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WUAUSERV 100% CPU

Thomas Grassi
Thomas Grassi asked
on
Windows 2012 R2
SQL 2012 Enterprise
WSUS 6.3
Windows Vista Business 32 Bit

On my Windows Vista Laptop which is domain joined all of a sudden I am getting 100 % CPU all the time
After researching I found the when I stop BITS and WUAUSERV services my CPU drops to nothing.

So I did a tasklist /svc /fi "imagename eq svchost.exe and found wuauserv the fending service

I then went to the registry key

HKLM\SYSTEM\CSS\Services\WUAUSERV and changed the value from 0x20 to 0x10  but that did not help either

Then I rebuilt the Computer and put Windows 7 on it with the same results.

Then I put back on Windows Vista Business and applied all the updates via WSUS server
All was good even after Service Pack 2 was installed for Vista.

Then I found the problem

This update applied
Windows Update Agent version 7.6.7000.256  

This was installed automatically I cant seem to uninstall it.

This is what is causing the high cpu and now the computer will not report to my WSUS server

This is a 32 bit Laptop and I believe only 1 core on the CPU very low end.

But this has been working for years with no issues

Windows Update Agent version 7.6.7000.256  is the problem I know for sure

I tested this theory by doing a System Restore on the Vista computer and then the cpu went back to zero.

If I stop the services it goes back to zero

But then the policy triggers the service again every 6 hours to check for updates from wsus server and that when the cpu spikes to 100%

Can I stop the Windows Update Agent from updating?

Is there a patch or update I might be missing?


Any ideas on this


Thank you

Tom
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Distinguished Expert 2019
Commented:
on windows 7 :
First always make sure you have at SP1 installed. That is required
Install the following patch: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810
 And then install the newer version of the Windows Update Agent:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949104
Hector2016Systems Administrator and Solutions Architect
Commented:
Hello Thomas,

What you are seeing is normal for every low profile computer.

The Windows Update client makes a system check to verify what files need to be updated. This is a very intense task that will use full CPU and disk if that resources are low. It is very probably that once the computer get fully updated, you will see the WUAUSERV go to normal levels again.

I suggest you to use WSUSOffline, it is a free tool that will install all the needed updates starting by upgrading your Windows Update Client to the last version which is the one with best performance.

I also recommend you to use Windows 7 instead of Vista whenever you can.

Have a nice day.
Thomas GrassiSystems Administrator

Author

Commented:
Thanks guys

I will rebuild this as a Windows 7 soon