It's time for Microsoft to fix the Windows 7 update slowdowns

[Borg 386]

Seriously, I'm getting real tired of waiting hours with no results. How come there aren't any problems with updates when it comes to Win 10? My Wife's 8.1 lappy has few problems when it comes to updates. The only updates I have problems with are Win 7 for some odd reason.:sarc:

Even with the latest Windows Update client, applying updates remains glacially slow

For several months, I've seen complaints about slow Windows 7 updates. This month, the gripes have reached a crescendo, and it's time for Microsoft to fix it.

Back in March, I created two squeaky-clean installations of Windows 7, starting with a Microsoft-created copy of Windows 7 Service Pack 1. In one, I relied on Automatic Update to pull down and install all of the "checked" updates, except for the "Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, version 1511, 10586" optional update. On the other, I picked specific updates and applied them manually.

In both cases, it took overnight to complete the task. On several occasions, I simply gave up in disgust and moved to another task.

At one point, it appeared as if installing the latest Windows Update Client -- version 7.6.7601.19161, from KB 3138612 -- would help, but for many people, that doesn't work. The latest kernel patch, KB 3139852, looked like a savior at one point (for reasons unknown), but it fizzled out, too. Instead, would-be updaters are floundering for an hour, two hours, six hours, trying to get a list of available Windows updates.

It's time for Microsoft to fix the Windows 7 update slowdowns | InfoWorld

 

[Callender]

See ThrashZone's suggestion:

http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-...ut-windows-still-wont-update.html#post3237782

   Note

Before you start download KB3083710 and KB3102810 in advance, and store them on a flash drive
Start and complete the install without an internet connection

 

[Borg 386]

Thanks for the link, much appreciated. Will keep that on file if I decide to do a clean install.

Unfortunately, I don't want to have to re-install Win 7 & jump through hoops just to get the damn updates that worked well for many years until 10 reared it's head. I have seriously been running the lappy with 7 64 every day....for 3 freakin days now! All day long & nothing comes through. Then you have instances where it works with no problems, but those are far 7 few between nowadays. Two days ago I updated 10 & 8.1 on the PC & my Wife's 8.1 with no problems.

On my 7 32, the updates came though on Thur & are listed, but when I tried to d/l them on Fri & Sat it just hangs on "downloading updates" all day long. When I updated MSE today it took over an hour just to get the defs. I have tried various fixes, all kinds of steps, etc & finally realize it's not on my end, it's on MS's end & they haven't fixed it, either out of laziness or they want people to throw their hands up in frustration & say "Fine, I'll update to 10."

 

[Callender]

Might be worth running RAMMap when running an update check.

http://www.sevenforums.com/vip/394745-windows-7-updates-post3239385.html#post3239385

http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-...es-windows-7-8-a-post3163350.html#post3163350 - see open handles.

 

[Borg 386]

Thank you, I will have a look & see what that yields.

 

[HammerHead]

Windows 7 update slowdowns

Borg ................ I have really noticed a significant slow down in updating. I thought it might be my connection. Is everyone experiencing this slow down? I agree it may be another snag in the continued use of 7 that MS has thrown down.

 

[Borg 386]

It's not just you & me HammerHead, do a Google search & you'll see many people are complaining about this.

RAMmap shows there may be a problem as you stated in the post Callender, but the fix is not easy as you stated.

Last month I must have gotten lucky because the same lappy only took 45 mins to find updates & 1 1/2 hours to install them. Nothing changed except what I added last month, which I carefully scanned to avoid any 10 related patches slipping by.

In the past few months I've seen the instances of delays for 7 updates get progressively worse & worse. It's gotten to the point where several articles have been written addressing the issue. What's next MS?

 

[ThrashZone]

I'd ignore the suggestion to install net framework 4.6.1 it is not good for a 32 bit system I have
I had to get rid of it and install net 4.5.2 instead,

Then turn off or change the windows update settings to Never check for updates.
Save kb3145739 to your downloads folder to install later after you restart the machine
https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/MS16-039?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

If you get an error installing kb3145739 it's because the new update settings changes did not stick.
The stand alone installer search was lightening fast and finally installed the above kb314....

