Windows Update Running Out of Control!!

balein · 27 Aug 2018

Help!! I have been failing to install the 1803 update on my Windows 10 Home desktop ever since it first came out in April, and had been able to stop the update trying to install until I have time to do a clean install (some weeks away I think). A couple of weeks ago I got this message in the Windows Update screen "Your device is at risk because it's out of date and missing important security and quality updates. Let's get you back on track so Windows can run more securely. Select this button to start:" Now the Windows Update has gone out of control and keeps repeatedly try to install the 1803 update without any prompts, interrupting whatever I am doing at the time, and then fails at 28% every time. It is now gobbling up all my disk space making the PC unusable - just now the $Windows.~BT folder grew to 50GB in a matter of minutes and as soon as I try to delete the folder it gets recreated.
I have accepted that I will not be able to do the Update, or even a Repair install as that also fails at 28%, but I need to buy some time where I just freeze the PC where it is so I can use it until I have time to do a clean install and reinstall everything from scratch.
I have stopped the Windows Update Service but it still seems to be trying to do the update and keeps repeatedly downloading the update files. What do I need to do to stop these updates for good!!

Bree · 27 Aug 2018

balein said:

I have stopped the Windows Update Service but it still seems to be trying to do the update and keeps repeatedly downloading the update files. What do I need to do to stop these updates for good!!

It may not be windows update, you may have the Update Assistant installed. If so, see this post for how to remove it...

Block Windows 10 update assistant/all updates

...but first, try the repair install one more time and see if we can get it to work. Uninstall or disable any/all 3rd-party AVs (particularly Avast). Remove all except the most essential usb devices. Have no external drives or other usb devices connected, just the keyboard (if that's usb). You don't even need a mouse as you can navigate the setup pages with the keyboard (Tab key to move to next field/ button, Space bar or Enter to select, etc). Do not connect to the internet to check for updates during the install, you can do that later if the install works.

Edit: I see from your specs you have a wireless keyboard. Try a wired keyboard if you have/can borrow one.

balein · 27 Aug 2018

Yes - Update Assistant was running. I have uninstalled it through Control Panel and deleted the

folder C:\WINDOWS\UpdateAssistant, however I cannot delete or disable the tasks in Task Scheduler as I get the message that the account I am using does not have permission to disable the task (I am running from my Administrator Account).

I am still not able to delete the $Windows.~BT folder to get back my disk space, however I seem to have stabilised it enough to do a full system image backup using Acronis

I have previously tried the Repair Install with everything disconnected apart from a wireless keyboard, and uninstalled Kaspersky but it still failed. I am wondering whether the fail could be due to the programs Diskeeper, or Acronis True Image 2018 which has Active Protection - do you think this is possible?

Bree · 27 Aug 2018

balein said:

I am wondering whether the fail could be due to the programs Diskeeper, or Acronis True Image 2018 which has Active Protection - do you think this is possible?

It's possible, but I don't use either so can't say for sure.

The advantage of trying to upgrade manually, as opposed to letting windows update do it, is that you see a two-part error code if it fails. This can help diagnose and get round the problems.

If the upgrade process is not successful, Windows Setup will return two codes:

A result code: The result code corresponds to a specific Win32 or NTSTATUS error.
An extend code: The extend code contains information about both the phase in which an error occurred, and the operation that was being performed when the error occurred.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...de-error-codes

There are also log files you can examine...

Several log files are created during each phase of the upgrade process. These log files are essential for troubleshooting upgrade problems....

...The following table describes some log files and how to use them for troubleshooting purposes:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...rade/log-files

balein · 27 Aug 2018

I had already posted about this in June here Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade - Page 74 - | Windows 10 Tutorials but was not able to diagnose the cause from the error codes. I have also had a growing number of minor issues relating to file permissions that have stopped various programs working properly so I think it is best just to start again from a clean install, its just finding a couple of clear days that I can commit to doing all the program reinstalls that is the reason for the delay.

Bree · 27 Aug 2018

balein said:

I had already posted about this in June here.... I have also had a growing number of minor issues relating to file permissions that have stopped various programs working properly so I think it is best just to start again from a clean install, its just finding a couple of clear days that I can commit to doing all the program reinstalls that is the reason for the delay.

I see, you've been as far down that road as you can go. I agree, a clean install would be best. At least with the Update Assistant removed you should be able to take your time in doing that. As for the tasks you don't have permission to disable, a similar task was dealt with by finding and deleteing its key in Regedit, here...

No permission to disable a task in Task Scheduler Solved - Page 2 - Windows 10 Forums

balein · 28 Aug 2018

Thanks for all the help so far - I now seem to have stabilised the situation and stopped the continuous updates, however I am now left with 11GB of $WINDOWS.~BT that I would like to delete to free up the space on my C: drive, but when I try to delete it I get the message that I need permission from Administrators to delete this. How can I get round this and delete these remaining files?

dalchina · 28 Aug 2018

The 'easy' way is to use a search engine and find articles like this:
https://www.howtogeek.com/268667/wha...you-delete-it/
How to remove the Windows.old and $Windows.~BT folders after you upgrade Windows

OR, with any such problematic files, from outside Windows- offline- Windows not running.

Boot to a command prompt and do it from there, if you're conversant with commands and remember the partition won't be C: as seen offline.

Or boot your PC using a live boot disk. E.g. Kyhi's from the top of the Software and Apps section here. very handy.

balein · 28 Aug 2018

Thanks again - I had already tried booting to a command prompt without being able to delete the folder, and tried Disk Clean Up last night without it bring up the Windows Installation files, however running it again just now worked, so maybe stopping the other programs had removed some constraint. Anyway I have all my disk capacity back now so my problem is solved for the time being.

balein · 21 Dec 2018

Well after 4 months of operation with no unwanted attempts to update to 1803, today it decided to update and did it successfully!! Not sure what had changed, but this time it updated all by itself with Kaspersky and all the other suspect programs still installed. Inspired by this success I have now done a repair install of 1809 and that has also installed without problems. Network file sharing is now working again and all the minor problems I had with some programs not running properly have also been fixed so now I have a 100% working PC again. The only thing I can put this change down to was that KB4023057 ran a couple of weeks ago, and this seems to have fixed whatever was causing the updates to fail. Thank you Microsoft - it took some time but you got there in the end!!