Windows update not working, hangs while "searching for updates"

I think I have to give Mergatroid's solution a chance, because the update situation is getting ridiculous with Windows 7. Here is my latest situation:

Dell Latitude laptop with Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 240 GB SSD (not the freshest system, but definitely should work fine with Windows 7). After clean install of Win 7 Pro X64 SP1 and the so-called SP2, it has been checking for updates for 24h+. Nothing. Still using an entire CPU core for 24h straight but no updates found... This is beyond unacceptable.

Mergatroid said:

This problem had been driving me nuts over the last year.
I would do a fresh install of Windows 7 for a customer, and the updates would fail to function. This is for Windows 7 Pro or Home, with service pack two.

I tried everything. Hunted the 'net for hours. Finally, I had settled on downloading some 3rd party software that would force-feed Windows its updates. This would work, but it took a while and was a rather inelegant solution.

Then I stumbles across a webpage that has an answer that actually worked.

1. Disable Windows Updates (tell it to never check for updates).
2. Reboot.
3. Download and install Internet Explorer 11.
4. Download update KB3102810 and place it on your desktop (make sure you get the correct one, 64 bit or 32 (X86) bit). Place on your desktop.
5. Reboot.
6. Go into Computer Management (right click on Computer in Start Menu) and select Services.
7. Stop Windows Update service.
8. Start Menu, Computer, C: drive, Windows, delete the entire Software Distribution folder.
9. Double click on update KB3102810 and let it install.
10: Reboot (this will turn update service back on).
11. Go into Windows Updates and check for updates. Give it about an hour, it may take less time but be patient. It will start working.
12. After installing your updates, you can turn Windows Update automatic check for updates back on if you like.

I have tested this on four fresh Windows 7 Home Premium and 3 Windows 7 Pro fresh installs and it worked on all of them.

I have Windows 7 64 bit installed and everything was fine for the past year or so ... till last month when Windows update Decided to just hang on checking for updates. After trying many of the fixes posted in this
Thread I finally resolved the issue using Mergatroid's above method.
At the same time as manually installing KB3102810 I also installed KB3172605 after a reboot everything
Is working again ... So big thanks to Mergatroid's for the post ... It's much appreciated

I just wanted to post what I have learned about this process over five days of tackling this issue on a refurbished PC my father purchased. In order for windows update to work both the Windows Update Service and Background Intelligent Transfer Service must be set to Automatic (Delayed). If either is not started when Windows or an Administrator physically searches for updates the Windows Update bar will just spin forever.

To check click start and type "services.msc" in the Search Box and press enter. Look for Background Intelligent Transfer Service and double click. Click Start to start the service. Set the dropdown for setup type to Automatic (Delayed). Press Apply OK.

Scroll down and repeat above process for Windows Update. Go to Control Panel and search for updates. This fixed my problem after searching the web for days with no answer. I even reinstalled the OS and it still would not start on system boot. Hopefully this helps someone out there.

Microsoft incompetence or sabotage?

HTML Code:

Hi Doug,

Unfortunately Windows Update isn't working great for anyone on Windows 7 lately. However, I've had better results after this update was installed:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

It "should" pick up the updates a lot quicker. It has worked for me tested in quite a few VM's. It usually picks up all the updates within 10-20 minutes. But, it can also depend on when you do the search. I've had much quicker results checking in the morning than in the evening. I'm in the UK though, so it may be different for you.

Lee

Thanks Doug,
This worked for me after multiple issues on multiple machines.

