14 DAY TRIAL // One of the updates that Microsoft released as part of this month's Patch Tuesday rollout is causing PCs to remain stuck on a screen saying “Configuring Windows Update” or, in some cases, “Stage 3 of 3,” and no matter how many times you reboot the computer, it still fails to get back in Windows.
After several weeks of silence, Microsoft has finally acknowledged the issues and confirmed that the Control + Alt + Delete workaround that we told you about a few days ago is indeed the solution if the “Stage 3 of 3” message remains on your screen.
The company says on the official KB3020369 page that, in some cases, installation fails to complete, so additional workarounds would be needed.
“When you install update 3020369 together with other updates, you may encounter a timing issue that causes the update tried immediately after you install update 3020369 to fail. This issue only affects the update tried immediately after update 3020369. As soon as update 3020369 is installed, another try to install the failed update should be successful,” the company claims.
While the workaround should indeed address all problems on PCs where the aforementioned update fails to install successfully, the company is expected to release a fully working fix next month, during the June Patch Tuesday rollout.
In the meantime, make sure you hit Control + Alt + Delete on the Windows Update screen to get back in Windows and continue working on your PC.