Windows 7 stuck "Checking for Updates"

[cctaylor88]

So I did a completely new PC build, prepping my old build for my brother. Anyways, I have used this PC for a solid five years without issue. My brother purchased a BNIB SSD and after installing Win7 and trying to update windows its just stuck in the "Checking for Updates" and continually loading. I let it sit overnight for about 8.5 hours and its still just "checking"

Is this a common problem? Is there a work around?

What if I just skip the updates and upgrade straight to Win10?

 

[Dahak]

Yes its a common problem. see the posts in the OS sub-forum

But the quick fix is to do the following

Download The following

IE 11
Windows update client update - KB3138612 (March 2016) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369
Servicing Stack Update KB3020369 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369/
The June 2016 Rollup https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161608

From the catalog.update.microsoft.com website download
Convenience Rollup - KB3125574
You will have to search with just the number

Once all are downloaded.
Set Windows Update to Never Check for updates.

Then install IE 11
the Servicing Stack Update
Windows Update Client Update
then the Convenience Rollup
Then the June 2016 Rollup

If it asks to reboot do so.

Once done it should now take a more reasonable time to search for updates usually around 5-10 min

 

[Dahak]

I am not sure if there are any updated required first to be install to do the upgrade to Win10.

I believe it will tell you.

Or you can make the USB media with the Win10 Media Creation Tool and install a fresh copy of Win10 with that and then use your Win7 Key to activate it

 

[cctaylor88]

I am not sure if there are any updated required first to be install to do the upgrade to Win10.

I believe it will tell you.

Or you can make the USB media with the Win10 Media Creation Tool and install a fresh copy of Win10 with that and then use your Win7 Key to activate it

So with the Win10 Media Creation, I don't know/have my Win7 Key written down persay but my Win7 is activated and legit. Will this be an issue?

 

[Dahak]

So with the Win10 Media Creation, I don't know/have my Win7 Key written down persay but my Win7 is activated and legit. Will this be an issue?

If you do not have the key, utilities like Belaric Advisor or Nirsoft's Produkey View will show it.

If you do not have the key, you will have to do the upgrade from within windows, as you would need to enter it manually if you do it the other way

You can also use the Media Creation Tool to start the upgrade from within windows

 

[yugpatel]

From my experience, unless you activate windows first, upgrade won't happen.

 

[cctaylor88]

From my experience, unless you activate windows first, upgrade won't happen.

Its already activated

 

[ronbo613]

From my experience, unless you activate windows first, upgrade won't happen.

I just installed Windows 10 using the .iso file and activated it with my Windows 7 serial number, no upgrade involved. You must let Windows 10 install all available upgrades before you can activate with a serial number from a previous version.

OP, Windows 7 users are now at the back of the Microsoft bus. Waiting for updates is part of the deal. If Windows Update is busy, try again later.

 

[Topweasel]

Its already activated

Try a running this in a batch file as Admin. If fixed a machine I was working on download from our WSUS server. But it should work for web updates as well. It still took several minutes for any kind of change in status and it error'd out like 5 times (this is apparently normal, apparently there is a cap to update information windows can grab at once) before it actually started grabbing files. But the erroring out was new and it did eventually get the updates. Also reccomend doing this on a fresh restart where no attempt to check for updates has happened.

net stop wuauserv
rmdir /s /q C:\windows\softwaredistribution
net start wuauserv
wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow

 

[Le Québécois]

Yes its a common problem. see the posts in the OS sub-forum

But the quick fix is to do the following

Download The following

IE 11
Windows update client update - KB3138612 (March 2016) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369
Servicing Stack Update KB3020369 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369/en-us/kb/3138612
The June 2016 Rollup https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161608]

From the catalog.update.microsoft.com website download
Convenience Rollup - KB3125574
You will have to search with just the number

Once all are downloaded.
Set Windows Update to Never Check for updates.

Then install IE 11
the Servicing Stack Update
Windows Update Client Update
then the Convenience Rollup
Then the June 2016 Rollup

If it asks to reboot do so.

Once done it should now take a more reasonable time to search for updates usually around 5-10 min

Hey, I do have the same problem as the OP. I already did, and more, what you listed there, except for the IE 11 part. Nothing worked so far. I'll try the IE11, thx for the info. I'll tell you if it worked or not.

I do have one question. I can't download most of this from my father's laptop(the computer I'm trying to install the updates on), which is in French. I don't know why but Firefox seems to be "blocked" by MS when trying to do it from his computer and his IE8 is outdated and won't work... I can do it via my own computer, which is in English, could this cause an issue since it always seems to auto detect and give me the "English" files... Even when I manually try to change them to French.

