Windows update service not running

Anonymous
2010-01-26T07:06:52+00:00

Today I tried running windows update and ran into a problem saying that windows update service might not be running and i need to restart my computer but after many restart its still not running.

edit: sorry I forgot to include that info my first post

windows 7 64 bit upgrade from vista 64

Mcafee security center 1 year subcription

I dont shutdown my computer its 24/7 my last windows update install was 01/13/2010. The automatic update service is not in the services.msc

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.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2012-06-25T13:42:20+00:00

If you get the error message that the update service is not running, the first thing to check is that the service is on automatic. If it is, then go to your automatic updates settings, and turn them completely off. It's the "not recommended" setting, never check for updates. After you have set updates to this, go to the control panel and manually check for updates. It worked well for me; it checked for the updates, installed them, and afterwards I could set it to automatic updates and it worked. This was on a Windows 7 system.

Was this answer helpful?

200+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-01-27T04:59:11+00:00

Thanks all for the support! But I think its a corruption problem and as I am looking into windows 7 programs some of them are not working anymore. so i decided to put in the win 7 dvd and did another upgrade from win 7 itself and it worked now after 4 hours of reinstallation

Was this answer helpful?

20+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

97 additional answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2012-05-30T18:00:48+00:00

    Could not find any answers to fix the problem, but here is how I fixed the problem on this machine running Vista.

    Removed the directory under windows known as :

         SoftwareDistribution.

    NOW EVERYTHING WORKS!

    Carl Ostling

    Thanks, worked perfectly.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-05-30T20:21:02+00:00

    Could not find any answers to fix the problem, but here is how I fixed the problem on this machine running Vista.

    Removed the directory under windows known as :

         SoftwareDistribution.

    NOW EVERYTHING WORKS!

    Carl Ostling

    Thanks, worked perfectly.

    Correction, I emptied the SoftwareDistribution folder, I didn't remove it. Thanks again.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-06-08T02:43:39+00:00

    I had the same problem on W7K x64 Enterprise and followed the easy option of deleting everything in the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder.

    Updates now work, Carl you're a genius (I mean it)

    The whole fix took about 20 minutes including finding this post, so thankyou.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments