Stuck in a reboot loop
It didn't take long to see an example of why some users aren't in favor of forced updates. Following a major cumulative update to Windows 10 that began rolling out last Wednesday, some users are complaining that their PCs are stuck in an endless reboot cycle.
For those affected by the buggy update, Windows 10 automatically downloads and tries to install the collection of patches, which requires a reboot, but it fails along the way. Windows then rolls back the changes, tries to install the update again, only to fail again. Rinse and repeat.
"Downloads, reboot to install. Gets to 30 percent and reboots. Gets to 59 percent and reboots. Gets to 59 percent again and then states something went wrong so uninstalling the update. Wait a few minutes and reboot. Back to login screen," a user complained on Microsoft's forums.
The complaints aren't limited to Microsoft's forum. ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughs ran into the issue as well, and even worse, he says that Microsoft's tool that allows Windows 10 Home users to hide or block updates didn't allow him to prevent the buggy one from repeated attempts to install.
There's an unofficial fix floating around that involves deleting a registry file. Specifically, it calls for deleting SIDs for users that no longer exist. You can find out which ones by checking Computer Management/Local Users and Groups/Users, and then navigating to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.
According to Forbes, Windows writes the bad registry entry after failing to install the first time around, and that's what causes subsequent attempts to fail as well. Just bear in mind that poking around and making changes in the registry can make a bad problem even worse, so proceed with caution if you attempt the above fix.
With the introduction of Windows 10, system updates are mandatory, at least for Home users. Windows 10 Pro users have the option of delaying updates for this very reason. Microsoft's thinking is that it's in everyone's best interest if their PCs are updated and secure, though situations like this underscore the tradeoff with forcing security patches on users.
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