windows update just seems to hang while checking.

I received notification of Updates today after 30 minutes of waiting so I thank this thread for letting me know to wait. I still don't understand why this occurring and maybe someone can explain to me why Trusted Install completely hogs my CPU for 5-10 minutes after installing Updates.

Hi VFN:

I found this comment in the Drivers.com article How to resolve trustedinstaller.exe high CPU usage that might explain the CPU usage by the Windows Trusted Installer late in the Windows Update process:

"You may also find trustedinstaller.exe consuming a major portion of CPU resources for some time after new updates have been downloaded. This again is normal behavior. This process is designed to continue checking for new updates for some time after completion of the update scan. This, in turn, helps ensure that all available new updates are downloaded to your pc."

These slow Windows Updates started on my computer in August 2015 and typically consume 50% of my total CPU (i.e., complete saturation of one of my dual cores). I believe the AMD Sempron LE-1300 CPU in your Dell Inspiron 546 is a single core CPU so it wouldn't be surprising if the CPU consumption was much higher on your machine.

FWIW, this month's January 2016 Patch Tuesday Windows Update (11 Important updates - 9 for Vista / IE9 plus 2 for MS Office) completed today without errors but still took just over 1 hour from start to finish, with the "Checking for updates..." phase requiring about 40 min (from the 85 to 45 min marks in the image below) on my 32-bit Vista machine.

Windows Update Trusted Installer 14 Jan 2016.png
------------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox 43.0.4 * NIS 2014 v. 21.7.0.11
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
 

Attachments

  • Windows Update Trusted Installer 14 Jan 2016.png
    Windows Update Trusted Installer 14 Jan 2016.png
    26.1 KB · Views: 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
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 620
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 256 GB KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD
    Other Info
    Microsoft Defender * Malwarebytes Premium * Firefox
Thanks, lmacri. TrustedInstall is a pain after Updates. I've been having slow Updates for a while myself but not in terms of notification. (I set Updates to Notify.)
 

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
BTW, if I start the update what can I do to stop it if I don't want to wait? Just end the svchost.exe process? Can I do that safely? Is there any other process I should stop?

Thanks.

You can stop it, then, treat it like a stuck update and do the following

Go to start search box and type

cmd

Right click and select run as administrator

In the box that opens type

net stop wuauserv

press enter

type

ren c:\windows\softwaredistribution sd.old

press enter

type

net start wuauserv

press enter

restart computer


What this does
Windows updates are kept in a folder called Software Distribution
This series of commands stops Windows update service
Renames the software distribution folder to softwaredistribution.old
restarts the Windows update service

When you restart the computer the software distribution folder is recreated.
Windows will look again for updates
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD
    1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp
    1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset.
    Only ever used a laptop.
    Also use USB Freeview TV Card
    Lenovo Docking Station
    External Speakers
    Other bits a pieces as needed
I'm not sure what you're responding to here. if you saw sarcasm in my response there was none. Waiting, which a few people spoke about I think, allowed me to complete the Update process. I'm always appreciative of any responses I get to my questions here regardless of their helpfulness and always voice that.

My mistake. I thought that you where being sarcastic.
 

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
Thanks, ilikefree and no problem, townsbg.
 

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
No Patch Tuesday horror stories? Sure, updating Windows took an hour, but my PC didn't blow a fuse so why should I?

Don't worry, be happy. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium x86 SP2
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion Elite m9150f
    CPU
    Intel Q6600
    Memory
    3 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
No Patch Tuesday horror stories? Sure, updating Windows took an hour, but my PC didn't blow a fuse so why should I?

Don't worry, be happy. :)

Just an hour? Today I had 12 updates I think which, after the IE update failing initially of course, took closer to two hours! lol
 

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
More RAM might help somewhat, as gurus have been telling you elsewhere.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium x86 SP2
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion Elite m9150f
    CPU
    Intel Q6600
    Memory
    3 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
More RAM might help somewhat, as gurus have been telling you elsewhere.

As far as the task manager, I don't recall my RAM ever being highly taxed. My CPU is another story.
 

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
I only have 2 GB of ram although the Windows Vista 32-bit operating system can theoretically and technically use and support more than 4GB of physical memory or RAM by using PAE (Physical Address Extension) to access the memory remapped by the mainboard or motherboard above the 4GB address boundary, however, the x86 Vista really only manages 3.7 GB
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD
    1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp
    1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset.
    Only ever used a laptop.
    Also use USB Freeview TV Card
    Lenovo Docking Station
    External Speakers
    Other bits a pieces as needed
I can only answer for myself and can say I have no problems with it at the moment.
I did have a period about a month ago when it was very slow but they still went through if left to do it's thing.
I should point out I always set Windows update to notify me of available updates and not automatic.
I do get a nag message in security center telling me updates are not automatic but as I never look in my security center I don't care.
I have other programs that monitor my computer security state
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Thinkpad T400
    CPU
    Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo P8700 @ 2.53GHz
    Motherboard
    LENOVO 64734VM
    Memory
    2.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 531MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family
    Sound Card
    Conexant 20561 SmartAudio HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 800
    Hard Drives
    1x 180GB Intel 530 series SSD
    1 x 120GB Hitachi 5400rmp
    1 x 650GB Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    1x 1Tb Western Digital Elements 5400rpm
    Internet Speed
    Medium for New Zealand
    Other Info
    Weakest part of my computer is the graphics chipset.
    Only ever used a laptop.
    Also use USB Freeview TV Card
    Lenovo Docking Station
    External Speakers
    Other bits a pieces as needed
The nag can be turned off in security center.
 

