windows update just seems to hang while checking.

Back in November I wiped off my Mom's old computer so that she could give it away and put Vista back on it. I ran it for 2 days trying to get updates after installing the manual updates and it still didn't find anything so I gave up and left that for the next owner. Other than those manual updates all I got on it was sp2 and IE9 both of which I did using manual downloads. M$ has screwed something up somewhere and they don't care to fix it. Dare I say that it might be intentional?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    Windows 8.1 Industry Pro x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion Elite HPE-250f
    CPU
    Intel i7 860 Quad core 2.8 ghz
    Memory
    8 gb
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 5770 1 gb ram
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware 25 AW2521HF
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 &1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-pavilion-elite-hpe-250f/
  • Operating System
    Windows 2012 R2 Data center/Linux Mint
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Poweredge T140
    CPU
    i3 9100 3.6GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T
    Memory
    8GB 2666MT/s DDR4 ECC UDIMM
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    1 TB & 360 GB x2
    Other Info
    https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/productdetailstxn/poweredge-t140?~ck=bt
Just a heads up that Microsoft has delayed the scheduled release of today's February 2017 Patch Tuesday updates due to a "last minute issue" - see the notification just posted on the MS TechNet site titled February 2017 security update release.

Woody Leonhard has started a discussion on his AskWoody.com site at Microsoft calls off Patch Tuesday that will likely be updated as further details become available.
------------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v51.0.1 * NIS v22.9.0.68 * MBAM Premium v2.2.1
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    32-bit Vista SP2 Home Premium
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6835ca
    CPU
    Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz
    Motherboard
    Quanta 30D2 (U2E1)
    Memory
    3 GB RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Hard Drives
    250 GB SATA Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 5400 rpm
    Other Info
    Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0
  • Operating System
    64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 5584
    CPU
    Intel i5-8265U @1.60/1.80 GHz
    Motherboard
    Dell Inc. 07R8NW
    Memory
    8 GB DDR4 SDRAM
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 256 GB KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD
    Other Info
    Microsoft Defender * Malwarebytes Premium * Firefox
Just a heads up that Microsoft has delayed the scheduled release of today's February 2017 Patch Tuesday updates due to a "last minute issue" - see the notification just posted on the MS TechNet site titled February 2017 security update release.

Woody Leonhard has started a discussion on his AskWoody.com site at Microsoft calls off Patch Tuesday that will likely be updated as further details become available.
------------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v51.0.1 * NIS v22.9.0.68 * MBAM Premium v2.2.1

Thanks as always, lmacri. Are pre-installs expected to be necessary this month?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 546
    CPU
    Sempron LE-1300
    Memory
    2GB DDR SDRAM 800MHZ-2X1GB DIM M
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200
    Sound Card
    VIA High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    320GB NCQ Serial ATA (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache
Are pre-installs expected to be necessary this month?

Hi VFN:

We can't answer that question until we know what updates are being released for Vista SP2 for the February 2017 Patch Tuesday updates and a few of us have had a chance to test possible candidates on our own machines. If another speed up patch is required this month I suspect it will be another Windows kernel-mode driver or graphics component update with Win32k.sys in the file manifest. Vista SP2 is quickly approaching the end of extended support on 11-Apr-2017 and I think it would be overly optimistic to hope that Microsoft has purged some expired updates and cleaned up the supersedence chains to speed up the "Checking for updates..." hangs for Vista SP2 as they did for Win 7 SP1 last month (see post # 497).

