Microsoft released Windows 10 a year ago, and till now more than 350 million devices are running this operating system. Users have three ways to get Windows 10 working on their machine. First way is to make clean install of Windows 10 using ISO file or setup disc they bought from official retailer. Second way to bought device in Windows 10 comes pre-installed by Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Third way is to upgrade your Windows 7/8/8.1 to Windows 10 using free upgrade offer.

However, for many of users, upgrade didn’t gone smoothly. Few of them reported that while upgrading to Windows 10, the process doesn’t goes beyond 99% and stuck there for hours. Obviously, users didn’t have any other choices except to restart whole process. Even some users re-started upgrading but nothing happened and they’re lost at 99 percent again.

[FIX] Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck At 99 Percent

If you’re also victim of this problem, you can try suggestions mentioned below and see if they helps:

FIX : Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck At 99 Percent

FIX 1 – Clear Contents Of Software Distribution Folder

1. Press W8K + R key combination on your keyboard and paste following into Run dialog box and click OK:

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download

*Substitute C: with your system root drive.

[FIX] Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck At 99 Percent

2. Clear all the contents of Downloads folder so opened:

[FIX] Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck At 99 Percent

After you make the Downloads folder empty, reboot the machine and re-try proceed to installation.

FIX 2 – Deactivate Windows Update For A While

1. Open Control Panel and go to System and Security\Windows Update\Change Settings.

[FIX] Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck At 99 Percent

2. Now set the Windows Updates settings for Important updates to New check for updates option. Also uncheck Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates and Give me updates for other Microsoft products  when I update Windows options. Click OK.

3. Next, open administrative Command Prompt. Type net stop wuauserv command and press Enter. You should see The Windows Update service was stopped successfully message in return.

[FIX] Windows 10 Upgrade Stuck At 99 Percent

Close Command Prompt and try upgrading now. It should work this time. When Windows 10 upgrade is complete, you can run net start wuauserv command to start Windows Update service again.

Let us know via your comments, if issue still persists!

17 Comments

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  • Peter

    Kapil, neither “Clear Contents Of Software Distribution Folder” nor stopping Windows Update helped. I still get an error message from the Anniversary update: “Uninstall this app, because it is not compatible with Windows.” But no app name is shown.
    Any idea? Thanks.

  • Peter

    Sorry, the error code is 0xc1900209

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Review additional suggestions mentioned here, see if something helps: https://www.kapilarya.com/error-0xc1900101-0x20017-we-couldnt-install-windows-10

  • Sanjay

    “Uninstall this app, because it is not compatible with Windows.” But no app name is shown. which app should delete ????? Why microsoft software does not provide specific app name which does not compatible???? it stuck at 99% for hours ???? Same as Peter

  • Sanjay

    previous comment in relation to windows 10 anniversary update.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Hey Sanjay, can you please share me screenshot so that I can help you further! Meanwhile if any third-party program exists on your system, uninstall it and see if it helps.

  • Sanjay

    THANKS I HAVE NOT TAKEN SCREENSHOT. I GET TIRED WITH THIS (3 TIMES) UPDATE IT STUCK AT 99% MORE THAN 24 HOURS. I THINK IT IS BETTER TO WORK WITH WINDOWS 10-1511-OS BUILD 10586.289. BUT I CHECKED LOGO (PICTURE) OF THE SAID APP & THAT’S SAME AS OPTIONAL FEATURES & MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 2010 TOOLS FOR OFFICE RUNTIME(X64). BUT I HAVE NOT DELETED OR UNINSTALL IT.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Suggest you to download latest Windows 10 ISO (having AU) from here:

    microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10ISO

    And then upgrade using it:

    https://www.kapilarya.com/how-to-upgrade-to-windows-10-using-iso-file

  • Sanjay

    Its not work with said ISO also. It ask me three option & if I choose first option keep all app & files it wont update. it delete all apps & setting & I don’t want to do all setting again start it from beginning

  • Dariusz

    Thank you. It works.

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Glad we could help 😊

  • Toby

    Hi Kapil, can you please help me. First I tried to update to windows 10 from windows 7. It got stuck at 99%. After a reboot, I tried it again and got stuck at 99%, left it like that for 24h. Then I tried to install windows 10 from a bootable USB drive. I formatted the drive and did a clean install, but installation didn’t finish even after a day, at the end the screen goes black. When I reboot the pc, I got an error that the installation was not completed and I have to restart the installation. Then I tried installing windows 7 from USB, it installs very quick, about 15 minutes, but hangs at the last step: finalizing installation, but stays like that for hours. What more can I try? I can burn the ISO to DVD? Thank you very much.

    Kind regards,
    Toby
    **E-mail removed for privacy**

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ I believe there is something wrong with the upgrade on your system. Considering you’ve tried all possible options, and problem still persists. I suggest you to go ahead with clean install.

  • Krish

    Hi Kapil,Tried to install windows 10 home on mac mini through bootcamp asst. Downloaded ISO file, gone through partition, copy files, updates and when restarts at loop 33% error on Computer restarted unexpectedly, tried regedit, does not work. Solution please

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Make sure you’ve installed latest version of Bootcamp drivers. If you’re upgrading, try to make clean install instead.

  • Jitendra Shah

    Having tried to update Windows 10 for two days where it was getting stuck at 99% I was very glad to find your Fix 1 which did the trick and I was able to update.
    Thank you

  • Kapil Arya

    ^^ Happy to help 😎

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