Jump to content

Windows Updates -- Problem


thecavern

Recommended Posts

For the last few days, when I've tried to download a new Windows Update from my list it never seems to finish.

The progress meter just keeps on grinding away and never gets to the "Installing" phase.

I've never had this problem before. Anybody with any ideas out there ??

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


No, it's not new. In fact I just realized this isn't in my forum, but Windows Vista. I'm still trying to get used to that so disregard my last post.

How long have you been waiting for the updates to install? Is it a new installation of Vista or one that you've been working with for a while now? You might have to try and cancel the updates and try them again. I always hated the new Windows Update with this OS because it seemed to bugged out on me, that or a bunch of updates would fail to install for no reason at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it just a single update that's having problems or is it a multitude of them? It shouldn't take 45 minutes though. I'm assuming you've already rebooted the computer and tried again? Sometimes that can clear up the stupidest of problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have experienced the same exact issue with my Vista installations too, and nothing seems to fix it. I guess they have put the servers which have the 10 downloads on priority and thus why Vista's could be too late to deliver the updates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the context of Win 7, where people are reporting the same problems, I have found these things:

1.  If you wait long enough, it will complete.  Apparently there's just a hard loop on one core in wuausvc that does finally complete.  I saw the looping behavior happen both before and after the point where you choose updates.

2.  A recent security update that alters Win32k.sys actually seems to solve it.  For Win 7 it's KB3139852.  I don't know if that's applicable to Vista, but it may be.

And, just to be clear, it's not a "server busy" condition, and only indirectly related to what's online.  There is NO server or disk activity from wuauserv during this incredible waste of CPU resources.  It's just a really tight loop that busies one core for a long time (25+ minutes on my Xeon system) BEFORE showing you the list of updates, and another 25+ minutes after.

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, NoelC said:

It *may* apply to Vista, but in the context of Win 7, where people are reporting the same problems, I have found these things:

1.  If you wait long enough, it will complete.  Apparently there's just a hard loop on one core in wuausvc that does finally complete.  I saw the looping behavior happen both before and after the point where you choose updates.

2.  A recent security update that alters Win32k.sys actually seems to solve it.  For Win 7 it's KB3139852.  I don't know if that's applicable to Vista, but it might be.

-Noel

I know that Vista has the same problem as 7, regarding the long wait times for Windows Update, but on a fresh install of Vista, it will search for updates for atleast an hour and a half, and then report an error, even after updating the Windows Update Agent. You have to apply an update from 2014 that resolves this issue, and reboot (I think it's the one I gave in the second link, but I'm not sure. Haven't used Vista in a while).

Also, Vista's Windows Update isn't nearly as bad as 7's. For starters, it doesn't fill the RAM and CPU, when searching for updates. In my VM of 7 with 2GB of RAM, it filled all of the RAM, and made the VM unusable. On Vista I don't have that issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Err... no. v256 is "out there" in spite of the MS link to v226 (and the associated lie) given above. They just don't make it readily known (keep reading).
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/update-repair/23382428-fc43-4a53-98d8-de27009274b0?auth=1

The above link has three files inside the EXE. One determines which of the other two to run, Win7SP1 (v320) or "Older" (v256). Check your "wuapi.dll" version. This has been discussed in the XP threads, so I will assume that the "Downlevel" program is also meant for Vista (which MS also wants to die a slow and horrible death). It seems that XP will go ga-ga if you don't have minimum IE8 and the v256 to run WU. MU is a different story.

HTH

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NoelC ----

It looks like you hit on the correct solution.

I looked for the Security Update you mentioned for Windows 7.

It had to do with Windows kernel-mode drivers for Windows.

I found that the same one, KB3139852, was in my list of pending updates.

I went ahead and initiated this update. It took quite awhile but did finish.

I tried two other updates of various sizes and they finished in a somewhat normal time period.

SO -- if you're on Vista, before you apply any other update, install KB3139852. That looks like the solution to a slooooow download.

THANKS NOELC   !!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes? Bah! I recently did a fresh install of Vista Business x64 and Windows Update took well over 13 hours to return results... This is on a Core 2 Duo with the latest update agent too. I'm about to look into the solution NoelC posted.

Edited by MrMaguire
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, MrMaguire said:

45 minutes? Bah! I recently did a fresh install of Vista Business x64 and Windows Update took well over 13 hours to return results... This is on a Core 2 Duo with the latest update agent too. I'm about to look into the solution NoelC posted.

The v226 or the v256 one? :unsure: You didn't say. BTW, you can extract the "v320" and use a CMD prompt run the Downlevel one with "/wuforce" parameter (guess what it means?).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, submix8c said:

The v226 or the v256 one? :unsure: You didn't say. BTW, you can extract the "v320" and use a CMD prompt run the Downlevel one with "/wuforce" parameter (guess what it means?).

How do I check? It was the most current 64-bit version at least 5 days ago.

I've used the /wuforce switch on XP lots of times. It forcibly reinstalls the update agent, even if the installed version is the most current.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...