Solved Win 7 update "checking for updates" stuck

[Rich A]

Hi,

I've purchased a refurbished Dell notebook that has Windows 7 home Prem. Have had it for a few months and everything works great. However it has never been able to do a Windows update. Been trying to get the update to work on and off since I bought it. It's a valid Windows install and has a registered product code.

I mention that because it is compatible for a free Windows 10 upgrade. (it's a notebook that can be used as a tablet and I really like how Windows 10 works on my other PCs).

I have been trying to get the regular windows 7 update to work so I can start off with an up to date 7 to 10 upgrade. I've tried everything ... with no success.

BTW, the update history shows only two MS file updates .. and when I start the update process the first screen says "Most recent updates .. Never Updates were installed .. Never.

And it continues in a "Checking for Updates" mode ... (I've even left it overnight) ... It's not frozen and the activity bar is moving .. Network activity is zero .. and I'm using 50 percent of my memory (with nothing else running) So I can not update my OS ..

On a whim I tried the MS windows 10 upgrade. (I've done it on a couple of other computers without issues). The upgrade goes smoothly and quickly and get all way to the last point where it checks for any OS updates ... and then sits there ... not frozen .. running ... and doing nothing. So at that point I find I can not cancel or go back and my only option is to kill the program using the top task bar "X". At that point it switches to a "cleaning up" stage and THAT gets stuck there. I ultimately have to use the Windows task manager and kill the process and program.

I did not get a Windows disk with the notebook so I'm thinking of downloading Win 7 Home Prem ISO from MS and then format the hard drive and do a clean install of Win 7 from scratch.

From my research about this, I've found there are almost as many "fixes" for the Windows Update problem as there are people who have it. I think I've already tried at least 25 or more fixes that worked for 25 or more other users ... but none of them work for me.

Anyone want to have a go at this one ??

 

[SIW2]

I do it by integrating updates into install.wim before installing.

 

[wben353]

Hi Rich A & welcome to sevenforums.

run attached, then check windows update

If you are still having issue.

Please follow Windows Update Posting Instructions

post your CheckSUR.log

 

[Rich A]

Thanks for moving this thread where it belongs for me. Sorry about that.

I can almost guarantee that I've already tried everything ... but will start from the beginning and try the suggestions here on this forum.

So let's start: I've run the "Windows Update Standalone Install" as recommended. (this is the third or fourth time I've done so using other sites trying to fix this) The result is the same .. left it running for about one and a half hours. The process is not stuck .. activity bar is showing it's searching, but never stops.

Next I went to the suggested link for fixes where I first downloaded and ran KB3102810 ... (again I've done this also 2 or 3 times frm other support suggestions) But the result is the same. Stuck on the "Searching for updates on this computer".

Note .. in every instance I NEVER get to the point where it starts to download anything. It never gets past the first thing everything does when updating. Which is "Searching for updates" or anything similar to that.

I'm going to continue on with the next set of instructions They all look familiar to me BTW, but I'll continue step by step here in case I missed something.

One big problem is that in every case when I've been trying to fix this with countless suggestions sometimes I'm being told it could take a LONG time and I should leave it running overnight. I've tried several times in the past leaving it running for over 24 hours. (been trying to fix this for a month now) So the question is, "how much time should I let any fix run" before killing it? If this is going to take me a day to run each step, I might as well give up and format the hard drive and do a new install of windows 7 home 32. But if you think we can limit each suggested fix to under an hour .. I'm game for that .. only because it now has become an obsession with me .. <grin> Have plenty other computers that work fine ... Besides, the re-install fresh of the system would mean the problem wins and I've lost. I don't like loosing!! <grin> So how much time should I give the processes or fixes to run ??

Also I can not find any reference to a "checkSUR.log" on my computer?

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Rich A & welcome to sevenforums.

run attached, then check windows update

If you are still having issue.

Please follow Windows Update Posting Instructions

post your CheckSUR.log

 

[Rich A]

Also while waiting for the next step to run it's course, I checked the CBS.log file and found several HUNDRED instances of "Failed to internally open package over the most recent 2 days". (might even be thousands as I stopped counting ,at 200) ... Could this mean anything?

 

[wben353]

If some time passed since you ran SURT the files will disappear from the CBS folder, apparently that's the case if you didn't find it. Run the tool again & post just the CheckSUR.log It will be located at: C:\Windows\Logs\CBS

What antivirus, firewall, etc. do you have installed?

That many corrupt files leads me to believe that your machine is INFECTED!

Do you have win7x64 DVD & 25 character windows product key?

I'll have a look at the logs, but my initial opinion is a Repair Install.

It replaces windows 7 and preserves all your installed programs, files, folders, music, pictures, etc. Pretty straight forward. I do several of them every week.

Have detailed instruction how, including video links etc.

 

[Rich A]

Problem solved .. Updates are working again!

First the pc has been extensively scanned for malware of all types. It's clean. But back to this update problem. It is fixed. To make a long story short, I used the procedures listed in this forum in the link provided by wben353 and firstly running the attached *.bat file. Then I continued running KB3102810 and KB947821 ... The best way to make this work is to let it run. The first step ran for 3 hours before actually doing something .. the next step ran for another 1.5 hours. At that point I ran a normal windows update which also ran for another 1.5 hours BUT finished and showed 209 updates were found. I selected the first 30 and waited. Works normally and was pretty fast too. Required a reboot and I tried another update doing another 50 files ... That also worked fine. I'm now doing the rest of the updates about 30 or so at a time. I've found in the past doing batches of updates instead of 2 or 3 hundred at once works better for me.

My windows update is now fixed. Thanks for the help.

- Rich A.

If some time passed since you ran SURT the files will disappear from the CBS folder, apparently that's the case if you didn't find it. Run the tool again & post just the CheckSUR.log It will be located at: C:\Windows\Logs\CBS

What antivirus, firewall, etc. do you have installed?

That many corrupt files leads me to believe that your machine is INFECTED!

Do you have win7x64 DVD & 25 character windows product key?

I'll have a look at the logs, but my initial opinion is a Repair Install.

It replaces windows 7 and preserves all your installed programs, files, folders, music, pictures, etc. Pretty straight forward. I do several of them every week.

Have detailed instruction how, including video links etc.

 

[wben353]

For your info, windows update downloads & stores the updates in RAM until they are verified as complete. If you start task manager & click the performance tab you will see RAM fill as updates download. On a machine with 8 gig of ram, if you do repair install or fresh install you will have 200+ & 13 or so optional. If you try to download & install all of them, you will get out of memory error at about 165 give or take a few.