Windows Update hangs on a clean install

[Blayze]

I just reinstalled Windows 2000 on one of my machines and now when I visit Windows Update it just freezes up. When I click Express, etc... it will start to look for updates and just remain at the "Checking for the latest updates for your computer...".

I left it running for around 40 mins and it still remained at that screen. Nothing has been changed since the install.

 

[networkman]

Check the date. A number of Update problems can be caused by date issues. I ran into same problem a while back - month/day was correct but year was like 2036 or something.

 

[Blayze]

The date is ok.

It may not be this computer. I just checked on another machine and it does the same thing.

 

[networkman]

Could be a problem with your provider.

I just fired up one of my Win2k SP4 boxes here and was able to connect and do a slew of updates.

Perhaps you will find THIS PAGE of help.

 

[Blayze]

Our ISP recently changed names. They were bought out or something. Everything seems to be ok other than Windows Updates. Could this be a ISP issue?

 

[networkman]

I only suggested it because you said you tried another 2k PC and got the same problem, so that's why I fired up the 2k box at my house to see if it was a MS site issue or not.

Since I got through and was able to do updates okay, I know it's not a problem like Microsoft removing 2k updates or something. So it would seem to me to be an issue at your location. Are you at work or home? Could it be an issue with a firewall or proxy?

There's quite a few possible places to look to narrow down the problem. I provided the link to give you another route to get some of the various updates available for 2k.

 

[Blayze]

One of the systems seems to have fixed itself. I didn't change anything, but tryed the update again and it went though.

Thanks for the link.

 

[nweaver]

I have been having 2kPro update issues this last week or so as well. Throwing down a bit older image (SP4 with no updates versus an image that was updated as of 3 months ago) made it work. You can email MS for free support on WU issues.

 

[jscarrozzo]

sometimes this happens if you have automatic updates on. i am unsure if win2000 has auto updates, but if it does turn them off, restart and try again. I know this has happened to me a couple times in xp.

 

[John]

Screw Windows update and use the Autopatcher

 

[gwag]

Originally posted by: John
Screw Windows update and use the Autopatcher

good answer.

 

[Blayze]

I'll try the Autopatcher. Automatic Updates seem to work, but Windows Update always times out. I reinstalled again tonight to see if maybe I had a bad install, and I'm still getting the same thing.

Update: I used Autopatcher, and installed the updates. After the reboot Windows Update works again.

Thanks for recommending Autopatcher.

 

[Lanyap]

If you do a clean install of an older WinOS try downloading and installing IE6 first before you try Windows Update. I had to do this when I reinstalled Win98SE recently.

Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1

 

[TG2]

Yep, the above post worked for me aboujt a week ago, then it proceeded to DL the remaining 75mb of updates

 

[Blayze]

Something interesting happened with Autopatcher. I used it on another machine and it worked great. I rebooted the machine just a few mins ago and AVG tells me the Autopatcher install file I downloaded is infected with a trojan (downloader.zlob.djw). The MD5 matched on the file I downloaded. Could this be a false positive?