Problem after installing Updates Agent 7.6.7600.256

[wither 3]

"Aren't the ISOs provided by Ex_Brit suitable"

Looks like there won't be any updates for those via WU. None.

Just for information, these are the updates installed by WU after I installed Vista 64x from Ex_Brit-

 

[Vistaar]

Just for information, these are the updates installed by WU after I installed Vista 64x from Ex_Brit-

I suspect that you got quite a few more updates after manually installing the four “speed-up” patches, but that method is ancient history now. This is what all the commotion is about in August 2020: Windows Update SHA-1 based endpoints discontinued for older Windows devices

 

[wither 3]

I didn't have to run the "speed-up" patches after installing the ISO and was quite amazed that WU actually found any updates. I see there's no SHA-2 patches to install for Vista. I guess one would have to install all the updates for 2008 to use the one for 2008 SP2.

 

[lmacri]

I didn't have to run the "speed-up" patches after installing the ISO and was quite amazed that WU actually found any updates. ...

Hi wither 3:

Assuming Ex_Brit's ISO is only splistreamed with SP1 and SP2 then I'm not sure how you could have received the remaining ~ 200 or so security updates released between May 2009 (the release date of SP2) and April 2017 (Vista SP2 end of extended support) without installing the required 4 or 5 "speed up" patches. When you search your installed updates at Control Panel | Programs and Features | View Installed Updates does it show all the Vista security updates released on the April 2017 Patch Tuesday shown below (excluding updates that might not be relevant to your system like MS Office 2007, etc.) are installed? [Note: When searching the installed updates, enter the full KB number in the search box (e.g., "KB4015380" and not a partial string like "4015380")]?

This image is an old screenshot of my Windows Update History captured 11-Apr-2017 that shows the final batch of updates delivered by Windows Update on the April 2017 Patch Tuesday update. The three highlighted in red were the "speed up" patches (including the KB4014661 monthly rollup of IE9) I had to install manually on that April 2017 Patch Tuesday to fix my "Checking for updates..." hang and allow Windows Update to run to completion.



If those ~ 200 security updates released after May 2009 are still missing from your system it might be a moot point now. As Vistaar noted, the required "speed up" patches probably won't fix Windows Update now that Microsoft has deactivated the Windows Update servers for Win XP and Vista as of 03-Aug-2020 (see Windows Update SHA-1 Based Endpoints Discontinued for Older Windows Devices), and I added a note to my instructions on page 1 of m#l's thread Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours a few days ago to warn users about this.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

 

[Vistaar]

I didn't have to run the "speed-up" patches after installing the ISO and was quite amazed that WU actually found any updates.

Your April 2019 adventures with “speed-up” patches were documented in ScousaJAY’s old thread beginning here. Your dual-boot Vista/Vista system is in great shape AFAIK, and I would caution against any drastic changes.

 

[Volume Z]

After 5 years of disruption, the Vista general update search issue has ended by ending Windows Update itself.

 

[wither 3]

​

For Imacri- I have all but three of those updates- 3191830, 4014984, and 890830. I don't even know what the compatiblity pack is and don't remember seeing it before I installed the ISO. Correction: I do have the 4014984 update installed.​

​

 

[lmacri]

I didn't have to run the "speed-up" patches after installing the ISO and was quite amazed that WU actually found any updates. I see there's no SHA-2 patches to install for Vista. I guess one would have to install all the updates for 2008 to use the one for 2008 SP2.

Hi wither 3:

Sorry, I obviously misunderstood your comment in post # 43 and didn't realize that you were referring to a clean reinstall you performed back in 2019 that was already patched to end of support using the 4 or 5 "speed up" patches.

According to Vistaar's post #19, applying the Windows Server 2008 patches to add SHA-2 code-signing support to Vista SP2 would change the OS build to 6.0.6003.xxxxx and break Windows Update, so that workaround isn't going to fix the current Windows Update errors that started on 03-Aug-2020. If you still want to add SHA-2 code-signing see my thread Adding SHA-2 Support to Vista SP2 After August 3, 2020 in the MSFN forum. I believe Vistaar is posting in that thread as user Vistapocalypse.

Just for information, these are the updates installed by WU after I installed Vista 64x from Ex_Brit-

I'm not sure how your image in post # 41 relates to the current discussion in this thread about Microsoft's deactivation of the Windows Update servers for Win XP / Vista on 03-Aug-2020, but post # 9 of this thread about the Windows Update Agent (WUA) self-test likely explains why the first Windows Update you ran back in 2019 was able to update to the latest WUA v7.6.7600.256 (rel. June 2012) before it began checking for available security updates for the Vista SP2 OS and started hanging on "Checking for updates...". I'm guessing that first Windows Update was also able to install an update for the Windows Defender virus definition database since these virus definitions aren't part of the OS.

I have all but three of those updates- 3191830, 4014984, and 890830. I don't even know what the compatiblity pack is and don't remember seeing it before I installed the ISO.

