8 Easy Ways to Fix a File That Gets Stuck While Preparing a File to be Installed

How to solve the problem of getting stuck while preparing a file to be installed

 "I had some issues with my computer and had to reinstall Windows 10. i made a bootable USB drive using the media creation tool and used it to reinstall Windows 10. however, it got stuck when preparing the installation profile, even when i chose to customize the installation and delete all partitions, it would get stuck at 1% just the same. I followed the advice of others on the internet and waited from morning until afternoon and the install process is still stuck in the same spot. My patience is running out, can anyone suggest something else?"

During the Windows 10 installation process, you will encounter the step of preparing the installation profile, which means that Windows is downloading the installation profile or working on some task in the background at this time, which usually requires a wait of some time, up to 3 hours is normal according to Microsoft reports.

However, in some cases, when you wait for 3 hours, you will find that the installation progress remains the same, which means that Windows 10 is stuck in the prepare file step, as described in the case above. At this point, you can choose to continue waiting until your patience runs out or you can try to fix it once you understand the cause of this problem.

Why does it get stuck while preparing the file to be installed?

The following are the common reasons that cause Windows 10 to get stuck while preparing the profile to be installed, knowing these reasons will help you to resolve the issue next.

• file system error.
• Disk integrity is compromised or there are bad tracks.
• Virus or malware attacks.
• Computer hardware is faulty.
• Incorrect BIOS settings.

8 Ways to Resolve a File That Got Stuck While Preparing for Installation

If you don't know how to fix the problem that Windows 10 is stuck while preparing the profile to be installed, please refer to the following 8 solutions and learn the exact steps in detail to ensure that you can solve the problem successfully.

• Wait patiently for the installation to complete
• Disconnect all external devices
• Switch to integrated display card and check memory
• Entering Windows Safe Mode
• Resetting the BIOS
• Deletion of problematic files
• Formatting the USB drive and re-downloading the ISO
• Creating bootable media with Windows Media Creation Tool

Method 1. Patiently wait for the installation to complete

When the Windows system takes too long to process tasks in the background or to download and install files, it can give users the illusion that they are stuck, but in fact, Windows may still be running normally at this time, but it is just too slow in preparing the files to be installed. Therefore, you can first confirm that the drive is active by using the LEDs and then wait patiently for 2-3 hours to see if the process is complete. If after 2-3 hours, the computer is still stuck at the same progress, go to the next method.

Method 2. Disconnect all external devices

External devices can make it easier for you to use your computer, but in some cases they can also cause some compatibility issues and cause problems with getting stuck when you are preparing to install an file. Therefore, you can try disconnecting all external devices to resolve these issues.

1. Turn off your computer completely and disconnect the power connection cable and Internet connection (unplug the LAN cable or turn off Wi-Fi).
2. Remove all external devices in order except the system disk, including mouse, keyboard, headset, etc., and in the case of a notebook computer, remove the external monitor.
3. Plug in the power connection cable again and restart the computer to see if the issue has been resolved, if it still does not work, go to the next method.

Method 3. Switch to the integrated graphics card and check the memory

From the results of some users' feedback, it seems that a faulty display card and memory may also cause the problem of getting stuck while preparing the profile to be installed. In any case, this is a worthwhile approach.

1. Turn off your computer completely and disconnect the power cable.
2. Open the side panel of the case and remove the discrete display card, which can be removed without removing the discrete display card if it is a notebook computer.
3. Remove the memory again, inspect and use an eraser to clean the gold finger section, and replace the memory in the other slot to install it.

4. Recover the case and connect the power cable, restart the computer to see if the problem has been solved, if it still does not work, go to the next method.

Method 4. Enter Windows Safe Mode

In Windows Safe Mode, the computer will start without loading any third-party applications and drivers, which can provide help to the user to check and fix the computer system errors. Safe mode can be used to troubleshoot when there is a problem of getting stuck while preparing a file to be installed.

1. Enter the Windows recovery environment by forcibly shutting down and then rebooting the computer twice.
2. Click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings and press F4 or the number key 4 to start Windows Safe Mode.
3. If the Windows 10 installation is progressing normally at this point, it means the problem is with a third-party application or driver.

Method 5: Reset BIOS

If you are using bootable media to install Windows 10, adjust that USB drive priority in the BIOS to fix the problem of getting stuck while preparing the profile to be installed.

1. Press the power button to restart the computer and press F2, F8 or DEL to enter the BIOS while rebooting. Please note that the BIOS buttons vary from brand to brand of motherboards, if you are not sure please read the motherboard manual or ask the motherboard manufacturer for help.
2. After entering the BIOS check if the USB drive has been switched to first priority, if not adjust it to that USB drive first priority.

3. Once the adjustment is complete, save the changes exit and restart your computer to see if the issue has been resolved, if it still does not resolve, go to the next method.

Method 6: Delete problematic files

When you encounter the problem of getting stuck while preparing the files you want to install, it may be due to problems with the files themselves on your Windows system, at which point you can choose to delete those problematic files to resolve the above problem.

1. Enter the Windows recovery environment by forcibly shutting down and then rebooting the computer twice.
2. Tap Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt in sequence and wait for the computer to reboot.
3. In the Command Prompt View, type C: cd Windows\System32\LogFiles\Srt. SrtTrail.txt, and press Enter.
4. When you see the prompt that the boot key file c:\windows\system32\drivers\vsock.sys is corrupted, navigate to the location and enter the Del command.

