how am I supposed to install 132 update if it takes a year to do so

Just F9-ed my system for clean install (twice today for CS) and then- as always- the ordeal of installing a hugh bunch of updates... first check for updates and bang: 132 with a total of 452 meg. I know from previous installations it takes ridiculously long if not forever to get them installed without the risk of failed updates.

Anyway, just want to install SP1 but that one only shows up after doing the first batch of 132 as I noticed this afternoon.
This afternoon I did a clean install and installed 134 updates, but after that my system was screwed somehow. Don't know what went wrong but I couldn't boot and later it said sth like missing profile so I did another clean install cause I'm sick and tired of all the fiddling. That's where I am right now.
Soooo... what am I supposed to do?
Can I skip the individual updates and install SP1 instead?
I've tried to hide all the 132 updates hoping SP1 would show up after a second search for updates but windows update doesn't like that particular trick as SP1 doesn't show up at all...

BTW: 38 min. later since I started downloading it's still at 0% (???)

suggestions on this one, anybody.

I'm sure your mother told you a million times not to exaggerate. Besides, it only takes six months.

Sorry, couldn't resist (running and ducking. All seriousness aside, sadly, there is no easy way to do it that I know of. I ran into similar problems when I tried to do all the updates at once on a new machine earlier this year. the way to avoid problems with that many updates is to do only a few at a time and reboot after each batch. Some of the guys here (In love these forums and the people in them!) suggested doing only five at a time. I got impatient and found I could get away with as many as twenty at a time but I was probably pushing my luck. I had to the same with my notebook when I restored it to the factory state last week and got away with doing the same. I would recommend limiting to 10 or less at a time though. I know that will be time consuming and boring as watching paint dry but, at least, you shouldn't have to do it again anytime soon; mayhap not at all if you take an image of the OS once all the downloads are done (I did it with both of my machines).

If you're not too far into the process and you are willing to do another Clean install,
You can download the Win 7 ISO with SP1, so you will only have to update for anything after SP1.

This tutorial has the instructions and link where to get a genuine Win 7 SP1 ISO.
Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

linnemeyerhere said:

Oh and this is where a SSD really shines ! On a recent build with a 64gb Crucial those 130+ updates done all at once were handled in under 45 minutes.

You were lucky. When I tried that, only some of them went through, then Windows Updates locked up. I had to clear the previous updates put and start over. Even installing them in small batches at a time took only an hour. I did the same thing the other day on spinner and it didn't take much longer.

When you get a clean install with all the updates applied create a System Backup Image.
You can then restore that if you ever want to reinstall again later and save a lot of time.
It's a good idea to create System Backup Images periodically...just in case...

Auk said:

Can I skip the individual updates and install SP1 instead?
I've tried to hide all the 132 updates hoping SP1 would show up after a second search for updates but windows update doesn't like that particular trick as SP1 doesn't show up at all...

BTW: 38 min. later since I started downloading it's still at 0% (???)

suggestions on this one, anybody.

You can freely skip the individual updates to install SP1. You have to download Windows 7 SP1 standalone msi installer: Download Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932) from Official Microsoft Download Center

For 32-bit, choose this file name:
windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe
For 64-bit, choose this one instead:
windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe
On one of my previous clean installs, I used Windows 7 RTM DVD and then directly apply the SP1 standalone after I installed the drivers. And BTW, expect ~150 or more Windows updates after updating to SP1 .