Windows Update - long time to check for updates

Agree

 

Just do it! You know you want one!

I helped a friend build a new PC a few months ago and suggested he get a SSD Samsung EVO 850 (250GB). I couldn't believe how fast it was. I got home and ordered one immediately. My Win 7 box now reboots in seconds ... crazy fast!!!

But unfortunately, Windows update still takes an hour to check for new updates ... sigh...

 

Yeah, I am definitely going to look into it. I get so tired of the disk i/o being a bottleneck in performance at times... It would be great!

 

Once a file has been loaded into the memory, if there is an issue. It's not fault of the SSD. SSD improves disk reads and writes.

Checking for WU updates, it mainly works from memory.

 

I do have one but it's never been used.

 

Having one; using it rarely.

 

Booyah!!! Nailed it!

Windows 7 updates are working normally for me again

Found this post on Ask Woody, so I tried the suggestion. It was for one March security update that I had held back on installing. It is KB3139852 and it updates a kernel-mode driver, so I was letting it bake a little longer before attempting to apply it. Took an image first, then applied update, and rebooted. Checking for updates now takes only a minute or two.

http://www.askwoody.com/2016/the-windows-update-takes-forever-problem/comment-page-2/#comment-78040

 

Same here, had a Windows 7 32 bit computer running at 100% for hours to find nothing in new updates. The last time I had checked was in February. I downloaded KB3139862 and installed, then rebooted. After 10-15 minutes I checked Windows Update and there were 12 new updates to install. I checked the ones I wanted and looked back in 15 minutes and it wanted a restart already. Very impressed this seemed to really fix the long update process. I have a couple more Win 7 hard drives and will see if this update speeds those up also. Just my own personal experience and not a scientific explanation, but for now it worked for me....

 

Great! Glad to hear that it worked for someone else! So, it's obviously not a random thing, but this behavior (due to one missing patch) defies explanation at the moment.

It's easy to see why some folks did not have a problem ... they had already applied the patch

 

Kinda funny as the date of this KB is 8 March 2016. So it was probably one of the fixes I was waited for who knows how long. But by downloading and installing by itself it seemed to fix things..at least for now. It's like putting the cart before the horse....

 

If things are still fast on April 12th, then that'll be proof that it's fixed for good (hopefully)... until then, I'll just wait and see. I've seen it work fine before for a while, then start the 2 hour waits again... we shall see.

 

I agree Kerodo..it may turn to poop again next month, we shall see. All I know is it helped this month for me but the next person may try this and fail miserably. Dealing with MS you never know what you are going to get..there may now be an update agent for every month needed to speed up the process.

 

About 2 weeks ago, I installed KB3138612 on its own as I though it was supposed to fix this issue, but it dd nothing for me. I posted about it, below.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thre...-check-for-updates.379435/page-4#post-2573181

A few days later I installed all important updates for March, except the monthly scanner. For testing, a few hours ago, I ran Windows update and this time things were back to normal, it took about 5 minutes for the process to be over.

Bo

 

So, what was the solution to the topic of this thread?
My old Surface takes ages to check for updates.

 

I did two fresh installs of Windows 7 SP1 over the last few days...one on an HDD and the other on an SSD. After spending several agonizing hours in Microsoft Update Hell and wasting a lot of time on MS patches and fix-it tools that don't work I decided there had to be a better way. Some research turned up a terrific free app that's been around for about a dozen years and works wonderfully well. It's called Autopatcher, and I can't recommend it highly enough...

http://www.autopatcher.net/forum/

I've seen some speculation that the update problem has something to do with Microsoft's servers being overloaded or some other BS...but all I know is that when two different pieces of software connect to the exact same server to retrieve the exact same data, and one (Windows Update) takes hours if not days while the other (AutoPatcher) takes only minutes if not seconds then the problem ain't with Microsoft's servers. It's with their crappy update software.

I've only known about Autopatcher for just a few days but it has already rocketed to near the top of my list for best free killer apps.

 

I've got two computers updating Windows 7 right now. No problems except that the updates are available notification in the taskbar isn't working anymore. I've no idea why. When I check Windows Update, the updates are ready for download.

I did one fresh install of Windows 7 for a KVM VM in Qubes. Windows update got totally hung up with high CPU use and I had to use Autopatcher. It worked but not perfectly and I had to manually install a few updates from the download folder but the great thing is that it downloaded all the updates for Windows 7 since Service Pack 1 and I now have them available whenever I need them and I don't need to do the download again.

 

Yesterdays updates went very smooth, under 10mins from the time of checking to installed of updates. So it seems this problem may be fixed.

 

Updates are still slow on Vista. I've got a computer which has been stuck on checking for updates for over two hours. It's not the initial check for updates either, I last installed all available updates two months ago.

 

Updates the other day here on Win 7 went quickly with no issues. I'm hoping next Tuesday it'll be fast then too. Then I'll know this issue is finally fixed. But it doesn't surprise me that it's still bad on Vista.. I'm sure they don't put much effort into Vista now.. But then on the other hand, if it's fixed in 7, you'd think it would be in Vista too. Weird....

 

It tooks three hours to find 17 updates. After they were all installed and I rebooted, susbequent checks for updates were much faster.

 

Yeah, that's hard to live with... I had that happening in a 2 month old Win 7 image a few months ago, but I am hoping it's fixed. The real test will be what happens next Tuesday when I check for updates. Fingers crossed!

 

This auto patcher thing is no good for intial installs is it? New install here has been searching for 5hrs still found nothing. Anyway around this plz?

 

Here we go again! We just hit another Microsoft Patch Tuesday for April this week, and the long time delay to search for updates is back on my Windows 7 PC.

As before, my Windows 8 laptop search for updates results are still very quick.

Have disabled checking until I decide to apply this months batch of security updates.

 

My netbook (w/ Windows Starter edition) recently started hanging up during updates.
Windows Update Service was using +/- 90% CPU, rendering the machine practically unusable.
Spent many hours Googling the issue, trying numerous fixes without success.
Reluctantly opted to roll back / restore the thing to “out of the box” condition.
SAME PROBLEM?!
(Another few hours re-installing apps, configuring everything....)

Installed WSUS Offline Update (as mentioned previously in this thread).
Nifty tool. Now I can update it (relatively painlessly)