No Updates!

[Yzöwl]

This is unimportant but I just thought I'd post it here because it's odd.

…Just as a note after three other WU runs all ending as above I was eventually offered 33 Important and 1 Optional update

[Tripredacus]

Windows Update on Vista and Windows 7 has been increasingly unreliable in recent months. On new installations I've been seeing either it being stuck on "checking" for 10-18 hours, or it to say there are no updates or a what you posted. MS changed something on Windows Update sometime last year.

[5eraph]

I've seen something similar.  Can still get it to work on my laptop if I boot it with a magic packet and login remotely.  Once I open Windows Update and set it to check, I'll close the remote session and let it sit for a couple hours.  Then I'll remotely login again and set it to install... close the session and wait a few more hours... then remote in and reboot when finished.  Need to repeat the process to be certain nothing failed or was missed in the first pass.

Only seems to work when the system is completely idle.  I have it set to notify only.  Win10 nagware is not installed.

Edited May 12, 2016 by 5eraph

[Yzöwl]

My guess is that it's related to me refusing to install any of the following updates: (the windows update 'fixes' are supposed to be included among these anti telemetry/win10 upgrade updates).

Quote

kb971033     kb3035583     kb3075853     kb3102810
kb2882822     kb3042058     kb3080149     kb3102812
kb2902907     kb3044374     kb3081437     kb3112343
kb2922324     kb3046480     kb3081454     kb3112336
kb2952664     kb3058168     kb3081954     kb3123862
kb2976978     kb3064683     kb3083324     kb3135445
kb2977759     kb3065987     kb3083325     kb3135449
kb2990214     kb3065988     kb3083710     kb3138612
kb3012973     kb3068708     kb3083711     kb3138615
kb3014460     kb3072318     kb3086255     kb3139929
kb3015249     kb3074677     kb3088195     kb3146449
kb3021917     kb3075249     kb3090045     kb3150513
kb3022345     kb3075851     kb3093983

…or any of May's updates yet!

It took 2+ hours each time I ran the WU checks too!

[jaclaz]

I don't think that the issue is with those updates missing.

I have a (test only ) machine where I freshly installed a Windows 7 using ONLY the thingy by Steve Gibson that denies the up [rectius down] grade to Windows 10 and I have more or less the same symptoms, and I have ALL suggested by Windows Update updates, both "important" and "recommended".

Initially (starting from a SP1 integrated .iso) it took *forever* (and I initially attributed it to the stupid number of missing updates), so I tried updating the Windows Update thingy itself, using several versions of the "self-standing" corrected updater, *like* the kb3102810 one, and still it didn't work.

I had to leave the stupid thing run overnight and it finally managed to get the updates (the setting is only to check for/list update and let the user choose what to download), then even the download of the updates was very slow, I thought about a temporary overload of the servers being busy with the downloads of the Windows 10 files and attributed the initial very, very slow response to some cross-linking/whatever of the engine since many among the hundreds of updates are "fixes" to a previous update.

BUT, a few days later, when I had the system perfectly "aligned", new searches for updates were also extremely, and I mean extremely, slow (several hours), and looking around on various forums found tens or hundreds of similar reports, starting (roughly) since september 2015.

There is someone that even speculates that the good MS guys are doing this "on purpose" to "invite" people to get the stupid Windows 10, it is either that or they made a mess of the update engine (or of the servers).

jaclaz

 

[5eraph]

Want to hear something funny?  The Windows Update website handles queries from my 32-bit XP VMs in less than a minute, without fail.

[dencorso]

I've updated my Win 7 SP1 Ultimate x64 about two hours ago, and after the usual c. 50 min wait, it found and installed 12 updates. I have avoided all those updates mentioned in my thread about resisting Win 10, plus some I don't list but are on the Aegis list, so basically the same as you have been avoiding, Yzöwl... I'm on IE10, however, if that's relevant.

[Yzöwl]

Interesting thought and one which I've never contemplated, the machine currently shows 6 updates for .NET Framework 4.6.1 and 236 updates for Windows including IE11, (installed but unopened).

It's just that the Microsoft Official Fix for the 'slowness' problem is supposed to be one of the items in my above list, and the update which superseded it is also there too.

[dencorso]

@Yzöwl: I've generated a difference list between my avoided updates and yours... of relevance it seems you've missed skipping KB3050265. If so, do remove it and see whether it causes any different behaviour. Attached is the diff list, for your reference.

Compare.pdf

[Yzöwl]

I wasn't offered KB2999226 or KB3050265 as they don't appear on my list nor are they installed. I have got KB3118401 installed although I see no reason why that would affect the WU Process.

[dencorso]

I agree. I see no reason either KB2999226 or KB3118401 should be relevant for the WU Process at all.

[albator]

I had problem with updates too, here what I find to fix it:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3069693/microsoft-windows/windows-7-update-scans-taking-forever-kb-3153199-may-solve-the-problem.html

[dencorso]

@Yzöwl: Are you sure you've got the latest WindowsUpdateAgent?
You might as well update it, if in doubt. It's harmless, if not needed, you know.

