Windows update never stops checking for updates

Hey,

Just an - in my eyes- important note for all of you: As i mentioned above the only update you have to install manually is KB3138612! I don't know why some of you recommend installing KB3102810 and/or KB3112343. The update KB3138612 replaces the other two updates, i.e. they are outdated predecessor updates in my eyes. I compared the system files which get replaced by installing KB3102810 or KB3138612. Both updates replace exactly the same files with newer versions. So it makes no sence at all to install various old upates which were replaced again by a newer update
Here is a comparison-screenshot (done with Word):

If someone has been running all the updates offered month by month then wouldn't they already have KB 3138612? Or didn't this get offered? My mother in law's laptop is driving us crazy on the updates. It seems for last 3 months approx every time patch Tuesday rolls around it takes hours stuck on checking for updates, and then several hours once found to actually get them downloaded. It's becoming a total pain (as if Windows updates weren't bad enough already). It never used to be as bad as this. But it's now a consistent issue, the laptop literally needs to be left overnight nowadays for patch Tuesday. During the quieter period of month the update check seems to be a bit faster. So it seems MS gives little or no server priority to Windows 7 users of late. For the first few days after patch Tuesday it is literally a nightmare trying to get the updates done. Frustrating when you want to get it done and dusted so one can forget about the updates for another month.

It's the same story tonight, set it checking for updates about 2 and a half hours ago and it's still 'checking for updates'. By comparison our Windows 10 machine found its cumulative updates for today within seconds. They were all downloaded and installed in less than 5 minutes.

Well it ended up going better than it has done in a long while tonight. After 3 and a half hours it found the available updates (10.30 pm UK time) and to my shock, after instructing them to install, it then downloaded them within about 25 minutes (nearly 200 megs worth). So for the first time in months we got patch Tuesday out the way on Tuesday and not had to wrestle with the task for 2 or 3 days.

So whilst relatively pleased that's over for another 5 weeks am still pretty unimpressed with MS over the delivery of their updates for Windows 7. Guess it's all part of their underhanded tactics to force Windows 10 onto everyone

I had a similar problem with Windows Update recently.

When I performed a clean install of Windows 7 the updates never showed up in a reasonable period of time.
The solution was to leave the computer on all night. The updates were there the next morning. There were only about 250 updates. Since then updates are appearing normally. IMHO Microsoft should fix this problem. A W7 SP2 is sorely needed.

I hate to admit this but MS seems to not care about W7 anymore. This is in spite of the fact that W7 is the most popular OS today. MS wants everyone to "upgrade" to Windows 10. It seems to me that MS attitude is to hell with W7. This strategy is going to backfire on MS.

Unfortunately for most people Windows is the only OS that they think of. Linux is too complicated for the general public today. But I find Linux more than adequate. Yes there is a learning curve but it's not to hard to figure it out. But techies have to realize that the average user wants an OS that works out of the box.

Maybe, for most users the Chrome OS is the way to go. Most users just want to go on the Internet and send emails plus type a document occasionally.

We could be on the verge of a major change in behavior of OS'es.

I love W7 but think that the handwriting is on the wall for it unfortunately.

I just registered to let everyone know that after trying everything I've researched on here & other forums for the past 3 days, I actually fixed windows updates on Win7 HP x64. The standalone windows update installer(s) did the same thing WU did, scanning for updates forever. Some I could cancel, some I couldn't. You can't run them in safe mode. Ran the MrFixIt(?), nothing. Renamed the software distribution & catroot2 folders, SFC found nothing wrong, defragged, chkdsk, no errors found, nothing wrong in DevMan etc. etc. Then I recall someone (maybe on here, sorry icrs) said that after they updated internet explorer from 10 to 11 & rebooted, WU started working correctly, so... after installing, rebooting & selecting the default security recommended for IE11, I closed it, turned WU back on to "let me choose.." however it's worded, & viola! it wasn't 5 minutes later it had 171 critical updates @ 889mb ready to install. It's still installing but it looks like it's fixed for now. So if all is lost like it was for me & you can update IE with the standalone installer, it may work for you. P.S. - I tried letting WU run overnight like others suggested but...big waste of time.

Thank you UsernameIssues - SOLVED !!!!

Your recommendation to disconnect from the Internet before installing KB3112343 (actually KB313812 for 64 bit in my case) was just the ticket that solved it for me. Three days of spinning my wheels on this before I came across your simple effective solution.

aoetalks said:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810 should speed things up. After installing this it took only a few minutes to scan for updates on a fresh Win7 SP1 install.

Sighed up just to say thanks worked for me but have to install the update offline or it would just sit for hours after a restart checking updates took less than 2 mins.

This has worked for me every time:

The solution:

Stop the Windows Update Service (wuauserv).
Download and install KB3050265
reboot
Download and install KB3102810
Reboot and check for updates again. All of our machines found their required updates in less than 5 minutes.