After installing it restart again
Switch to Check for update but let me ..... then manually check for updates
It took about 5 minute to find the rest of the updates for April plus all of the net 4.5.2 updates
There's no real reason this should work
I can see it as a net 4.6.1 bug on 32 bit in my case though

But the issue did not affect 2 64 bit installs with net 4.6.1 matter of fact neither had any issue finding the updates on startup or soon after without manually checking for updates

One other note is the 32 bit system has always shown 50%++ cpu usage from our friend svchost.exe and now it's back to normal without turning off windows updates

 

[Brds7t7]

Hi Borg, having the same discussion over here: http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-updates-activation/394799-windows-update-taking-forever.html
I've yet to find a "permanent" fix for my situation. A lot of workarounds which work temporarily but nothing permanent for me and I've tried every fix posted on these forums.
Callender says he's had some luck with it, but it doesn't seem to work for me.
I just gave up in the end and started updating manually.
Not ideal but less hassle.

 

[newsouth42]

Windows 7 Updates-Forever

Wanted to chime in & pile-on the W7 update conundrum of 200+ updates. I've had occasions to Update W7 on numerous occasions w/ very long wait times (upwards to 6 -12 hours). Inordinate waiting is the norm and recently, 'update errors' are occupying additional hours. So, yes Microsoft--it is time to correct w/o promoting W10 Updates. j

 

[jc836]

Remember "Windows 10 or else...."

We had the combination long search time/download issue on both of our w7 64bit Pro laptops. The desktop machines were not affected. One is a completely clean install and the other an OEM Lenovo. Our desktop machines were not affected. The problem surfaced with the machines maxing out the CPUs and using an inordinate amount of memory. The CPUs would fall back to 50% and stay there. Temperatures were abnormally high.

How to fix it? Well, I did all of the Microsoft things first. Then I found an article with a script (wsusofflineupdate.net) that actually is an offline updater - it does work once you install it. Having cleared the Update list by running various Fixits I was confronted with a huge number of Updates, including the dreaded W10 offer. I had installed Never10, btw. After culling the updates 1 by 1 I completed updating, including Windows Defender.

Today, I was able to run a normal check for updates from Startup. This was not the case during the incident as that is when everything went wrong in the background. The initial solution I used was to fully disable Windows Update and watch CPU usage return to 0 and normal/minimal memory usage.

In the opinion of others this is yet another attempt by Microsoft to try to force Window 10 on us. Having run it on a test machine, i would not use it as currently offered. The Windows 7 interface is just fine for the needs of most users. It is true that W10 is a bit faster, but so what.
Fact is - someone fixed the problem on Sunday and we should be fine until the next time MS screws with updates. One can either run the updater on startup or fully disable it until needed - that is your choice.

-30-

 

[Borg 386]

Found this while doing a search & hopefully it helps some folks out.

4 Tools to Update Windows Offline and install Hotfixes from a Local Source

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/offline-windows-update/

Going to try one or 2 of these today since Win 7 32 has been trying to d/l the defs for Defender for 2 hrs now. As for the 7 64 lappy, 3 days & still no results.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yea I haven't noticed any windows defender updates offered
I do indeed have defender off why use it when I have Panda free
2 antivirus programs is 1 too many plus defender and MSE always load updates and scan slow as hell anyway.

 

[Borg 386]

Yea I haven't noticed any windows defender updates offered
I do indeed have defender off why use it when I have Panda free
2 antivirus programs is 1 too many plus defender and MSE always load updates and scan slow as hell anyway.

Not that worried since I can always get the updates manually, but just another example of how the updates for 7 is being botched, either on purpose or just plain laziness.

I'm trying your suggestion now & I'll let you know in a few minutes if it worked.

