"I have a laptop that met the requirements for Windows 11. I have registered for Windowsinsider in the dev channel. I have a problem while installing it. The updater keeps showing 'What needs your attention and keeps sticking at 35%. Is there a way to fix it?"

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Disconnect Any Incompatible Devices

Peripheral devices and incompatible programs are the main causes.

When you are faced Windows 11 installation stuck error...Full steps

Uninstall Incompatible Programs

Click "Start".

Go to "Settings > Apps > Apps & features".

Scroll down to find VMware Workstation...Full steps

Windows 11 Update/Installation Stuck at 35%, 85%, 100%

Windows 11 is an upcoming major version of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. Before you upgrade to Windows 11, you must check your Windows 11 requirements. There are two ways to get Windows 11. One is to download Windows 11 insider preview builder. The other is to go to "Start > Settings > Update & security > Windows Update" to upgrade your system.

It's not an easy case to upgrade to Windows 11. Some people complained that the Windows 11 installation stuck at 35% or 85% companioned by a Windows 11 update that needs your attention interface.

windows 11 update stuck

What Causes Windows 11 Installation Stuck at 35%, 85%, 100%

When upgrade installation is at 35 percent or 85 percent, an error pops up:

The following things need your attention to continue the installation and keep your Windows settings, personal files, and apps.

Why does this error happen? The possible causes are:

  • Incompatible devices
  • Incompatible Drivers
  • Incompatible Games
  • Incompatible Programs
  • Waste files
Incompatible Programs Incompatible Devices
  • TeamViewer
  • VirtualBox
  • VMware Workstation Player
  • LDPlayer
  • Dnplayerext2
  • BlueStacks
  • NOX Player
  • LinuxLive USB creator
  • UxStyle
  • Bluetooth
  • Mouse
  • Keyboards
  • External hard drives
  • Printers
  • Scanners

How to Fix Windows 11 Update/Installation Stuck at 35%, 85%, 100%

You can enjoy the newest feature after you have successfully upgraded to Windows 11. But you know it's not a successful process all the time. You may encounter different kinds of Windows update errors. And Windows 11 installation stuck is not an exception. 

This post provides you with two methods to fix Windows 11 stuck at 35%.

Method 1. Disconnect Any Incompatible Devices on Your Computer

Peripheral devices and incompatible programs are the main causes. When you are faced Windows 11 installation stuck error, you should disconnect any non-essential external hardware.

What can you disconnect? Here are they:

  • Bluetooth receivers of Mouse and Keyboards
  • External hard drives
  • Printers
  • Scanners

disconnect devices  to fix Windows 11 installation stuck at 35%, 85%, 100%

Then, you can click the "Refresh" button on the Windows 11 Update What needs your attention interface. After this, check if your Windows 11 installation goes well.

Method 2. Remove/Uninstall Incompatible Programs from Your PC

If the error persists, you need to manually find the incompatible programs and files on your computer. According to the table above, you can uninstall VMware Workstation Player, VirtualBox, and more.

To Uninstall VMware Workstation Player:

Step 1. Click "Start".

Step 2. Go to "Settings > Apps > Apps & features".

Step 3. Scroll down to find VMware Workstation Player and click it to continue.

Step 4. Click the "Uninstall" button to uninstall it from your computer.

uninstall vmware to fix Windows 11 installation stuck at 35%, 85%, 100%

To Remove Virtualbox.exe:

Step 1. Open the Start Menu and type "Control Panel", then click on it in the search results.

Step 2. Go to "Programs > Uninstall a program", find Virtualbox, and right-click on it.

Step 3. Click "Uninstall/Change" and click "OK".

After using the two methods, the Windows 11 installation process should successfully continue.

How to Recover Data After Windows 11 Update

What if some of your important files are lost after upgrading to Windows 11? How can you get back lost or deleted files after the update? The answer is to recover data with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This all-in-one data recovery software has helped millions of people in restoring lost data from Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP.

Windows 11 Data Recovery Software

  • Recover data from an SD card, USB flash drive, hard drive, Memory card, and more.
  • Support data recovery after deleting, formatting, and system crash in Windows 11.
  • Recover lost photos, videos, music files, Word documents, Excel files, and more.
 Download for Win Recovery Rate 99.7%
 Download for Mac Trustpilot Rating 4.7

Download this data recovery software and recover data on a Windows 11 PC.

Step 1. Select a location and start scanning

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard and choose the partition where you lost data. Then, click "Scan".

select a location to scan

Step 2. Filter and preview files

Use the file format filter on the left or upper right corner to find the files you need. Then, you can click the "Preview" button or double-click a file to preview its content.

Choose files to recover

Step 3. Recover lost data or files

Click the checkbox next to the file and click "Recover" to restore the lost data to a secure place.

Recover lost data

Conclusion

To sum up, you can fix Windows 11 installation stuck at 35%, 85%, or 100%. When you are faced with the same issue, try these solutions above. By the way, if you have data loss issues, you can always ask EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for help.

 Download for Win Recovery Rate 99.7%
 Download for Mac Trustpilot Rating 4.7

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Updated by Cedric

Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.

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Approved by Evan Galasso

Evan Galasso is a digital forensics and data recovery engineer with over 10 years of experience in the field. He presents opinions on the current state of storage media, reverse engineering of storage systems and firmware, and electro-mechanical systems of SSDs and HDDs.

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