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Another thread about Windows Update stuck at Downloading 0%
I have spent many days trying to get a handle about what is the behavior of Windows Update process when it hangs Downloading at 0%. I have looked through many of the threads on this problem to see if there is a pattern to the failures or a solution that works for many people. Even though it is stated not to try what others have done in other posts, I have done some of these. I have also gone above this and tried analyze what the system is doing when in this state. I have some results but no answers.
The issues I'm having may be unique to my setup, but I hope my results are helpful to the larger Windows community.
Based on the results of my testing, I am approaching the opinion that this problem of Windows Update hanging is percipitated by one or more of the following:
1. M$ doesn't care that update is fatally broken and won't fix it.
2. The engineers currently working on this at M$ are totally incompetent in their ability to fix it.
3. M$ is deliberately sabataging Windows 7 and Window 8.1 in order to force everybody to update to Windows 10.
Background:
The system I'm running my lastest tests on is a HP Elitebook 6930P. It is built with a Core2 Duo T9400 with 2 GB RAM. Installed is Win 7 Pro (x86). Another system that is exhibiting the problem is a Dell Optiplex 755 running a Core2Duo E8400 with 3GB RAM on Windows 7 Pro (x86). A third system I'm using is built on an Asus motherboard running a Core i5 750 CPU with 16GB Ram running Win7 Pro x64. (I know these are ancient systems.... I'm working on upgrading the i5 system now.) For some reason, the windows update is not hanging on the i5 750 system. I don't know why at this point.
What I have done to solve this:
1. I ran the SURT and SFC Scan (multiple times). The SURT did find errors and fixed most of them. (if the specific errors are needed I'll have to rerun the tests.) After the SURT is run it takes about 5 hours to complete the check for new updates.
After running the SURT, what tends to happen is the first time I try to install updates (a few), the updates install in less than 5 minutes. When I restart and try to install more updates, the Update window hangs at 0% for about 3.5 hours and then they install successfully.
2. I have manually reset the update client by using the process where you delete the files in the SoftwareDistribution folder. Again when I run Windows Update, it will take 5 hours 'Checking for updates'. Then the first time I run Windows update I can install a few updates in less than 5 minutes. The second time Windows Update will be stuck downloading at 0% and will take about 3 hours to complete the updates.
3. For the nuclear option, I completely reinstalled my HP system from a base Windows 7 CD, which didn't have SP1. After the initial install, the only software I installed was Firefox and Wireshark.
a. The initial install went normally. I was able to install all updates that were pending prior to SP1 without any lengthy delay.
b. I installed the service Pack 1 update. This update installed with no apparent issues.
c. After the install of SP1, I was prompted to install the latest Windows Update Clent. This is where all went to h---.
d. After installing the new client, the first time I installed some .NET updates I was able to install them without delay. The second time, it took 5 hours to check for updates. Then another 3 hours to install the 4.x .NET updates.
e. I then attempted some Security updates and again it took over 3 hours to install the updates.
During the next run of 10 Security Updates, I fired up Process Monitor. Here is some of what I found (there may be other relevant data I haven't found yet):
1. After filtering out all non-related processes, I find something extremely interesting. After an initial flurry of activity, the svchost.exe process and process tree gets into a loop where it is playing with itself and where the most of the activity visible is repeatedly reading one or two areas of the Registry. The following events occur for the most of the 3 hours:
There are some other registry, file and process events, so the process is able to do something and it will eventually finish. There is some logging and other events that occur that I'm still looking into.Code:"Time of Day" "Process Name" "PID" "Operation" "Path" "Result" "Detail" "5:41:39.4711404 PM" "svchost.exe" "916" "RegOpenKey" "HKCU" "SUCCESS" "Desired Access: Query Value" "5:41:39.4711647 PM" "svchost.exe" "916" "RegOpenKey" "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate" "SUCCESS" "Desired Access: Query Value" "5:41:39.4711801 PM" "svchost.exe" "916" "RegQueryValue" "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate\DisableWindowsUpdateAccess" "SUCCESS" "Type: REG_DWORD Length: 4 Data: 0" "5:41:39.4711894 PM" "svchost.exe" "916" "RegCloseKey" "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate" "SUCCESS" "" "5:41:39.4711955 PM" "svchost.exe" "916" "RegCloseKey" "HKCU" "SUCCESS" ""
2. Looking at WindowsUpdate.log for the same run, shows the following gap in the logging during the time that this looping is occurring:
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-----------------Code:2016-04-09 16:32:12:111 916 fcc AU Successfully wrote event for AU health state:0 2016-04-09 16:32:12:111 916 fcc AU # Pending download calls = 10 2016-04-09 16:32:12:111 916 fcc AU <<## SUBMITTED ## AU: Download updates 2016-04-09 16:32:12:142 916 fcc AU Getting featured update notifications. fIncludeDismissed = true 2016-04-09 16:32:12:142 916 fcc AU No featured updates available. 2016-04-09 16:32:24:013 916 f78 AU Getting featured update notifications. fIncludeDismissed = true 2016-04-09 16:32:24:013 916 f78 AU No featured updates available. 2016-04-09 18:03:44:003 916 fb4 AU AU setting next sqm report timeout to 2016-04-11 01:03:44 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {CE9E93AD-39BA-4F1B-98E9-38504B8D2E67}.100 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {AE66A9AB-7B20-49C0-BC56-B2BB241E70E4}.100 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent Update {A52544E0-929D-4DCF-A3DA-8093EF89546C}.101 is pruned out due to potential supersedence 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {1937F4EF-9725-4B45-9679-F6D9F22B9F98}.104 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {63F591B4-81FC-4F66-B3C4-9047FF0B465A}.200 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {9D08AC85-A4A3-4DAA-A7D5-D968D0FAD7C7}.200 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {A4A3462A-AADA-49EF-AED8-EE9C955F571C}.200 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {F2390945-5480-4CD4-A10E-AF12C5CCF902}.103 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {D2CA572D-0890-4BA4-A62F-AE5EE20CA09A}.200 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {442AD0DC-AE43-4E22-A92C-113524974631}.103 to search result 2016-04-09 19:55:37:569 916 1a8 Agent * Added update {E4E8F2AC-16F8-44CF-B8E7-D8C5DFD86A08}.103 to search result
Note the 2 hour 23 minute gap starting at 16:32. I'm still looking for the remainder of the delay. It is during the interval starting at about 19:55 that the updates are actually installed.
This is already a very long post so I'll stop here, but I still need to gather more data. I have the following questions (There are more questions, I'm sure.):
1. Is it the older Core2Duo processors that are hitting the problem?
2. Is there something different with Win 7 Pro x64 vs x86?
3. What other differences are playing a role in the i5 system working?
I sincerely hope others out there can shed some light on what's happening and help me solve this extremely serious problem.
Best Regards,
John
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