August 2015 Windows Update for Vista Requires One Hour to Run to Completion

Anonymous
2015-08-18T14:12:50+00:00

Is Microsoft throttling bandwidth for users running Windows Update on Vista machines to give a higher priority to Win 10 users?

I've run multiple Windows Updates since Patch Tuesday on 11-Aug-2015 and couldn't get them to run to completion on my 32-bit Vista machine until 16-Aug-2015.  There were no errors - it just reported that it was checking for updates and never finished, even if I let it run for over an hour.  Process Explorer showed svchost.exe constantly consuming ~50% of my CPU (i.e., complete saturation of one of my Intel Duo cores) and that a thread for the Windows Update service (wuauserv) was responsible for all that CPU activity.

I assumed that my Windows Update service was corrupted but after reading posts by other Vista users having the same problem (see ScousaJay's post *Windows Update Just Seems to Hang While Checking* in the Windows VistaForums for one example) I tried a manual update again on 16-Aug-2015.  Windows Update finally ran to completion and offered 17 important updates and one optional update for Silverlight but it took approx. 35 min before it reported that updates were available and the entire process, including the downloads, installs and monthly Malicious Software Removal scan, took almost a full hour.  A typical Patch Tuesday normally takes about 10 min on my machine from start to finish.

Here's what the CPU consumption looked like for my successful Windows Update of 16-Aug-2015, with the "Checking for updates..." phase running between the 70 and 35 min marks and re-start to complete the installation around the 15 min mark.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox 40.0.2 * IE9 * NIS 2014 v. 21.7.0.11

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-02-21T02:00:03+00:00

    So about 2months t go then, looks like i am now getting a error code

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-02-20T22:25:49+00:00

    FYI: Extended Support (and updates) for Vista SP2 ends on 11 April 2017.

    Time for a new computer?

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-02-20T21:46:05+00:00

    Standalone installer does work either that or its just taking for ever, all ms say is you can buy win 10, i can get a new pc base unit with win 10 for less than the win 10 software

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-06-21T12:56:18+00:00

    ...although I already had the first 4 downloads and to execute the 5th (also with 12 important updates) took about 6 hours, it worked!

    Hi RALF'E:

    That's what I observed from August 2015 to May 2016 as well.  If I left Windows Update running for several hours "Checking for updates..." would eventually run to completion and install my Patch Tuesday updates.

    The workaround I used this month to speed up my June 2016 Patch Tuesday updates is quite different.  I followed the step-by-step instructions I posted on 16-Jun-2016 in m#l's thread *Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours* and manually pre-installed this month's Windows kernel-mode driver (Win32K.sys) update KB3161664.  I have 32-bit Vista OS so I used the Vista x86 download link for KB3161664 from Dalia's webpage at http://wu.krelay.de/en/, downloaded the standalone installer (.msu file) to my desktop, and double-clicked the installer to manually install the update.  Once KB3161664 was pre-installed, Windows Update ran normally - "Checking for updates..." finished in 20 min (compared with five or six hours in previous months) and my remaining dozen or so June 2016 Patch Tuesday updates all downloaded and installed quickly.

    If you want to try this workaround next month to see if it speeds up your July 2016 Patch Tuesday updates, completely disable automatic Windows Updates [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)], wait for a day or so after the July 2016 Patch Tuesday updates are released on 12-Jul-2016 (the second Tuesday of the month) and then check Dalai's webpage at http://wu.krelay.de/en/ to see if Microsoft has released a new Win32K.sys update for July 2016.  If there is a new update you can following the instructions in m#l's thread *Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours* to pre-install that update and this should fix your "Checking for updates..." hang.

    32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v47.0 * IE9 * NIS v21.7.0.11

    HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-06-21T10:05:51+00:00

    Thanks Great White North.

    I tried as you said and although I already had the first 4 downloads and to execute the 5th (also with 12 important updates) took about 6 hours, it worked!  Windows Update is now up to date and showed the correct time and date of the most recent check.  I tried a check again the following day and that too registered the real time and date check, although there wasn't any further updates to be had.

    I was also told that when Windows Update hangs for too long, try shutting down via the start button, leave for a few minutes then restart the machine.  DON'T use the restart option - shut down and then start again after a moment. This action apparently allows the download to proceed, so I'm told. Not tried it myself as yet but hopefully if all works as it should next month I shouldn't need to try it.

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