think this problem occurred for me because I was trying to System Restore when logged in as a user that did not exist in the System Restore point that I was going back to.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-09-23T09:05:24+00:00

    I think I have managed to crack this after hours of frustrating work. What follows is a low tech solution but it has worked for me. What I decided to do was uninstall all windows updates since January this year, a slow and painstaking process but worthwhile.

    To start with you have to crash the PC when stuck in the loop and then restart in SAFE MODE. You can get to uninstall via Control Panel - Programmes and Features - Windows Updates. This is where I encountered the biggest problem in that the system allowed me to unistall about half the updates but not all of them. I eventually managed to solve this buy first uninstalling two cloud storage programms (Sugarsync and BTCloud Services) and also disabling my virus software. Not sure if one, or all of these were causing the problem but I was then able to uninstall the remainder of Windows Updates.

    I then restarted in Normal Mode and initiated Windows Updates, it found 65 and I selected install all. To be honest it got stuck on installing 5 of 65, so I crashed the system again, restarted with boot disk and selected system repair. The PC restarted and installed the remainder of the update without a problem.

    Sorry that this sounds a bit long winded but after 3 weeks of trying, it worked for me with no loss of data. If I had to guess, I think there was a conflict with a Widows Update and one of the Cloud services so am now relying on 2TB external hard drive for backups.

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