It's been days for me working on this problem. An Asus desktop that had a hard drive failure.... I replaced the hard drive then installed Win 7 Home Premium from a disc I had here. Ran into this problem of updates not installing. Retried with a different Win 7 disc, same problem. I'm not sure what fixed it, but here is what I did:
1) Installed IE 11 - I don't think that makes a difference.
2) Changed DNS settings to 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4 - didn't do anything for me, but was an easy try
3) Next I downloaded and installed the updates as mentioned in gocinko's post. At first, I couldn't install any. I restarted, shut off windows firewall, disabled antivirus, and attempted again. One went in, then the others wouldn't. Restarted again, installed the next, and so on until I had all 5 updates installed.

gocinko said:

Had similar issue. Factory restored 7 and couldn't get windows update to stop hanging. Factory restore, get as far as you can with windows update before it hangs, force restart then manually install these.

KB3083710
KB3102810
KB3020369
KB3050265
KB3172605

I can't remember if I was forced to upgrade to IE11 to download but if the windows links don't work IE11 will sort. Restart whenever prompted then about 200 or so updates will appear. Takes a couple hours to install the 200 no way to avoid it.

4) Restarted again, shut off antivirus again, and went to update.... it started working. A few hundred updates are now being installed. I'll turn the Antivirus and firewall back on and restore the DNS once those are done.

Friggin' Microsoft! You'd think after this many years they could get it right. Or at least resolve the issues that people have. They release a new OS too often, before they get one working and the bugs out, the next version is out.

Good luck.
Tom

So after looking all these threads about windows 7 updates issue. I pulled out my windows 7 installation media and came to know there is convenience rollup out now which is supposed to bring windows 7 updated to April 2016. I thought why the hell not.

So downloaded the Rollup and slipstreamed it to my installation media using Windows AIK. Saved the ISO thinking i must have gotten rid of almost 200 updates at least.

Hooked it up with VMware and installation went smooth. Installed VMware tools and fired up windows update. Only to realize that it was just using one CPU Core to the max with no disk or internet activity. I waited for 2 hours but nothing. When i went off to sleep it was at 8 hours with same condition. I let it run overnight and in the morning i saw windows has found about 50 Important updates and installed them. There are about 30 more updates in Optional section.

So this was my experience. I have i7-2760QM with SSD and my install had Convenience Rollup slipstreamed already. Even then it took about 10-12 hours in checking for updates.
On older computers with no rollup installed, situation is gonna be even worse.

gulls777 said:

So after looking all these threads about windows 7 updates issue. I pulled out my windows 7 installation media and came to know there is convenience rollup out now which is supposed to bring windows 7 updated to April 2016. I thought why the hell not.

So downloaded the Rollup and slipstreamed it to my installation media using Windows AIK. Saved the ISO thinking i must have gotten rid of almost 200 updates at least.

Hooked it up with VMware and installation went smooth. Installed VMware tools and fired up windows update. Only to realize that it was just using one CPU Core to the max with no disk or internet activity. I waited for 2 hours but nothing. When i went off to sleep it was at 8 hours with same condition. I let it run overnight and in the morning i saw windows has found about 50 Important updates and installed them. There are about 30 more updates in Optional section.

So this was my experience. I have i7-2760QM with SSD and my install had Convenience Rollup slipstreamed already. Even then it took about 10-12 hours in checking for updates.
On older computers with no rollup installed, situation is gonna be even worse.

Since youre running it in a VM with a powerful CPU and an SSD there's no reason it should take more than a few seconds.

Is there any way to determine exactly why its taking so long? I have never seen anything like this before.

I noticed the same behavior on multiple machines running Vista, 7, 8.1. I suspect its Microsoft sabotaging Windows Update for all operating systems except 10.

Automata said:

Since youre running it in a VM with a powerful CPU and an SSD there's no reason it should take more than a few seconds.

Is there any way to determine exactly why its taking so long? I have never seen anything like this before.

I noticed the same behavior on multiple machines running Vista, 7, 8.1. I suspect its Microsoft sabotaging Windows Update for all operating systems except 10.

Could be. Very strange behaviour.
Process just took about 200MB of RAM and kept using one core to the max for 10 hours straight. No disk activity, no internet activity.

After first round of updates, I checked for more updates to bring it completely up to date and it was checking in just a minute or two then. :)