AOMEI Backupper
Complete Guide: Fix Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck at 0% or 99%
You can easily fix the "Window 10 upgrade stuck" error with given solutions below. And then don't forget to backup system to protect data.
By Ivy Updated on December 6, 2024
Content of this article:
Overview: Windows 10 upgrade stuck
When it comes to Windows 10 upgrade stuck error, you may only think about using Upgrade Assistant to upgrade Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10. However, you still need to upgrade drivers, service packs on Windows 10 with Windows Update. Thus, there are 3 situations you will receive this error.
Situation 1: Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant stuck
During the downloading and installing process, you may find it suddenly stuck with error code, such as, 0, 3, 35, 48, 81, 99, etc. Besides, you may receive an error message like “Windows 10 upgrade stuck at checking for updates”, “ Windows 10 upgrade stuck on checking your PC”, “Windows update stuck installing”, “Windows 10 update stuck restarting” and so on. And this situation may last for hours.
Situation 2: Windows 10 update progress bar is stuck
The Windows Update will automatically download the latest available updates for your computer. But you may find Windows Update stuck downloading updates and get stuck at some point.
Situation 3: Windows 10 Update stuck in blue screen
After the Windows Update downloads updates, Windows will install the ones it can, and save others to install when you restart your computer. During the process, you will access a blue screen and Windows 10 upgrade gets stuck at a certain point with a prompt like “Keep your PC on until this is done. Installing update 4 of 7.”.
Also, the latest Windows 10 update KB5021233 in December 2022 was reported an error (0xc000021a) with a blue screen. It is a technical error admitted by Microsoft team and is being working on a resolution. Believe it will be solved in later update. You may visit the official page to find a workaround temporarily.
Is Windows update really stuck?
By default, if you use a SSD on the computer, the update should take between 10 and 30 minutes. If your computer is instlled on HDD, the update process will take longer, may be 90 minitues, or 24 hours.
If the process takes too long, your update may be stuck. Don't wait forever and take some measures to fix the update issue. Why is Windows Update stuck at 99 or 0? There are many reasons, such as, outdate, corrupted, or missing drivers, Windows 7 pending update, hardware issues, faulty RAM, internet etc.
To fix the upgrade stuck issue, you can try the built-in troubleshooting tool or other methods in the following. Just use the one suitable for you. Besides, you still need to create a system backup after this issue is fixed, which helps you easily revert all the changes made on your computer.
How to fix Windows 10 upgrade stuck effectively
For Windows 10 update stuck error, I’ll offer you 7 common ways and you can choose the one that fits your situation most. The solutions below are mainly aimed to Windows 10 upgrade stuck at 0/99.
#1: Fix Windows 10 Update stuck at 99% by updating missing drivers
The missing drivers may be one of the reasons to Windows 10 upgrade stuck. Before upgrading, you need to check and reinstall the missing drivers with the following steps:
1. Press Win + R to summon the Run window, type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.
2. Find the missing drivers. You can expand the categories and see if there is a yellow mark. In general, an exclamation mark will come with it.
3. Download the driver from your PC manufacturer’s website and reinstall the missing drivers on your computer.
#2: Fix Winows 10 update stuck issue via updating Windows 7 pending updates
The pending updates are the main reasons for Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant stuck at 99% or 0%. You need to update using the steps below:
1. Type windows update in the search box and select it.
2. Click Check for updates under Windows Update.
3. Just wait until you see the available updates and update it.
4. Try to upgrade to Windows 10 and see if it works.
#3: Fix Windows upgrade stuck at 99 by $GetCurrent folder
This method is borrowed from Microsoft. And it’s said that this method is very useful for this issue. You can try to fix "Windows 10 upgrade sruck at 99" using the following steps:
1. Restart your computer.
2. Go to the system drive, click Tools > Folder Options > View and tick Show hidden files, folders, or drives.
3. Access $GetCurrent folder and name the second folder as media. In this folder, you still can see a regular Windows installation package. It’s Windows 10 creators update edition.
4. Install Windows 10 creators update edition as normal.
#4: Fix Windows 10 update stuck at 99 by a batch file
To fix update issue, use the steps below:
1. Open notepad.
2. Type the following text and save as fix.bat (the file extension must be .bat) on the desktop.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/4c6jknbr42u6rr8/batchWindows.txt
3. Right-click the file and run as administrator.
4. Restart your computer and try Windows Update again.
#5: Upgrade to Windows 10 with media creation tool
Media creation tool will create a setup file for Windows 10 and assist you reinstalling Windows 10. Details to upgrade Windows:
1. Download Windows 10 Media Creation tool on your system and install it.
2. Follow instructions on this tool until you see Windows 10 setup screen. In this window, you should tick Upgrade this PC now and then click Next.
