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Windows update stuck in 'Stopping' state

Anonymous
2013-09-04T11:50:45+00:00

I recently had an issue with my 3-week old laptop in that updates would get hung up on computer restart, e.g. I would leave the laptop running for 2 days and it would still say "Installing updates 1 of 41". After this 2-day period I got fed up and pressed and held power to turn off the laptop and make it usable again. While this was the case, I was unable to install software (which is obviously a problem with a brand new laptop) as 'Another installation is already in progress'. The windows update diagnostic tool would diagnose missing or corrupt update files and remove them, which would allow me to use software for a short while until the updates (MS Office 2010 SP1 32 bit, as far as I can tell) would download again and start the problem over. 

I contacted a Microsoft Support rep, who connected remotely and diagnosed the same thing as the MS Windows Update Diagnostics tool. I wasn't really watching what they were doing, rather considering how nice the new brand of coffee I'd just switched to was. All I know is that they opened windows update to download the Office update and a command line tool to scan for and fix corrupted files. I did not realize that this support was a premium service, so when offered the 'Advanced Support' to fix the problem for £65, I politely declined (as the laptop shouldn't need that after 3 weeks, and it is covered by the vendor's guarantee), the rep closed everything they'd been doing and disconnected, though I don't think either the scan or the update were complete.

Since then, while I have not had the issue with hanging on restart, I cannot open Windows Updates at all, and the Services app/task manager lists the service as 'stopping'. I cannot stop or restart the service while it is in this state, and restarting the machine does not fix this issue. Windows explorer just hangs when I try to open Windows Update. I would be more than happy just turning off automatic updates for MS office to fix this issue, but since Windows Update has lost functionality altogether, this is no longer an option.

I am not interested in paying MS £65 to have an issue fixed that, as far as I am concerned, they inadvertently caused during the partial support session I had. Any ideas?

Windows for home | Other | Install and upgrade

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-09-05T02:52:08+00:00

    Hi Harry,

    I would like to have more information about this issue. You have mentioned that the Windows Update issue had started recently, so, what are the recent changes that you have made to the computer prior to the issue that you had initially with Windows Update. Also please answer to these questions:

    1)       Do you get any error message/code when you try to launch Windows Update? If yes, what is it?

    2)       Do you have any third party security program installed on the computer?

    You have also mentioned that the support engineer from Microsoft who was working on your computer, stopped the command line tool which scanned for the corrupted system files, in between. From this description, I think he was performing an SFC Scan and after which you are unable to launch Windows Update to check and run the pending updates. It also shows in “Services” console and in “Task Manager” that the windows update service has stopped. So, let us first reset the Windows Update Components and check if the resolves the issue.

    Method 1:Manually Reset Windows Update Components

    a)       Press “Windows Logo” + “X” keys on the keyboard and then select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the menu.

    b)       Copy the following commands and then right click in the Command Prompt window and select “Paste” to paste all the commands in it.

    net stop wuauserv

    net stop cryptSvc

    net stop bits

    net stop msiserver

    ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

    ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old

    net start wuauserv

    net start cryptSvc

    net start bits

    net start msiserver

    c)       Please wait for the process to complete and then press “Enter”.

    d)       Type “Exit” in the Command Prompt to close it.

    Now, run the Windows Update and check if it installs all the pending updates. There are also possibilities that something might have happened when the SFC Scan was stopped in between while it was repairing/recovering the corrupted system files. So, let’s try that again and check the result. You may need to use the Windows 8 installation disk for the SFC Scan to recover the corrupted system files.

    Method 2: Run an SFC Scan

    The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.

    a)       Press “Windows Logo” + “X” keys on the keyboard and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from that menu.

    b)       On the command prompt window, type the following command, and then press “Enter”

    sfc /scannow

    c)       Follow the on-screen instructions and complete the scan.

    Important: It may ask for windows installation DVD to fix and to enable SFC to make more than minor repairs. Some files saved on your computer might get deleted when fixing corrupted files.

    Now, run the Windows Updates and check if that resolves the issue. Please do get back to us with the results. If the issue persists, we’ll be glad to assist you further.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-03T17:45:12+00:00
    • Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
      • Perform the taskkill command.
        • taskki ll /F /FI "SERVICES eq <service name>"

    To find the service name, head to the Services window and double click the service you wanna forcefully terminate. The first line under the [General] tab should be "Service name: <name>."

    100+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2015-07-22T03:18:59+00:00

    just for additional information;

    your post did not solve my problem, but i manged to solve it by killing service wuauserv.

    i did as described in here

    https://support.4it.com.au/article/how-to-kill-a-windows-service-which-is-stuck-at-stopping/

    3 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-30T09:41:39+00:00

    Hi, Your steps didn't helped me, but the following process helped me.

    https://support.4it.com.au/article/how-to-kill-a-windows-service-which-is-stuck-at-stopping/

    Simply go to Command Prompt as Admin.

    Enter this:

    taskkill /f /pid [wuauserv]

    You'll get your PID. Enter following line in CMD. Replaced underlined PID with your PID & it will terminate your Windows Update & Start it again.

    taskkill /f /pid PID.

    Now if you close Windows Services & Open it again, you'll see Windows Updates as "Running" again. And when you open Windows Update from Settings, you'll see new available updates in the list.

    Hope it helps.

    Thanks.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-20T20:12:13+00:00

    Well, I guess this is the un-solvable problem.  3 days since the last post and still stopping.  I even let my computer go dead on the battery and that pesky "stopping" state is still stopping!

    If I can ever get into recovery (yes, the stopping state seems to lock me out of even trying to rebuild my system) I'll try that.  But since I can't even get into recovery, do you think that Microsoft is trying to get me to buy another version of Windows 8 to try and boot and install from?  That is genius!  Some one buys a computer with preloaded Win8 and then you try and get them to buy another copy to try and salvage their investment!

    Initially I thought this was a change up on the "give them a razor and we'll make money on the blades" trick but they actually have taken it one step further!  They have extended it to "let's make them buy a razor and then we'll make them buy another one"!  Buy Microsoft stock if they pull this one off.  They also made it happen just outside my window for being able to return the machine!  EXCELLENT!!!  This is all truly amazing!

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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