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
I didn't have any problems with updates.
 

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
I didn't have a problem yesterday which was just a Defender update.
 

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
Hiya - My Vista home laptop has had this issue for a while now. I know for a fact it had some nasty malware on it that would regenerate upon removal. I finally broke down and purchased Spyhunter which removed it , and seems to have intercepted it at boot and done some extra housekeeping to remove it. Since then its not been back, and I had thought it fixed the Windows "timeout" update issue too, but later on it returned. There was a fix I tried on a youtube video which was merely removing what seemed to be 2 empty registry keys in regedit , which I believe may have been what really fixed it, but I cant find that video again. If I do Ill post it here. I have a hunch something else may be regenerating because if I run a sfc/ scannow in safe mode, it finds some corruptions, fixes them but cant fix them all, so I suspect this could be really whats the core issue. My Vista Ultimate x64 machine also has a issue where scannow locates corruptions, fixes them and they return next boot.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Ultimate x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Gigabyte
    CPU
    Intel Core I7@3Ghz
    Memory
    18GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Gforce GTX285
Welcome to Vista Forums, Teknoskillz. I do not think the Windows Update issue discussed in this thread is caused by either malware or corrupt system files, e.g. my system has neither. If you are seeking help with corruption reported by sfc, please start a new thread.

Lately I've been reading about Windows 10. and came across this: Windows 10 uses your bandwidth to send other people updates - Windows 10 Forums. This seems to confirm that Microsoft is trying to economize on server usage for Windows updates, to say the very least.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium x86 SP2
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavilion Elite m9150f
    CPU
    Intel Q6600
    Memory
    3 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Hiya Vistaar

Thanks for the welcome. Its just a theory I have not proven yet regarding the scannow findings. However its very coincidental, and system files do very often seem to come up corrupted during a check on that OS, and also on my Vista Ultimate 64 bit system. If one were to want to hijack Windows Update, I would imagine system files would be a very sneaky way to do it.

In my case, I dont believe the problem is the MS server being overloaded, because Windows update on my Ultimate 64 bit system never has not been out of the update loop at all in many years of use. Unless they use a seperate server for Vista ultimate, is the only way I guess this could be true. However the laptop with Vista home 32 bit, was fine until the nasty malware hit it months ago, so I am convinced its something to do with it. Still, I could be wrong, but if I find something solid , will post it here.



Welcome to Vista Forums, Teknoskillz. I do not think the Windows Update issue discussed in this thread is caused by either malware or corrupt system files, e.g. my system has neither. If you are seeking help with corruption reported by sfc, please start a new thread.

Lately I've been reading about Windows 10. and came across this: Windows 10 uses your bandwidth to send other people updates - Windows 10 Forums. This seems to confirm that Microsoft is trying to economize on server usage for Windows updates, to say the very least.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Ultimate x64
    Manufacturer/Model
    Gigabyte
    CPU
    Intel Core I7@3Ghz
    Memory
    18GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Gforce GTX285

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
My Vista home laptop has had this issue for a while now. I know for a fact it had some nasty malware on it that would regenerate upon removal. I finally broke down and purchased Spyhunter which removed it ...I had thought it fixed the Windows "timeout" update issue too, but later on it returned.

I have a hunch something else may be regenerating because if I run a sfc/ scannow in safe mode, it finds some corruptions, fixes them but cant fix them all, so I suspect this could be really whats the core issue. My Vista Ultimate x64 machine also has a issue where scannow locates corruptions, fixes them and they return next boot.
Hi Teknoskillz:

On my machine, these slow Windows Updates where the "Checking for updates..." phase can hang for 30 to 60 min during monthly Patch Tuesday updates do not appear to be related to a corrupted OS or malware. System File Checker (SFC) doesn't report any integrity problems with my 32-bit Vista OS (see image below). I initially suspected a malware infection but a malware removal specialist did not find any signs of malware on my system - see my Aug 2015 thread in Malwarebytes' Malware Removal Help forum titled Can't Run Windows Update After PUP.Optional.Spigot.A Removal.

SFC VerifyOnly 21 Feb 2016.png

Windows Sysinternals forum administrator MagicAndre1981 posted <here> that Microsoft released a patch (KB3050265) for the Win 7 Update Client to fix a similar problem on some Win 7 machines. This Windows Update Client for Windows 7: June 2015 at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265 reads in part:

  • This update addresses an issue in which system performance can be decreased during scans. This issue has the greatest effect on computers that have a small amount of physical memory.
At this point my best guess is that the Windows Update Client for Vista has a similar flaw that needs to be patched by Microsoft, or that Microsoft is deliberately throttling bandwidth during updates to give priority to Win 10 users. It's also possible that Vista users who see "Checking for updates..." hang for long periods of time have some software that runs in real-time (e.g., an anti-virus program) that is interfering with their Windows Update service (wuauserv) and/or connection to the backend Windows Update servers.

Just an aside, but you might want to read malware removal specialist quietman7's comments about SpyHunter in the bleepingcomputer thread spyhunter vs malwarebytes vs iobit. I'd suggest that you post in their Virus, Trojan, Spyware, and Malware Removal Logs board (read their Preparation Guide before posting) and let an expert perform a thorough diagnostic of your system for free.
------------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox 44.0.2 * NIS 2014 v. 21.7.0.11 * MBAM Premium 2.2.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
 
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
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel UHD Graphics 620
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba 256 GB KBG40ZNS256G NVMe SSD
    Other Info
    Microsoft Defender * Malwarebytes Premium * Firefox
Back
Top