The automatic update subsystem performs an extremely useful function in Windows and other operating systems - it allows you to improve the performance of the OS without forcing the user to make any unnecessary movements. The principle of operation of the subsystem is very simple: the Windows system periodically polls remote servers and, finding there update packages that have not yet been installed on the computer, downloads them and then installs them as OS components.
Like almost any algorithm, the update search algorithm periodically fails. Then Windows 7 users can see a picture of an endless search for updates. That is, a looping process of discovering all kinds of service packs on the network. Why is this happening? – this is a question for Microsoft developers. It is important for us to find a “cure” against such a scourge.
The idea of automatic updates itself is completely natural. Almost every modern operating system embodies it in one form or another.
So what to do?
Brief list of recipes
Going in cycles and endlessly searching for updates is fraught with another problem for Windows: this service takes up computer resources and, I must say, not small resources. This applies to both processor time and RAM capacity. It is easy to verify this by calling during such a search "Task Manager" and looking at the status of resource indicators. Today there are several solutions to this problem in Windows 7:
- Tweaking the settings for automatically searching for updates.
- Complete deactivation of this service (not recommended, but widely practiced by users).
- Correcting errors in system files.
- Downloading and installing a special service pack.
As you can see, the choice is not great, but one of these procedures will definitely help. We recommend that you resort to suspending the service only if none of the other recipes have worked. The first and second of the proposed options are almost equivalent in their consequences; they differ only in the access point to the function of deactivating the update search service. We will begin our discussion with them.
Two ways to disable a failed service
You can stop the endless search for updates on the Internet with two simple manipulations.
Method one (use computer settings):
- Go to the Start menu -> "Control Panel".
- In the control panel window, click on the “ ” link.
- Click on the link "Settings".
- In the window that opens, expand the list "Important Updates" and select the option "Don't check for updates".
Method two (disable the service directly):
- Go to the Start menu again -> "Control Panel".
- Select a section "System and safety".
- Click on category "Administration".
- Launch the “Services” utility from the list.
- A window will open with a list of all computer services.
- We look for a service in the list called "Search for updates".
- Double click on its name.
- Deactivate the service as shown in the figure below:
Please note: you must restart your computer for the changes to take effect. In fact, completely disabling the service is not the best option - we discussed the reasons for this above - but if you don’t want to bother, then this remedy can be considered the best.
Editing system files
Problems with the remote search system can be caused by corruption in the structure or content of Windows system files. You can check whether this is true or not using a special Windows utility designed to scan such files and included in the operating system diagnostic tools. You can get to the utility as follows:
- Click on the combination “Win” + “R”.
- In the Run window that opens, there is a field for entering commands. Enter the command “cmd” into this field.
- A command line window opens in front of us.
- In response to the command processor prompt, enter the following: “sfc /scannow”.
- The system file scanning program starts and we just have to wait for it to finish.
The Windows diagnostic utility "sfc" does more than just scan files for damage. When she discovers such damage, she tries to correct it. For example, if any of the system files were “eaten” by a virus, the utility will restore it. At the end of the scan, the program displays a listing of detected errors in the file system with their brief description. You can read this information, or you can ignore it and restart your computer. If after a reboot the looping search does not resume, then everything is in order.
Service pack for service packs
Apparently, the problem of the loopy search for service packs has become so widespread in Windows that even vigilant MS support staff managed to pay attention to it.
Therefore, without further ado, the Windows manufacturer has released a special update package numbered KB3102810, designed to solve this problem.
This update fixes freezing errors during search. To get a “patch”, you need to go to the page www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49542(for owners of 64-bit versions of Windows this will be the address www .microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49540). Download the update package, install it into the system and the problem of looping the search for other Windows updates will not bother you anymore. In any case, that's what the developers say. We remind you once again that you need to restart your computer.
Greetings!
The Windows 7 operating system is not losing ground and is still the most popular today. It is used by millions of users around the world. And it’s incredibly upsetting when failures and other emergency situations occur.
One of them is a constant (continuous) search for updates in Windows 7. No errors arise, just a constant search. We will solve this pressing problem by considering several effective methods.
Method one - restart the Windows Update service
If after the above manipulation the problem remains, then move on to the next solution.
Method two - a recommendation from Microsoft to solve the problem of a long search for updates
- Open menu Start, enter the text in the search bar located there "Windows Update". The item of the same name will appear a little higher - click on it.
- In the Windows Update window, click on the inscription "Settings", which is located on the left side of the window.
