We reported yesterday that Microsoft was blocking its latest Windows 10 April 2018 Update for PCs running Avast antivirus software after multiple reports of systems getting bricked. At the time, Avast had said that the two companies were unable to find what the issue was. The antivirus maker has now issued a new statement offering a fix for its users.
“In cooperation with Microsoft we have identified an element of the latest Windows 10 1803 update that is incompatible with the Avast Behavior Shield, causing the aforementioned update to fail in some instances (related to a timing issue, Internet connectivity issue, etc),” the company wrote.
Related Microsoft Fixes Windows 10 April 2018 Issues with Intel and Toshiba SSDs – Advises Users to Wait
Luckily, we have found a way to prevent the problem and are now automatically pushing a VPS update to all customers which makes sure that the problem doesn’t happen. The VPS number is 180524-08; all users running this version (or later) should be 100% safe.
What if you are already affected by this?
The company has offered the following steps for Windows 10 users who have been already affected by the issue. “If done properly, no files or data will be lost and no apps will disappear (= computer will be back to normal),” the company said.
To bring your PC back to life, Avast wrote that you will need 8GB USB stick, a functioning Windows PC if yours has gone completely useless after the latest update, and an hour of time. Following are the steps as copied from this forum post:
- Turn on the problem computer.
- At the blue screen, choose your keyboard layout’s language. (e.g. “US”)
- Choose “Use another operating system”.
- Choose the second option, “Windows 10 on volume X” (X stands for a number)
- Wait for the computer to boot to the desktop (if necessary, enter your password to login). You may have to wait a long time for the desktop to appear, while the “update” gets ready.
- Once the desktop attempts to load, close any error messages that appear.
- On a functioning Windows PC, go to www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10.
- In the “Create Windows 10 installation media” section, click “Download tool now”.
- Run the tool you downloaded, and follow the simple steps to create a Windows 10 installation USB stick. This will erase any existing contents of your USB drive. The only option you should check is to make sure it is a 64-bit or 32-bit version. Your computer is MOST LIKELY 64-bit if it’s reasonably new.
- On the problem computer, right-click any blank area on the taskbar, then click “Task Manager”.
- Click “More details” so that you can see the menu bar.
- Click “File”.
- Click “Run new task”.
- In the dialog box that appears, check the box “Create this task with administrative privileges”/
- Click “Browse…”
- Navigate to your USB drive and select “setup.exe”.
- Run the file and follow the steps to “upgrade” Windows. Uncheck the boxes for “check for new updates” and to “help make this version better”. If you are asked what you want to keep, make sure you tell it to keep everything!
- Let the process run, which may take some time. Once completed, the computer should be back to normal, and fully up-to-date. You may need to re-login to your Microsoft Account.
The company added that it continues to investigate the issue and wrote that it’s not an Avast-specific issue as the problem affects other software, as well. However, a user response to the same thread suggests that if Avast is being switched off before making updates, it doesn’t result in any problems.