Then you likely don't have to worry about those three missing updates. The MS Office Compatibility Pack SP3 is an optional MS Office add-on that allows older products like MS Office 2000/2003/2007 to work with files with newer Open XML formats like .docx, .xlsx, etc.. Assuming you even have the Compatibility Pack add-on installed, KB3191830 is the April 2017 Excel converter for the MS Office Compatibility Pack SP3 that has been superseded (replaced) by KB4461607 (rel. Feb 2019).

KB890830 was the April 2017 definition update for the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. KB4014984 was the April 2017 Security and Quality Rollup for NET. Framework 2.0, 3.0, 4.5.2, 4.6 on Windows Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 (note: if you have a .NET Framework v4.5.x or 4.6.x that isn't patched to 11-Apr-2017 or later and need to install KB4014984 see the April 2020 warning I added to my instructions in m#l's thread Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours about this update).

If you have any further concerns about these April 2017 updates I'd suggest starting a separate topic.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

 

[wither 3]

Thanks for the explanation Imacri. The only comment I have is that I have Office 2007 (student version) and all the formats you mentioned for the compatibility pack are already supported. I do have the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 3 (SP3) installed (no KB associated with it) but don't know if it is related to the Compatibility Pack. As said, this should be discussed in another thread.

Correction: looking at the update history, I find I do have the kb4014984 update installed. That ISO from EX_Brit is pretty up to date.

 

[Vistaar]

KB4014984 was the April 2017 Security and Quality Rollup for NET. Framework 2.0, 3.0, 4.5.2, 4.6 on Windows Vista SP2 and Server 2008 SP2 (note: if you have a .NET Framework v4.5.x or 4.6.x that isn't patched to 11-Apr-2017 or later and need to install KB4014984 see the April 2020 warning I added to my instructions in m#l's thread Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours about this update).

I would imagine that wither 3 has the certificate, since his clean install was a year before the certificate issue emerged. He posted in April 2019 that .NET 4.5.2 was installed, so who knows why he never got that update. I’m not sure if it could be manually installed now, since wither has been running build 6003 since he installed the BlueKeep patch a year ago.

 

[Vistaar]

Correction: looking at the update history, I find I do have the kb4014984 update installed. That ISO from EX_Brit is pretty up to date.

No, Ez-Brit’s ISO does not contain any post-SP2 updates - but this forum is certainly most fortunate to have a brilliant guru like you! Keep up the good work wither 3!

 

[wither 3]

I didn't mean to imply that it contained any of the server 2008 updates issued after the Vista April 2017 updates. Windows Update says I have 237 updates installed.

 

[Vistaar]

I didn't mean to imply that it contained any of the server 2008 updates issued after the Vista April 2017 updates. Windows Update says I have 237 updates installed.

I certainly agree that the ISO did not contain any Server 2008 updates; but would I be correct in guessing that most of your 237 updates were installed on April 9 (or perhaps 10) of the year 2019?

 

[wither 3]

Yes. It was just pointed out to me that I had installed these updates

KB4015195

KB4015380

KB4012583

KB3205638

from Volume Z in this thread-

https://www.vistax64.com/threads/windows-update-just-seems-to-hang-while-checking

after I had installed the ISO,

and that enabled the WU download of the addition updates after SP2. Damn, that was only a year ago, how could I forget?

 

[Vistaar]

I had installed these updates...after I had installed the ISO...

I believe that is correct. Your link doesn’t seem to work for me (perhaps only because I’m on my iPhone), but here’s your April 10, 2019 post.

That method of getting Windows Update to work on Vista by manually installing certain patches was discovered by a German with screen name Dalai back in 2016. Sadly, the method is no longer useful as of this month; so this forum contains an immense amount of obsolete advice regarding Windows Update.

 

[Vistaar]

After 5 years of disruption, the Vista general update search issue has ended by ending Windows Update itself.

Hello Volume Z.

As I recall, your major objection to patching Vista against the BlueKeep vulnerability (or installing any other patch more recent than March 2019) was that it would break Windows Update for Vista. Now that Windows Update has been broken for Vista in any case, I wonder if you now look more favorably on updating Vista to build 6.0.6003?

 

[Volume Z]

No, because I've noticed further unwanted effects. On Build 6.0.6003, I can't keep explorer.exe from constantly consuming around 50 percent of my sole CPU core.

 

[Vistaar]

...I believe that's what took me to the .6003 installation but I'd have to review the other thread on this. I won't install the 2008 Server updates since that's what I was doing when the MBR got screwed up. Note that I have 64 bit.

@wither 3 have you suffered from high CPU usage by Explorer.exe running build 6003?

 

[wither 3]

Not really-



This might help-

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFhhX7E1Xyk

 

[Vistaar]

Not really-

I never noticed such an issue either - but of course you and I both have multi-core processors. I think you were wise to take Microsoft’s advice regarding BlueKeep (not to mention the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, etc).