 

[ThrashZone]

Should work
I did have to get net 4.5.2 on my 32 bit machine before it did work
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42642

 

[Borg 386]

Should work
I did have to get net 4.5.2 on my 32 bit machine before it did work
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42642

The problem I'm having is not just on the 7 32, but the 7 64 as well. Anything 7 just doesn't want to update well anymore.

I will note I have seen rare occasions where I go to check for updates & I get them within 5 or 10 mins. Like someone decided to throw a switch & open the door to the update section for 7. But those moments have faded to less & less instances as the months have gone by.

Hate to say it but from the looks of it, didn't do anything for me. Thank you for the suggestion though. Much appreciated.

Edit: I take that back Thrash. I just rebooted the machine for the 3rd time since applying your fix, checked the update history & launched the updater again & I'm seeing some d/l's presented now. Thank you, I believe that may have helped. This was on the 64 machine, I applied the patch but didn't change the net since it wasn't on the 32. Now I'll see how long it takes me to get the actual updates.

EDIT: Well, up to 66% in about 5 mins, so far, so good. Thanks again for the suggestion. Now well see what happens on my 32 OS machine when I try that next.

Looking at MSE def updates on my 64 machine, I see they successfully updated on April 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 & 12. They Failed on the 16th & the 8th.

 

[ThrashZone]

Once the update system started getting freaky I decided to drop MSE
MSE has always had a large question mark why exactly I used it and well defender is even worse than defender imho

I never manually check for updates windows does that on delayed start
The exception was always on my 32 bit system which I rarely use pretty much just for banking twice a month so minimal online time I guess affects how well updates get found
I had thought it was ultimately an issue with the manufactures Vista oem key on the machine
Since I used Brink's bat or reg file to accept 7 retail upgrade keys instead full system builder.. activation keys.

I did reload Vista 32 sp2 on another ssd and did have to use the phone activation before it would activate
Then used the win-7 upgrade dvd and activated 7 with it.
So maybe that straightened out the mess too.
Although that install went to shit and I'm using the original win-7 sp1 ssd install I started with :/

Never boring

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Yea I haven't noticed any windows defender updates offered
I do indeed have defender off why use it when I have Panda free
2 antivirus programs is 1 too many plus defender and MSE always load updates and scan slow as hell anyway.

Not that worried since I can always get the updates manually, but just another example of how the updates for 7 is being botched, either on purpose or just plain laziness...

Instead of it just being another pathetic attempt by Nutella and his cronies to "encourage" people go to Win 10, I'm wondering if the slow down problem may be due to MS possibly limiting the amount of bandwidth available for Win 7 and Win 8.1, causing bottlenecks when the updates first come out? I haven't had any of the huge slowdowns many people have been reporting but that may be because I wait until the weekend, after most people have already done their downloads (although they do seem a bit slower but I haven't been timing them since I just start the process, then ignore it until it is done).

 

[Borg 386]

Never boring

Yeah, something odd happened on my machine right after I posted. After I checked the updates & clicked the d/l button it gave me a message saying most of the updates failed to install. I hadn't even d/l ed them yet. So I went back to the list, made sure everything was checked, went back, hit the d/l button & it started d/l ing them.

:huh:

 

[Borg 386]

I haven't had any of the huge slowdowns many people have been reporting but that may be because I wait until the weekend, after most people have already done their downloads (although they do seem a bit slower but I haven't been timing them since I just start the process, then ignore it until it is done).

Yeah, I've considered it could be the time you choose also. But when I got up @ 7 AM on Sun & tried to d/l them, same problem all the live long day. I've experimented with various times & it's basically turning into a crapshoot from what I see. This is the first time I've seen them take this long. I've seen them in the past take as long as 3 hours to finish d/l ing for my 7 OS's.

Myself, never had probs with 8.1 on the PC or my Wife's lappy. Think the longest delay I saw was 25 mins a couple months back.