windows update doesn't work

[iknowjohnny]

I googled it for an hour and 1/2 trying a ton of things but no joy. First, i enabled WU in services because i had it disabled. Then i restarted and it was running. Tried to update and it said on important update so i trued to download it. It stayed at 0% forever so i tried a few things i read and one of them told me to delete the files in the software distribution folder. I did that and the rest of the instructions that went with it and it then showed a ton of updates. Tried but just downloaded forever staying at 0%. nothing i found worked. Even the MS site which told me how to resolve that exact issue didn't work. It had two files to install but i get a message saying they are already installed. Did a malwarebyte scan before any of this by the way.

So i came here and it shows things to try first before posting but that wasn;t helpfull. I DID do the thing where you run the diagnostic tool and save the text. But i'm worried about posting it. Does it contain anything i don't want to post publicly? what else can i do? I'm at my wits end.

 

[johnhoh]

here's three alternatives. I've tried all three and all three worked for me.

sevenforums windows update reset instuctions

Windows Update - Reset - Windows 7 Help Forums

minitool updater by mister x

Download Windows Update MiniTool - MajorGeeks

WSUS offline update

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

 

[iknowjohnny]

1 and 2 didnt work, but 3 i guess did. It's just that i have no idea what or how many updates it downloaded or whether they were installed. I'm not a geek so this stuff is a bit confusing to me when things happen in a command prompt with no UI to see whats been done. I;d really like to know if that fix for the recent ransomware loophole was fixed but i have no way to know, and thats what i was doing this for. How can i find out ? theres a log but it 10 miles long and mostly greek to me.

 

[johnhoh]

when you run WSUS you have to click on UpdateGenerator first, let it do its thing, then after its done click on UpdateInstaller, then reboot after its done. Not sure where those two programs are but they are somewhere within the WSUS folders. You may have to google "how to use WSUS offline update" or whatever to learn more about it

 

[iknowjohnny]

Ok, thanks. I found the update installer and running it now. Still not sure how to tell whats been installed tho. Ahh,....it just stopped. I gues it;s done, i'll just restart and i guess hope the right update i was look for installed.

 

[JamesEJ]

yeah, me too iknow.. tried a notepad reference but still have updates not installed after running..

 

[JamesEJ]

later new thought, Hey Shawn looks like we need you bud!

Late edit: this may help everyone. Take a look anyway:
WSUS Offline Update - Update Microsoft Windows and Office without an Internet connection