Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours

Anonymous
2016-06-15T04:54:11+00:00

My PC is quite old and I have tried the microsoft fix it tool. The fix it tool never works. 

I have been trying to check for new updates from since yesterday (Tuesday 14th June) in the afternoon. It is now Wednesday morning (12 hours approx) and it is still checking. There is no error code, it is just checking for the updates.

I have no technical skills so please do not ask me any technical questions. I would just like a solution to this problem.

Thank you.

It is August now and my pc has been searching for updates for 1 week now. This is****ridiculous

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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lmacri 2,505 Reputation points
2016-06-16T12:03:51+00:00

My PC is quite old and I have tried the microsoft fix it tool. The fix it tool never works. 

I have been trying to check for new updates from since yesterday (Tuesday 14th June) in the afternoon. It is now Wednesday morning (12 hours approx) and it is still checking. There is no error code, it is just checking for the updates...

***** IMPORTANT NOTICE as of August 3, 2020 *****

Microsoft has announced they will be deactivating Windows Update on August 3, 2020 for computers with unsupported Windows operating systems that do not support SHA-2 code signing - see the 24-Jun-2020 Microsoft support article Windows Update SHA-1 Based Endpoints Discontinued for Older Windows Devices for more information.   Win XP and Vista users will likely see one of the following error codes when Windows Update is run after this date.

  • Error code 80072ee2 or 80244019: The device cannot connect to Windows Update.
  • Error code 8024402c: The device is unable to locate Windows Update.

Image

Unfortunately, this means that the instructions below to fix slow Windows Updates and automatically patch a Vista SP2 OS to end of extended support (11-Apr-2017) will no longer work.  After 03-Aug-2020, Vista SP2 users who are still missing security updates released prior to 11-Apr-2017 should read post # 9 in the VistaForums thread WinVista HomePremium-X86 (SP1) Reinstallation Question about using the **** Dism++ utility to patch Vista SP2 back to end of support.
___________________________________________________________________________

**** INSTRUCTIONS BELOW WILL NOT FIX WINDOWS UPDATES AS OF 03-AUG-2020 ****

Hi m#l:

There is a known issue on Vista SP2 computers where Windows Update can hang on "Checking for updates..." for several hours (or even days) without throwing an error message. This problem was first reported in August 2015 and these slow Windows Updates have become progressively worse over time. In June 2016, IT expert Dalai began posting lists of "speed up" patches (a small number of security updates for the Win32K.sys kernel mode driver, graphics components, and IE9) at http://wu.krelay.de/en/ that could be manually installed each month to fix this problem.    Here are step-by-step instructions for Dalai's solution:

REVISED for the JUNE 2017 Patch Tuesday (valid as of July 2020):

  1. Disable automatic Windows Updates [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)] and re-boot to terminate any Windows Update sessions currently running in the background on your system.
  2. Search your installed updates at Control Panel | Programs and Features | View Installed Updates to see if any of the following "speed up" patches are missing from your system: KB3205638 (rel. 13-Dec-2016); KB4012583 (rel. 14-Mar-2017); KB4015380 (rel. 11-Apr-2017); KB4019204 (rel. 09-May-2017).  If IE9 is installed then KB4018271 (the 09-May-2017 cumulative security update for IE9) is also required. When searching, enter the full KB number in the search box (e.g., "KB3205638" and not a partial string like "3205638".
  3. Download the standalone installers (.msu files) for any missing "speed up" patches from the the Microsoft Update Catalog and save them to your Windows desktop using the download links in Note 1.  Use the Vista x86 installer if you have a 32-bit OS; use the Vista x64 installer if you have a 64-bit OS. See Note 2 if you have problems downloading the .msu installers.
  4. Double-click to run each .msu standalone installer.  Re-boot after all .msu installers have run to completion unless the installation wizard for one of the installers specifically requests a re-boot to finish the installation. See Notes 3 and 4 if you have problems running the .msu installers.
  5. Once all missing "speed up" patches are pre-installed, run a manual Windows Update [Windows Update | Check for updates] to detect and install any available updates released as of 11-Apr-2017.  It might take a few re-boots and manual Windows Updates to get everything patched, depending on how many months or years your Vista SP2 OS is out of date. See Note 5 if Windows Update continues to hang at "Checking for updates...". [WARNING*: If you following these instructions after July 2020 and Windows Update throws an error see the IMPORTANT NOTICE at the top of this post.]*

