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
    2016-12-29T19:54:21+00:00

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-29T17:53:02+00:00

    Hi jfett. Hmm sounds real helpful to me so thank you for the guide. My only thing is with Windows 7 pro I can't use fix-it or turn off updates and reboot to manually check for updates. Nothing seems to fix update to begin the checking for updates process. Updates like for so many others has become useless. Update only checks and checks for updates and never finds them. I use the fastest time Warner connection avalible. Automatic update has become useless in Windows 7 and below operating systems. There is no solution here for us unless Microsoft personally shows us a fix.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-12-29T17:33:03+00:00

    thank you for your help ,jim

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