Can't update Windows 7 installs

[satrow]

April 2015 servicing stack update for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB3020369) and then the 'SP2'' from #18.

Check WU, if it gets stuck, use the Dalai/krelay 'fix'.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Okay, just tried this on my second PC (the one I had checking for updates for 5 days straight originally), and after manually installing several updates (maybe 10-15 minutes taken for that, including time taken to reboot) it found 246 updates after about a five minute search.

What I installed (in order, though the order may not matter):
KB3109094
KB3164033
KB3078601
KB3145739
KB3168965
KB3177725

Then, the update to the Windows Update client itself:
KB3138612

This is what I did on two PC's so far, and it worked on both. So, it seems to be a working fix at the moment.

In my case the first PC failed the first round of 200+ updates for some unknown reason, but after restarting the PC it was able to finish updating without any issues.

 

[habbajabba]

Best bet is wsus from: http://download.wsusoffline.net/
Run the update generator and uncheck 'verify downloaded updates' as this causes a hang. It quickly gathers on my system 216 possible updates using the builtin wauserv exe. Close the update generator when it's finished. Open the update installer from the client folder and choose verify with auto reboot. It gathers all updates you selected for your particular system and either installs them or you get a popup that says you have new updates. Rerun as needed until windows update itself is empty.
I used the cmd script from pinky's post and that was a huge mistake. The other post with all the 8000 instructions is also a waste of time.

 

[Kenrou]

Have you tried Windows Update MiniTool ?

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/windows-update-minitool.380535/ - ​http://www82.zippyshare.com/v/AMyA8I8o/file.html

 

[habbajabba]

I have and I remember why I stopped using it. Wsus is a lot more comprehensive. The cab file is in wsus's folder btw.

 

[trents]

Just tried WSUS twice on a test machine. It seems to be a bit buggy. Some of the scripts don't execute on the first try and it hung on a reboot once. When it was done I checked the update history and there were only 9 or 10 total updates installed. I thought perhaps one of them was the recent update which has been referred to informally as SP2 (KB215574) which would contain all Win 7 updates through April of 2016. Then the others would be the updates that came after that. Such was not the case, however. KB215574 was not found in the list.

Having said that, whatever WSUS did or didn't do, it does seem to fix the problem with the Windows 7 manual updater being broken. After running WSUS I plugged the LAN cable back in and had Windows update check for updates. It quickly found 213 of them and 10 optional ones. Beats waiting for hours for that thing to chug away and not find anything when you are trying to deploy a machine.

 

[Kenrou]

I have and I remember why I stopped using it. Wsus is a lot more comprehensive. The cab file is in wsus's folder btw.

More comprehensive in the way that you can put updates in ISO and USB fair enough, but WUMT will let you pick and choose exactly what you want to download, will let you hide updates you don't want and shows you what you have installed so far (plus is faster). It's a replacement for Windows Update in every sense of the word.

 

[mackerel]

I just ran into the not-updating thing on a Windows 7 laptop. It had the recent convenience update installed in May, but not updated since then. Starting the MS one I left it running for a few hours before I got bored. Ran a disk cleanup which removes redundant updates, and tried again. Still nothing. Tried WUMT, that did exactly the same as the Windows one in that it took forever to get nowhere. Now I'm trying wsusoffline... at least the downloader is visibly doing something!

 

[c627627]

I used to think it had to do with sheer number of updates but like you, people are running into this problem on machines updated just a couple of months ago....
There are now so many reports of this that it can't be an accident... How many people will just say f it and update to Windows 10 as a result of this?

Fifteen years ago Microsoft released KB891711.exe and KB918547.exe update patches, actual exe files which were run *every time* machines booted, completely crippling them, until they upgraded to a new operating system, which ran on the same machines without crippling them.

They were system killers. Medicine which killed the patient.

Windows 7 is supposed to have four years left in it still.

 

[trents]

I just ran into the not-updating thing on a Windows 7 laptop. It had the recent convenience update installed in May, but not updated since then. Starting the MS one I left it running for a few hours before I got bored. Ran a disk cleanup which removes redundant updates, and tried again. Still nothing. Tried WUMT, that did exactly the same as the Windows one in that it took forever to get nowhere. Now I'm trying wsusoffline... at least the downloader is visibly doing something!

For all you Windows 10 haters out there, do you remember the frustration of the broken Windows 7 update? And Windows XP update was badly broken too following SP2. I've had no such problem with Windows 10 so far.

 

[mackerel]

For all you Windows 10 haters out there, do you remember the frustration of the broken Windows 7 update? And Windows XP update was badly broken too following SP2. I've had no such problem with Windows 10 so far.

