Desktop computer question

[TrainChaser]

BCGuy:  I ran that program.  Not much change on the shutdown.

Pnolans:  Yes, desktop.  I’ve never heard of powercycling – will try that.

Technomadness:  It’s been updating regularly, every time I turn it off, until just very lately.  What the screen said most recently:  “Preparing to configure Windows.  Do not turn off your computer.”

Ballenxj:  Operating system is Windows 7 (tried Windows 10, but it looked too stupid).  

OP:  Just brought that up, will check it out.

155 GB free of 495.

Thanks, Guys!

[BCGuy]

You could try Defraggler, made by the same company.
https://filehippo.com/download_defraggler/

[pnolans]

To powercycle a desktop, just turn it off, or even better , pull the cable out of where it enters the power supply.  Leave it out for at least 10 seconds.  Then put it back in and turn it on.  On some models you may have to push the boot button. 

On a laptop, hold the power on button down until it shuts off.  If that doesn't work, unplug if it's plugged in and remove the battery.  
Same type of procedure as above to turn back on.  

This just happened to me last week with Windows 7.  I chose "shutdown" off of the menu, and it told me not to power off because it was doing updates.  An hour later, it was still doing the same thing.  So, I powered it off.  In this case, holding down the power button was enough.  Waited a minute, then powered it back on.  It then finished the updates and eventually presented the login screen.  There were no problems that I could see.  

Since I've seen this at least once before, I assume they introduced a bug into one of their patch kits.  

Wish you success, 

Pat

[pnolans]

See:

https://www.lifewire.com/when-windows-up...en-2624439

This is a good article, but the gist of it is buried a ways down:

ignore the message and turn it off.  (paraphrased).  

TO THE OP. 

You're stuck right now.  It will still be stuck until the universe winds down.  So, you really have no choice but to turn it off.  You can't back it up, it' stuck.   You can't copy the boot drive.  It's stuck.  You have no choice.  Turn it off.  If it doesn't come back up, you will probably have to use a repair disk if you have one, or just reinstall the whole shooting match.  This is the place where you will either be happy because you backed everything up, or curse the darkness for not setting up a rigid backup schedule.  

Don't forget to send a thank you note to Microsoft for f*ing up your life and wasting your time. 

Or you could just let it keep spinning and go out and buy a new one. 

Regards,

Pat (who has been blessed to have worked with Windows, OS X, Linux, Unix, OpenVMS, and other mainframe OS'es as well)

I'm not claiming to be infallible, I just feel like I've dealt with Murphy's Law for 35 years or so.

[pnolans]

ignore the message and turn it off.  (paraphrased).  

TO THE OP. 

You're stuck right now.  It will still be stuck until the universe winds down.  So, you really have no choice but to turn it off.  You can't back it up, it' stuck.   You can't copy the boot drive.  It's stuck.  You have no choice.  Turn it off.  If it doesn't come back up, you will probably have to use a repair disk if you have one, or just reinstall the whole shooting match.  This is the place where you will either be happy because you backed everything up, or curse the darkness for not setting up a rigid backup schedule.  

Don't forget to send a thank you note to Microsoft for f*ing up your life and wasting your time. 

Or you could just let it keep spinning and go out and buy a new one. 

Regards,

Pat (who has been blessed to have worked with Windows, OS X, Linux, Unix, OpenVMS, and other mainframe OS'es as well)

I'm not claiming to be infallible, I just feel like I've dealt with Murphy's Law for 35 years or so.

The light just went on!  Since I just ran into this problem a week or 2 ago, what are the odds that you are running into the same problem????  

I think it is very high.  

So, your choice, 

Pat

[TrainChaser]

Regarding backups...

In the past, I have put backups on CDs. But they never seem to work on the later version of Windows.

What about those 'sticks'? If you use them for backups on Windows 7, and then 'upgrade' (using the word very loosely) to 10 or 12 or 20, will the current 'upgrade' be able to read the info on them?

I'm getting really tempted to go back to a typewrite and carbon paper....

[RepublicOfTXPatriot]

OP should not worry..The internet providers and the Fed gov have a copy of everything you have/had on there. Just good luck on getting it from them.

[pnolans]

Regarding backups...

In the past, I have put backups on CDs.  But they never seem to work on the later version of Windows.

What about those 'sticks'?  If you use them for backups on Windows 7, and then 'upgrade' (using the word very loosely) to 10 or 12 or 20, will the current 'upgrade' be able to read the info on them?

I'm getting really tempted to go back to a typewrite and carbon paper....

I have been spoiled by spending my career working on very large "mainframe" systems.  Primarily one called OpenVMS.  It is proprietary, so you may have never even heard of it.  Large computer systems like that generally have OS capabilities such that a "image" backup actually works.  A restore of that backup will put back an exact copy of the disk that was there at the time of the backup.  In fact, it has what's called an "online backup"... even for the boot drive.  Windows has never had anything like that , at least last time I looked.  I do not know if OS X or whatever the latest Mac one is does it either.  

I've restored windows backups in the past and when they DO work, I have still had to re-install every piece of software.  It seems like once MS went with the "registry" idea, it made things worse for the customer, but made the sw vendors happy. 

To be specific to your question, I can't imagine MS giving anyone the ability to restore a backup to a newer version of the OS.  It has been my observation that they have no incentive to do that.  

There are corporations that use Windows Server for enterprise-level ("mainframe") type of applications.  I can just about assure you they are not using Windows backup to backup their enterprise.  Nowadays , more and more applications are using configurations like Storage Area Network (SAN) to store data on.  The vendor who supplies the SAN components also supply capabilities that allow for point-in-time recovery and failover .... Murphy still rules in these environments, but he gets away with less.  

Those are true "ready for prime time"  components.  Even though MS won their market share because Windows became the default desktop standard, the large corporations are the ones they build for .  

That's my opinion anyway.  Yours may vary.

[rvpopeye]

Anything you put on a flash drive(stick) or a external hard drive will be right there waiting for you when you upgrade.

You could even save an image to an external and restore the computer to exactly the way it was when you made the image .
(I do this once a month after updates so I won' t have to reinstall anything major after a restore if I need to do one)
Macrium Reflect is a good easy to use 3rd party software to do this but windows has their version already on the OS.

[BCGuy]

Regarding backups...

What about those 'sticks'?  If you use them for backups on Windows 7, and then 'upgrade' (using the word very loosely) to 10 or 12 or 20, will the current 'upgrade' be able to read the info on them?

That depends on what you mean by backup.  If you are doing a system image, then no.  If you are using backup software, then you may need the same software to access your backup.
What I do, (I use external harddrives, but usb sticks will work) is copy (or cut and paste) the info that I want to save.  As long as you are using the same operating system (DOS/Windows in this case) you will be able to access the info.  I can still read old DOS files that I made without extensions.
You can use CDs/DVDs but that would take a little more work.  Assemble all the info that you want to burn in one directory and burn it from there.  I always selected the option to close the CD at the end of the burning to make sure that it could not be accidentally overwritten later.