OT: Windows Update

[dhazelgrove]

A lot of people are reporting issues with Windows Update just lately, so I though that this (https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/instantanswers/512a5183-ffab-40c5-8a68-021e32467565/windows-update-troubleshooter) might be of interest.

Dave

[Jafo]

Shall have a look....
Currently rebirthing a Win7 laptop that's last update was 2012.....[long story].
Updating just sits there looking moronic....even 12 hours saw nothing....so am investigating 'solutions' other than PC homicide ...;)

[wombat666]

Same here, did a fresh OEM install and it updated twice in December, with just two unneeded entries for 'Defender'.
Now I just ignore the bloody thing!
:biggrin-new:

[falcon409]

Check Here:
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/103839-Recent-Update-Snafu

Basically Tom and I both ended up contacting MS Tech Support using their online chat. The problem was fixed on the same session. Excellent service. I can almost guarantee that you won't get it corrected on your own. They said there were corrupted Windows Update files. . .nothing I would have found or been able to correct on my own.

[b52bob]

I hate MS,
When it updated, it loaded a completely new copy of windows. Didn't lose my data, but every thing on my original desktop screen is gone and now in a file.

bring back win 7

[falcon409]

I hate MS,
When it updated, it loaded a completely new copy of windows. Didn't lose my data, but every thing on my original desktop screen is gone and now in a file.
bring back win 7
I assume you're talking about Win10. I installed it when it first came available (basically as an early release) and messed with it for several weeks before I'd had enough. I'm not a tweaker per se, especially not with any OS. If it doesn't work out of the box. . .it's gone. I eventually did a "roll-back" to Win7 and been very happy with it. Unless I get rich at some point and buy a brand new system that has Win10 already on it. . .I have no desire to go through that grief again.

Having said that. . .the service I got from the Techies was great. They logged into my PC, did what was necessary to fix the problem (about 20 minutes total) and signed off once we were sure everything was in order.

[nomad13]

Windows 7 updates have been slow for a while now. I feel that Microsoft has indeed cut service to the Win 7 update servers, but there is no proof of that. Win 7 will update eventually, you have to be patient or try another time.

If you are running Windows 7, it's a good idea to uninstall the "Win X" automatic updates that Microsoft has loaded into your computer, some of them definitely cause problems. You must also review all of the Windows Updates and make sure there are no Windows 10 related packages. It's a pain to do this, but MS is not providing you with a choice. Windows 7 is not dead, by a long shot. Microsoft will provide Win 7 security updates until 2020.

The Windows 10 "free upgrade" bricked two of my computers. If it wasn't for a system image, something I would seriously recommend to everyone, two of my perfectly fine Win7 computers would have been dead. If you want Windows 10, forget the Win7/8 "upgrade" and do a clean install using an ISO from the Microsoft website. I have Windows 10 on one of my computers now, I don't like or dislike it. It's almost the same as Windows 7 with a new paint job. I do dislike the loss of user control over privacy and updates, but since you have no options, keep that in mind as a computer user.

[icycle]

Good to know.

Because of this issue, have been consistent with creating my own restore points lately, so if all else fails, I can "punt" and roll back the clock - so to speak.

thanks

Bill

[Dangerous Beans]

I went through the SLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW Win7 update hell a couple of months ago on my 2nd machine and after a lot of digging and trying various suggestions I finally found the answer.

Manually download and install the following two updates first, after that windows update should work fine.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46817
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53332

[eddie]

Got the update yesterday, everything is working fine on my Win7 Pro pc, but I have lost nearly 11 GB of space on my C drive! WTH!!

[eddie]

Ran Disk Cleanup again, said I had nearly 660 GB of Error repports stored somewhere, so cleaned them out, and i Ogt my 11GB of Free space back,lol How can you dump 60 GB of reports and only get 11 GB back!?!:biggrin-new:

[nomad13]

Good to know.

Because of this issue, have been consistent with creating my own restore points lately, so if all else fails, I can "punt" and roll back the clock - so to speak.

thanks

Bill

System Restore is not a complete lifesaver. Making an image of your system drive can save a lot of time and grief. All you need is something like Macrium Reflect (http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx), which is free, a USB thumb drive and disc space on another drive.

[Bjoern]

Ran Disk Cleanup again, said I had nearly 660 GB of Error repports stored somewhere, so cleaned them out, and i Ogt my 11GB of Free space back,lol How can you dump 60 GB of reports and only get 11 GB back!?!:biggrin-new:

Do the standard MS disk cleanup and let it clean up system files like old restore points and old versions of Windows (only if you don't ever want to roll back the update!). Will give you quite a bit of space back.

[falcon409]

System Restore is not a complete lifesaver. . . . . . .
Correct! I rolled back to a point where the updates were working, but it didn't fix the corrupted files that MS eventually purged. I really didn't expect much from Tech Support but I was pleasantly surprised.

[mal998]

This may or may not be of help to anyone. Last week I did a clean install of Vista Ultimate 64 bit on a newly formatted disk. Initially, Windows Update worked without any issues. I then installed Service Pack 1 and had no issues. But after I installed Service Pack 2 Windows update stopped working. Sooo, I have just completed a second clean install and this time have only installed Service Pack 1 and low and behold Windows Update is working as advertised. Now I realize this story is anecdotal but I can't argue with success. Windows Update is working and according to Belarc Advisor my system now has every single security update required. Food for thought!

