Windows Update Hangs

KB3161608 is available as KB3172605 now. :)

Alas yes the updates again for July 2016 are hanging both for Vista and W7 for me.  None of the quick fix from Microsoft from two months ago are supported any more..I tried everything so I resorted to a long standing way to get the updates..patience,..(not good at that)..I created a power schedule that did not let the computer go to sleep or shut off hard drive or hybernate..and just let the "downloading" at zero run overnight..like 8 hours and alas most went in!!  Went back and searched again and the remaining went in rather quickly..like 20 minutes..

So frustrating..next time I will try nothing..just set it and forget it!

You could have either installed KB3168965 on both Vista and 7 manually (it's only about this update, but likely only for this month), or installed KB3168965 on Vista and KB3172605 (including a new version of the Windows update client, permanent fix) on 7.

http://wu.krelay.de/en/

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3172605

Regards, VZ

Mr. Canadian Tech,

your answers are completely preposterous. You are not seriously suggesting this, are you? Do you realize what a billion machines, computing *nothing* for 12 hours every month, amount to? Will you do the math of wasted energy, or should I do that for you as well? This whole matter is ripe for some environmental organisation's attention.

As I'm writing this, of course I'm looking at Windows Update going nowhere and burning CPU.

And Microsoft should truly be ashamed of themselves for this. There is no reason *whatsoever* for the check to take longer than a second, so much it would take today's CPU power and internet connections to download a list of updates and compare it with a local state. That is, if implemented *properly*. Being a software developer, and looking at this fiasko, I feel ashamed. Why doesn't Microsoft?

It's been this way a long time, too. Versions of Windows Update, crunching something for hours, getting nothing done. This is no lone case. Internet is filled with these reports. And yet, most people simply don't notice the CPU burn because most of them don't have usage indicators visible at all times. I, for example, do (in tray area).

If the service has to wait for something, then I would expect you don't do it in a hot loop when you know well that this waiting often takes 12 hours!

If it actually takes this much to compute the task, then the whole update system must be so misdesigned that I wouldn't believe such a programmer getting work at Microsoft. But I do have some distant memory that in certain instances (rare), Windows Update actually checked the state fast.

Of course, when checking is done fast, "downloading" then moves nowhere for hours, burning CPU just the same. This is the last clue, as 'downloading' certanly has 0 reason to burn CPU. But it does, nevertheless.

I searched on the question sites and found this question. The accepted answer suggested this:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

Of course, when I tried installing it, it said it's already installed. Windows Update seems to constantly return to this 'bugged' state, even though it was already fixed. Or maybe someone *wants* us to be frustrated with Windows 7. Can you guess why? *Cough* 10 *cough*...

Of course, the chance of getting an explanation from Microsoft on what exactly is this thing computing for hours, is next to 0. My best guess would be that it's utilizing client computers as a computing cloud for Microsoft. Maybe Azure really runs on our machines, eh?

Joke aside, Microsoft, would you *please* fix this already?

KB3102810 is outdated. The new 3102810 is KB3161647, included in KB3172605.

KB3172605 32-bit

KB3172605 64-bit

Make sure to have its prerequisite, KB3020369, installed.

Regards, VZ