Windows 10 Cumulative Update KB4103721 Version 1803

I understand the elation with posters like the last two who have removed Advance System care and managed to get the update installed. But this is already known. There should be a check box at the top of the forum to indicate this is one good known fix, so people will quit posting the same thing over and over again.

There are a lot of us that have never installed that.

I have five home systems. Of the five, two hung on the black screen and two took the update. One I've paused.

Two systems (where one took it and one didn't) are on identical hardware down to the motherboard. The one that did take it has all sort of gaming/social crapware on it, and the one that didn't is my wife's business system with only Office and a couple of other programs installed. We only use Defender on everything.

I've been trouble shooting one, turning on and off services, but it's a shot in the dark andcosting me hours of work.

Microsoft really needs to fix this or at least come out and make a statement that they are aware and working on it.

I do not have ASC installed and I have the boot problem with this update.

I restored to a previous pint and am awaiting a fix

FINALLY!!!!.....

My machine is now completely up to date and rebooting as normal.

Do this....

Get in to Safe mode, (I press the reset button on front of machine during windows logo screen 2 or 3 times to get to startup repair) then troubleshoot, advanced, startup options. Restart and choose option 5 for Safemode.

In safe mode i uninstalled Advanced systemcare and ran a few security scans. Then reboot. The pc should boot normally. Yes you get the black screen with spinnig circle but only for a short period. 

Once booted, go here... https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4103721 and manually download the update to your desktop. Install it. Reboot and you're done.

Now check in Windows Update Centre. You should have like i do. See pic....

Well, everyone.

After more investigation I found it boiled down to me having IOBIT's "Advanced System Care" running as a service set to "Automatic".

After rebooting in Safe mode (as mentioned previously) you need to change a setting for ASC (Advanced System Care) in the "Services" module as follows:

     1. Boot your machine into "Safe Mode" via the command prompt found under "Advanced Options" when you reboot from a rescue

         disk (you should create one of these when you perform a "Create System Image", which everyone should do from time to time).

         The commands to type at the DOS prompt are:

                       C:

                       CD C:\Windows\System32

                       BCDEDIT /SET {DEFAULT} BOOTSAFE NETWORK

         Then click "OK" on the dialogue that appeasr to boot your machine into Safe Mode.

     2. Now for ASC (Advanced System Care).

         You do not have to uninstall ASC, just change its "Startup Type" under Services.

         Do this by typing "Services.msc" in the Cortana search box and hitting enter.

         Find the item for Advanced system care and right click on it and select "Properties".

         You then change the Startup type to "Manual" and clicking "Apply".

         Finally close your "Services.msc" program by clicking OK 

      3. Back to the "Cortana" search box!

          Type in  "MSCONFIG" and hit Enter

          Click on the "Boot" Tab and UN-CHECK the "Safe Boot" check-box and click on Apply, then click on "OK"

          (This will ensure it does not boot into "Safe" mode every time).

      3. Now run "Windows Update" under "Settings" and once the update with which you are having trouble is ready to install,

          reboot your machine and let the update proceed.

Interestingly, once the machine updates correctly and returns to normal, if you check "Services.msc" again, you will see that the setting has reverted back to "Automatic". This is because within ASC under "Settings/General Settings" (click its top left Hamburger Menu)  you should have "Load Automatically at Windows StartUp" checked.

The ultimate outcome of all this is that the update succeeds, and ASC runs as expected, back to its normal defaults.

Keep the thought of "Services" in mind whenever an update fails.

It may not just be ASC, but could be another service that starts running at time of boot-up.

I assume that this fix could well apply to any computer program that performs "optimization" or maintenance on a computer system.

If you do not own ASC, investigate other programs you may have running as a "Service" - they may be causing your Windows Update to fail.

Happy Days! :-)