3. After finishing the downloading, click Accept and make sure Keep personal files and application option is selected. If not, you can click Change what to keep and change the settings.
4. Click Install to start Windows 10 update.
#6: Fix the upgrade stuck issue using Troubleshooter
Windows 10 includes a built-in troubleshooter, which can stop the Windows Update Services, clear Update cache (rename the SoftwareDistribution folder to SoftwareDistribution.old) and restart the Windows Update Services. With the help of it, you can fix Windows 10 update stuck at 99 or 0.
Detailed steps to fix upgrade issues:
1. Type troubleshooting in the search box and select it from the list.
2. Click Fix problems with Windows Update.
3. Click Advanced and tick Apply repairs automatically.
4. Click Next to start the repair process.
#7: Clear Update cache manually in Safe Mode
To clear update cache, use the steps below:
1. Boot into safe mode. You can hold down the Shift key while you click Power and Restart in Windows 10. And then navigate to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Windows Startup Settings > Restart > Safe Mode.
2. Stop Windows Update Service via CMD. You can press Windows + X, select Command Prompt (Admin) from the list and type commands below in the pop-up window.
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net stop wuauserv
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net stop bits
3. Empty SoftwareDistribution folder. You can navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution in File Explore and empty this folder.
Note: There is nothing important here. And Windows Update will recreate what it needs the next time you run it.
4. Restart Windows Update Service. You can type the following commands in the command prompt and press Enter after each one.
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net start wuauserv
-
net start bits
5. Restart your computer and run Windows Update again.
In addition, you still can try to restore from a system restore point or directly reinstall Windows. If you do not have CD or DVD, you can reinstall Windows 10 without CD.
And it is not the only one you may encounter after upgrading, for example, users find their print clients have trouble connecting to a remote printer shared on a print server and some apps fail to open after they install Windows 10 21H2 update.
How to prevent data loss due to this error in the future
Windows update is very useful to help users explore new features, handle new security threats and improve system performance, but sometimes it may cause you problems, such as, Windows 10 Upgrade stuck. And if the problem is caused by RAM, your computer may get a blue screen or even lose data as a result. Worse, reinstalling Windows delete all the programs and personal data on the system partition.
To avoid these problems, the best way is to create a system backup with free backup software like AOMEI Backupper Standard, preferably a scheduled backup. It contains the operating system and all files related to your system, as well as the changes made since last backup. Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, etc are supported.
Then, let's get started to backup system.
1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard, and open it. Then, click Backup and System Backup.
2. By default, this software select all the boot-related partitions for you. Click the second box to select a destination path to store the backup image. If you want to save it to external hard drive, you need to plug it into the computer before you start to create system image backup.
3. Click Options, Schedule Backup, Backup Scheme to set backup settings. Then, confirm this operation and click Start Backup to create a system image in Windows 10.
- Options: You can enable email notification to confirm if your backup is created successfully or not. You can compress the backup image to make it smaller if you want to backup large files.
- Schedule Backup: You can enable Daily, Weekly, or Monthly backup to backup system automatically. Event trigger and USB plug in are available in the professional of this software.
- Backup Scheme (Advanced version): You can choose to backup only changed files with Incremental Backup or Differential Backup. Deleting old backup image with By quantity, By time or By daily/weekly/monthly is supported as well.
Wait unless the backup process is complete and save it to a safe place. Then, at the next time, if your computer runs into any problem, such as, Windows update stuck, system files corrupted, no operating system found, etc, you can restore system image from external hard drive with "Restore" feature to easily revert the changes made on your computer.
Summary
You easily fix windows 10 upgrade stuck at 99 or 0 with the given solutions, but you may don't want to repeatedly fix it every time if it's possible to bypass it. The best way is to create a system image or disk backup to always keep a copy of your computer and then you can easily recover your computer from any disaster, not just Windows 10 update error.
Besides, it is still a free disk cloning software. And you can use it to clone hard drive to SSD, clone SSD to larger SSD in Windows 10, replace laptop HDD with SSD, transfer files from one hard drive to another, etc.
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