Windows 10 Can Now Rollback Problematic Updates

Microsoft seems to have quietly implemented a new update mechanism in Windows 10 that will help the company avoid major problems when rolling out new updates.

ZDNet reports that Windows 10 is now able to automatically remove problematic updates in your system to avoid any issues. The company officially noted the new mechanism on a support page, though most of the details as to how the feature actually works is unclear.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 will automatically uninstall recently installed updates in the OS when there is a startup failure. The update removal process will automatically take place when all the other automatic recovery processes have failed. Once the updates are removed, Microsoft will wait 30 days before installing them again, giving itself and its partners to investigate the possible problems.

It is not clear if Microsoft is able to remotely pull and uninstall certain updates from users’ devices, which would be much more useful than the automatic detection and removal mechanism. If the company detects some major problems in a new feature update, for example, it would be useful to be able to remotely pull the update so that it even gets uninstalled from devices.

And then there’s the question of whether the feature actually works. Microsoft likely stress-tested the feature before rolling it out, but that doesn’t mean the feature actually works reliably. Removing installed updates and taking your PC back to normal is quite a tricky process from a technical point of view, so it will be interesting to see if the changes are actually effective.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 12 comments

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    13 March, 2019 - 5:21 am

    <p>Don't Windows 7 and Windows 8 do the same thing, other than the 30 day wait, they try again at the next attempt at getting updates.</p><p>Certainly I've had a bunch of Windows 7 machines recently that have barfed on updates and have rolled them back out again.</p>

    • arknu

      Premium Member
      13 March, 2019 - 5:45 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#411746">In reply to wright_is:</a></em></blockquote><p>They roll back the update if installation fails for some reason (as Windows 10 does). From what I understand of this feature, this will kick in if the update installs correctly but then prevents device from booting, causes a BSOD or other potential issues. </p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        13 March, 2019 - 7:04 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#411749">In reply to arknu:</a></em></blockquote><p>That is what I thought, but the reports I've read and heard so far didn't make that distinction clear, the reports didn't make it sound any different to what 7/8/10 already did.</p>

  • navarac

    13 March, 2019 - 6:50 am

    <p>It's still a good idea to keep images of known good installs. It has saved my bacon a number of times.</p>

  • Paul Tarnowski

    13 March, 2019 - 7:58 am

    <p>Better yet if this makes a snapshot of all files and resolves to recover any lost files to avoid any more October updates.</p>

  • train_wreck

    13 March, 2019 - 8:19 am

    <p>And what if the rollback fails? ?</p>

  • Tony Barrett

    13 March, 2019 - 8:38 am

    <p>Windows has been able to rollback failed updates for years, but it's not guaranteed even that will get the PC back in a working state. Windows 10 updates are just so risky and problematic though – especially the bi-annual feature upgrades, MS need a way of even partial recovery. Generally, if a major Win10 update goes wrong, you've a good chance of a bricked machine.</p><p>The real answer here though, is that MS just take a step back, and get proper QC in place rather than 'relying' on a few Insider monkey's, with everyone else just being beta testers.</p>

  • kingbuzzo

    13 March, 2019 - 1:35 pm

    <p>uhhhh…is the comments section being face-booked?</p>

  • waethorn

    14 March, 2019 - 2:15 pm

    <p>Isn't this already a feature of Startup Repair?</p>

  • ali raza

    15 March, 2019 - 7:29 am

    <p>thank information</p><p>beautyshealthytips</p>

  • healthfettle

    18 March, 2019 - 2:49 am

    <p><a href="https://healthfettle.blogspot.com/&quot; target="_blank">thanks</a> for valuable information.</p>

  • tejaskadamits

    20 March, 2019 - 3:06 am

    <p>Thanks For Information. <a href="https://www.indiantradestreet.com/&quot; target="_blank">Indian Trade Street</a></p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC