Latest Windows Update Client - Windows Update Agent

Anyone doing a fresh install of Windows 7 should manually install SP1 (if needed).

The Windows Update Agent was renamed to Windows Update Client.

Manually requesting a search for Windows Updates on a Windows 7 computer with SP1 install should prompt the user to install a pre-SP1 Windows Update (WU) Agent (7.6.7600.320). Seems odd.

That old WU Agent worked just fine until Microsoft changed the update servers. The info coming back from the servers seems to now cause high RAM/CPU usage for some computers... but that old WU Agent should eventually get the job done. The computer might be useless for any other task for 24+ hours.

You can skip installing that old WU Agent and manually install the latest WU Client instead. Or, you can manually install the latest WU Client over top of that old WU Agent.

However, below is what I encountered when I went to install the latest Windows Update Client on a W7 pro 64bit SP1 computer.

I started by using these search terms in Google:
"Windows Update Client" "March 2016" "Windows 7"
As this post ages, replace "March 2016" with the current month/year.
If that does not find the desired KB, try the previous month.

That lead me to this link for March 2016: KB3138612.

The W7 pro 64bit SP1 computer has IE8 installed by default.

Visiting KB3138612 via IE8 got me this:




Clicking on the link to update the browser got me this:




Clicking on the link to "Continue to this website" got me this:




I am not a happy camper at this point.


Here are the direct links to the downloads to the WU Client for March 2016:

All supported x86-based versions of Windows 7Download the package now.

All supported x64-based versions of Windows 7Download the package now.

Haha some great work done by Microsoft

There should be a more official way to look for updates. I searched around and actually found a list of most recent updates by Microsoft. However the descriptions for most of them are identical, though it is interesting to note that the description for 'KB3138612' actually says 'Supersedes: KB3135445'
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/894199
I found an unofficially updated link that has the proper titles so I guess using both to find the newest update and cross referencing may be a good idea
Windows 7 articles, fixes and updates - Year 2016

Anyways it's quite interesting that these unexpected issues and odd dead ends are showing up; guess it shouldn't be a surprise now... Like there's support for anything that's not new these days...

When I saw it includes "Wu.upgrade.ps.dll" I hide it.

Regards,
GEWB

AddRAM said:

My WUC works just fine, and I refuse to update it.

GEWB said:

When I saw it includes "Wu.upgrade.ps.dll" I hide it.

Regards,
GEWB

What will you do if MS decides to update the WUC automatically?

UsernameIssues said:

GEWB said:

When I saw it includes "Wu.upgrade.ps.dll" I hide it.

Regards,
GEWB

What will you do if MS decides to update the WUC automatically?

Restore, then never update again.

Yes I am serious. As I no longer allow Windows on the Internet except to update a few (four?) must-have programs I'm not very concerned - all my "everyday" work is now done in Linux.

Regards,
GEWB

THANK YOU!! I tried all sort of suggested solution and nothing worked until I stumbled on this thread. I should have known better than searching somewhere else to find solutions for any windows related problem. Windows Forums rocks!!!!

Hey guys can you help me out.
My Windows 7 x64 pre-SP1, will this give me update problems?

I found two ways to handle this

1. install following two updates/rollups
3020369
3172605

2. update the WU agent (as I thought and then landed back here)

Which one is better?

I only need a working WU service to use Windows Update Minitool. I am sorry but I do not like MS roll-ups. I'm also in dubio what to do. I need a working WU to get updates through Update manager, But also afraid the latest of the latest means trouble in the near future.

So this article suggests if I use the standalone Windows7 update agent installer, it will install ver .256 for RTM, and .320 for setups including SP1. The .256 is the correct version without issues right?