WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Warning, don't turn off your computer during this update! 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.920 As often as you've seen this message, you've probably wondered, well, what exactly would 00:00:07.920 --> 00:00:13.240 happen if I turned off the computer or, worse yet, lost power during an update? 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:17.320 And what if Windows Update gets stuck and just never completes? 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:22.560 Is it safe to restart the PC, or are you doomed to have something go wrong? 00:00:22.560 --> 00:00:27.160 So here's the deal, back when Windows Vista first came out, Microsoft was trying to find 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:31.640 a way to make the update process a little more robust, with more and more people getting 00:00:31.640 --> 00:00:37.560 updates delivered over the internet. So they introduced a mechanism called Component-Based Servicing. 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:43.560 CBS, then, no, not that one, does a couple of things differently to ensure that updates 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:50.440 are installed correctly. First, it checks to make sure that all required files are present before starting installation, 00:00:50.440 --> 00:00:54.780 and this is perhaps more relevant for what we're discussing today, it marks an update 00:00:54.780 --> 00:01:01.980 as complete after it's installed. CBS is part of the underlying architecture of Windows Update, so if there's a power 00:01:01.980 --> 00:01:06.780 loss or you just unplug your computer during an update as part of some kind of masochistic 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:12.020 experiment, it'll kick back in once you boot back into Windows and see that an update wasn't 00:01:12.020 --> 00:01:17.660 marked as complete. Now, it won't know why the update wasn't completed, but it also doesn't have to. 00:01:17.660 --> 00:01:22.600 Instead, CBS just rolls back whatever changes the update or made and restores whatever the 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:27.120 previous state was before you started the install, allowing you to try again later without 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:34.360 damaging anything on your PC. So those please do not turn off your computer messages, don't always mean you're at risk 00:01:34.360 --> 00:01:39.960 of an imminent catastrophe if you don't follow the instructions, with a caveat. 00:01:39.960 --> 00:01:46.280 CBS obviously requires critical files that help run Windows itself in order for it to 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:53.720 operate. So while CBS might work perfectly if a shutdown occurs while Windows is updating the GUI, 00:01:53.720 --> 00:01:58.920 or installing some non-critical feature, you still might be in for a world of trouble 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:03.480 if the power loss happens while core Windows components are being updated. 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:09.160 And unfortunately, you've got no way of knowing when that's happening, because Windows doesn't 00:02:09.160 --> 00:02:15.520 tell you. The result can be anything from certain aspects of Windows not functioning correctly, to Windows 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:20.520 refusing to boot at all, instead giving you a blue screen of death, or simply a blank 00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:23.880 display when you try to start up the system. Uh-oh. 00:02:23.880 --> 00:02:26.920 But if this happens, try not to panic. 00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:31.960 Even the most disastrous failed updates shouldn't touch the personal data on the drive. 00:02:31.960 --> 00:02:36.720 So if your PC won't boot into Windows, you can use a Windows installation USB drive that 00:02:36.720 --> 00:02:42.440 you can easily create on another system and boot into that under troubleshoot. 00:02:42.440 --> 00:02:46.000 Then you can use startup repair to fix the damaged Windows files that are giving you 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.240 the issue. Then if that doesn't work for some reason, you can always open up command prompt from 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:58.480 that same USB, type notepad.exe to open notepad, then use the open command in notepad to bring 00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:02.680 up a file explorer window that will allow you to copy any files you need to another storage 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:08.840 device. Or, this is the much easier way, you can just remove the drive from your computer entirely, 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:13.600 connect it as a secondary drive to a different PC, and copy all your files that way. 00:03:13.600 --> 00:03:18.200 But okay, what if you feel like you have to restart during the update process because 00:03:18.200 --> 00:03:23.000 Windows update is simply not moving and is stuck at a certain percentage for a very long 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:28.080 time, like even for hours. This can happen for any number of reasons. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:33.000 But if it's been stuck for an excessive period and it looks like your drive isn't busy anymore, 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.560 like the LED's not blinkity blinking, it probably won't hurt anything to restart the 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:43.720 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 00:03:43.720 --> 00:03:47.720 update cache, which can often fix problems with Windows update. 00:03:47.720 --> 00:03:52.040 Just type troubleshootwindowsupdate into the Windows 10 search bar to find it. 00:03:52.040 --> 00:03:55.840 So bottom line then, try not to panic if your update gets interrupted. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:59.960 Far worse things could happen to your data. Like having Linus handle it. 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:02.960 Apparently this script was not written assuming that I would host it. 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.000 But I did, John. I saw that. Thanks for watching guys. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:11.400 Like dislike. Like out our other videos. Leave a comment if you have a video suggestion for Techquickie. 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:14.800 And don't forget to subscribe. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:16.300 You can't. I forbid it.