Windows 7, New Installation, Windows Updates fix (applies to windows 2008 Server R2 too)

rindi
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New Windows 7 Installations take days for Windows-Updates to show up and install. This can easily be fixed. I have finally decided to write an article because this seems to get asked several times a day lately.

This Article and the Links apply to Windows 2008 R2 server too.
You have just reinstalled Windows 7 on a PC. Now Windows Updates seems to be looking for updates and can't find any with no end.

What you first need to do is make sure Service-Pack 1 is installed. If not, download and install it:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5842


Method 1, which I have found works well:

Once the Service-Pack is installed and you have rebooted the System, you will need to download and install the newer Windows Update Agent:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949104

You don't have to reboot after it has finished, you can rather directly download and install the following KB:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

Now reboot.

(Make sure you install the Agent before the other KB, or it will take longer).

Now you can go to Windows Updates, and it will take a relatively short time, not days as before.

Method 2, but I have found this doesn't work as well:

Microsoft has recently released a "Convenience rollup update for Windows 7 SP1 and 2008r2 SP1". This convenience rollup includes most of the Windows updates that have been published since SP1 and the date the rollup was released. My experience with this though hasn't been too positive. I have tried it several times and most of those tries the installation failed, and Windows would return to the way it was before trying to install it. The other times when the installation didn't fail, it showed the same problems as on an newly installed system, where it would sit for hours at "Checking for updates..." without any progress at all, so in the end there was no time saved. But for if someone wants to try it, here are the instructions:

As before, the Service-Pack is an essential requirement. Then you will need to install KB3020369. In the Link below, use "Method 2: Microsoft Download Center", and make sure you get the correct version of the KB that fits your installed OS version:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369

After that, get and run the convenience rollup. You will have to use the Internet explorer for that, if it doesn't work in any other browser, then visit the "Microsoft Update Catalog" website to download it, as mentioned in the following link:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125574

But again be warned, this 2nd KB has never really worked for me and hasn't saved me any time.
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rindi
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Comments (28)

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Commented:
You can look again at the shutdown from the start menu. If there is a yellow explanation mark there, it has downloaded and installed updates, and if you do shutdown, it would finish installing them.

Commented:
Nope - after 24hr plus none of the 211 updates installed.  Start button did not have an exclamation point. Rebooting showed no new updates installed.

Started update again... but progress again shows 0% and 0%. Bummer.

Commented:
On a sheer hunch (and desperation) I selected Show Important Updates.  I unchecked all of them... scrolled down to the bottom of the list (where the earliest updates where.  I clicked the last three which included:

Definition update for Windows Defender KB915597
Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 KB 890830
Windows 7 Service Pack 1 for x64 based systems KB 976932

They installed cleanly.  I then selected the next 10, and they installed cleanly. Then clicked the balance, and they also installed cleanly.

I know... I earlier said the disk I used was a Windows 7 Pro SP 1 disk.  Double checking now, that is what it reads.
I also know that I checked Computer | Properties and it showed Windows 7 SP 1, as that was a requirement for one of the KB's you suggested.

So when is SP 1 not SP 1? I don't know, but that, or one of the other three listed above was the problem blocking the downloads.

Rindi, thank you very much for sticking with this thread. I hope the notes I added here will help others.
I use WSUS offline (wsusoffline.net).  After installing the update to Windows Update that you linked first, this will download all updates and install them in a cmd window.  Working at a school, I cannot have a computer take all day just to install updates.  This has cut the time down significantly, and I can make one offline install package to deploy across many computers.
Bakaka BakakaIT Technician

Commented:
Hi Randi,

Just a simple question here:

You mentioned that we must have the SP1 first installed on our machine.

Well i checked on my machine and i could not see the SP1 installed. Now i have visited the link you provided above and i see that there more than one files to download but i am not sure which is one to download?

Do i need to download all of them total to 5.4GB as per my attached file or i just need to select one?

Please can you help me which is needed for SP1 so i can download ?

Thank you
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