 

[Dahak]

For the firefox thing, I have had on rare occasions that I had to clear out all the Microsoft cookies.

Also I double checked my links, and had some errors in them so I fixed my links in my original post

if you want the french updates for them, you can click on the link for and change the country code in the address from en-us to fr-fr which will give you french France

 

[boomerang]

I have this exact problem going on. Installed a new copy of 7 on a computer yesterday evening that was running Vista. Left WU running overnight and in the morning it was still trying to find updates. Been researching the problem this morning.

Just before I saw this thread I was able to get it to download Win10. Screw 7 and it's issues.

Hopefully 10 runs well on it. It's a system I built for a friend back in 2008 and he's passing it on to his daughter. If 10 is a dog, I will follow the steps outlined by Dahak in post 2.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Windows 10 is no dog. I've been playing with it in dual-boot configurations with Win 7, using the "Classic Shell" on one system and the default Windows desktop on another. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable about it is the decision to drop Media Center. A web-site for Media Center HTPC enthusiasts his offered a "hack" of the Win 8.1 MC version and directions to install it. It works flawlessly -- for now. So I continue to explore the alternatives available before killing my Win 7 partitions.

I also went through the troubles with the Windows Update malfunctions. My computer had been running at "idle" with 14% CPU usage for longer than I care to admit, showing the higher CPU usage arising from a SVCHOST instance -- a commonly reported symptom for this. So sometime around April, 2016, I took a closer look at the "installed updates" list and discovered there had been no successful updates since October, 2015.

The advice posted by others for this is spot-on. I had to try several different approaches, all available at self-help web-sites in recognition of the problem. And I had to "fix" two different computers which had that problem.

Since then, no problems. But if you miss the mid-month updates for a Win 7 install, you could run into this problem again trying to catch up.

On new clean installations of Win 7 SP1, you can expect the Update program to run for several hours until it detects some 200+ updates "available." A lapse in your patience will only complicate things, and lead to misery. After that, I divvy up the update list according to the date of issue, and install updates of different types ("Security . . " vs simply "update for Windows") in groups or segments.

But the essentials of it involve doing the installation of certain parts separately, as described by another poster -- including INternet Explorer. After that, I update the .NET Framework updates and other important items, followed by the groups of updates by date and type.

Then install IE 11
the Servicing Stack Update
Windows Update Client Update
then the Convenience Rollup
Then the June 2016 Rollup

I was prepared to install the Convenience and June 2016 Rollup as an alternative, but, as I said, with patience, I caught all 200+ of the updates the way they were originally available.

 

[nerp]

Windows 7 will take forever for a new system to get updated. The only real solution is to just use the computer until it tells you it's time to reboot, sadly. You can use the convenience update to speed things up some but there isn't a bulletproof quick fix.

 

[SimMike2]

The below worked excellent for me. I went to the catalog.update.microsoft.com site and directly downloaded the file, which is really a phantom service pack, in my opinion. Needed to use IE to go to the website.

Yes its a common problem. see the posts in the OS sub-forum

But the quick fix is to do the following

Download The following

IE 11
Windows update client update - KB3138612 (March 2016) https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369
Servicing Stack Update KB3020369 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369/
The June 2016 Rollup https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3161608

From the catalog.update.microsoft.com website download
Convenience Rollup - KB3125574
You will have to search with just the number

Once all are downloaded.
Set Windows Update to Never Check for updates.

Then install IE 11
the Servicing Stack Update
Windows Update Client Update
then the Convenience Rollup
Then the June 2016 Rollup

If it asks to reboot do so.

Once done it should now take a more reasonable time to search for updates usually around 5-10 min

 

[Le Québécois]

For the firefox thing, I have had on rare occasions that I had to clear out all the Microsoft cookies.

Also I double checked my links, and had some errors in them so I fixed my links in my original post

if you want the french updates for them, you can click on the link for and change the country code in the address from en-us to fr-fr which will give you french France

Thank you so much for, well, the original post which wasn't intended for me but also for replying to my questions.

It took the better half of my day but I'm finally done with the update. Not all of your link worked for me but you did give the proper KB numbers and with that, I was able to successfully update. It's now up to my father to decides what he wants to do with his laptop(stay with 7 or go 10) but at least, it's now functional and once again, secure and updated.

I wasted I don't know how many weeks, not full time of course but still, trying to figure this out... I read so many articles and forums posts(not here), none of them able to give me the proper solution. I don't know why I didn't came on Anandtech's forums sooner. I've been a member for almost 17 years and I always ultimately end up here to ask for help and always get good replies.

Thanks again for the help!