How to ensure Windows Updates on Windows 2016 is actually installing and in Progress and not spinning?

I have Windows 2016 servers in our mix.  Lately the newer VM's that have been provisioned seem to struggle with updates.  If i select to manually update, they seem to sit and try, perhaps??? Seems the updates are available items change, but downloading always stays at 0%.  I have left these servers alone for 24 hours and still not complete, still in this state.  And since there isn't a detailed list of what it's trying to install or give me the option to pick, I have no idea if its 5 or 50 updates.  I have the same issue when trying to add additional languages.  Never seems to complete.

I've read other users have had complaints around this process.  However; since it's been out for a bit now, wonder if any of you experienced Admins have any tips on how to get this moving forward?  This is just for initial setup, once the server is configured it is added to the monthly tool for updates.  

I've tried the typical process:

net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
Ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.20190225a
Ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.20190225a
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver

But this doesn't seem to offer any improvement.  Thoughts are appreciated.  

From one Admin to another, this worked a lot better in 2012 and lower.

Thanks in advance.