[WarHorse47]

I'm running Win8.1 and have the Windows Update set to notify me when updates are available so I can manually check them and select which to install.

Recently (including this morning), the computer notifies me that there are important updates to install. Yet, when I check there are none.

A week ago I kept getting the notification message, but there were only 'optional' updates available. No 'Important' updates. I have turned off any 'recommended' update notices.

I would hope that if MS has messed up their updating process, that by now they would distribute a fix. Is there a specific update(s) that need to be uninstalled or reinstalled to get the update program to function properly?

[Jafo]

There are aproximately as many 'fixes' as there are users still running Win 7 .....aka about half of them.

I tried the one that requires 7 manual installs and 6 full reboots....and it looks just the same....gonna take a month of Sundays to auto-update [if at all].
Mine was an existing lappy HD that had not been in a computer for 4 years...so although it booted its system OK in the 'new' lappy AND successfully activated it will NEED quite a few updates to catch up.
Any one of the potential dozens/hundreds could entirely bork this specific process.

[nomad13]

I have turned off any 'recommended' update notices.

Windows 7 is in Extended Support mode, only critical security updates will issued, so you can ignore the other updates because they won't have anything to do with improving Windows 7 in any way. Windows 8, I would install security updates and look very closely at any of the other ones. Not much product development or improvement with Windows 8 going on these days.

[Jafo]

Win 8 and 8.1 are just like Vista.....junk releases before their 'right' version came along.

Update to my update saga....and I mean saga....makes war and peace seem like a comic book story line....

231 updates are ready to install [after leaving the machine running overnight - with Winamp playing to stop the darn thing from going to sleep [it wouldn't listen to me]....so 1.2 gig to install....
Gonna be a second month of sundays before it's up to date...;)

[scotth6]

I came across a website/thread last night which outlined a fix for a PC using more cpu power than normal due to Windows update and Windows 10 data gathering. This made something click in my memory, and I remembered I also had an issue a while back with Windows update hanging, and not being able to get rid of the Windows 10 "ads".

I will post the link here as it may be of use to someone else.


http://www.simforums.com/forums/a-wa...opic52577.html (http://www.simforums.com/forums/a-warning-about-ms-updates-for-windows-10_topic52577.html)


Kind of old news now the Windows 10 fiasco is practically over for most of us, but it may still affect someone who has their Windows Update set to manual updates who hasn't updated for a while.

Cheers,

[WarHorse47]

Not sure if this is related, but I need to see if anyone else has encountered this issue with Windows Update.

I'm running Windows 8.1 and until recently I had no problems with the update. It was set to notify me of updates, so I could manually install them.

I'm also running an app called GWX Control Panel which blocks any system changes related to Windows 10. The app also lets me know if any updates are related to Windows 10 so I can avoid installing them.

Anyways, every other day or so during boot-up I get a notification that updates are available. When I 'Check for Updates' there are none, so its a false read.

I also subscribe to an e-mail notification whenever MS releases security related updates and yes, I have received those and installed them. But again, during normal operations I'm getting a false read on the update notification.

I've now turned off the notifications entirely since I do a manually check anyways. But still its irritating that this is going on without any indications on what needs to be fixed, or what prior update altered the Windows Update process.

Anybody have any suggestions?? I'm stumped at the moment (and yes I've researched the MS knowledgebase, but have yet to find any comparable problem).

Thanks in advance.

[RobM]

I don't know if this was mentioned previously, but per MS, since October they are only doing updates for Win 7/8/8.1
once a month. I guess that's the second Tuesday of each month when they also send out their generic malware scanner.

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/windowsitpro/2016/08/15/further-simplifying-servicing-model-for-windows-7-and-windows-8-1/

However, if you have MSE or Windows Defender, those do get optional definition updates about every other day.

Just thought I would mention.

Thanks - Rob

PS: although a coupls of weeks ago, I did have Windows update telling me there was an optional Intel update from last March available (!!).
I zapped that, I don't want Windows Update flashing my mobo...

[Lane Street]

WarHorse,

What you are seeing is probably virus definition updates for Windows Defender, which come out daily.

Unless things have changed, if you set up Windows Updates for manual install these definitions will not update automatically and your anti-virus definitions will be out of date.

If you are using a third party AV program this will not be a problem, if you are using Window Defender then there is a way to force it to update virus definitions without changing your Windows Update settings.

I can help you with that though I need to be at my Win 8.1 machine to do so, which I am not at right now.

cheers,
Lane

added- Sorry, Rob. I didn't see your post before posting my reply.

[WarHorse47]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have a third party AV program, so I'm not running Windows Defender. And I have an event calendar I manage which notes the 2nd Tuesday for MS Updates.

I just spent part of my morning on chat with an MS Technician who checked my install. Not sure if that solved the problem or not. No mention of possible Windows Defender update releases triggering the notification. I ended up spending another hour or so getting my firewall and AV program back on line, as well as restoring a bunch of services she disabled while she worked. I'll have to wait and see if that solved the problem or not.

Curious about the Windows Defender updates, however. You would think that updater would check to see if they are needed or not just like it checks to see what prior updates were installed.

[ceo1944]

Thank you for this. My windows 7 update has been broken since July. I applied these two fixes (actually only one, the other was already there) and now it works again, and I am up-to-date.


I went through the SLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW Win7 update hell a couple of months ago on my 2nd machine and after a lot of digging and trying various suggestions I finally found the answer.

Manually download and install the following two updates first, after that windows update should work fine.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46817
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53332