**** EDIT as of June 2017:  Microsoft released five out-of-band emergency security updates for Vista SP2 in June 2017 were posted on the Microsoft Update Catalog but will not be delivered via Windows Update.  See the thread More Shadow Brokers Exploits Patched June 2017 for Win XP and Vista for instructions on how to install these emergency updates if they are still missing from your system. ****

**** EDIT as of April 2020:  Since March 2020 multiple users performing a clean reinstall of their Vista SP2 OS have reported that Windows Update can throw an error 800B0109 ("A certificate chain processed, but terminated in a root certificate which is not trusted by the trust provider") while trying to install KB4014984 (Security and Quality Rollup for NET. Framework 2.0, 3.0, 4.5.2, 4.6 on Windows Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2: April 11, 2017).  To fix this error, download the MicrosoftRootCertificateAuthority2011.cer file from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=747875&clcid=0x409 and save it to the root C:\ directory of your computer (i.e.., so the location is C:\MicrosoftRootCertificateAuthority2011.cer), open anelevated command prompt with Administrator rights, and enter the command certutil -addstore "Root" "C:\MicrosoftRootCertificateAuthority2011.cer" to apply the required trust certificate. Kudos to greenhillmaniac for posting about this fix in his 06-Apr-2020 post in the MSFN threadCertificate Trust Provider Error Installing Updates. ****
______________________

Note 1:  Download 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) .msu installers from the Microsoft Update Catalog at the following links:

REQUIRED:

     KB3205638:  https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB3205638 Vista

     KB4012583:  https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4012583 Vista
     KB4015380:  https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4015380 Vista

     KB4019204:  https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4019204 Vista

OPTIONAL (if Internet Explorer 9 is installed):

    KB4018271:  https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4018271 Internet Explorer 9 Vista

OPTIONAL (if MS Office 2007, MS Office 2010 or the MS Office Compatibility Pack SP3 is installed):

     See Note 5 below.

Image

Note 2:  If you have problems downloading the .msu installers using Internet Explorer 9 then try an alternate browser like Firefox ESR v52.9.0 (the legacy extended support release for Win XP and Vista, last updated 26-Jun-2018).  You can also download the .msu installers to a USB thumb drive from another computer and copy the .msu installers to your Vista desktop.

Note 3:  If you try to install a speed up patch that is already installed on your computer, download an installer that does not match the bit architecture of your OS (e.g., you try to run a 64-bit .msu installer on a 32-bit Vista machine), or try to install a speed up patch that has been superseded (replaced) by a newer update you will see a "The update is not applicable to your computer" error - see the MS support article Windows Update Troubleshooting for other common causes of this error.

Note 4:  The standalone update packages (.msu files) will get stuck at "Checking for updates..." if there is a Windows Update session already running in the background on your computer.  Most users find that disabling automatic Windows Updates and re-booting is sufficient (STEP # 1), but if your .msu installer still gets stuck you can temporarily disconnect from the internet or stop your Windows Update service (wuauserv) at Control Panel | System and Maintenance | Administrative Tools | Services while running these installers.  Unlike Windows Update, these standalone update packages (.msu files) are associated with the Windows Update Standalone Installer (C:\Windows\System32\wusa.exe) and can be installed on computers without an internet connection.