I expect Microsoft will post an official announcement on the MSRC TechNet blog at https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/ once the February 2017 Patch Tuesday updates are released. Just a reminder that January 2017 was the last month that Microsoft published a monthly Security Bulletin Summary for security updates released on Patch Tuesdays. As of February 2017, users who want to view Microsoft's list of available security updates must search their new Security Updates Guide database and its associated Software Update Summary. See the MSRC TechNet November 2016 blog entry Furthering our commitment to security updates as well as Woody Leonhard's InfoWorld article Microsoft to revamp its documentation for security patches for details.
------------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v51.0.1 * NIS v22.9.0.68 * MBAM Premium v2.2.1
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    32-bit Vista SP2 Home Premium
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6835ca
    CPU
    Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz
    Motherboard
    Quanta 30D2 (U2E1)
    Memory
    3 GB RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Hard Drives
    250 GB SATA Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 5400 rpm
    Other Info
    Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0
  • Operating System
    64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 5584
    CPU
    Intel i5-8265U @1.60/1.80 GHz
    Motherboard
    Dell Inc. 07R8NW
    Memory
    8 GB DDR4 SDRAM
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 256 GB KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD
    Other Info
    Microsoft Defender * Malwarebytes Premium * Firefox
Thanks, lmacri.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 546
    CPU
    Sempron LE-1300
    Memory
    2GB DDR SDRAM 800MHZ-2X1GB DIM M
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated ATI Radeon HD3200
    Sound Card
    VIA High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 32" HDTV
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    320GB NCQ Serial ATA (7200 RPM) w/ 16MB DataBurst Cache
Just a heads up that Microsoft has delayed the scheduled release of today's February 2017 Patch Tuesday updates due to a "last minute issue" - see the notification just posted on the MS TechNet site titled February 2017 security update release.

The MSRC TechNet blog February 2017 security update release has now been revised and states "UPDATE: 2/15/17: We will deliver updates as part of the planned March Update Tuesday, March 14, 2017". I assume that means we won't see any new security updates released until the March 2017 Patch Tuesday updates.

I've made a minor revision to my step-by-step instructions for speeding up Windows Updates on page 1 of m#l's thread Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours and noted that the current instructions are now valid to 13-Mar-2017.
------------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v51.0.1 * NIS v22.9.0.68 * MBAM Premium v2.2.1
 
Last edited:

My Computers

System One System Two

  • Operating System
    32-bit Vista SP2 Home Premium
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion dv6835ca
    CPU
    Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz
    Motherboard
    Quanta 30D2 (U2E1)
    Memory
    3 GB RAM
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Hard Drives
    250 GB SATA Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 5400 rpm
    Other Info
    Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1-1.0.365 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0
  • Operating System
    64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 15 5584
    CPU
    Intel i5-8265U @1.60/1.80 GHz
    Motherboard
    Dell Inc. 07R8NW
    Memory
    8 GB DDR4 SDRAM
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 256 GB KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD
    Other Info
    Microsoft Defender * Malwarebytes Premium * Firefox
What would you recommend for the following:

I have a Vista disk image that consists of an early Vista Home Premium x86 OEM disc updated directly to SP1 and then SP2 using the stand alone installer packages. From that point it has all updates installed up to around June 2015. Nothing else has ever been installed apart from PC specific drivers etc. It is just Vista updated to that date.

What would you recommend to bring this image up to date ? If I turn on updates it just locks up as per this thread.....

I would really like to bring it fully to the end update wise if possible.
 

My Computer

Well those 5 updates certainly did the trick. Many thanks for that (and to all who have contributed to this mammoth thread). I grabbed the updates from the MS update catalogue and installed all 5. I then did a manual 'check for updates' as I have Windows Update turned off at the moment and that ran quickly and correctly finding 79 in total. These were installed in batches, 2015 followed by Jan to June 2016 and July to Dec 2016 followed by the remaining 2017 ones.

All installed correctly. Yea :) I now have a fully updated image with ZERO failed updates. New Disk image taken for recovery purposes and now I can rebuild the system. I have been running W10 on this 10yr old Acer laptop but it is struggling and gets bogged down, I suspect due to buggy drivers (NVidia Ge-Force Go6100 graphics mainly).

I'd forgotten how visually attractive Vista can be with its soft outlines and shadows when running Aero.
 

My Computer

Hi, can I ask for some help, please?

