How to Fix the "We Couldn't Complete the Updates — Undoing Changes" Loop

If your PC has been sitting on "We couldn't complete the updates. Undoing changes. Don't turn off your computer." — sometimes for what feels like forever — you're not alone. Since Windows 10 went end-of-support last October and Microsoft started pushing everyone toward Windows 11 and monthly patches harder than ever, this has become one of the calls I get most often at Dave's Computers here in Somerville, NJ. I've been doing this since 2011, and update-loop machines come across the bench from all over Central New Jersey every single week.

Here's the good news up front: unlike a hardware blue screen, most of these are fixable, and several of the fixes you can do yourself. The catch is that the message on screen tells you almost nothing — it's the same wording whether the cause is two minutes of disk-space cleanup or a hard drive that's quietly dying. This guide walks through what the message actually means, how to read the real error code behind it, the fixes in the order I'd try them, and the one situation where you should stop and let someone diagnose it before you make things worse.

What "Undoing changes" actually means

When Windows installs an update, it does the work in stages and only commits the change near the end. If something fails partway — a file won't write, a driver rejects the change, a partition runs out of room — Windows rolls everything back so you're left with a bootable machine instead of a broken one. That rollback is what "Undoing changes" is. It's the safety net doing its job, not the problem itself.

That's why the screen is so unhelpful: it's a generic message bolted onto dozens of different failures. On newer Windows 11 builds you may see a close cousin — "Something didn't go as planned. Undoing changes." — which is the same behavior with friendlier wording. Either way, the useful information isn't on the rollback screen. It's the hexadecimal error code Windows records once you're back at the desktop, and finding that code is the first real step.

First: is it actually stuck, or still working?

Before anything else — do not keep force-powering it off. This is the single most common way I see a recoverable update loop turn into a genuinely broken Windows install (or a corrupted file or two). An update rollback can legitimately take a while: figure 15 to 30 minutes on most machines, and up to an hour on an older laptop with a spinning hard drive. A frozen percentage doesn't mean it's hung — the counter often sits still while real work happens in the background.

How to tell the difference: watch the drive-activity light (the little blinking LED). If it's flickering, leave it alone and let it finish. If it's been several hours, the light is dead steady or off, and nothing has moved, then it's reasonable to do one hard power-off (hold the power button ~10 seconds) and let it try again. If it comes back to the same screen twice, you're into the boot-loop territory I cover near the bottom — and that's a different fix than a one-off failed update.

Find the real error code (this is the key step)

Once you're back at the desktop, go to Settings → Windows Update → Update history. Failed updates show up with a status of "Failed to install" and a code like 0x800f0922. That code is what tells you which fix you actually need. Here are the ones I see most often, and what each is really telling you:

Error code	What it's actually telling you
0x80070643	The recovery (WinRE) partition is too small or full. Famous from the KB5034441 update — the fix is enlarging that hidden partition, not your C: drive.
0x800f0922	Not enough free space on the EFI System Partition, or a .NET issue. This is the one behind the May 2026 update (KB5089549) failing at ~35% and rolling back.
0xC1900101	A driver is blocking a feature update — almost always graphics, storage, or chipset. Update or roll back that driver.
0x8007000D	The Windows Update cache is corrupted (common on Windows 11). Clearing it usually does it.
0x80073712	Update component files are missing or damaged. This is the classic case for a DISM repair.
0x80070002 / 0x80070003	Update files Windows expected aren't there — usually a broken download or cache.
0x80070005	"Access denied" — a permissions problem, or security software blocking the update.
0x80240034	The download itself failed — usually a network or connection issue.

