Windows Update - long time to check for updates

I have noticed lately that after I do a clean install of Windows 7, or Vista, when I run Windows Update for the first time, it takes a very long time to check for updates. This only happens during the initial check for updates. Once I've installed all available updates, future checks for updates will be fairly quick.

For example, I've just did a clean install of Windows 7, and it took over 90 minutes for Windows Update to find any updates (it eventually found over 200 updates). While Windows Update can use massive amounts of RAM at times (its was using 1.4GB when checking for updates) which can lead to big issues with slowdowns on computers with not enough RAM installed, this laptop has 4GB RAM of which only 59% was being used.

This is a clean install of Windows 7, with no settings changed and no 3rd party installed, not even antivirus software.

 

@roger_m ,
I've noticed this too after restoring two Win7 machines to factory condition, although it was about 30 minutes for me. My guess is that perhaps the servers are giving Win10 updates a higher priority.

 

Oh no ....

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3092627?wa=wsignin1.0#moreinfo

 

roger_m, I had the same problem, VERY frustrating!! Just know you're not alone... I tried everything I could think of, but the only thing that helped was to wait and try again after a few days... Good luck (and thanks for conforming this problem).
(For me, it was Windows 7 only, 8.1 and 10 were fine, looks like MS is "punishing" us!!)

 

Some users are saying that the Windows 7 servers are getting slammed hard due to the Windows 10 upgrades, since these machines are having to do many updates prior to the upgrade and also there are a certain number of users rolling back to Windows 7 after the upgrade. Although it's really hard to say the real reason other then to speculate. Other users have said that since Windows 7 SP1 has many updates to do after a fresh install, the initial looking for updates phase can take a long time and can often stay at a high level of CPU usage during that initial stage. Whether it takes 45 minutes for some, or several hours for others, one thing that seems to be consistent is that if you leave the updates going (overnight or whatever), it will complete at some point. Windows 8.x generally is being reported as not being affected by this.

 

Happens to me too. In fact I am going through the process right now. Just installed a fresh Windows 7 Home Pro. Currently on update 120 of 206....

It's been there a while. Will let it run a few hours, then hard boot it. Cross my fingers and start it up again. I've done this before, with no ill effects. At any rate it a fresh install starting over isn't going to be a big deal. Just time consuming is all. Oh.. and annoying too.

 

I have too, but I have also done it and had to reinstall Windows. It's not a great idea to force a reboot while updates are installing. Like you said, on a fresh install maybe no big deal. If it's not a fresh install and someone has no backups... I'm just remembering a time when my boss insisted I force reboot a server because he was tired of waiting on a file share and it wouldn't boot afterwards. We had the previous night's image but I lost all of the changes I made to that server that day.

 

I had this problem with all Windows versions. If you wake me in the middle of the night and ask me what I despise the most on Windows, Windows Update will be the answer.

 

Yes, the first initial update, which has about 100 updates, takes a while.

 

I've had the same problem with a fresh install of Windows 7 and I know it dates back at least a few months. So it's nothing new. After installation of Win 7 SP1 from disk, the first update check takes about 45 minutes on mine, and it returns with a few hundred updates (near 200 I believe). After that first initial delay, things seem to work normally. I have concluded that it's mostly just due to the high level of updates involved, but I don't know for sure.

Also, I recently restored an image of Win 7 that hadn't been updated for 2 months, and the same phenomenon occurred with the first update check, almost as if it was a new clean install. After that, everything was fine.

I have seen others on DSLR mention this also. I doubt it has anything to do with their servers, which have always been lightning fast...

 

Normal for abnormal M$.

On a few fresh W7 installs it took 90 minutes to show all the updates. Normal for me in this situation is ~45 minutes. Out of hundreds of fresh installs.

 

Well in my situation, I forced a reboot. I waited over night, it was still at the same point... 120 of 206. I didn't have to reinstall. It finished installing some of the updates, then I went through a could of installs and reboots. Long waits in between. It's now roughly 24 hours now since I started this fresh install. It's about 56% in to what I hope is the last update.

