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

Mellon Head · Jun 22, 2016

You mean I have to do a system image before the updates? Cuz it's going on an hour and a half now, and still no progress.

ThrashZone · Jun 22, 2016

Hi,
Yep but too late now,
I would switch your update settings to never check for updates and restart.
Then download and manually install the June update client in this rollup
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161647
Main download page,
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161608

Win-7 32bit
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52976
Win-7 64bit
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=52974

Blaine109 · Jun 23, 2016

Ended up downloading WSUS Offline Updater. Ran the updater and it downloaded all the updates. Ran the installer and it froze/hung. I remember reading that it will install IE11 before installing updates but did not do so. So I manually installed IE11 and reran the WSUS Installer and it worked. It installed 130+ updates.

Restarted computer and just checked to see if Windows Update would work and it did. It immediately found several updates. Currently installing them.

Maybe Windows Update has an issue if you have an older IE installed? My fresh Windows 7 SP1 had IE9 so who knows.

WSUS Offline Update - Update Microsoft Windows and Office without an Internet connection

lehnerus2000 · Jun 23, 2016

ignatzatsonic said:
What's the incentive to get any of these "roll-ups" other than to possibly save time by not having to download a bunch of updates individually?

I suspect that if you install the Update Pack your final clean W7 installation will be slightly smaller, than if you install the 200+ individual updates (despite the WU Cleaner tool).

Also, I don't remember having to perform dozens of reboots (when I used the Update Pack on a VM).

alphanumeric · Jun 23, 2016

Mellon Head said:
Well, I can't say that MS has sped up anything. I've had WU downloading the latest updates for over an hour and it's still at 0%.

Getting a little tired of this...

Same deal here, left it running for many hours and its still, "checking for updates". Mine seems to be hit or miss. Sometimes its almost normal other times it takes days to even find the updates, let alone download and install them. Luckily for me, its only a test machine for the GWX stuff. I only ever turn it on once or twice a week to see if anything changed since I declined the offer.

profdlp · Jun 23, 2016

No sign of GWX after finally installing the rollup update today. It's a shame that something as simple as applying a patch has to be undertaken with so much finger-crossing.

Anak · Jun 26, 2016

Just wanted to post my results with the updating of KB3161608, see: Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for June 14th 2016 | Post #38

TechnoMage2016 · Jun 27, 2016

profdlp said:
No sign of GWX after finally installing the roll-up update today. It's a shame that something as simple as applying a patch has to be undertaken with so much finger-crossing.

Finger crossing? I tried that years ago, and the result was disastrous! That's about as effective as praying to a little stone idol.
It takes positive moves, like doing a C: drive backup before ever accepting any updates to your computer.
That way, if an update goes South, you can just do a quick Restore of your last backup and in just a few minutes, you're back up and running as if nothing ever happened.
I went one step further, after installing Windows 7, and getting the first batch of updates.....
I turned OFF MS Updates.

I downloaded and installed both Dot Net 4.? and I.E. 11 for Win-7 today and of course got the "GWX" popup banner, which I promptly X'ed out.
Operating a PC today is a lot like shooting Skeet.... you've got to keep your eyes open.

Cheers Mates!
TechnoMage

Mellon Head · Jul 5, 2016

Here's some news:

In my never ending quest to do stupid things, I installed Win 10 on an old machine I had laying around...

Now, I had always thought that the Win 7 update slowdowns were a ploy by MS to make us frustrated and fed up, and get us to switch to Win 10, where presumably the updates were faster.

Imagine my surprise when it took the better part of ten hours to get just the Win 10 updates to install Win 10, never mind the install and a second seven hour update procedure.

Apparently, the update service is bad all around. So much for my conspiracy theories. (*Takes off tinfoil hat*)

Layback Bear · Jul 5, 2016

For the last couple of day my Windows 7 and MSE updates have been working just great as they should be. Maybe Microsoft has shifted their update priority again.

lehnerus2000 · Jul 5, 2016

It's in the updates themselves.
There is obviously a random built-in delay loop.

I'm trying to do a clean install of W7.
I started with an image of W7 with SP1 installed (Macrium Reflect is the only program installed).

It took over 12 hours for the Windows6.1-KB3020369-x64 stand alone update to install.

Brds7t7 · Jul 5, 2016

lehnerus2000 said:
It took over 12 hours for the Windows6.1-KB3020369-x64 stand alone update to install.

I've never had any issues installing standalone installers on any clean installs. If they do stall, disconnect the Internet connection and stop the Windows update service in services.msc (sometimes you have to reboot after stopping the service) and it should install straight away.

ThrashZone · Jul 5, 2016

Yep connecting to the internet is the kiss of death until all updates you plan on manually installing are done

lehnerus2000 · Jul 6, 2016

Brds7t7 said:
lehnerus2000 said:

It took over 12 hours for the Windows6.1-KB3020369-x64 stand alone update to install.

Click to expand...

I've never had any issues installing standalone installers on any clean installs. If they do stall, disconnect the Internet connection and stop the Windows update service in services.msc (sometimes you have to reboot after stopping the service) and it should install straight away.

It seems to be totally random (hence my "random built-in delay loop" comment).

I used the SP1 Update Pack on one of my VMs and the whole update only took ~15 minutes (including the separate prerequisite update).

Callender · Jul 6, 2016

lehnerus2000 said:
It seems to be totally random (hence my "random built-in delay loop" comment).

I used the SP1 Update Pack on one of my VMs and the whole update only took ~15 minutes (including the separate prerequisite update).

Interesting read here:

How to make an updated ISO with Windows 7 SP2 Convenience Rollup so Windows Update works

ThrashZone · Jul 6, 2016

Yea I'll test this one this weekend on my new ss 850 250gb evo
Only 3 updates to manually install without an internet connection
KB3020369
KB3161664
KB3161608
Activate windows and check for updates.

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

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