Windows 7 Checking For Updates stuck forever

Anonymous
2011-05-31T17:23:58+00:00

original title: Windows 7 Checking For Updates stuck forever - I know this is answered, but the solutions don't work for me. Please see details!

I have installed a legit Windows 7 OS on my laptop. Its not an upgrade, it was a blank hard drive. WIndows 7 installed flawlessly, picked up all my drivers. The only problem is I am having problems with Windows 7 updates. When I choose Windows 7 update, it says "Checking for updates" and stays like that - forever. Even the next day. I did heavy heavy research, found out others are having the same problem. I tried all the fixes I could find, which are listed below:

  1. No Anti-virus programs installed yet - brand new Windows 7 ultimate installation
  2. There is no spyware - its a brand new clean install
  3. Firewall shut off
  4. Temp files, cookies, history cleared
  5. background intelligent transfer service set to automatic in services.msc
  6. software distribution folder renamed
  7. tried shutting off automatic updates and doing it manually
  8. Added windowsupdate to trust zone
  9. ran MicrosoftFixit50202 in normal and advanced mode

Even with my internet SHUT OFF (turned off modem) it still checks for updates and doesn't fail with "No internet connection available".

Please, please help. Anyone.

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
2011-06-08T21:01:42+00:00

Problem solved.

It was my internet connection!! I logged onto my neighbors via wireless unsecured (ssh... don't tell lol), and within 30 seconds, 77 updates came through!

It has to be something in my network.

Thanks for helping though!!

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-26T22:51:50+00:00

    yay! mine is now fixed. I found this link and did steps 2, 3, and 8.

    http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-update-not-working

    not 100% sure which ones fixed it but had tried steps 4, 6, 11 and 12 repeatedly for weeks with no joy

    when it was fixed I didn't realise at first because step 3 made me think I'd broken it more to begin with as when I went to windows update it said I had never checked for updates and had never installed any before when I had.

    When I searched it still seemed stuck on update, but after 1-2 days when I went to shut down it said shut down and install updates! it installed 12 and restarted

    then same thing with update saying I had never checked but 12 were in list of installed before. it STILL seemed to hang but then had a icon in my notification tray that when hovered over was downloading updates

    this time installed 264 updates

    same thing again, another 38 updates and now it seems to have fixed completely, windows updates working fine and I can do manual search and everything

    microsoft were useless though and when shadowed they ran script that switched off and disabled lots of services incl wuauserv and my avg and dropbox

    thank god for these forums or it would never have been fixed

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-25T22:06:49+00:00

    The first thing Windows Update does is check for updates to itself, and download and install them if any.

    Windows Update needs two Hot Fixes to work properly, and in an unforgivable display of incompetence and arrogance, this problem, which has motivated 1869 people (and counting) to ask this question, is not worth Microsoft's effort to fix.

    Many thanks to Ed Bott, who wrote a simple way to beat this problem:

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/sticking-with-windows-7-the-forecast-calls-for-pain/

    In short, download and copy to a USB stick or CD the correct versions of  KB3083710 and KB3102810 for your system and install them on a clean system BEFORE making an Internet connection.

    If 1869 people so far have asked about this problem in this forum, how many more who didn't ask here has it affected? Apparently Microsoft does not consider that to be significant.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-03-25T16:08:55+00:00

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-03-25T15:24:58+00:00

    OK this may have been addressed already because I dont have the time to read through ten pages of replies but I too am having this same issue with a clean install of windows 7. However, awhile back I read a solution (which worked perfectly) that stated the windows update agent is the problem. Once your computer updates to the latest agent, thats (for me) when the updates stopped coming. The solution, was to simply make sure a certain hotfix or update was installed first before updating. I can NOT however, find this solution now of course so I dont know which update needs to be installed. I am currently trying to google with the proper keyword combo to try and find this solution again.

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