- In the settings block under the name Important updates select the item under name from the drop-down menu "Do not check for updates..." and press the button OK, which is located at the bottom of this window.
- Next, restart your computer.
- After restarting your PC, you need to download updates in the form of files from the official website of Microsoft, the developer of Windows. After downloading, you need to run them and install them.
Update options exist for both x86-bit Windows and x64. Download those that correspond to the bitness of Windows 7 installed on you. If you don’t know the bitness of your system, then this article will help you with this.
And here are the files themselves:
- For x64 (64 bit) version of Windows 7: update file KB3020369 and KB3172605
- For x86 (32 bit) version of Windows 7: update file KB3020369 and KB3172605
Install the update with the alphanumeric index KB3020369 first, and then KB3172605.
Note: do not worry if an error appears when installing any of the above updates, it just means that it was installed previously.
When the updates are installed, restart your computer again.
- Now you need to repeat the first step and the second step of this guide, and then you need to enable the download and installation of updates. To do this, in the update settings window, in the block under the name Important updates you must select the item in the drop-down menu "Install updates automatically" and press OK to save the setting.
- All you have to do is wait for the updates to download and install. If the system was previously only reinstalled, then you need to wait quite a long time - up to a day.
If, after a while, nothing has changed and the problem with the “eternal” search has not disappeared, then move on to the next solution.
Method three - use the offline update installer for Windows 7
This method is based on installing updates from a specially created official update package for Windows 7.
A third-party developer downloaded most of the updates from the official Microsoft website and made a special installer that, upon startup, checks the system for missing updates and installs them.
After this, the problem with constantly searching for updates in Windows 7 will be solved, all subsequent updates will be installed through Windows Update, as it was before.
As we can see, there are many effective solutions, one of which will definitely restore functionality. Windows Update in your Windows 7 installation.
When working on the Windows 7 operating system, you may encounter the following problem... When the system tries to automatically search for updates (or you manually start the search for updates), it may happen that the search will continue endlessly. You will only see the inscription “Searching for updates...” and even several hours may pass without any results. As a result, no updates can be downloaded, but they can eliminate various glitches and generally improve the performance of the system! This usually happens with recently installed/reinstalled Windows 7, but I personally have never encountered such a problem on more recent versions of Windows. In this article, I will share ways to solve this problem with updates on Windows 7.
Windows updates are a necessary and important thing. These updates contain various improvements, fixes for Windows, which ultimately allows you to get rid of some glitches in the system, close various loopholes for hackers, etc. Although it also happens that new updates give rise to new glitches :) But in any case In case you need to update the system!
Now let’s look at ways to solve problems with searching for updates in Windows 7, i.e. when updates are searched for an infinitely long time and to no avail. And I’ll start with a solution that helped me personally when I encountered such a problem.
Basic solution. Installing a fix for Windows 7 that solves the problem with searching for updates
This is the method that I think will help most users who encounter a similar problem.
It consists in the fact that you need to manually install a special fix for Windows 7, after which the search for updates should work as expected. So, instructions...
In a few seconds or minutes, Windows 7 will find updates and you can install them!
If suddenly this method does not help, try a few more methods presented below.
Additional solutions to the problem (if the main one does not help)
If suddenly the main solution to the problem of searching for updates for Windows 7 does not help, then you can try a few more options.
- Use the Windows Update Troubleshooter.
Microsoft has a special program - a tool with which you can automatically fix some problems with the search for installing updates for Windows.
Scroll down a little on this page and you will see a Fix it window with a “Run” button. Click it.
The fixing tool will begin downloading to your computer immediately.
The downloaded file will be called WindowsUpdateDiagnostic. Launch it.
The process of searching and fixing the problems found will begin, which may take several minutes.
At the end, a result will be shown where you can see what was fixed and what was not:
If you see that some problems are not fixed, then restart your computer and try running the same tool again. After that, run a search for Windows updates and check if the problem is resolved.
- Checking Windows system files for integrity and fixing them.
It happens that some Windows files necessary for its proper operation are damaged, and sometimes something is deleted for various reasons (for example, due to virus activity). As a result, some functions in Windows may begin to work incorrectly, and this includes the search for updates.
There is an easy way to check Windows system files automatically and, if they are damaged, also automatically update them. For this purpose you will need the so-called Windows command line.
Open Windows Search and type “command prompt.” You will find the program you need. Right-click on it and select “Run as administrator”:
A black command prompt window will open. Enter the command: sfc /scannow (don't forget to put a space after sfc!) and press the Enter key on your keyboard to execute the command.
Windows system files will be checked and automatically fixed.