Note 5:  This issue has not been prevalent since 2018, but if you have MS Office 2007 SP3, MS Office 2010 SP2 and/or the MS Office Compatibility Pack SP3 (an add-on that allows older MS Office products like MS Office 2000/2003/2007 to work with files with newer Open XML formats like .docx, .xlsx, etc.) and find that Windows Update is still running slowly after completing the instructions above then links for additional "speed up" patches (.exe self-extracting installers) for these MS Office products are posted below.

If MS Office 2007 SP3 installed:
KB4018355: for Word 2007 (rel. Apr 2018)

 [KB4018353](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56780): for Excel 2007 (rel. Apr 2018)

If MS Office Compatibility Pack SP3 (MS Office 2000/2003/2007 add-on) installed:

 [KB4018354](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=56800): Word converter file (wordconv; rel. Apr 2018)

 [KB4461607](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=57877): Excel converter file (xlconv; rel. Feb 2019)

If 32-bit MS Office 2010 SP2 installed:

 [KB4493218](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=102981 "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=102981"): for 32-bit MS Word 2010 (rel. Apr 2021)

 [KB3017810](https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=dbf63fea-6134-43ed-8960-a5e6822b494a "https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=dbf63fea-6134-43ed-8960-a5e6822b494a"): for 32-bit MS Excel 2010 (rel. Apr 2021)

If 64-bit MS Office 2010 SP2 installed:

 [KB4493218](https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=0ad9421d-1f16-4ed2-bc3c-59c293c11ad5 "https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=0ad9421d-1f16-4ed2-bc3c-59c293c11ad5"): for 64-bit MS Word 2010 (rel. Apr 2021)

[KB3017810](https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=0d5a97be-08a4-485f-aba0-9fa27f072a93 "https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?familyid=0d5a97be-08a4-485f-aba0-9fa27f072a93"): for 64-bit MS Excel 2010 (rel. Apr 2021)

If you have performed a clean reinstall of your MS Office product and are missing the final Service Pack then links to MS Office 2007 Service Pack 3 (KB2526086) and MS Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (KB2687455) are posted in the Lifewire article Latest Microsoft Office Service Packs. These Service Packs should be installed before applying the above "speed up" patches for your Office product(s).

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * FF ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1 * MS Office 2003 Pro SP3
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-12-03T20:41:22+00:00

    Does anyone know what updates to manually install going back to 10-22-2016?, and how to keep updated and working once updated?

    Before trying anymore updates, if the installation time you choose doesn't work, try this procedure in order- do the SFC scan first and see if it helps- it can fix many system problems.  If that doesn't help, you can try the DISM repair...

    Hi RonTFL:

    I assume that JTEEEZN's November 2016 Patch Tuesday updates would not install because this user has not installed the required November 2016 speed up patch KB3198234 (MS16-135: Security Update for Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers: November 8, 2016).  Hopefully their Windows Update will only require a few hours to run to completion once they've followed the step-by-step instructions on page 1 of this thread to install their missing speed up patch(es).

    The slow Windows Updates on my Vista SP2 machine started over a year ago in August 2015 (one month after the official release of Win 10) and I've never heard of an instance where SFC (System File Checker) or DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

    • aka CheckSUR: System Update Readiness Tool) fixed one of these "Checking for updates..." hangs where Windows Update gets stuck for several hours but doesn't throw an error message.  The latest Windows Update Agent (WUA) for Vista SP2 (C:\Windows\system32\wuaueng.dll) is v7.6.7600.256 and hasn't been updated by Microsoft since June 2012 .  The WUA for Vista SP2 is out-of-date but there's nothing SFC or DISM can do to fix it because there's not a newer version available for download.

    32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v50.0.2 * NIS v22.8.1.14 * MBAM v2.2.1

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

    Great White North thank you for providing RonTFL with a critiqued response

    Here is a summary of the results from my last post.  By the way I am running MS Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 32-bit OS with IE9 in the machine in question.

