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How do I turn on the Windows Update Service?

Anonymous
2011-03-20T15:23:04+00:00

I had to restore my kids PC. Windows Update gives me a message that it is not running and I need to restart the PC. I have done so several times and Windows update is still not running. I have gone in thru TaskManager, Services, and found Windows Update and tried restarting from here. Still not running. How do I get the Windows Update service running?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Windows update

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-03-21T14:22:22+00:00

    Hi,

    a)    The first thing to do is to stop the Windows Update service on your Windows 7 machine. You can do this by going to start and typing in services.msc in the search box.

    b)    Next, press Enter and the Windows Services dialog will appear. Now scroll down until you see the Windows Update service, right-click on it and choose Stop.

    c)     Now that the Windows Update service has been disabled, you need to go to the following folder and delete all the files and folders inside of it:

    C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

    d)    Once you have deleted everything, go back to the Services dialog and right-click on the Windows Update service and choose Start.

    Hope the information was helpful

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-03-22T13:52:56+00:00

    Hi,

     

    a)    The first thing to do is to stop the Windows Update service on your Windows 7 machine. You can do this by going to start and typing in services.msc in the search box.

    b)    Next, press Enter and the Windows Services dialog will appear. Now scroll down until you see the Windows Update service, right-click on it and choose Stop.

    c)     Now that the Windows Update service has been disabled, you need to go to the following folder and delete all the files and folders inside of it:

    C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

    d)    Once you have deleted everything, go back to the Services dialog and right-click on the Windows Update service and choose Start.

     

    Hope the information was helpful

    Amrita, thank you for your help. It worked perfectly.

    4 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2012-08-13T02:00:33+00:00

    There is a different kind of problem with my system....I dont see "windows update service" running on my system........kindly suggest me a solution for this problem.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-27T07:28:08+00:00

    i mean on windows 10 not 7

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2012-05-28T00:40:45+00:00

    Do you do the same for Vista ???

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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