Fake Windows update screen that stalls at 99%
A fake Windows update screen across your whole monitor, in three Windows styles or as a Mac. It crawls to 99%, holds there for ages, restarts and starts again from nearly nothing.
Typing does nothing while it runs, as on a real update. Esc or Exit brings this page back.
The four fake update screens
A Windows 11 style update
A black screen, a ring of white dots chasing each other, and two lines in the middle, “You are 8% there” over “Please keep your computer on”. At the foot it warns that your computer may restart a few times. It means it.
The count starts under 10% and climbs a point or two at a time. On the 20-minute setting one number holds for about two minutes, long enough for a coworker to give up waiting and walk off.
Windows 10 and Windows 7 styles
The Windows 10 one is blue and working on updates, with the percent beside it and a line under it telling you not to turn off your computer. The Windows 7 one glows deep blue beside a spinning ring and says it is configuring updates. Windows 7 support ended in January 2020, so it has been configuring for a while.
None of the four carries a logo, and of the real screens only the Mac’s has one to leave out.
A Mac style update
A thin progress bar on black, and the time left under it. The estimate changes its mind a dozen times or more on the way up, from 12 minutes to 25 and back to 4. At 99% it says less than a minute remaining, and on the 20-minute setting keeps saying it for three minutes or more.
Apple’s own guide warns that a Mac can restart and show a progress bar or a blank screen several times while it installs. The fake one does the same, so it is the most honest screen here.
How the fake update keeps going
Stuck at 99%, then a restart
Each screen holds 99% for a quarter to half of the time it took to get there. Then it goes black for a few seconds and starts up again, the Windows ones with their spinner alone and the Mac with an empty bar. The count comes back near 0, and the warning about restarting was in writing, so nobody can say they weren’t told.
How long the fake update takes
The climb to 99% takes 5 minutes, 20 minutes or an hour, whichever you choose. After the hour-long climb, 99% holds for another 15 to 30 minutes, one or two full stand-ups.
A real Windows PC restarts for updates outside its active hours, which run from 8 am to 5 pm unless somebody changed them. So a real update at 2 pm is rare. Nobody walking past at 2 pm knows that.
A bumped keyboard changes nothing
Typing does nothing while the update is up, the same as on a real one. Exit hides in the top corner until the mouse moves or a finger taps, because a real update screen has no buttons to press either.
If waiting looks too idle, the fake work screen types a spreadsheet one key at a time. If an update looks too calm, the fake blue screen crashes instead. The other ways to look busy at work run from a notebook under your arm to a mouse jiggler.
Fake update screens and real scams
The fake update scam
Since October 2025, attackers have shown fake Windows update screens in full screen to get people to press Windows+R, paste a command and hit Enter. A real update never asks you to type anything. This page asks for nothing either, and Esc takes the whole update down.
Using the fake update on a phone
Safari on an iPhone won’t put a web page in full screen, so there the update fills the page under a visible address bar. Anyone close enough to read the address bar was close enough to ask what you were doing anyway.
Questions about fake update screens
How do I get a fake Windows update screen?
Pick a style on this page and press Go full screen. The update covers your whole monitor, climbs toward 99% and restarts on its own. Esc brings this page back, and the next update starts from scratch.
What are the different types of fake Windows update screens?
Four here. Windows 11 style is black with a ring of dots and Windows 10 is blue. Windows 7 spins a ring on a deep blue glow, and the Mac has a thin bar. Each copies the layout, never the logo.
Why do fake Windows update screens exist?
For pranks, and for the half hour when you'd like a coworker to think the computer is busy rather than you. Nobody argues with a screen that says not to turn it off.
Is a fake update screen safe?
This one is a web page in full screen and changes nothing on your computer. The fake update pages attackers use ask you to press Windows+R and paste a command. A real update never asks that, and this page asks for nothing.
How can you tell a real update screen from a fake one?
Press Esc. A browser drops out of full screen and shows the page behind the fake, while a real update ignores the key. A real update also never sits inside a browser tab.