How to fix stuck Windows update issue under Windows 7?

Sometimes Windows 7 can get stuck when installing Windows Update, the screen only displays "Configuring Windows updates" and stays at 100%, or 35%. Shutting down the computer and rebooting gets tot he same stage. Even booting in "Safe Mode" does not correct the issue, Windows still tries to finish installing the update.

To fix this issue, you'd need a Windows 7 installation USB, or DVD media, and follow the steps below:

1. Create a bootable Windows 7 USB Flash Drive if you don't have one. This can be Windows 7 installation media, or some other type of Windows PE bootable disk. It can be created with "rufus", diskpart, or another tool.

2. Boot from your USB drive - you may have to get to the BIOS and change the "Boot Devices" order so that the USB drive starts from your bootable/Windows 7 USB or DVD drive.

3. Get to command prompt, and run the following command:
dism.exe /image:c:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions

Note that the "c:" Letter corresponds to the drive letter of your Windows 7 installation, it is most often C:, but it could be located at D:, sometimes, so you may have to change it.

The command above cleans up and removes the latest/stuck Windows update and tells Windows to revert the changes. If it completes successfully, next time you reboot your computer, you will see a different message, stating "Failure configuring Windows updates, Reverting changes". Let this stage complete, and you will be back into Windows without having to reinstall it.