 

That's another beauty of Windows updates. After you finished downloading and installing 100-200 updates, there's usually another batch to download and install.

 

[Again] A fresh install of Windows takes hours. Restoring an image takes minutes.

 

A fresh install takes minutes. It's the updates that takes hours.

Having an image of a fresh install would help. Yet it really depends when the image was made.

On my last post above, it was not the last update, there were seven more. I think it's all done updating now.

 

Always noticed slow updates on my Windows 7 virtual machine... unlike XP (when it had updates).

 

I've had problems getting updates for Vista the last two months. Takes and hour to check for updates and another hour before downloading starts. No new install, just routine updates. I don't know why M$ can't get servers that'll handle the job. No problems with Win 7. I guess I'm gonna have to start waiting a couple of weeks after patch Tuesday and see if it's any better.

 

I restored a 3 month old image of Win 7 today, and the update check took about an hour and 10 mins. After that, everything was normal. I decided to go back to 7 (after upgrading to 10), so hopefully 7 will be ok from now on, once the initial update check is done.

 

I've noticed recently that my Windows 7 notebook started taking forever to check for Windows updates. I thought it might be a problem with my notebook, or my internet connection. I guess not...

 

I decided to reinstall 7 from scratch today (SP1 disk), and the first update check took an incredible 2 1/2 hours! Lol... It's installing the updates now. I thought I would gather up a list of all the undesirable telemetry related updates, and reinstall 7 without those, so I'd hopefully have a clean system without all the 10 nagware and so on. It looks like it's going to be an all-day task...

 

I did exactly the same. Installed Windows 7 x64 and installed SP1. Check for updates took about half an hour. Then I checked each offered update (first important then recommended) and installed only "safe" ones. After that Office 2010 with all their updates. All together cca 300 updates. It took me two days after-job work.
I ended up with 13 Windows updates and 10 other updates hidden.

 

Wow... it sounds like your wait time wasn't as bad though. Here I am now, 7 1/2 hours later, and I'm still updating Win 7, not even done yet. And after that, I still have to install and update Office 2007. The 2nd update check is now taking what looks like a half hour. So I wasted 3 hours just checking for updates. Lol. Oh well. When I'm done, it should be pretty clean and good, free of the junk that we don't want. The challenge then will be to keep it that way.

 

90 minutes is just too much. Is your connection OK?

When I do a fresh install of W7, with my DVD from 2010 (SP1), it takes from 5 to 10 minutes to find +200 updates, with my 10 Mbit connection (1 MB/s download).

The biggest problem for me is actually download and installing the updates. It can take anywhere from 6 to 10 hours to fully update Windows for the first time, it's one of the biggest problems with Windows.
I can't imagine how it will be like for Windows 10 users since this will be the last release of Windows Will users have to buy a new copy of the OS just so they don't have to wait 2 weeks updating their systems?

 

Kerodo when it's set, image it. Then never more. Specially if you use a program that restores to different hardware.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. It was going on 7 hours of work, and I started the 2nd update check, but I'll be darned if that didn't also take over an hour and at that point, after 70 minutes on round 2, I just gave up and chucked the whole thing. I know it's not my cable internet, and it's not my hardware, I also Googled this issue and found many many others with the same problem. I think there is something wrong here and MS probably knows about it, but won't fix it because they want people to get frustrated and drop 7 and move to 10. It could even be deliberate, I don't know. I've heard a few others here say it took 2 hours on the first update check. It's crazy. I should have kept my last image, but I nuked it a month ago. Too late now.

So, it's either Win 10 or Linux for me I guess. Interesting that I installed Win 8.1 a week ago, and it's fast on updates and has NONE of these issues that 7 has. I have an image of 8.1 also, so I may use that too. I also like Debian a lot and use that half the time. I do get better hd netflix video on Win though. I think with Google Chrome on Linux, I only get 720p, but I'm pretty sure I get 1080p in Firefox with Silverlight in Windows. So......

Thanks again everyone. I tried. But after 8 hours, and still not even updated on Win, I gave up...