Windows update will not download updates - stuck at 0% downloading

Anonymous
2010-04-17T03:45:39+00:00

Everytime I start windows update it won't download the updates. The bar keeps on running but nothing downloads and the percentage stays at 0%.

Whats wrong? Anything I can do to fix this?

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Windows update

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Anonymous
2011-11-10T19:59:39+00:00

I found a solution to my problem when Windows would search for updates, but then when it started downloading it would stay at 0% forever. I started by stopping the Windows Update service (in my case the service proved to be frozen so I restarted my computer and disabled the service before it starts) and the Application Experience service. After that I went to the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder and pressed ctrl+a and shift+delete to empty its contents. Mine contained more than 70,000 files so it took a while. I started Application Experience and enabled Windows Update. I let it check for updates and try to download them. It worked perfectly.

Do not worry about deleting important windows files in this case. The contents of SoftwareDistribution is used as a cache and data for Windows Update. When Windows Update starts again it rebuilds the cache repopulating it with up-to-date versions of the files and chewing up a ton of harddisk space again.

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Anonymous
2010-04-23T13:09:40+00:00

sash123,

    If this issue is still happening, then take a look at article: Vista Update stops at stage 3 of 3 

Then let us know the results.

*** edited

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-08-08T00:32:08+00:00

    Anyways, I did solve Win 7 updates by making sure that Java was always up to date. But when my lap top died , i purchased a new one with Win 10.  It is great love it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-07T19:14:11+00:00

    ME;

    The way I got it all to work was simple.

    All I did was try to download Win 10, when it stalls, get out and try again from the start.

    Each time Win 10 tries to install, it gets a bunch of updates for you (even when you can't get them yourself). then when you try to install win 10 again....same thing...until Win 10 gets all the updates it needs, then the install completes and it all works great.

    Hope this works for you.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-07T16:28:15+00:00

    Tried the above instructions.  Now, with everything from the Software Distribution folder being gone, windows update does not recognize that any updates have ever been installed (update history shows "never").  Now I have to figure out some way of restoring my files.  I'll try a system restore, but the above is clearly missing something.  Thanks for nothing.

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