Windows Update - Reset

How to Reset Windows Update in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8​

   Information

This will show you how to reset Windows Update view update history, and how to reset and re-register Windows Update Components if you are having a problem updating with Windows Update.

OPTION ONE

To Only Reset Windows Update History

   Note

Resetting Windows Update using this option will clear the view update history details list (cache).

This will not actually uninstall any of your currently installed Windows Update. They will just not be listed anymore. Any new Windows Update installed after the reset will show up in the view update history list as normal though.

1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download this file below.
Reset_Windows_Update_History.bat


Download


2. Save the .bat file to your Desktop.

3. Right click or press and hold on the downloaded .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

4. If prompted by UAC click/tap on Run, then Yes/Continue (if administrator) or type in administrator's password (if standard user).

5. You will now see an elevated command prompt open and run. When it's finished, it will close automatically.

6. If opened, close and reopen Windows Update to verify that it has been reset.




7. Resetting the Windows Update history will also restore the default language packs being listed in Windows Upate again in the Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions after you check for updates next.

OPTION TWO

To Reset and Re-register Windows Update Components

NOTE: This option is the Windows version of: How do I reset Windows Update components?. It will reset Windows Update Components and re-register the BITS files and the Windows Update files to help fix Windows Update errors. This option will not clear the view update history details list as it does in OPTION ONE above.
1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download this file below.
Reset_Reregister_Windows_Update_Components.bat


Download


2. Save the .bat file to your Desktop.

3. Right click or press and hold on the downloaded .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

4. If prompted by UAC click on Run, then Yes/Continue (if administrator) or type in administrator's password (if standard user).

5. You will now see an elevated command prompt open and run. When it's finished, it will close automatically.

6. Restart the computer afterwards to apply.

7. If this still does not help, then run the Microsoft Fix it tool here:
How do I reset Windows Update components?

See also: Unable to install updates in Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2

OPTION THREE

To Reset and Re-register Windows Update Components AND Reset Update History in One Easy Click

   Note

This option combines OPTION ONE and OPTION TWO above in one .bat file.

1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download this file below.
Reset_Windows_Update_Full.bat


Download



2. Save the .bat file to your Desktop.

3. Right click or press and hold on the downloaded .bat file, and click/tap on Run as administrator.

4. If prompted by UAC click/tap on Run, then Yes/Continue (if administrator) or type in administrator's password (if standard user).

5. You will now see an elevated command prompt open and run. When it's finished, it will close automatically.

6. Restart the computer afterwards to apply.

7. If this still does not help, then run the Microsoft Fix it tool here:

Download



How do I reset Windows Update components?

See also: Unable to install updates in Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• Windows Update Error 80246008 in Windows 7 - Fix
• How to Create a "Windows Update" Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Change the Windows Update Settings in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Windows Updates from Automatically Restarting the Computer
• How to Uninstall a Windows Update in Windows 7
• How to Hide or Restore Hidden Windows Updates in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Create a Installed Windows Updates Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Create a Windows Update Troubleshoot Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Uninstalling Windows Updates in Windows 7
• How to Enable or Disable Access to Windows Updates in Windows 7
• How to View Windows Update History Details in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Reset the Common Log File System (CLFS) Logs
• How to Enable or Disable the Windows Update "Who can install updates" Setting
• How to Download the Standalone MSU Installer File of a Windows Update
• How to Restore Default Services in Windows 7
• How to Trace what Windows Update a Manifest File Originated From
• How to Use DISM to Fix Component Store Corruption in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

 

[Digity]

Thanks & happy to be here!

Regarding the testing, we would if we had some extra VM's running that could set a restore point... Servers by nature do not have restore points, so that bet is off. Although I'm very interested in if the script holds true to it's original design.

This might sound like a silly question but when reviewing the script, it doesn't look like it really matters too much whether or not it's geared for a 32bit or 64bit OS. Should we be concerned?

 

[Brink]

You're correct. It doesn't matter what version the OS is, the script runs the same on both.

 

[paddy37]

Thank you worked a treat much appericated

 

[Brink]

I'm glad it could help Paddy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[miniPC]

Will it work in Windows 10?

Thanks for help Will it work in Windows 10?

 

[Imemine]

I have been trying to fix my inability to update windows 7 ultimate for months now. I gave up but this evening just thought I would try again. I found this site and used option 3. Wella! its now updating. So far so good. Thank you whoever made those bat files.

