[bambax]

Here's how Windows Update "works" for me: "installs" an untold number of patches, does an untold number of reboots, then displays that the update "failed", and undoes all said patches, with the same number of reboots, to bring my PC back to where it was before the update.

Failures have generic error messages that don't point to any useful information from the (abysmally bad) MS forums.

So yes, it is disabled. Once every few months, I try again, and usually get the same result.

I have multiple backups of everything, so hopefully if WannaCry 2 hits, I'll survive. Or maybe not, but in the meantime, I'm sorry but I can't spend all my time watching my PC doing updates that don't update anything.

[kbwt]

I have the same problem with Windows 7. "Applying updates" until just over 80%, then "Update failed, reverting changes..." followed by a reboot. It goes through this cycle 3 times before finally booting to the desktop. Each attempt takes between 30 minutes and an hour.

I followed all the instructions from Microsoft to reset Windows Update and ran their "Fix It" assistant multiple times. Guess I just won't be booting into Windows anymore, I only used it for a single game anyway.

[imtringued]

I had the same problem. Don't waste your time like I did by searching for a solution beyond reinstalling windows. Reinstallation is the only way.

[mehrdadn]

Reinstallation is not the only way. I had this problem on a fresh install on a VM, meaning reinstalling would have resulted in exactly the same problem. The only way is to remove it and literally install a newer version of Windows, i.e. one with the offending update already incorporated.

[marktangotango]

I actually worked through an issue like this on 7, took about a day, and only after I found the correct directions online. There was an update that broke update, that’s when I turned off win update. The only reason I use the machine is to rdp to work because I couldn’t get the Linux vpn client to work, I’ll have to revisit that.

[gandhium]

Yes. I had the same situation, tried everything (except installing Windows anew) - nothing helped.

And at this time I'm not concerned about patiently waiting for ~1 hour, I'm worried that someday that "update+fail" cycle will botch my system.