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Warning, don't turn off your computer during this update!

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As often as you've seen this message, you've probably wondered, well, what exactly would

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happen if I turned off the computer or, worse yet, lost power during an update?

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And what if Windows Update gets stuck and just never completes?

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Is it safe to restart the PC, or are you doomed to have something go wrong?

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So here's the deal, back when Windows Vista first came out, Microsoft was trying to find

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a way to make the update process a little more robust, with more and more people getting

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updates delivered over the internet. So they introduced a mechanism called Component-Based Servicing.

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CBS, then, no, not that one, does a couple of things differently to ensure that updates

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are installed correctly. First, it checks to make sure that all required files are present before starting installation,

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and this is perhaps more relevant for what we're discussing today, it marks an update

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as complete after it's installed. CBS is part of the underlying architecture of Windows Update, so if there's a power

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loss or you just unplug your computer during an update as part of some kind of masochistic

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experiment, it'll kick back in once you boot back into Windows and see that an update wasn't

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marked as complete. Now, it won't know why the update wasn't completed, but it also doesn't have to.

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Instead, CBS just rolls back whatever changes the update or made and restores whatever the

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previous state was before you started the install, allowing you to try again later without

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damaging anything on your PC. So those please do not turn off your computer messages, don't always mean you're at risk

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of an imminent catastrophe if you don't follow the instructions, with a caveat.

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CBS obviously requires critical files that help run Windows itself in order for it to

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operate. So while CBS might work perfectly if a shutdown occurs while Windows is updating the GUI,

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or installing some non-critical feature, you still might be in for a world of trouble

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if the power loss happens while core Windows components are being updated.

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And unfortunately, you've got no way of knowing when that's happening, because Windows doesn't

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tell you. The result can be anything from certain aspects of Windows not functioning correctly, to Windows

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refusing to boot at all, instead giving you a blue screen of death, or simply a blank

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display when you try to start up the system. Uh-oh.

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But if this happens, try not to panic.

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Even the most disastrous failed updates shouldn't touch the personal data on the drive.

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So if your PC won't boot into Windows, you can use a Windows installation USB drive that

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you can easily create on another system and boot into that under troubleshoot.

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Then you can use startup repair to fix the damaged Windows files that are giving you

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the issue. Then if that doesn't work for some reason, you can always open up command prompt from

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that same USB, type notepad.exe to open notepad, then use the open command in notepad to bring

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up a file explorer window that will allow you to copy any files you need to another storage

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device. Or, this is the much easier way, you can just remove the drive from your computer entirely,

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connect it as a secondary drive to a different PC, and copy all your files that way.

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But okay, what if you feel like you have to restart during the update process because

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Windows update is simply not moving and is stuck at a certain percentage for a very long

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time, like even for hours. This can happen for any number of reasons.

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But if it's been stuck for an excessive period and it looks like your drive isn't busy anymore,

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like the LED's not blinkity blinking, it probably won't hurt anything to restart the

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system and take another crack at it. Once it comes up, you can use a troubleshooter that's built into Windows to clear the Windows

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update cache, which can often fix problems with Windows update.

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Just type troubleshootwindowsupdate into the Windows 10 search bar to find it.

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So bottom line then, try not to panic if your update gets interrupted.

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Far worse things could happen to your data. Like having Linus handle it.

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Apparently this script was not written assuming that I would host it.

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But I did, John. I saw that. Thanks for watching guys.

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Like dislike. Like out our other videos. Leave a comment if you have a video suggestion for Techquickie.

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And don't forget to subscribe.

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You can't. I forbid it.