Manual installation of KB3191203, KB3203621, KB3203859, KB3205638 and KB3204723.Regards, VZ
A relative's PC was upto SP2, and last updated in March 2016 but his Windows Update was hanging so I thought this would also be applicable to me. So I manually installed those - except the IE related one because it said it was not needed (I first had to install IE9) which I later downloaded & installed both. Unfortunately, despite Mooly's success, I gave it half an hour and it still hadn't found any updates (nor were there anything in .../SoftwareDistribution/Download/ to suggest it was actually doing something). I then tried following this:

I've made a minor revision to my step-by-step instructions for speeding up Windows Updates on page 1 of m#l's thread Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours and noted that the current instructions are now valid to 13-Mar-2017.
I followed the 'If Windows Update failed to install your December 2016 Patch Tuesday updates' steps,

KB3078601 (rel. 18-Aug-2015) - was already installed on the system
KB3109094 (rel. 07-Dec-2015) - said it wasn't applicable
KB3185911 (rel. 13-Sep-2016) - said it wasn't applicable
KB3191203 (rel. 11-Oct-2016) - had already downloaded and installed earlier
KB3203859 (rel. 08-Nov-2016) - had already downloaded and installed earlier
KB3204723 (rel. 13-Dec-2016) - had already downloaded and installed earlier

Slightly perturbed that I couldn't see the 2nd and 3rd as installed, nor would it let me install them, I nonetheless ran a Check for Updates. I left it for two hours and as feared, found it still hanging. I've since noticed in that post, the mentioned German site (wu.krelay) seems to mention simply KB3216775, which I don't remember installing - should I have just tried that?

Thanks.
 

My Computer

Hi DeathBlow,

KB3216775 isn't a critical update for the issue.

The Cumulative Security Update for IE is critical only when it applies. It only applies when IE9 is installed.

KB3109094 and KB3185911 don't apply because they've been superseded. KB3109094 is included in the couple KB3205638 + KB3191203. KB3185911 is included in the couple KB3204723 + KB3205638 (split supersedence).

An additional issue may arise from MS Office installed. As to which updates are required, depending on the version of MS Office, see:

Microsoft Community

Regards, VZ
 

My Computer

Thanks Volume Z

I think you've cracked it. I know from looking at the system's Update History it has Office installed (and to some extent updated), so when I'm next there I'll determine which version MS Office it has and I'll try installing and see if that's successful.

Much appreciated.
 

My Computer

Thanks Volume Z

I think you've cracked it. I know from looking at the system's Update History it has Office installed (and to some extent updated), so when I'm next there I'll determine which version MS Office it has and I'll try installing and see if that's successful.

Much appreciated.

Hi Volume Z

So I've had a look and unfortunately what complicates matters is they only have the 2007 Powerpoint Viewer installed so I'm unsure on which to select from that Microsoft URL linked. I've taken the trouble to snapshot their Office-related update history for your reference, so hopefully you can determine which is needed (I'd try myself but I don't know of a resource which shows which updates supersede one another) from that page:-

X5Ymlgr.png

Thanks again.
 

My Computer

You're welcome. :)

In anticipation of Patch Day March I'd like to alert all users running IE9 of the Cumulative Security Update for IE, all users running Office 2003 or 2007 of the updates for Compatibility Pack SP3, all users running Office 2007 of the updates for Excel 2007 SP3 and Word 2007 SP3 and all users running Office 2010 of the updates for Word 2010 SP2 and Excel 2010 SP2.

The reason why preinstallation of what is widely considered a speedup update is effective is because the update itself triggers the issue if Automatic Search has to deal with it.

Automatic Search will only have to deal with an issue-triggering update if the update is applicable for the installation. An update becomes inapplicable by being installed or superseded.

The number of applicable triggering updates rises by having IE9 or MS Office installed. It rises between one (IE9 yes, Office no) and five (IE9 yes, Office 2007 yes).

The total number of updates to install in advance on a regular Patch Day ranges between one (IE9 no, Office no) - the well-known Kernel-Mode Drivers update - and six (IE9 yes, Office 2007 yes) - the Kernel-Mode Drivers update, the Cumulative Update for IE, the updates for Compatibility Pack, the updates for Excel and Word.

The lightness of Patch Day January was due to the absence of any update for Kernel-Mode Drivers, for Internet Explorer 9 as well as for Office 2003, 2007 and 2010.

Regards, VZ
 

My Computer

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