The causes we actually see on the bench

Map those codes onto real life and the loop almost always comes down to one of these, roughly most common to least:

1. Not enough free space — including hidden partitions. The obvious one is a full C: drive (feature updates want about 10 GB free, and even monthly security updates need a few GB). The sneaky one is the tiny EFI or recovery partition you never see, which is exactly what trips 0x800f0922 and 0x80070643.
2. A corrupted update cache. Windows keeps downloaded updates in a folder called SoftwareDistribution. If a download is damaged, every retry re-uses the bad files and fails the same way until you clear it.
3. Broken Windows Update components or system files. When the update machinery itself is damaged, you need DISM and SFC to repair it before any update will take.
4. A driver conflict. On the big feature updates, an old graphics or storage driver will throw 0xC1900101 and force the rollback.
5. Third-party antivirus getting in the way. Some security suites lock files mid-update. Pausing or temporarily removing them clears it more often than people expect.
6. A genuinely buggy update. It does happen — Microsoft has shipped patches this past year that failed for lots of people and had to be fixed or pulled. Sometimes the right move is to wait for the follow-up. (I keep a running plain-English note on these in my monthly Windows update roundup for NJ.)
7. A failing drive. The one nobody wants to hear. If the disk is developing bad sectors, updates fail because writes fail — and so will plenty else, eventually. This is the case where the loop is a symptom of something bigger.

How to fix the "Undoing changes" loop (safest steps first)

Work down this list in order and retest after each step. Most people are fixed within the first three or four.

1. Let it finish, then reboot cleanly

As above — give the rollback real time, then do a normal restart. A surprising number of one-off failures never come back after a clean reboot, because the rollback did exactly what it was supposed to.

2. Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Go to Settings → System → Troubleshoot → Other troubleshooters and run the Windows Update one. It resets a lot of the common problems automatically and is the right first automated step before you touch anything by hand.

3. Free up disk space

Open This PC and check your C: drive. If you're under ~10 GB free, clear room with Storage Sense (Settings → System → Storage) or Disk Cleanup, emptying temp files and the Recycle Bin. This alone resolves a big share of feature-update failures.

4. Clear the Windows Update cache

This wipes the corrupted download so Windows fetches fresh files. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

net stop wuauserv
net stop bits
ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
net start wuauserv
net start bits

Then go back to Windows Update and try again. The cache rebuilds itself with clean files. This is the fix for most 0x8007000D and 0x8007000x cases.

5. Repair Windows with DISM and SFC

If the update components or system files are damaged (0x80073712 and friends), repair them. Again in an Administrator Command Prompt, run these in order and let each finish:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow

DISM repairs the underlying image; SFC fixes protected system files. Reboot and retry the update.

6. Fix the recovery / EFI partition (for 0x80070643 and 0x800f0922)

If your code points at the hidden recovery or EFI partition, the fix isn't on your main drive — it's resizing a small system partition, which involves diskpart and reagentc commands. This is the step where most people understandably get nervous, because a wrong command on the wrong partition can affect whether the machine boots. If the earlier steps didn't clear it and you're staring at one of these two codes, this is a very reasonable point to hand it to someone who does it routinely.

7. Pause updates or remove a bad one

If you've traced it to a specific problem update, you can pause updates for a week or two (Settings → Windows Update) and wait for Microsoft's follow-up, or uninstall the offending update under Update history → Uninstall updates. Not every failed update is your computer's fault.

8. If it won't boot at all

When the machine is stuck looping and never reaches the desktop, let it fail a couple of times and Windows should drop you into the recovery environment (or you can boot from a Windows USB). From there you can use Uninstall the latest quality/feature update or System Restore to get back to a working state. If you're not comfortable in there — or it won't cooperate — that's drop-off territory. Our guide on getting into Safe Mode when Windows won't start is a good companion here.

How much does it cost to fix a Windows update problem in NJ?

I can't quote this one blind, because "Undoing changes" can be a five-minute disk cleanup or a failing drive that needs data recovery — very different jobs. What I can tell you is how our pricing works, with no surprises.

Plenty of update issues are quick and inexpensive; a failing drive or badly corrupted Windows is more involved. Either way, we tell you which it is before anything gets ordered or replaced. Here's how our diagnostic works, and a broader look at what computer repair costs in New Jersey.

Frequently asked questions