    Within 15 minutes of following strict instructions provided - that I relied on in my previous post, primarily from page 1:  "REVISED for the NOVEMBER 2016 Patch Tuesday (valid 08-Nov-2016 to 12-Dec-2016): If you were fully patched as of October 2016"; I am somewhat confident of being back on track, thanks to the MS Community website members m#l, Great White North, and others such as lmacri. 

    The standalone update KB3198234 took only minutes to install and during required shutdown and reboot additional update steps automatically took place.  Since automatic updates were already set to off I did a manual update, came back in the morning and 17 updates plus 1 optional had been found.  These are installing quickly. When finished it required another required shutdown and reboot additional update steps automatically took place. Currently I have auto updates off and when I enter the windows update screen I see the yellow shield with an explanation point in it stating "check for updates for your computer" instead of the red shield so I believe it would attempt to check for updates accordingly if I were to set auto updates to "download updates but let me choose whether to install them" etc.  It also shows an accurate most recent check for updates time and date.  Having that set to auto it is running another check for updates.  Hopefully it won't take too long to for it to stop searching and to give me a no update have been found response.  If not I will share the results.  I am not sure what to expect here and am thinking I maybe should have kept auto updates to "do not check for updates".

    Hoorah!  breaking news!   While wringing this post the PC completed auto updates and responded by displaying a green shield with "no important updates available".

    I am a little concerned that Volume Z mentions that I needed KB3197655 instead of KB3198234.  I may post the updates that my machine installed since the 10/22/2016 date for reference.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-03T16:13:53+00:00

    Does anyone know what updates to manually install going back to 10-22-2016?, and how to keep updated and working once updated?

    It's KB3198234 and, if IE9 is installed, KB3197655. Windows Update cannot be kept working beyond the point of a successor of KB3197655 or KB3198234 or KB3191203 or KB3185911 being issued.

    Regards, VZ

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  3. lmacri 2,505 Reputation points
    2016-12-03T14:54:11+00:00

    Does anyone know what updates to manually install going back to 10-22-2016?, and how to keep updated and working once updated?

    Before trying anymore updates, if the installation time you choose doesn't work, try this procedure in order- do the SFC scan first and see if it helps- it can fix many system problems.  If that doesn't help, you can try the DISM repair...

    Hi RonTFL:

    I assume that JTEEEZN's November 2016 Patch Tuesday updates would not install because this user has not installed the required November 2016 speed up patch KB3198234 (MS16-135: Security Update for Windows Kernel-Mode Drivers: November 8, 2016).  Hopefully their Windows Update will only require a few hours to run to completion once they've followed the step-by-step instructions on page 1 of this thread to install their missing speed up patch(es).

    The slow Windows Updates on my Vista SP2 machine started over a year ago in August 2015 (one month after the official release of Win 10) and I've never heard of an instance where SFC (System File Checker) or DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool

    • aka CheckSUR: System Update Readiness Tool) fixed one of these "Checking for updates..." hangs where Windows Update gets stuck for several hours but doesn't throw an error message.  The latest Windows Update Agent (WUA) for Vista SP2 (C:\Windows\system32\wuaueng.dll) is v7.6.7600.256 and hasn't been updated by Microsoft since June 2012 .  The WUA for Vista SP2 is outdated but there's nothing SFC or DISM can do to fix it because there's not a newer version available for download.

    32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v50.0.2 * NIS v22.8.1.14 * MBAM v2.2.1

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

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-12-03T14:02:44+00:00

    Back at square one it seems.  Everything was fine on 10/22/2016.  Aside from the reoccurrence of endless updates, I notice that if the recommended automatic setting is chosen where it asks you for a time (in hourly intervals) to do the automatic update, the update attempt never even occurs.  Way to go MS!  Usually I have it set to manual.  Of course initiating a manual update runs endlessly.  I haven't tried to keep the machine on after the last time I fixed the problem to see if catching the updates as they are released prevents the problem from occurring.  From what I am reading in some of the posts is seems pointless to try but I have try.  I have been trying to keep up with recent posts but many of them are from people who haven't updated in a long time. 