All you have to do is wait for the process to complete. The system will do everything for you.
Once the scan is finished, be sure to restart your computer and scan for updates to check if the problem is fixed.
Conclusion
I think one of the methods described above (especially the first) will help you solve the problem of searching for updates for Windows 7. I encountered this problem on Windows 7 several times, mostly immediately after installing a new “clean” Windows. Sometimes the problem went away on its own after some time, and sometimes it didn’t, and then method No. 1, described in the article, helped me. In any case, you shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the problem of finding updates for Windows, because these updates are important for the system!
In the seven, quite a long time ago, a bug appeared such as an endless search for updates, and everything would be fine, you can forget about updates, but the fact is that the update center service loads the processor almost 100%, trying to find them (updates).
There are two options here, either disable the update center service, or look for ways to solve the problem.
Since I am still a supporter of installing updates, and quite often set up computers, I was quite fed up with this problem, and after another unsuccessful “Search for Windows updates...” almost within 24 hours it finally brought me up and I “went” to Google.
The second solution to the Fix it problem is Microsoft's Windows Update troubleshooter. You can download it for free from here http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9830262(WindowsUpdateDiagnostic.diagcab). This utility detected problems with the update center, but wrote that the problem had not been resolved.
I’ll repeat myself on a clean, newly installed operating system and my conclusion is the same, something was messed up on the Microsoft servers and the seven stopped seeing updates without a kick. The disk image is original without any intervention, which I have been using for many years, with which there were no problems before, so Microsoft has definitely messed something up, I do not rule out that it was for the purpose of using newer versions of Windows.
This was not a big digression, and a personal opinion, but let’s return to the problem. Having received a message from WindowsUpdateDiagnostic that there were problems but were not resolved, I continued my search for a solution to the problem.
And so, the third solution. Clearing the update cache. To do this, open the command line (cmd) as administrator and write one by one:
net stop wuauserv
ren %windir%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.OLD
net start wuauserv
The fourth solution, installing the KB3102810 update, can also be downloaded for free from here https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/download/details.aspx?id=49540.
At first I didn’t want to install it, again it showed a search for updates, now in the installer window for this update. I turned off the Internet, rebooted the computer, and lo and behold, the update was installed! I rebooted the computer and turned on the Internet. Then again WindowsUpdateDiagnostic and here there was partial success, it gave only one error 0x8024402c.
It was found that this is usually an incorrect proxy server setting or an Internet problem. To set it up you need:
open Internet Explorer ->> Tools - Internet Options - Connections tab - LAN settings - Advanced and delete all exceptions.
I have no problems with the Internet, much less use proxy servers, but Internet Explorer is “evil” even in a clean, newly installed Windows, so I checked it just in case, but everything is as it should be.
And again, on the command line, run the command:
netsh winhttp reset proxy
Which in response said: “Current WinHTTP proxy settings. Direct access (no proxy)."
And finally, the last step in solving error 0x8024402c is to delete the files in the Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder. Actually, this was done in the third solution to the problem, but there the folder was renamed to SoftwareDistribution.OLD, and a new one was automatically created, and here the action is similar, but simply with clearing the contents without any renaming.
What I actually did was delete everything that allowed me to delete it from the SoftwareDistribution folder. I rebooted without much hope, launched WindowsUpdateDiagnostic and lo and behold! It showed that error 0x8024402c was fixed and there were no more errors!
I rebooted the computer again, opened the update center, spent about 15 minutes “Searching for Windows updates...” and finally it gave me a list of updates asking me to download and install them.
Having thrown out the excess, it turns out that if there is a problem, you need to do the following:
1. Download WindowsUpdateDiagnostic.diagcab (http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9830262) and make sure there are errors.
2. Download KB3102810, (https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/download/details.aspx?id=49540). This is an update for x64, I don’t know how it will behave on x32, but I’ll check it if possible. Although I mainly install the x64 system, I hope a similar solution to the problem will work on x32.
3. Turn off Wi-Fi or network card, install the downloaded KB3102810.
4. Restart your computer, turn on the Internet.
5. Just in case, check the proxy settings in IE and reset them via the command line netsh winhttp reset proxy.
6. Delete the files in the Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder, which will prevent the deletion from being skipped.
7. Restart your computer again.
8. Run WindowsUpdateDiagnostic.diagcab again and make sure that there are no errors or they have been eliminated.
9. We start searching for updates and after 15 minutes we receive a list of updates with a proposal to install them.
Well, actually, while I was finishing this manual, the updates were already downloaded by 94%.