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Windows "update operations" explained

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    Windows "update operations" explained

    On occasion, when rebooting Windows, you might see a black scren, with a Windows logo in center, and white text below rapidly counting the application of thousands of "update operations," like this:



    Component-based servicing is a multi-step process, some steps of which you normally don't see:

    1. Download digitally-signed updates
    2. Verify signatures
    3. Unpack into a staging area
    4. Perform staging operation
    5. Begin reboot
    6. Validate correctness of staged updates
    7. Migrate staged updates into WinSxs and the registry
    8. Validate correctness of merge
    9. Finalize reboot
    10. Display logon screen

    Step 4 is the pre-reboot "Do not interrupt or power down" message while you see a count from 0% to 100%. Step 7 is the post-reboot version. Ordinarily, there is no visible indication of steps 6 and 8. But if something causes the validation to fail, updates are re-staged. In this case, the validation steps become visible, and that's the image you see above. This does not mean Windows is applying thousands of updates. Instead, the batch of updates being installed contain thousands of distinct update operations, and you're experiencing the rare opportunity to witness a status message as each operation proceeds.

    In the case of a major OS components like, say, the .NET framework, applying the update package requires processing possibly thousands of steps: each existing registry entry has to be read, modified, and validated. Each DLL has to be extracted, verfied, copied, and validated. Installing one update involves applying many many update operations.
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