windows update loop.

xXxsephirothxXx

xXxsephirothxXx

xXxsephirothxXx

Associate
Joined
22 Nov 2009
Posts
259
Location
Cornwall
Hi,
I'm trying to sort out a mates laptop as its stuck in a windows update loop. What happens is when we try to update patches for the OS it just loops and says "checking for updates".

I have tried playing with the settings on how it updates 'automatic' & 'check but dont install'. Used 'intel driver update utility', and played with the updates settings in 'computer management'.

The OS is win 7 32bit pro. Any help here would appreciated
 
how long have you left it? from a clean install there is like 200 odd + updates so it can take awhile to check them all and download
 
ED209 said:
how long have you left it? from a clean install there is like 200 odd + updates so it can take awhile to check them all and download
Click to expand...

Aye, my mate said he has left if for days and this morning i had left if for about 4 hours. We have just done a fresh install again of the OS to see if that fixed the problem.
 
xXxsephirothxXx said:
Aye, my mate said he has left if for days and this morning i had left if for about 4 hours. We have just done a fresh install again of the OS to see if that fixed the problem.
Click to expand...

Have you manually applied SP1? If not, download it and apply it. Don't do it via Windows Update.

But I recall that there was a special update because the update list got so large it crashed the WU client.

Have you checked here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/windows-update-issues/en-gb?wa=wsignin1.0
 
When we did the fresh install today we selected the option of DL the main updates as part of the installation to see if that would work, the main patches installed however once we got onto the desktop we had the same problem before with the minor updates.
I had the same problem on one of my machines the other day but i got it to work, however, doing the same fix i did on his laptop doesn't do anything.

I am stumped on this one.
 
Glad it's not just my laptop as well then. Mine has a couple of month's old Windows 7 Pro 64bit install on it and checking for the monthly updates takes forever. Same thing too, stuck on checking for updates for aound 1-2 hours. When they are eventually listed they are downloaded and installed really quickly. It's only been like this for me since the Windows 10 launch.
 
I've got the same problem, on a laptop and a desktop, both clean installs of windows 7, tried the above fix but doesn't seem to have worked on either, I then tried to manually install win 10 on the laptop and it started to download and install a load of updates (196 to be precise) but its been stuck on installing update 133......

grrrrr
 
hello all, got the same issue, svhost.exe for the windows update uses 25% of the cpu, and the update checkers just loops.
running windows 7 home premium 64 bit, the windows help suggests it being a virus or rootkit, running kaspersky no issues showing up, ran superanti spyware as well for malware checks, nohing there.
reading what a lot of you have said about MS doing this on puposes seems possible.
any suggestions on how to solve it ?
 
I am about to make a similar update to sp1 so that I can reserve a win 10 license
and had been collecting details on how to do this
I had seen a credible recommendation to first install KB3102810
from hotuk here
I put verbatim copy below in spoiler too.

I have a very slow windows update process that continues for hours, which
the detailed quote seems to address.
Would this work in tandem with the update MagicBoy proposes KB3050265

I am trying to establish best process, before I too, press the start button.


Heads Up:
Anyone looking to install a fresh copy of Windows 7SP1, it no longer works 'out of the box' you need to manually download and install KB3102810 (An Update to Windows Update), otherwise it will endlessly check for updates.

There are two newer versions of this update, (Feb2016) KB3135445, and (March2016) KB3138612, but these seem to break image restores of Windows 7SP1, i.e. restores from Paragon HDM 2015 or Acronis. The restored image of Windows 7SP1 works, but Windows Update won't - it will endlessly search for updates/fail to find updates quickly. KB3102810 is still working at this time. Feedback on your experience would be useful on this.

If Windows Update is working properly, it should take 7 minutes maximum to find all 200+ updates after a fresh install of Windows 7SP1 on a SSD (From a clean Digital River or other Microsoft sourced ISO, in an activated or unactivated state, it doesn't matter)

It seems Microsoft don't won't you imaging up your system prior to installing Windows 10 and activating, then restoring Windows 7SP1 (i.e. to take advantage of the free Win10 offer, but carry on using Windows 7 for now). They want it to be a 'one way path'.

If you are thinking of upgrading to Windows 10, its actually better to do this from a fresh install, if you intend to carry on using your current Windows 7/8 installation or potentially go back to it. i.e. using your current install, to update to Windows10, the DNA of your current Win7 install seems to get recorded in the Microsoft Cloud Services, so if you then revert to it (outside of using MS Win10 tools, which reverts by deactivating Win10) by restoring a previous image manually, Windows Update is confused, as the version of Windows 7SP1 'shouldn't exist'.

Restoring Disk Images
If you do get a problem after restoring a disk image (Paragon, Acronis etc) of Windows 7SP1 and it starts endlessly checking for updates again, uninstall KB3102810 (assuming the backup had it installed) and then reinstall it. (but only if you get this, you shouldn't)

Just to add:
The above is only important if you intend to use the 'Reserve your copy' of Windows 10, so need to fully update Windows 7SP1 to 'current' or want to manually install KB Patches to date to avoid the Windows 10 Nagware and Telemetry patches, so you can just run Windows 7SP1, going forward, and not upgrade to Windows 10 (or be nagged about it)

If you intend to go directly to Windows 10, just download the latest build 1511 ISO, do a clean install of Windows 10 over the top of a clean install of Windows 7SP1 without even running Win7's Windows Update. This way you can avoid Win7's Windows Update all together and avoid the above problem.


The minimum requirement for installing Windows 10 from downloaded ISO/USB install is a fresh install of Win7SP1.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
pcnutter, magicboys patch has a prerequisite of sp1, but since you are at win 7 (like me)
you need sp1 update from an 'integrated' dvd like bradmax57 or the kb3050265 patch
I mentioned, that I will be using ...
at the moment, I too, have to just stop windows update service which uses up one cpu.
 
From the looks of the file details 3102810 is probably a later revision of 3050265. I've not personally tested it on a clean SP1 built so can't be 100% certain.

It will take a while to churn through all the updates, I believe it's over 200 now for a clean SP1 install. Likely an overnight job!
 
jpaul said:
pcnutter, magicboys patch has a prerequisite of sp1, but since you are at win 7 (like me)
you need sp1 update from an 'integrated' dvd like bradmax57 or the kb3050265 patch
I mentioned, that I will be using ...
at the moment, I too, have to just stop windows update service which uses up one cpu.
Click to expand...

it is annoying, as my version is a dvd version, already at sp1, ive asked a few people who use win 7, and they are also having the same issue, of 1 core being used up by the updater, i would have to agree it does seem as though MS is trying to force wind7/8 users to win 10
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom