How to Fix Problems Caused by Windows 11/10 Updates?

“Windows Update Messed up My Computer”

After Microsoft releases a new Windows operating system, it will continue to maintain it. Microsoft keeps releasing different types of updates to bring new features, improvements, and bug fixes and offer updated security protections.

For example, now Microsoft decides to release only one feature update for Windows 10 or Windows 11 in the fall of each year. It is recommended to download and install the feature updates for Windows. Microsoft has tested them in the Windows Insider Program for a long time. They are stable. However, it is not a good choice to install the optional Windows 10/11 updates unless they can solve the bugs in your current Windows OS. Optional updates can easily cause errors. If that’s the case, you’ll have to take the time to uninstall it.

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However, it doesn’t mean that a feature update won’t cause problems. No matter which type of Windows updates you install on your device, some errors might happen unexpectedly.

After a new Windows update is released, rare users might report different kinds of issues, such as “Windows update slows down my computer”, “Windows update crashes my computer”, “Windows update messed up my computer”, or “Windows 10 update broke computer”, or “Windows Update deleted my files”, or “Windows update crashes apps”, etc. Even at times, your computer may boot into a black screen of death or a blue screen of death. If the problem is not serious, you may just encounter some audio/video problems, application incompatibility problems, etc.

No one wants this to happen. To protect your system and files, you’d better back up your computer before you perform a Windows update. You can do this using MiniTool ShadowMaker, a professional Windows backup software.

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However, once the problem occurs, you need to take measures to fix them. If you don’t know what to do, you can try the methods introduced in this article.

Check if the Issue Is Caused by a Windows Update

At times, you may be unable to tell if this problem is caused by a Windows update. Now, let’s first do a simple analysis. You need to make sure that the Windows update is downloaded and installed successfully.

If you see an error code like 0x8007065e, 0x80071AB1, 0x80190001, or some other similar codes in Windows Update, it usually means that the update doesn’t work successfully.

If your computer screen is stuck on Preparing to configure Windows, Configuring Windows updates, or similar messages for a long time without any changes, it usually means that the update process itself has issues.

If you are sure that the Windows update is fully completed, you can keep reading the get some useful solutions to solve your issues.

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How to Fix Problems Caused by Windows Updates?

Recover Your Lost Files after a Windows Update

Way 1: use MiniTool Power Data Recovery

When you lose your files on your Windows computer, the first thing you consider could be a free file recovery tool. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is such a tool that is worth trying.

This data recovery software is specially designed to recover data from different kinds of data storage devices. The supported devices are various, including HDDs, SSDs, memory cards, SD cards, USB flash drives, and more. This software can work on all versions of Windows like Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8.1/8, and Windows 7.

As long as the files are not overwritten by new data, this tool will be able to detect them and recover them from your computer. However, you are not sure if this MiniTool software can find your files. So, you can first use the trial edition to scan the target drive and then make a confirmation.

MiniTool Power Data Recovery TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

After downloading and installing this software on your PC, you can follow these steps to get your lost files back:

Step 1: Open the program to enter its main interface.

Step 2: Find and hover over the drive that previously saved the lost files and click the Save button to start scanning the drive. If you don’t know which drive has saved the lost files, you can click the Devices section and select the whole disk to scan.

Step 3: After scanning, this software will show the scan results by path by default. You can open each path to find the files you want to recover. Here, you can also switch to the Type section to find your files by type.

Step 4: If you want to recover your files using this software finally, you need to get a license key and use it to register this software. Then, you can select all your needed files at once, click the Save button, and choose a suitable folder to save these files. The destination folder should not be the original location of the lost files. This can prevent these files from being overwritten and becoming unrecoverable.

Way 2: restore from your previous backup

If you have backed up your files before updating the system using MiniTool ShadowMaker, you can restore your files from the backup. Here is a guide: how to restore files using MiniTool ShadowMaker?

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

When the Computer Can Normally Boot

If your computer can still run, the thing is not so serious. You can just use these methods to fix the issues caused by Windows updates.

Fix 1: Restart Your Computer

Perhaps, the issue you are facing is just a temporary issue, which is caused by corrupt temporary files on your device. It is easy to delete the problematic file: you can restart your computer to try. Many users solve their issues using this way. It is worth trying.

