Windows 8 Apps not downloading. All stuck on pending.

Anonymous
2012-12-22T14:29:15+00:00

I just received a brand new Windows 8 laptop. Right out of the box, a bunch of apps want to update but they all get stuck on "pending" and will not download. I'm very disappointed at the lack of "out of the box" workability. How can I get these apps to update and download?

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Anonymous
2012-12-29T00:03:19+00:00

I found these steps on a different thread and gave them a try, and afterwards my updates downloaded and installed fine.  Forcing the update service to create a new SoftwareDistribution folder seemed to resolve the issue:

  1. Open an administrative command prompt (go to the Start screen, type "cmd", right-click on Command Prompt and hit "Run as administrator")
  2. Type the following four commands in the command prompt:
  3. net stop wuauserv

cd %systemroot%

ren SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

net start wuauserv 4. Try to install updates again.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-04-07T23:13:22+00:00

    I just received a brand new Windows 8 laptop. Right out of the box, a bunch of apps want to update but they all get stuck on "pending" and will not download. I'm very disappointed at the lack of "out of the box" workability. How can I get these apps to update and download?

    Go to troubleshooting (press win+w > then type troubleshooting). 

    Click "fix problems with windows updates" on the window that opens.

    Click next.  Windows will search for solutions, but it won't find anything.

    Then select ".. try in administrator mode".

    Windows will find and fix the problem.

    Worked for me and a few others.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-21T15:57:23+00:00

    access denied for the third step , how to bypass

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-04-24T21:43:00+00:00

    I'm getting access denied after the ren command. Any help? I also ran cmd as admin so why am I getting denied?

     

    Sometimes you need to do "net stop wuauserv" twice, as the first attempt to stop the service fails. This is probably the reason you got access denied.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-04-25T14:35:36+00:00

    I just received a brand new Windows 8 laptop. Right out of the box, a bunch of apps want to update but they all get stuck on "pending" and will not download. I'm very disappointed at the lack of "out of the box" workability. How can I get these apps to update and download?

    Go to troubleshooting (press win+w > then type troubleshooting). 

    Click "fix problems with windows updates" on the window that opens.

    Click next.  Windows will search for solutions, but it won't find anything.

    Then select ".. try in administrator mode".

    Windows will find and fix the problem.

    Worked for me and a few others.

    but all steps doesn't give me solution, what should i do? i wasted so many time . . .

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