    Does anyone know what updates to manually install going back to 10-22-2016?, and how to keep updated and working once updated?

    This is like a dog chasing his tail.

    I am reminded bylmacri at her reply post to **Windows Vista Update Hangs at "Checking For Updates"**at bleepingcomputer.com

    https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/611898/windows-vista-update-hangs-at-checking-for-updates/page-17

    that:

    Vista SP2 users can still refer to the step-by-step instructions on page 1 of m#l's thread Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours. Those instructions have been revised for November 2016 and will be valid until the December 2016 Patch Tuesday updates are released on 13-Dec-2016.

    page 1 of m#l's thread states that:

    REVISED for the NOVEMBER 2016 Patch Tuesday (valid 08-Nov-2016 to 12-Dec-2016):

    I am going to try this and will share the results, any tech tips would be appreciated.

    Before trying anymore updates, if the installation time you choose doesn't work, try this procedure in order- do the SFC scan first and see if it helps- it can fix many system problems.  If that doesn't help, you can try the DISM repair.

    Step 1: Running a SFC Scan.

    In most cases of corrupted system files, SFC brings the solution. SFC automatically scans and finds issues with your system, after it will begin repairing them. 

    SFC has to be executed in an elevated Command Prompt and therefor can only be started by a system administrator or user with Administrator rights.

    1. Open Elevated Command Prompt by following one of two methods:
      1. Press the Windows + X at the same time, then choose Command Prompt (admin)
      2. Press the Windows + W key at the same time, and then type “ cmd “ right click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator
    2. Type the following command “ sfc /scannow “ and hit enter (see image)
    3. Wait for the results to come back.

    If you get the message that “Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations“

    Then there were no system files damaged or corrupted, and Windows Resource Protection had nothing to repair, the problems you are experiencing with your system might have other causes and it’s best to ask an expert to help you further, or you could try step 2.

    If you get the message that “Windows Resource Protection found corrupted files and successfully repaired them” 

    Then Windows Resource Protection found and solved damage system files and / or corrupted system files. See if the problem you were experiencing still exists, if it was not fixed successfully then try step 2.

    If you get the message that “Windows Resource Protection found corrupted files but was unable to fix some of them” 

    Then Windows Resource Protection found the problem but was unable to fix them, like the message said. You can try to run DISM to repair the damage, in most cases this does help, but in some cases a system refresh is advised. I personally advise to let SFC run one more time and see if it does solve the problems now.

    Step 2: Running DISM to find and fix Component Store Corruption

    DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool) and has the ability to restore your system’s health back to normal, meaning it can solve some problems on your system. The program has some basic commands for end-users to scan their system, however only one command does actually fix problems, the Restore-Health command.

    The 3 commands for end-users are:

    • ScanHealth – This scans the image for corruption, it does not fix any issues.
    • CheckHealth – This scan checks if Windows has already detected corruption, it does not fix any issues.
    • RestoreHealth – This scans the image for corruption and uses already known corruption and attemps to fix the problems it found.

    To start DISM to attempt to fix your problems you first have to start an Elevated Command Prompt:

    1. Open Elevated Command Prompt by following one of two methods:
      1. Press the Windows + X at the same time then choose Command Prompt (admin)
      2. Press the Windows + W key at the same time and then type “ cmd “ right click Command Prompt and choose Run as Administrator
    2. Type the following command “ dism.exe  /online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth “ and hit enter (see image)
    3. DISM will now start scanning and trying to fix any problems it finds within the image, it’s normal to get stuck at 20% just wait patiently.

    After a while (could take a couple of minutes to hours) there will be a message saying that the corruption has been fixed (see image, colors are changed to make it easier to read), if any other message shows up then make a new question on Microsoft Answers or attempt to repair your system with a reset or refresh.

    Pasted from <http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows8_1-update/troubleshooting-component-store-system-files/8acbd614-678d-42b9-859c-56d3e6f8342a>

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