[NoelC]

Windows Update this month on two different test systems (running Win 7 and 8.1) for me took longer than it should. 

Of course I had to re-hide the GWX update.  I've come to recognize the number without even looking it up (KB3035583).

Both VMs are running on a system with hyper fast processors, so the "hard CPU loop" times were in the 20 minutes range.  

People are reporting on AskWoody.com that they are also seeing long CPU loops as well.

This just indicates to me that Microsoft simply doesn't want the Windows Update process to be easy or quick for users of older operating systems.  You can be sure that Microsoft will sooner or later begin advertising that Windows 10 does updates much faster and more painlessly than its predecessors.

The good news is that after the updates went in both Win 7 and 8.1 test systems appear stable, and I haven't noticed any new attempts to contact servers online that hadn't been seen before.

-Noel

Edited May 16, 2016 by NoelC

[alacran]

I found this info and I think it can be usefull, if you tray it please give feedback: http://wu.krelay.de/en/

NOTE: In that page there are direct links to MS for all KB's they mention, they are not seen in the copy I put here.

Spoiler

TL;DR: There's only one change to previous month due to May Patchday: KB3153199 joins the list.
 

Validity/Coverage

Valid as of: May 2016 (2016-05-10)
Valid until (presumably): Jun 2016 (2016-06-14)

This HowTo is valid for Win7 SP1 and Vista SP2, which have been newly installed or haven't been updated for some time. It should also help on systems that were up-to-date last month - just install the missing updates from the list below in this case.

These instructions were only tested on Win7 SP1. However, the list of updates should speed up the search for updates on Vista SP2, too.
 

Solution to the issue

The term "solution" might be a little bit exaggerated, since the following HowTo only tries to make sure that the Update Agent doesn't need to check all updates, so the check for new updates is done faster. Futhermore, it's only a temporary solution; most likely the issue will appear again with the next Patchday.

Install the following updates BEFORE letting Windows search for updates, to avoid this very search taking "forever":

KBWin7 x64Win7 x86Vista x64Vista x86

KB3153199DownloadDownloadDownloadDownload

KB3145739DownloadDownloadDownloadDownload

KB3078601, "loyal" companion since August 2015DownloadDownloadDownloadDownload

KB3087039DownloadDownloadDownloadDownload

KB3109094DownloadDownloadDownloadDownload

On newly installed Win7 SP1 systems it's not really necessary to install the updates from the list above; it's sufficient to install any of the current Windows Update Clients (December 2015 or later) from the table below. But since the updates from the list will be installed automatically anyway, it doesn't matter if they're installed manually beforehand.

To reduce memory and CPU usage while searching for updates, the following updates should be installed as well:

Windows Update Client
It's sufficient to install one of these packages:

KBWin7 x64Win7 x86Win8.1 x64Win8.1 x86

KB3075851August 2015DownloadDownload--

KB3083324September 2015DownloadDownload--

KB3083710October 2015DownloadDownload--

KB3112343December 2015DownloadDownload--

KB3135445February 2016DownloadDownload--

KB3138612March 2016DownloadDownload--

KB3138615March 2016--DownloadDownload

Every one of them reduces the Update Agent's memory usage (having a good effect, especially on systems with less RAM).

The following update is (most likely) not required if the Windows Update Client of December 2015 or later is already installed:
KB3102810, reduces Update Agent's CPU load.

Steps to take after Windows installation

Disable Automatic Updates:
Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update > Change settings > "Never check for updates"

(Optional) Stop "Windows Update" service: Open Windows Task Manager > Tab "Services" > Right-click on "wuauserv" > Stop service

Download the updates mentioned above and install them via WUSA on a CMD shell (as Administrator):

"%SystemRoot%\system32\wusa.exe" "C:\full\path\to\Update.msu" /quiet /norestart

Tip: Use the TAB key to let the system complete the directory and file names, to avoid typing errors.

Reboot the system.

Now let Windows search for updates, which should be finished in less than 15 minutes.

Re-enable automatic updates as needed (see step to disable them, but select one of the options to check for updates automatically now), and install the remaining updates as usual.

Some automation

To ease the pain of installing multiple systems you can use e.g. this script. Put the script and all updates in the same directory - a USB flash drive or network share may be a good place. The script determines the Windows version (Vista or Win7), its architecture (32 or 64 bit) and so on. It makes use of the command given above. Just double-click the script - after you've disabled automatic updates (see above) - and it installs all required updates automatically, including the latest Windows Update Agent (if present). Reboot the system after the script is finished, and you're done. Re-enable automatic updates as needed.

If you intend to install Windows Updates on a whole network of systems, it's probably better to use some dedicated solution for this, e.g. WSUS Offline Update, which already installs the prerequisites in current releases.

Misc

Thanks to T. Wittrock, author of WSUS Offline Update, Denniss and the community.

Regards
Dalai

(I haven't checked this as I disabled WU since August 2015, and no plans on enable it for any reason)

alacran