Windows Update not working on Windows Server 2008 R2
Solution 1
Follow the instructions at the bottom of this KB article to enable extended logging.
Also verify if Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
is running correctly at the machine in question.
Check if BITS download jobs are being created by Windows Update Service running, as administrator:
bitsadmin /list /allusers
Could you post your windowsupdate.log to a place like http://pastebin.com/?
You may also try to stop Windows Update Service (wuauserv) using
sc stop wuauserv
and delete the following folder and registry keys (and sub folders / sub keys):
%windir%\softwaredistribution\datastore
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
Delete all BITS jobs related to Windows Update like in the example below
bitsadmin /cancel {4706732F-9E3A-456B-9696-F0D18B8EA327}
Having done that, start wuauserv
again:
sc start wuauserv
Solution 2
Since I anyhow do not have permissions to edit @motobói s answer here all I did to get Windows Updates back up working. I did have to do a little bit more/different though.
Stop the following services:
- Windows Update Service
- Windows Installer
- Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
Delete the following folders contents
- %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore
- %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\Download
Delete registry keys (and sub folders / sub keys):
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate
Ensure services are set to start automatically (delayed)
- Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)
- Windows Installer
- Windows Update Service
Restart all services or reboot server
Start windows update and schedule it
Deleting registry results in loss of windows update settings. Start windows update once manually to ensure its working. Set update strategy as you want. (automatically)
Further more maybe try
As for me the steps mentioned above made windows update work again, but collected from the others answers you may'd like to try the following things:
Could you please to follow instructions at the bottom of this KB article and enable extended logging?
Check, too, if BITS download jobs are being created by Windows Update Service running, as administrator and delete all BITS jobs related to Windows Update like in the example below
bitsadmin /list /allusers
bitsadmin /cancel {4706732F-9E3A-456B-9696-F0D18B8EA327}
Try reinstalling Windows Update Agent
WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe /wuforce
thx @motobói and @Brian Deragon for bringing me on the right track
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![Brian Deragon](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ddDgb.jpg?s=256&g=1)
Brian Deragon
C# Programmer and architect for modern .NET 4.5 solutions. Business owner of web design and IT support company.
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
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Brian Deragon almost 2 years
The Windows Update screen comes up and I click on Download Updates. I then get the bar scrolling across the screen and it says Downloading Updates but the counts never increase (0 KB total, 0% complete). I've tried several things found via Google to resolve this but so far nothing has worked.
Quoted from https://serverfault.com/questions/166318/windows-update-not-working-on-windows-2008-r2-standard-x64, except I don't have an unlicensed SQL Server 2008 running. I have also tried several things from Google, including WUInstall and setting up a separate WSUS server and nothing has worked so far.
I've re-registered and sfc'd about every DLL I can think of that might be at all related (a little over 150), I'm not using any proxy servers.
I've downloaded the updates manually, but Windows stalls with a "Searching for updates" that never finishes searching.
Only errors I can find in my log are as follows:
2012-01-30 05:00:10:014 980 f40 AU WARNING: Failed to change download properties of call, error = 0x80070057 2012-01-30 07:43:06:441 980 fc0 AU WARNING: Returning due to error from GetDownloadProgressUx, error = 0x8024000C 2012-01-30 07:43:06:443 980 fc0 AU WARNING: GetInteractiveInstallProgress failed, error = 0x8024000C
Upon googling the first error, I came across some resolution steps:
Click on Start and type services.msc into the search box, then click on services as it appears above. Scroll down the list to Windows Update, right click on it and select stop.
Type this into the search box %windir%\SoftwareDistribution click on "Software Distribution" in the box above and delete the entire contents of the "Download" folder.
Go back and turn the Windows Update service back on.
Which, I've already tried, and no luck.
Later on, it says to download Microsoft's
MicrosoftFixit.wu.Run.exe
and try that, which I have and no luck. I've also tried Microsoft patchWindows6.1-KB947821-v14-x64.msu
which stalls with the ever so annoying "Searching for updates on this computer" forever.I've tried downloading the third-party FixWU and nothing.
I've tried forcing a reinstall of the Windows Update agent using
WindowsUpdateAgent30-x64.exe /wuforce
I've checked the PC for anti-viruses, rootkits, mal-ware, nothing of that sort. I reset all the VPN connections, and turned off the firewall temporarily, still nothing.
I've checked access permissions on C: and it's sub-folders, both built-in Users and Administrators have read/write privileges.
Also tried everything in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949358, and manually rebuilding/reinstalling the Windows Update agent.
I'm at my wit's end here, not sure what else to do/try, any suggestions???
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Brian Deragon over 12 yearsSorry, nothing worked, finally ended up paying Microsoft support to fix it (ended up taking them 13 hours????) and they didn't even tell me what was wrong in the end, only that "lots of little problems cause big problem" his words exactly.