What to do if Windows 10, update 2004, stalls at 31%, 61% or whatever percentage!

I have a Surface Pro 6, 1796 i7 model and finally I received (about 10 days ago) the eligibility to be updated to Windows 10, 2004 release.
All the other older PC got updated months ago and finally even this new one seemed to be updatable!! I found that strange being the Surface a Microsoft product but that’s it …

I first tried to do the update using the normal way, that is the Windows Update button available in Settings -> Windows Update … but the process stalls at 61%.

I found, in the Microsoft Community site, several people that had problems with Windows 10 updates, even for the 2004 version. Most of them had the same problem of a stall at 31% or 61% (e.g. Microsoft Community – Update 2004 stalls at 61%; Microsoft Community – Windows 10 2004 Update is stuck at 31%).
Several were the possible ways suggested by MVPs and other users (e.g. Microsoft Community – Reinstallazione IN PLACE di Windows 10) but no one of them worked for me.
Most people succeeded to update using one of the direct Windows update procedures available on this SW download Microsoft site. With the Update now button, my update nearly ended but then it stalled at 99%!! With Download tool now of the Create Windows 10 installation media section, the installation stalled at 31%.

I tried both to run the Windows Update troubleshooter and to disable all the not Microsoft services (Run msconfig), to delete all temporary file (e.g. Run temp and Run %temp%) … nothing! If you disable not Microsoft services, remind enabling then again …

*Windows Update troubleshooter* in *Settings -> Problems solutions* [IT: *Impostazioni -> Risoluzione problemi*]: it wasn’t a solution for my problem!

Disabling all non-Microsoft services (Run *msconfig*): it wasn’t a solution for my problem!

If you temporarily disable some services at the startup, remind enabling again (e.g. auto start OneDrive)

Run *temp* and delete all found files: it wasn’t a solution for my problem! … but it is always useful to free disk space! 🙂

As said also in this article, “On Windows 10, when you start noticing random errors, problems booting up, or features not working as expected, there’s a good chance that one or multiple system files might have gone missing or corrupted for unknown reasons. Usually, problems with system files could occur as a result of an issue installing a system update, driver, or application, or while making changes to the installation manually. If you happen to come across this issue, you can use the Windows 10 System File Checker (SFC), which is a command-line tool designed to scan the integrity and restore missing or corrupted system files with working replacements“. So I tried also to run, in the PowerShell (Administrator), the C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow command … but no integrity violation was found.

Run, in the PowerShell (Administrator), the *C:\WINDOWS\system32> sfc /scannow* command … to check for possible integrity violation.

Then I contacted by phone the Microsoft assistance (see, for an Italian support, https://www.microsoft.com/it-it/contact.aspx : currently the phone is 0238591444, from Italy) and, as always, finally they found a solution! Anyway this time I had to phone twice because, as sometime happens using a call center, the provided service depends on the operator. The first one, even he was very kind, as soon as he realized that my Windows 10 Pro license was a MSDN developer one and not the Home one I had originally on my Surface, he told me that they offer assistance only to consumer users and gave me the following link to find out a solution by myself (docs.microsoft.com/en-us)!!
On the contrary, the second time I contacted the call center, I found a very kind guy who took the control of my PC using the Quick Assistance tool (see my post Quick assistance app: a further easier way to provide/give remote assistance in Windows 10), and did several attempts. More times the installation stalled at some percentage: however, he didn’t give up and finally he suggested me to disconnect all devices even if my Surface was only into its docking station and connected to a second display through a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter.
This solved the stall problem, most likely disconnecting the second display via the adapter!

Note that he suggested downloading locally the Windows ISO file choosing the Download tool now button in the Download Windows 10 Microsoft site, then downloading the MediaCreationTool2004.exe file and running it selecting the second option, that is to create an installation support in order to download on your desktop the Windows.iso file: in fact, if you choose the first default option (Update PC now) if you have an unstable network connection the installation may crash before the end due to network problems!