Solved Why does Windows Update never finish scanning for updates? Seriously

Hi

I'm sure a lot of you have experienced this problem. Browsing through this forum, it is quite common, yet, I haven't found a reassuring solution. Can you help?

This is Windows 7 Home Premium. SP1 is installed. Windows was freshly installed.

Windows Update is scanning for updates. In fact it has been doing that for hours now to no avail. I seriously doubt it is doing anything at all. I think it's in a loop. There's little network traffic going through and CPU usage is very high. This Windows Update scan is taking forever, it never ever finishes.

What's more interesting, if you right click svchost.exe and choose show services, it's secret is revealed: this one is responsible for running wuauserv which is Windows Update.

This is happening on multiple computers in the house, and even on friends' computer. This is definitely not a local network problem.
This is also not some odd registry problem - we are talking about freshly installed systems.

Many of you suggest resetting Windows update using bat files. That doesn't seem to help me. After all, what would it reset, when it's so new anyway?

The only update installed is the Windows Update agent which was installed automatically.


Problems started when Microsoft released Windows 10. This must not be a coincidence. It is released on Windows update as a giant update package and I guess many people are still downloading it nowadays and that might be causing heavy traffic. But how come Windows update works fine on 8/8.1/10? And even on XP. But not on Windows 7

I have been using Windows 7 since 2009. I know it well. I never experienced a problem like this before. I do not (and have never) used any registry modding/cleaner/whatever tool.
It worked so fine before summer. Then it magically broke.

Why?
Please do comment if you are experiencing the same, even if you don't have a solution. I want to buzz this thread because it is a serious issue, it needs to get more attention. I'd also appreciate it if a moderator would escalate this thread to a sticky. Mods, you can also make any edits in this post you like to make it fit into a sticky. After all, similar threads open almost daily. It would be better to regroup this discussions from now on into one I think. Or at least make a common note on what we have so far.

So far this seems to be the only helpful trick I found: But not a solution.
http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-updates-activation/391279-update-question.html#post3215016

What were your results after installing the latest Windows Update Client KB3135445.

Hi,
Yep soon after win-10 testing started the real issues started surfacing in 2015

1 32 bit system has struggle lately
While 1 64 bit pro clean install and a 64 bit home premium went pretty fast only a month ago

Another 64 bit home premium seems fine throughout although it has no cpu for about 1-1/2 week now might be back in today and see if it sees this last weeks updates or not

I usually would never manually check for updates since the issues started surfacing about large delays doing so if they come they come/ if not oh well
So far they have appeared eventually except this months round on the 32 bit system :/

I just selected all of the past hidden updates and yes it's churning away

ish4d0w said:

This is Windows 7 Home Premium. SP1 is installed. Windows was freshly installed.

Windows Update is scanning for updates. In fact it has been doing that for hours now to no avail. I seriously doubt it is doing anything at all. I think it's in a loop. There's little network traffic going through and CPU usage is very high. This Windows Update scan is taking forever, it never ever finishes.

Click to expand...

For me - disabling Windows Update Service then waiting 24 hours before re-enabling and running an update check does the trick. The first check still takes forever but subsequent daily checks typically last less than one minute. Also you need to reconfigure WU settings (no auto download) before going ahead with an update check.

ish4d0w said:

This is happening on multiple computers in the house, and even on friends' computer. This is definitely not a local network problem.
This is also not some odd registry problem - we are talking about freshly installed systems.

Click to expand...

All fresh installs?

ish4d0w said:

The only update installed is the Windows Update agent which was installed automatically.

Click to expand...

The problem with that is that the latest WU Agent/ Client will be installed. See this post:

http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-...es-windows-7-8-a-post3203528.html#post3203528

jelson said:

This is my list of all the Win7 WUC updates (I've hidden them all):

• KB 2990214 - Apr '15 - WUC: enables ability to upgrade to Win10
• KB 3050265 - Jun '15 - WUC: allows Group Policy to set "DisableOS Upgrade" key (replaces 2990214)
• KB 3065987 - Jul '15 - WUC: unspecified "improvements" (replaces 3050265)
• KB 3075851 - Aug '15 - WUC: fixes mess due to KB3065987 [cuts down WUC memory usage, but hides Update notifications if GWX app is active] (replaces 3065987)
• KB 3083324 - Sep '15 - WUC: unspecified "improvements" (replaces 3075851)
• KB 3083710 - Oct '15 - WUC: unspecified "improvements" (replaces 3083324)
• KB 3102810 - Nov '15 - WUC: fixes slow updates & high CPU usage (doesn't replace any previous updates)
• KB 3112343 Dec '15 WUC: fix for issues with 3050265, e.g., "8007000E" error message (doesn't replace any previous updates)

P.S. FYI, before I grew sufficiently wary of M$, I did install 2990214 and later 3075851. Later I uninstalled them and found that doing so cleared my WU history.

