Did I just lose every windows update I've ever had?

So I followed this one guy's advice which was to go to services and stop Windows update service, locate C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ folder and delete all its content, start Windows update service and then check for updates.

What the post left out was that the SoftwareDistribution folder and what was inside also contained my windows update history files once deleted I lost all my update history..... or so it looks that way. When I went to windows update it said updates were installed: Never and I checked view update history and everything in there is gone. So I went into my recycle bin and restored the folder and all it's files but still no update history came back. Does this mean I'm going to have to get every single windows 7 update all over again? if it does I'm in trouble because for some reason half of the updates end up saying failed and not successful also is my system at a huge security risk now???

Paul Black said:

HI Negaforce,



[1] Was the post on this forum?
[2] If so, can you post the link to the thread please?

Nah, it wasn't here I was checking other places about my problem as well it was over at

Resources and Tools for IT Professionals | TechNet

Guy's post - Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Paul Black said:

HI Negaforce,

You will find that the WU's are still installed but are just not showing!

Please run WU_Hotfixes.bat from here => BATCH PROGRAMS [Standalone].

I hope this helps!

Woah, Okay that's a big relief thanks for the help brother.

Paul Black said:

You are very welcome!

Hey, sorry to be such a bother I think I understand but not entirely sure, but I did what you said ran it and got WU_Hotfixes it's a Batch file notepad when I open it I see all kinds of Windows updates so those are all what are still present on my computer?

I missed your question yes I actually deleted both the folder and the contents as well. I don't know if that changes anything? I just restored the folder and all it's contents (actually some of the files started to regenerate by themselves before I could even put the deleted ones back).

One other thing quoting from part of that post it says "to generate and output the list of WU's [Windows Updates] and Hotfixes [patches] installed and the date they were installed."

I got all the updates but I don't see any dates for them does that matter?