Fix 2: Uninstall the problematic update

If the issue happens right after you install a new Windows update, the update should be the cause. You can choose to uninstall the update to see if the issue disappears.

Step 1: Go to Start > Settings > Windows Update > Update history.

Step 2: Click Uninstall updates under Related settings.

Step 3: Find your newly installed update and click the Uninstall button next to it.

Step 4: Click Uninstall to confirm the operation and uninstall the update from your computer.

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Fix 3: Go back to the previous version of Windows

If you want to uninstall a feature update, you can use the Go back feature to go back to the previous version of Windows within 10 days. It is simple to do this:

Step 1: Go to Start > Settings > System > Recovery.

Step 2: Click the Go back button to uninstall the new feature update and go back to the previous Windows version.

Fix 4: Perform a system restore

If you can’t uninstall some updates or the Go back feature is greyed out but you have created a system restore point before, you can perform a system restore to make your Windows go back to a normal state.

Step 1: Use Windows search to search for control panel and click the first result to open Control Panel.

Step 2: Go to Recovery > Open System Restore.

Step 3: Click Next to continue.

Step 4: Select your needed system restore point from the list, then select Scan for affected programs.

Step 5: You will see a list of items that will be deleted during the system restore process. If everything is OK, you can click Close > Next > Finish to perform a system restore.

Fix 5: Reset your PC

If all of the above methods are not available for you, you can reset your PC to have a try. During the process, you can choose to keep your files or not.

Step 1: Go to Start > Settings > System > Recovery.

Step 2: Click the Reset PC button under Recovery options.

Step 3: Follow the on-screen guides to reset your PC.

Fix 6: Test your hard drive

If the above methods don’t work for you, you should consider if there is something wrong with your computer hard drive. If the hard drive is physically damaged, it will affect your system. So, you can test your hard drive to make a confirmation.

When the Computer Can’t Successfully Boot

If Windows 10 update broke the computer making you can’t boot your system, you can try the methods introduced in this section to fix the issue.

Fix 1: Restart your computer

If you can’t boot your computer successfully, you can just restart it to try again. You need to press the power button for about 10 seconds to force close your computer. Then, wait for about one minute and press the power button again to restart your computer.

Fix 2: Use safe mode

Booting your computer into Safe mode can run your Windows in a basic state, using a limited set of files and drivers. This can help you find if the issue is caused by the default settings or basic device drivers on your device. You can also uninstall updates or perform a system restore to make your system go back to normal.

Since your computer won’t start normally, you can’t use the universal method to access the safe mode. You need to use these steps:

Step 1: Press and hold the power button for seconds to shut down your computer.

Step 2: Press the power button to start your computer. When you see the logo screen, you need to press and hold the power button again to force shut down your device. Repeat this step three times, then, you will see the Automatic Repair screen.

Step 3: Click Advanced options to enter WinRE.

Step 4: Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart. Then, press a specific key to enter Safe Mode.

If the issue disappears, it means your system settings and drivers are OK. The newly installed update could be the cause. You can use the methods introduced in the above section to uninstall the problematic updates or perform a system restore.

Fix 3: Reset your PC

If the above methods are not available for you to solve the issues caused by the Windows update, you can reset your PC via Automatic Repair.

Step 1: Use the method mentioned above to enter the Automatic Repair screen.

Step 2: Go to Troubleshoot > Reset this PC.

Step 3: Click Keep my files or Remove everything as per your requirement, and follow the on-screen guides to reset your computer.

Fix 4: Reinstall Windows using an installation medium

If the problem is too serious, you may need to reinstall Windows 11/10 on your device. To protect your data, you’d better recover your data from your unbootable PC or back up data without booting Windows.

You also need to create a Windows 11 installation USB drive or a Windows 10 installation USB drive for reinstalling Windows. After that, you need to boot your computer from the installation USB drive. When you see the Windows Setup interface, you can click the Install now button and continue with the on-screen guides to reinstall Windows 11/10 on your machine.

The End

Bothered by issues caused by Windows updates? Why not just try the fixes in this post to solve the issues. We offer as many options as possible to help you fix the problems and hope you can find a suitable solution here.

Should you have any other related issues or better suggestions, you can share them with us in the comments or let us know via [email protected].