Windows Stuck on “Configuring Windows Updates” After May 2015 Patch Tuesday

As we reported to you earlier today, Microsoft rolled out 13 different security bulletins as part of this month's Patch Tuesday cycle, but it turns out that some users are again experiencing issues with some of the released fixes.

A number of users reported on Microsoft's Community forums that Windows is stuck on “Configuring Windows Updates” screen after today's Patch Tuesday rollout, and the only way to get rid of this message is to hit Control + Alt + Delete and force a system reboot.

We experienced the very same behavior on one of our testing machines here at Softpedia, but we couldn't track down the issue to just a single update. All updates installed fine, with the exception of those offered as optional, which appear to be still waiting in Windows Update to be installed.

Stuck on this screen for three hours

Needless to say, the first thing that comes in one's mind is that we didn't wait long enough to complete installation of the updates, but posts online belonging to users reportedly impacted by the same issue claim that waiting for three hours doesn't make any difference because deployment doesn't seem to complete.

“We had this issue at our office as well. I did this and then went into Windows Updates and scanned for new updates. We are up-to-date on important updates, and there were 3 optional updates. The largest was a Skype update. I would like to know if this update is what caused the computers to stick or if there is something else,” one user explained on the forums.

Right now, there doesn't seem to be a pattern here as to what computers or OS versions are affected by this problem and we're still waiting for more information to see if this is a widespread issue or not. We've also contacted Microsoft to find out whether the company is aware of these reports or not and will come back to update the store when we get an answer.

Update 1: Microsoft has reportedly pulled updates that are believed to be responsible for these issues.

Update 2: How to fix a PC stuck on "configuring Windows updates."