Windows Update hangs on "checking for updates". Haven't been able to install updates since Oct. 2011

Hi,

Try the following methods

Method 1:

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Please do not close the Command Prompt window.

Method 2:

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Close the Command Prompt window and check the issue if issue reoccurs

In my case it's a fresh installation of Windows® 7 (64-bit), so I'm surprised it's hanging on "Checking for updates …" since I haven't done anything before running Windows Update other than install theoperating system. I was expecting it to spend a couple of hours checking — the OS is circa 2009 and this is 2016, so there will be a couple hundred updates at least ― but I actually left it overnight and then some, and bottom line is that after 12 hours of running on an otherwise stable system with a continuous uninterrupted internet connection, it remains in the checking process ad infinitum.

To be certain of understanding the above instructions, by "Method 1" and "Method 2" do you really mean "Part 1" and "Part 2"? I ask because, usually, using the word "method" implies we have a choice, as in two different ways of accomplishing the same thing. But the fact you say to leave the command prompt open after the first method and to close it after the second runs counter to it being a choice and implies to do both … in which case they're not really methods but two parts of one single method.

So in a nutshell, you're saying to do both "methods" one after the other?

None of this will remedy it. The issue you're trying to solve was unknown in 2012. See:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-update/windows-7-update-problems-read-this-first/28147a5f-b0b0-480b-bed9-834a2da7a375

Regards, VZ

I was gonna edit my post because I realized for myself the answer is yes, they're two steps of the same procedure, but then I saw your reply. As to that procedure from Microsoft, I didn't even have a SoftwareDevelopment folder under %windir%\System32, so as far as that part of it goes I just created one and made sure it had the same permissions as the other folders alongside it, but the upshot is that the procedure, despite having worked for lots of others apparently, didn't change a thing for me.

I also tried something else I found in this thread : someone posted about manually downloading a KBnnnnnn-type update that runs as a standalone executable and that was guaranteed to work according to the poster . . . ran it, it said it was checking to see what updates were installed on my system (there shouldn't be any, it's a fresh installation and updates are what I'm trying to get done), it came back with one particular KBnnnnnnn update I need and asked for confirmation to install it, I did so and that one update was installed fine, after which it said a restart was necessary, I did so, then for the heck of it ran it again just to see and it said in so many words "you already have that update", so great, that all makes sense so far, now let's see what the upshot of all that was . . .

The upshot was nothing changed again. Windows Update stays on "Checking for updates" indefinitely. All that changed is I now have one single update installed.

Next step is I need to take a look at that link you posted (thanks). Don't understand why I have to fight with Windows to get it to do the next logical step of installing all the updates after a fresh OS installation though.

Hey VZ, you're the man.

I followed the "advanced" guide from your link (which is actually on another page), I use quotes because there's nothing at all advanced about it. You just :

 ① Set Windows Update to never

   update (for purposes of fixing

   this anyway)

 ② Turn the Windows Update service

   off

 ③ Download two things to your

   Desktop

 ④ Run the 1st one … if it installs, skip

   ahead to step ⑥

 ⑤ Doesn't install because it says

   your computer doesn't need it? …

   run the 2nd one first, then run

   the 1st one again, which will

   now install fine

 ⑥ Restart the system

That's basically it. After doing that I left the computer alone for about 4 minutes (this time can be significantly longer on an older, slower system) as it configured itself, restarted itself again, and configured itself some more. I sat there watching it and knew I had it licked when during that configuration it counted on-screen from a very low number (possibly zero) all the way up to 5,283 update operations.

When I was back in Windows I launched Windows Update and did the usual — started "check for updates" — and, despite now expecting it to work, still fully expected a couple hours for it to come back to me with the list of the hundreds of updates that are required . . . so it totally floored me when it hit me with "228 updated are available . . . [plus] 10 optional updates are [also] available" within, I kid you not, 3 minutes tops of when I told it to start checking. Unbelievable.

They're installing right now as I write this using my phone, I can hear the hard drive going nuts with the effort of all those updates.

VZ, thx a million, I was struggling with this for 3 damn days.