Was that aimed at me, since it was quoting me but I don't see the connection?


Anyway, running wsusoffline now. 1st pass installed a bunch of updates and asked for reboot. 2nd pass just did 13 updates and asking for another reboot. I need to poke around it more since I have no idea what the updates are, nor do I recall having a choice to review each one first.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/30...-replaces-it-with-kb-3172605-and-3172614.html

Found above interesting reading while doing updates, sounds like the writer has also gone though much pain in this...

 

[mackerel]

As a further update, after the two passes above, no more installs were offered although there were comments to the effect of missing updates. At that point I did the Windows WU and that ran quickly (minutes, not hours) and I could grab a few more there. So, I'm up to date at last.

I'm curious about wsusoffline, think it would be handy as a download-once, update-many tool. Which I guess is what wsus was made for but I never bothered looking in detail as a "normal" user not network admin, and wsusoffline makes it easy enough for me to do. I still have a mixed farm of Win7 and Win10 at home, so this will certainly help with the Win7 boxes.

 

[Alaric]

Was that aimed at me, since it was quoting me but I don't see the connection?

Probably me. I have regarded W10 as a binary STD for a while here. LOL

 

[habbajabba]

I love the miupdate tool gui but wsus is more comprehensive in the fact that you can pick exactly what to download, and then there are further options for the updater itself. The miniiupdate tool is awesome but fails to give me the exact control I am looking for. The fact I can uncheck, or check lots of stuff to ignore, or include to begin with is what the other tool lacks.

Weirdly enough my $3000 tablet was up to date and I had updates disabled. It started telling me my OS was not valid until I ran winupdate which made the screen popup disappear. I may have disabled a service or task which caused that but when updates are completely disabled on a brand new oem single user device, the OS should never tell you it's not vaild or legit. MS is hilarious.
I've been trying to use backup software which works but restoring never works. Even with a fresh install windows backup fails at a system image AND at backing up. I think it has to do with the 3rd partition motion puts in using the restore discs. I tried using a standalone win 7 pro iso to remove the 3rd part, which worked, but had an issue with it not recognizing the sd card slot. I'm gonna start looking at linux backup/restore solutions and/or specifically the drivers for the card slot.

 

[trents]

Was that aimed at me, since it was quoting me but I don't see the connection?


Anyway, running wsusoffline now. 1st pass installed a bunch of updates and asked for reboot. 2nd pass just did 13 updates and asking for another reboot. I need to poke around it more since I have no idea what the updates are, nor do I recall having a choice to review each one first.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/30...-replaces-it-with-kb-3172605-and-3172614.html

Found above interesting reading while doing updates, sounds like the writer has also gone though much pain in this...

No, not aimed at you. Just piggybacking on your frustrating experience to remind all those Windows 10 haters out there that Windows 7 had it's own issues.

 

[trents]

Was that aimed at me, since it was quoting me but I don't see the connection?


Anyway, running wsusoffline now. 1st pass installed a bunch of updates and asked for reboot. 2nd pass just did 13 updates and asking for another reboot. I need to poke around it more since I have no idea what the updates are, nor do I recall having a choice to review each one first.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/30...-replaces-it-with-kb-3172605-and-3172614.html

Found above interesting reading while doing updates, sounds like the writer has also gone though much pain in this...

You should now try the Microsoft update tool, even if WSUSOffline is not done. I found it fixed the brokenness at the front end of the process so that the Windows Update worked just fine the rest of the way. The Windows Update once fixed is faster than WSUSOffline which starts and restarts and still doesn't get all the updates.

 

[mackerel]

You should now try the Microsoft update tool, even if WSUSOffline is not done. I found it fixed the brokenness at the front end of the process so that the Windows Update worked just fine the rest of the way. The Windows Update once fixed is faster than WSUSOffline which starts and restarts and still doesn't get all the updates.

As a further update, after the two passes above, no more installs were offered although there were comments to the effect of missing updates. At that point I did the Windows WU and that ran quickly (minutes, not hours) and I could grab a few more there. So, I'm up to date at last.

Still, I'm debating running wsusoffline initially as I have multiple systems to update and save a bit of re-downloading. I'll add that to my "to do" list as it is still too hot around here to put crunchers on full power.

 

[c627627]

When you select to just download this August 2016 Update Rollup instead of install it, how large is the download?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53568

 

[trents]

When you select to just download this August 2016 Update Rollup instead of install it, how large is the download?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53568

The download is something over 1500kb in size.

 

[c627627]

So it's not a [service pack-like] full download?
I still haven't got around to it for my archives but what's the deal, there is a full large download that is like SP2 only not called that, right?
What period does it cover, Win7SP1 to May 2016.... or?