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Windows Update hangs on "checking for updates". Haven't been able to install updates since Oct. 2011

Anonymous
2012-01-13T20:52:46+00:00

Hey there everyone,

I'm having an issue with Windows Update on my Windows 7 64-bit computer. My last most recent update check was on 10/3/2011 and my last actual update was on 9/29/2011. What is basically happening is that Windows is telling me that I need to check for updates. I click on Check for updates, and it basically acts like it is checking for updates, but never moves beyond that. I can leave it checking for hours, and nothing will happen. It won't get me to the screen where I can actually select updates, nor does Windows even acknowledge that I checked for updates.

I've already tried using the Windows Update Fix tool, but there was no success with that at all. I thought that maybe it was my firewall or internet settings, and it's not that either. Does anyone have any suggestions. Thanks!

Peter

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2012-02-13T16:39:04+00:00

Hi,

Try the following methods

Method 1:

1. Click Start

2. Type ‘cmd’ in the search bar.

3. Right click Command prompt and choose “Run as Administrator”

4. At the command prompt, type the following, commands and then press ENTER after each command:

a. net stop wuauserv

b. net stop bits

c. net stop cryptsvc

Please do not close the Command Prompt window.

Method 2: ****Rename folders pertaining to Windows Update.

At the command prompt, type the following commands, and then press Enter after each command:

a) ren %systemroot%\System32\Catroot2 Catroot2.old

b) ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

At the command prompt, type the following, commands and then press ENTER after each command:

a) net start wuauserv

b) net start bits

c) net start cryptsvc

Close the Command Prompt window and check the issue if issue reoccurs

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-04-01T10:03:05+00:00

    Brian,

    Did you ever get a solution to this? Im having the exact same issue on a new 2012 r2 virtual dc.

    -Greg

    I am facing this issue on a virtual Server 2012 R2 domain controller.  

    These are the symptoms:

      - after clicking Check for updates, the system goes to "Checking for updates" and stays there forever

      - in Task Manager, there are no applications running

      - performance monitor shows only 3% CPU utilization

      - if I try to stop the Windows Update service, it shows "stopping" forever

      - there is no anti-virus or anti-malware utility installed

    What I've tried:

      - all the stuff in this article including renaming the Catroot2 folder and erasing the SoftwareDistribution Folder

      - re-registered all DLL's associated with Windows Update

      - turned off Windows Firewall and disabled the service

      - uninstalled all Windows updates after 6/23/14

      - performed DISM.exe /online /Cleanup-image /ScanHealth which found no corruption  (normally, this thing will not even work when WU is broken)

      - executed WindowsUpdateDiagnostic.diagcab

    Nothing has helped.  Both of my Hyper-V 2012 servers are experiencing this same problem.

    Also, I am unable to uninstall update KB2975061.  When I highlight it, the "uninstall" button does not appear.  Probably not related.

    Does anybody have a suggestion that I have not already tried?  My tank is running empty.

    Ok, I just fixed the exact issue you were having on 2012R2 Server.   It appears to be a bug in the customer experience program code.    To verify if you have the same issue, download both Process Explorer and Process Monitor.    Run windows update to the point it hangs looking for updates forever with its progress bar constantly going.

    Using Process Explorer's targeting tool, find the PID of the explorer.exe instance that is doing the update.   Then run process monitor and filter to that PID.

    You will see repeated attempts to access a registry key that does not exist, over and over forever.   That key is at: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SQMClient\Windows

    It is suppose to be a RegWord called CEIPEnable.   I just created mine and set it to 1, and boom.....suddenly no more hang.   I can install updates now.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-28T15:35:37+00:00

    did you ever get the problem resolved ?      I am having issues and going nowhere  just spinning with no help that I can understand.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-07-09T15:40:55+00:00

    I finally figured out was one update was not ever  going to finish  and it was ahead of 8 other updates (blocking them so to speak) so I archivedit or  something like that - basically told the computer to ignore it  and voila   now my computer is happy and me too, all updates  are  completing now.

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-03-04T06:50:45+00:00

    I had this issue on windows 7 and your 2-part solution finally solved it.

    Yesterday I had left the windows update window running for many hours, and when I looked at it later the progress bar was gone and it showed this:

    Code 80072EE2 Windows Update encountered an unknown error

    WindowsUpdate_80072EE2 WindowsUpdate_dt000

    My windows update log from a few minutes ago had this, with timestamps starting about an hour ago:

    ~ 23:31:40 ~

    416 fa0 PT +++++PT: Synchronizing server updates ++++

    416 fa0 PT   + ServiceId = {blah} Server URL = https://www.update.microsoft.com/v6/ClientWebService/client.asmx

    416 fa0 PT WARNING: PopulateDataStore failed: 0x80248007

    416 fa0 PT WARNING: Sync of Updates: 0x80248007

    416 fa0 PT WARNING: SyncServerUpdatesInternal failed: 0x80248007

    416 fa0 Agent    *WARNING: Failed to synchronize, error = 0x80248007

    416 fa0 Agent    * WARNING: Exit code = 0x80248007

    416 fa0 Agent    ** END ** Agent: Finding updates [CallerID = AutomaticUpdates]

    ...

    416 fa0 Agent WARNING WU client failed searching for update with error 0x80248007

    416 d1c AU RESUMED AU: Search for updates [.CallID = ...]

    416 d1c AU WARNING: Search callback failed, result = 0x80248007

    416 d1c AU WARNING: Failed to find updates with error code 80248007

    416 d1c AU END AU: Search for updates [CallID = ...

    416 d1c AU Successfully wrote event for AU health state

    416 d1c AU setting next detection timeout to 2012-03-04 04:31:50

    (note that's +5 hours from the current time)

    (that's just from the log that happened to be in c:\windows\ after I fixed it 20 minutes later using the net stop three services, rename the 2 dirs, net start three services

    Searching for "windows update hangs on checking for updates" or "windows update checking for updates forever" gets a lot of replies, from answers.microsoft.com to sevenforums and beyond.

    Prior suggestions I tried were:

    Use the microsoft fixit for windows update components ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058 ):  didn't solve it.  Fixit said there were no detected problems even though the detection details noted that windows couldn't connect to the update server.  What a joke.

    Using msconfig to disable microsoft modules update and reboot... didn't fix it.

    (Suggested as a solution by AddisonSnell on feb 9, after he had the problem)

    A few people said their virtual machine software was causing problems; I temporarily removed virtualbox and that didn't fix it.

    Some people said to repair the windows install from install media.  The last thing I want to do is have to reinstall all the windows updates.  My install media is win7 original (sp0), not sp1.

    Then there were the people who suggested contacting microsoft tech support... that's a non-answer.

    Can you please petition Microsoft to get all the responses to this question in one place and formalize it?

    And you wonder why people hate windows?  This kind of experience with a core necessity -- windows update failing to work -- does not leave a good impression.

    Windows update should not fail in multiple ways with no useful diagnostic error messages.  This behavior should be considered a bug and fixed immediately.

    Of course, this is classic windows behavior... mysterious failures and unhelpful error codes that you can try to search for, but MS KB entries and answers.microsoft.com rarely provide solutions.   It ends up being a maze, trying one suggestion after another, with most either failing to work or being overkill (repair from install media?   REALLY?  I don't think so...)

    Based on your solution, I assume that the state of files in those two directories was corrupted somehow.  If I need to email those saved .old dirs and the update log I have to someone official at ms, let me know.

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