Windows update stuck on check for updates after many different fix attempts

[Jackstrh]

I am on windows 7 and when I go to windows update it says I have to check for updates (At the moment I have no updates installed). I click to search for updates but after hours and hours it still says checking for updates. I searched on a fix and tried many different including safe mode, deleting the softwaredistibution in windows, I stopped windows update through computer management and even did a system restore, but still no updates will install. PLEASE HELP

 

[clutchc]

That's a problem I run into myself when installing to an old slow PC. What are the specs of your system?

I'm presently trying to fresh install the updates for a Win7x64 installation to an old Pentium 4 640 machine. Single core! After 10+ hours of waiting, I removed the P4 and installed my Q9550 quad core instead. Finally (after another 3 hours) got the hundreds of updates downloaded. The app never showed anything but the "checking for updates" message. No progress bar. But they did indeed download.

 

[OhioLeda]

Microsoft released a new WindowsUpdate Client Update to fix the slow Update searching/Installation.
Load here and give this a shot?
IMHO.. Ignore and Stay Away From Windows 10 option shown below..

Download:
32Bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=fcd6bf5d-f004-4ca3-aa7e-1de462b91dd0

64Bit: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4fe566bd-31b1-4413-8c4c-412b52533669

 

[clutchc]

Thanks for the tip, OhioLeda. I may put that in my toolbox too.

@ OP
I unchecked the best answer for you as you inferred to in your PM.

 

[Paul_172]

I could not get my clean and registered W7 installation to find (stuck on searching for updates) or install already downloaded updates. I am not a programmer nor a person who understands the inner workings of the Microsoft update service. All I know is that I wasted a lot of time trying to follow multiple solutions to no avail until I came across Microsoft developer forum which pointed me in the right direction. Below procedure worked for me and I understand that there may be a faster process for this.

Download and run Windows Updates Downloader and follow these instructions (they are safe and legal; the video however does not show how to install the updates so follow on with the steps below) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dFJey0d3k

All downloaded updates will be in your Documents folder
1. Open elevated Command Prompt
2. Open Task Manager
3. Keep both of them open
4. Open one of the updates and double click; this will open update in Windows Update Standalone Installer; update may install right away in which case you go to the next one after the installation is done
5. If it takes the Windows Update Standalone Installer more than 5 seconds to "Searching for updates on this computer" (you can tell by looking at the top of the Windows Update Standalone Installer and it'll show what it is currently doing) go inside the Command Prompt and type "net stop wuaserv" without quotes and press enter; this will stop the update service
6. Go to Task Manager/Processes, locate "wusa.exe" and stop the process; this will close the "Searching for updates on this computer" window
7. Double click on update again and Windows Update Standalone Installer should now show that it is "Preparing the update..." followed by "Searching for updates on this computer" and finally, the installation
8. Close the "Installation Successful" window and double click another update; you do not have to reboot at this time.
9. If Windows Update Standalone Installer" starts "Searching for updates on this computer" and is stuck doing it for more than 5 seconds, repeat steps 5 through 7.
10. It is not necessary to reboot your computer each time. Just install as many as you want and then reboot if you wish.
11. The above worked for every single update that I was not able to find or install automatically on my clean and registered W7 installation.

P.S. I am almost done with all the updates and the one that is giving me grief is the .Net Framework which for whatever reason does not want to install itself on my SSD "C:" partition, and defaults to my HDD "E:" partition that I use for storage instead. After all is done, I hope that the system will finally be able to automatically search and install updates.

 

[MikesDad]

I am on windows 7 and when I go to windows update it says I have to check for updates (At the moment I have no updates installed). I click to search for updates but after hours and hours it still says checking for updates. I searched on a fix and tried many different including safe mode, deleting the softwaredistibution in windows, I stopped windows update through computer management and even did a system restore, but still no updates will install. PLEASE HELP

 

[MikesDad]

I went through all the suggestions for Windows 7: windowsfix, scannow, system restore, etc. Finally threw my hands up in the air, set the computer to "never sleep" and let it churn on "checking for updates" all night....updates were there in the morning, installed, and has worked fine since......beats a hammer. Good luck!