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

[CalgaryITGuy]

I managed to fix this after looking at various documents - I stopped the process via task manager, then I stopped the wuauserv service via task manager as well. I then IMMEDIATELY ran the software patch mentioned on the first page and was able to do so.

 

[briire]

Winning answer for me:

I managed to fix this after looking at various documents - I stopped the process via task manager, then I stopped the wuauserv service via task manager as well. I then IMMEDIATELY ran the software patch mentioned on the first page and was able to do so.

THIS worked. NONE of the other methods mentioned in this thread did. Thank you, CalgaryITGuy!!

 

[Big E]

I did have a problem with my windows updates being stuck and I discovered a fix and I want to share the answer to this problem which I found is a wide spread.

I just did a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate and at that time updates worked.
Then after the installation of service pack 1 all updated stopped.
I did all the quick fixes to reactivate updates and nothing worked.
FIX
The problem was my CPU run at high levels which prevents updates from happening.
After I manually installed this update KB3102810 (link next line)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49540
this resolved the issue of the CPU running at high levels and allows windows updates to resume automatically.
Automatic updated now found 283 important updates with a total file size 979.5 MB, very slow but very happy it's working.

 

[vosperjs]

FWIW I too experienced the same hanging with Windows Update after re-installing Win7 Ultimate 64-bit. The steps provided by CalgaryITGuy worked for me perfectly.

I will note that for my own experience after re-booting and starting Windows Update again it took awhile before results came back.

Thanks CalgaryITGuy!

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
The only updates needed now is KB3020369 & KB3172605

 

[Mergatroid]

A fix for failed updates after installing windows 7

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.

 

[Netlon]

I have joined the forum to thank Mergatroid for their post which resolved this problem for me.

I have tried numerous solutions over the past week that did not work. However, I followed their advice and 9.5 hours later (this was a new installation), Windows had got the updates I needed to download. I left it running overnight and 19 hours later, Windows is up to date.

Thank you very much Mergatroid, you're a star.

 

[mr la]

I also joined, simply to say thank you to Mergatroid. You're method worked perfectly. My hat is off to you.

 

[windowsupdate]

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 also joined to thank Mergatroid. After a fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit with Service Pack 1, Windows Update would hang on "Checking for Updates." I tried all the fixes in this thread, but what stymied some of them was that I could not manually install individual updates. Those installations would also hang on "Searching for Installed Updates."

One wrinkle for me was that in step 7, I could not stop Windows Update Service because it was not started yet. After the final reboot, I ended up starting it manually because it did not automatically start. I cannot tell if that made the steps superfluous or not, i.e. maybe it was never started so all I needed to do was start it to fix the issue.

It took about 10 minutes for me at the "Checking for Updates" screen, after I followed the steps Mergatroid laid out, for Windows Update to recognize that over 200 updates needed to be installed, and it did not hang.

Thanks, Mergatroid!

 

[del9800]

I also joined this forum to thank Mergatroid for his post and everyone else for leading us to the right directions. Great Job guys, this was very frustrating.

 

[OhYeah]

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.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums
If the update service is still running before you attempt to manually install another update it will stall indefinitely
KB3020369 & KB3125574 & KB3172605

 

[twue]

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

 

[paulsilvio76]

Windows Update Hangs Forever

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.

 

[Automata]

Microsoft incompetence or sabotage?

 

[aseru]

Windows Update Hangs Forever

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.

 

[TomStephenson]

After days finally solved!

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.

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

 

[gulls777]

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.

 

[Automata]

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.

 

[gulls777]

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.