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. Deleted

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-19T03:38:11+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.

    Hi m#l:

    If the initial "Checking for updates..." phase of Windows Update runs for long periods of time during Patch Tuesday updates without throwing an error, this is a widespread problem that currently affects many Vista SP2 and Win 7 SP1 users.  My "Checking for updates..." hangs started in August 2015 (the month after Win 10 was officially released) and I've posted about this in my thread August 2015 Windows Update for Vista Requires One Hour to Run to Completion.

    The best discussion I've found on this topic is ScousaJAY's VistaForums thread windows update just seems to hang while checking.  Some users find that "Checking for updates..." will eventually run to completion if you let it run for several hours, but there is also a workaround posted on Dalai's webpage Search for Windows Updates takes forever? - A possible solution at http://wu.krelay.de/en/ that works for most affected users.  This workaround requires users to pre-install the Windows kernel-mode driver (Win32K.sys) updates listed on that webpage if any are missing on your system before running Windows Update.  I tried Dalai's workaround this month and pre-installed KB3161664 (MS16-073: Description of the security update for kernel mode drivers: June 14, 2016) before running Windows Update, and the "Checking for updates..." phase for my June 2016 Patch Tuesday updates ran to completion in 20 min (compared to 5 - 6 hours for my April 2016 and May 2016 Patch Tuesday updates) - see my post # 191 in ScousaJAY's thread for further details.

    If you'd like to try Dalai's workaround, I'd suggest the following:

    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. Check Dalai's webpage at http://wu.krelay.de/en/for the current list of required Win32K.sys updates that should be pre-installed on your system.  As of today (16-Jun-2016), there are five updates in the list: KB3078601 (18-Aug-2015); KB3087039 (08-Sep-2015); KB3109094 (07-Dec-2015); KB3145739 (12-Apr-2016); KB3161664 (14-Jun-2016).  IMPORTANT - see note below.
    3. Search your installed updates at Control Panel | Programs and Features | View Installed Updates to see if any of those five updates are missing from your system. When searching, enter the full KB number in the search box (e.g., KB3078601 and not a partial string like 3078601).
    4. Download the standalone update packages (.msu files) for any missing updates from the Microsoft Download Center and save them to your Windows desktop. Use the Vista (x86) download links on Dalai's webpage at http://wu.krelay.de/en/ for 32-bit Vista; use the Vista (x64) download links for 64-bit Vista.
    5. Install any missing updates in order, from oldest (lowest KB) to newest (highest KB), with a re-boot after each update is installed. This will ensure that Win32k.sys is updated in incremental steps [e.g., from v6.0.6002.19462 (KB3078601) to v6.0.6002.19657 (KB3161664)].  Double-click the .msu installer on the desktop to start each installation.  See hint below.
    6. Once all missing Win32K.sys updates are pre-installed, run a manual Windows Update [Windows Update | Check for updates] to install your remaining updates.

    Note that this is only a temporary workaround and a new Win32K.sys update will likely be posted on Dalai's webpage next month that will have to be pre-installed before you run your July 2016 Patch Tuesday updates.  This workaround also works for Win 7 SP1, and Woody Leonhard has posted a series of articles at www.AskWoody.com on this topic - see his latest post Win7 users: Install KB 3161664 to speed up Windows Update scans.

    If you have any problems pre-installing the standalone update packages (.msu files) in Step 5, here's another suggestion from Woody Leonhard:

    "Disconnect from the internet. Reboot. Install the patch (just double-click on it), reboot, and you’re done."

    These .msu files are associated with the Windows Update Standalone Installer (C:\Windows\System32\wusu.exe) and can be installed on computers without an internet connection.  Just remember to reconnect to the internet before running Windows Update in Step 6 to install the remaining updates for your system.

    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

    This was the only solution that worked for me!

    I have a Dell computer with Windows Vista SP2 - 32 bit.  I had this problem for over two weeks, and Windows Update was "Checking for Updates..." for over 12 hours!!  My CPU processor was running at 50% processing (svchost.exe netsvcs) with my cooling fan running near maximum.  My computer was very slow and unresponsive so after 12 hours I stopped Windows Update.

    What DID NOT****work for me:

    -         System Restore to 3 different earlier Restore Points

    -         Microsoft took control of my computer 2 times - 2 hours & 3 hours respectively to Fix it

    -         Tech called me from Microsoft

    -         Safe Boot

    -         Microsoft Fix it

    -         Microsoft Fix it 50202

    -         Multiple updates to the Registry

    -         Chkdsk

    -         Microsoft’s DISM or System Update Readiness tool (for Vista it’s the System Update Readiness tool)

    -         Multiple other online solutions about a reset to Windows Update – Stopping Windows Services -- Background Intelligent Transfer Service, Cryptographic Services, and Windows Update.  Renaming and deleting software distribution folders, reseting over 32 dll’s with a batch file, and

    -         Countless other commands that I have sense forgotten about that I personally executed from the command prompt that DID NOT WORK!

    You do not need to reinstall Windows Vista with your ISO DVD disk and reinstall SP1 & SP2 and all the corresponding updates as Microsoft instructed me to do and some people will lead you to believe.  Microsoft themselves did not know how to fix this problem.  The tech that called me at the end told me to reinstall (I’m glad that I did not) told me all support would be ending in less then 1 year and then closed my case.  I was so angry!

    If you follow the instructions posted by Great White North, this will fix your problem.  I needed to download 2 updates from Dalai’s site because my windows update has not been working for 2 months but, you could be different.  It really is not as hard as it seems if you take the time to read and understand the procedure he is asking you to do.

    Just check and see what updates that you have either from Windows Update, or if they were already deleted from previous fixes as mine were go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and then select “View installed updates” on the left side of the screen to see all your updates installed on your computer.  Find which updates Dalai wants you to have and see what you do not have and simply click the update on his site.  Follow all of Great White North’s instructions, and after a reboot and finally another Windows Update search I needed 10 more updates after a very short 12 minutes!

    You will have to visit Dalai’s site every month though.  I am not sure why Microsoft is not supporting their product anymore.  I sure hope this helps someone because Microsoft sure is not there for ya!

    Have a great day,

    John

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-24T08:24:32+00:00

    So even though MS says it will support updates for Vista until 04/17 it's not going to solve this problem for Vista updates in 2016?

    So let's just say then MS stopped supporting Vista 06/16?

    If you can't click on Vista windows updates and update the parts of the OS that are vulnerable to everything then it's pointless to say you are supporting your product regardless of how many people use it.

    I wonder if this is the year I finally have my fill of MS products... Anyone have a simple, easy to understand way of installing Ubuntu over Vista?

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