5. Finally type exit again and press Enter to exit the command prompt character and restart your computer to see if the problem has been solved, if it still does not work, go to the next method.

Method 7. Formalize the USB drive and re-download the ISO at

In some cases, the ISO file itself that you downloaded may be faulty and further cause the problem of getting stuck while preparing the file to be installed. Therefore, you need to format the USB drive and download the ISO file again.

1. Enter the Windows recovery environment and tap Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt in order.
2. In the Command Prompt View window, enter the following commands in sequence and press Enter after each.

diskpart

list disk

select disk 1 (make sure the disk number you select is a USB drive, otherwise data may be lost on other disks)

clean

create partition primary

format fs=ntfs quick

assign

3. Finally, type exit twice to exit the diskpart tool and the command prompt character in turn.
4. Next, you can simply go to the Microsoft website on your browser and download the Windows 10 CD image (ISO file) to your USB drive.

Method 8. Create bootable media using Media Creation Tool

Rufus is a free and open source portable application for Microsoft Windows that many users are accustomed to using to create bootable USB drives. However, from the results of some users' feedback, the bootable media created by this application may have problems and cause the issue of getting stuck while preparing the file to be installed. Therefore, it is recommended that you use Microsoft's official Media Creation Tool to create bootable media.

1. Go to the Microsoft website on your browser, download and run MediaCreationTool.exe.
2. In the Windows 10 Installer window, accept the Notes and License Terms and follow the prompts to install.

Restore your system with a system backup image

In addition to the 8 methods mentioned above, you can also use the professional third-party backup and restore software AOMEI Backupper Professional to solve the problem of getting stuck while preparing an file to be installed, and depending on the situation.

• If you have created a system backup by AOMEI Backupper before the problem occurred, you can restore the system from the previous backup after the bootable media has been created (not specifically described here).
• If there is no system backup on this machine, please first create a system backup with bootable media on another computer that is running normally, and then restore the system by using the foreign machine restore function.

AOMEI Backupper Professional is a professional system backup and restore software for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and many other versions, with a clear and easy-to-use interface, you can create a system backup image in just a few simple steps, and it can also restore the system backup to the local computer or other computers with different hardware, while Ensure your computer boots successfully. Please download and install the free trial version of AOMEI Backupper Professional, then create a system backup and restore the system backup to the computer in question.

Creating a system backup image

AOMEI Backupper Professional provides you with daily, weekly, monthly, event-triggered and USB plug in timed backup functions. In addition, differential backup can also effectively reduce the time of each system backup, we recommend you to enable this function. Next, the detailed procedure of system backup will be described as follows.

Step 1. Install and execute AOMEI Backupper Professional on another normally running computer, select the Backup tab in the left panel, and select System Backup in the right panel.

Step 2. Select a destination path in the System Backup window to save the system backup, and then tap the Start Backup button. If you have multiple backup tasks, you can change the Task Name by tapping the pencil icon in the upper left corner before starting the backup.

Step 3. After the system backup is complete, tap the Finish button.

Restore your system with a system backup image

After creating a system backup image, you can use it to restore your system. The detailed steps for an off-board restore are as follows.

Step 1. Use a bootable disk to boot a computer with a problematic system and change the boot priority in the BIOS. Please connect a device that has a system backup file so that it can be selected during a restore.

Step 2. After AOMEI Backupper Professional executes automatically, switch to the Restore tab in the left panel, tap to select the image file, and then select the system backup file (with the .adi extension) you created before.

Step 3. In the Image Information window, select the Restore the system backup option and select the system image you need to restore based on the time, then click Next.

Note:

If you want to restore the system image to another location (hard drive, USB flash drive, etc.), check the Restore system to another location checkbox.

Step 4. First confirm the restore operation, then confirm that the Universal Restore checkbox is checked (preset is automatically checked), tap the Start Restore button, and wait for this process to complete.

When performing an Universal Restore, please note these matters.

• If you want to restore your system to the SSD, check SSD Alignment, which will optimize the overall SSD performance for longer life.
•  If you are performing an Universal Restore on a new computer, then the original data in the partitioned zones will be overwritten directly during the restore process. If these partitions have data that you need, use the partition backup function to prevent this data from being erased.
• The Universal Restore feature will not automatically install drivers for devices such as display cards, sound cards, network interface controllers, etc. for you; you will need to install them yourself after the restore.
• After an Universal Restore, you will need to re-enter the boot code to restart your Windows system or office software.

In addition, when you want to replace your computer's hard drive, you can also clone your operating system from a large HDD to a smaller SSD with AOMEI Backupper Professional, saving time on system installation while preserving the original data.

Conclusion

The problem of getting stuck while preparing a file to be installed is a big trouble for many users. If you are unfortunate enough to encounter this problem, besides the 8 solutions provided in the article, you can also use the third-party software AOMEI Backupper Professional to perform a system restore or an Universal Restore, depending on the situation. After the problem is solved, it is recommended to use the software again to make a system backup for quick recovery when you encounter similar system problems again.

AOMEI Backupper is available for several Windows system versions and you can create system file images in just a few simple steps. In addition to that, the software can provide you with other features that may interest you, such as file backup, partition backup, disk wipe, etc to meet all your own needs.