Click to expand...

It's best not to install any of the above after the first update check and then next day take your pick on which one to install. Personally I have KB3075851 installed right after a complete fix (full removal of all Windows Updates Clients/ Agents) back to the original that ships with Windows then force installed KB3075851 and hid the others.

ish4d0w said:

Problems started when Microsoft released Windows 10. This must not be a coincidence. It is released on Windows update as a giant update package and I guess many people are still downloading it nowadays and that might be causing heavy traffic. But how come Windows update works fine on 8/8.1/10? And even on XP. But not on Windows 7

Click to expand...

Agree that problems started with Windows 10 release. Personally I've removed or blocked any Windows 10 related updates.

ish4d0w said:

I have been using Windows 7 since 2009. I know it well. I never experienced a problem like this before. I do not (and have never) used any registry modding/cleaner/whatever tool.
It worked so fine before summer. Then it magically broke.

Why?

Click to expand...

Because Microsoft wants you to upgrade to Windows 10. They're not interested in fixing Windows Updates in Windows 7 for those who are having issues.

Guys

Thank you very much for your help!
It's working now! Yay I did it!

I'm posting what I did because it might be helpfulf for others:

This is after a FRESH install, assuming that you did not make any changes to windows update, not even resetting it.

1) Windows Update will possibly install an update called "Windows Update agent 7.6.7600.320". Let it be. By the way, it does not need a restart and it gets installed without confirmation and its not visible at all, but you can see it in history.
2) set windows update to MANUAL - "Do not search for updates autoamtically"
3) Install the hotfix KB 3135445 [link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3135445 ]
4) Restart
5) Leave it alone. DONT start manual searching yet
6) I checked it again next day, and then the windows update window changed color to yellow saying updates need to be checked for on this computer or something like that
7) Then check for updates
8) It found them within MINUTES. 200+ updates for me
9) You can start downloading, but prepare it's still slow as hell. But at least it's working again.
10) After any updates been installed you can change back to automatic updating

This list is not a verified guide, some of the steps above might be unneccessarry but I wanted to include everything I did. Still, I think it is a good starting point to solve this problem.

Basically it all comes down to this:
1. Install the hotfix mentioned above. It is the KEY to solve this silly bug.
2 Wait. (Not much actually)


I did not need to hide any updates (lucky me ) but that MIGHT be recommended to you (to get rid of windows 10 nag). You can do it, just make sure you dont hide THIS hotfix. Other than that, go ahead and do you thing.
Whatever you do, DO NOT reset windows update using those bat files. You are possibly making more trouble than you have. This is especially true for new (freshly installed systems). There's absolutely no need to reset Windows update on a fresh installation, that is asking for trouble.
HOWEVER, if you have an older installation with Windows update broken down, resetting is okay and actually, might be even recommended.


Guys, your answers were really helpful to me. Thanks again, have a nice Sunday afternoon!

This worked good for me on a Fresh install...

During Fresh/Custom install, select "Install Important Updates Only".
In Control Panel, under Power Plan Options, select "Never Off" for monitor and computer.
In Windows Update, change setting to "Never Check for Updates".
From a thumb drive on a different computer, download from Microsoft the fix called KB3135445.
Run this fix until it installs itself. You may need to try it several times and reboot til it installs.
Reboot, and then try Windows Update again.

Within 10 minutes, Update had found 153 updates. I clicked OK, and it immediately started to
download and install all 153 updates.
It takes about 3 hours to download and install the updates, and everything appears to be back to normal.

I found this fix after trying several re-installs, and Fix-it tools and Diagnostic tools. Pretty much wasted 4 days,
clicked on too many things, and tried to install too many fixes.
I really hope this helps someone, and am glad to share what worked for me.
Jefronorway.