 

[Brink]

I'm glad they could help you Imemine, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[GStamo]

Windows 7 do not update

Dear Brink,

I have tried all 3 options but doesnt work. It tries for a few minutes to update but it stops with out doing anything.
I have just upgraded my pc, installed a new ssd drive, installed win 7, all my programms work fine, except i cannot update.

Hope you could help me

Thanks a lot , George

 

[lgdoc]

my windows update is OK BUT.............

I've recently installed more than ten updates from the last flow from MS, without any problem
BUT i cant succeed (for several months!) to install KB 3035583 and 2952664 wich I do need to update to W10
I'm on W7 familial Premium

Couls I use what you propose in spite of the fact that only these two Updates cannot succeed in installing

Thanks in advance

Yours

 

[Brink]

I've recently installed more than ten updates from the last flow from MS, without any problem
BUT i cant succeed (for several months!) to install KB 3035583 and 2952664 wich I do need to update to W10
I'm on W7 familial Premium

Couls I use what you propose in spite of the fact that only these two Updates cannot succeed in installing

Thanks in advance

Yours

Hello lgdoc, and welcome to Ten Forums.

If you like, you could also use step 4 in the tutorial below to manually upgrade to Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool by Microsoft.

Windows 10 - Upgrade Installation - Windows 10 Forums

 

[DaveN]

I'm having this same problem. After automatically downloading a bunch of updates, windows update is frozen and just keeps checking for updates. I'll try the bat files later and see if this helps and try plugging it into an ethernet plug instead of wifi and report the results.

 

[DaveN]

So I installed the batch file #3 to reset windows update, then I downloaded and installed the windows update agent and still windows update wasn't working. I then decided to update the ATI graphics driver and surprisingly, windows update started working again lol. It doesn't make any sense, but I'm happy that its working again.

 

[rascaldee]

Hey Brink, thanks so much for writing this script to fix the stalled updating in Windows 7!

One thing I noticed is that if antivirus AGV and firewall Zone Alarms was running the script would fail at :cryptsvc and wouldn't proceed as it seems that ZoneAlarms kept this service alive.

So I suspended ZoneAlarms and uniinstalled AVG and then the script was successful.

This totally sorted out our production Windows7 running as a VM that we use for accounting.
So today we were able to get the monthly books done!

Really appreciate your fine work!

cheers from AU!

 

[Brink]

I'm glad it was able to help rascaldee, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[RoverDawg]

Solved for my situation...

Just wanted to post I did everything under the sun to try and solve this problem and got it to finally work in my situation. Wanted to post my findings.

Setup:
Dell Precision M6400 Clean install of Windows 7 Pro.

After a clean install (installed a SSD) and Windows update installed the update agent to 7.6.7600.320 windows update would get stuck at "checking for updates" and would never do anything else.

How I solved it:

I am not sure what exactly solved it. However, this is the combined methods that ended up fixing it for me.

1. Performed all 3 options on first page of this forum (trying windows update between each one and problem persisted).
2. Installed Intel Rapid Storage Technology v9.6.0.1014 from Dell.
3. Installed this update manually https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3083324.
4. Installed this update manually https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810.
5. Attempted step 1 again and then tried windows update with same problem.
6. Noticed there were a couple devices in device manager without drivers so installed those from the Dell website which consisted of multimedia card slot, graphics card(wasn't missing but was using standard vga), wifi card(wasn't missing but updated it anyways) and security control point. I think I also updated the chipset driver which fixed a couple missing devices in device manager.
7. Performed step 1 again and attempted windows update and BAM windows found updates and installed. Windows update now works. :grouphug:

Why did this problem happen from a clean install? My assumption was that windows update was hanging on trying to locate driver(s) for the missing device(s) in device manager and was "hanging" on one or more of those missing devices.

Good luck!

UPDATE: 2-22-2016

Confirmed with another Dell machine. I did the following to get windows updates to work.

1. Perform step 3 above. Reboot when prompted.
2. Perform step 4 above. Open up windows updates and it should work.

Good luck!

 

[5Clint7]

Thank you for option #2.

 

[Brink]

I'm glad it could help Clint.

 

[5Clint7]

I'm glad it could help Clint.

I thought it was fixed, but it still won't update. The last updates were 08-24-15. This is my granddaughters laptop

 

[Brink]

I'm sorry to hear that Clint. What error message is it giving you?

 

[5Clint7]

I'm sorry to hear that Clint. What error message is it giving you?

None. It just keeps going for hours and nothing. I'm reinstalling Windows now.