[MathewK]

Windows Update for Windows 7 64-Bit has been hanging in 'Checking for Updates...' mode. It used to hang at 0% (0KB) until I made some changes (listed below).

My computer is equipped with avast! Free Antivirus 2016 and Windows Firewall and my Internet connection (AT&T U-Verse on 2WIRE) appears to be functioning normally.

I have attempted to do the following:

• Choose one update instead of all.
• Restart the computer.
• Shut down the computer, unplug, and drain residual power.
• Search Google for solutions.
• Disable avast! and check for Windows Updates again.
• Run Microsoft Fix It.
• Use Auglogics Registry Cleaner to find errors and fix them.
• Run avast! to check for viruses.
• Run MalwareBytes to check for malware.
• Purge the Windows\SoftwareDistribution directory.
• Run a verified .bat file to reset Windows Update back to default state (logs and history).
• Uninstall avast! Antivirus and check for Windows Updates without antivirus software.
• Scan with Windows Defender.
• Reinstall avast! Antivirus and scan.
• Quick-Search these forums for answers.

In addition, I had virus definitions from September 2015, but avast! told me that the definitions were the most recent. After reinstalling the software, the definitions appear to be from today. Despite all of the aforementioned efforts, I appear to have not made any significant progress. I am not certain what else to do at this point and while the computer functions and I can proceed with work, I must have functioning updates.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[Masterchiefxx17]

Hi and Welcome to TSF!

Please follow this guide here to perform a System File Check of Windows:

How to run SFC /scannow from Command Prompt - Tech Support Forum

 

[MathewK]

Hello! Thanks for replying. I apologise for the delay. I ran System File Check and Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations. However, I have uploaded the resulted LOG file to this location:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k3man0m6v4tpsk/CBS.log?dl=0

Hopefully this information will be of use.

I also booted into Safe Mode to run Disk Cleanup, installed Windows Update Agent (by Microsoft), ran Fix WU, and attempted to repair Windows Update issues with Tweaking.com's tool since my original post.

 

[spunk.funk]

Windows 7 64-Bit has been hanging in 'Checking for Updates...Use Auglogics Registry Cleaner to find errors and fix them.

We do not suggest using 3rd party Registry Cleaners or optimizers, many times these programs cause more harm then good.
What is the state of your Windows 7? Is this a new clean install? Or have you been running Windows 7 for a while and it just suddenly won't update?
When you ran SFC /scannow, did it say that there were no integrity violations, or did it say it could not fix all the files. If it could not fix all files, Download SFCFix.exe (by niemiro) and save this to your Desktop and Right click and Run As Administrator. after that is done run SFC /scannow again.

 

[MathewK]

The problems were resolved yesterday at some point, but I can't specify what--if anything--corrected them. Basically, after over an hour of waiting, the 'Checking for Updates' status changed (despite having a fast Internet connection), but I've seen a set of updates before which also did not work, so that was nothing new to me.

Eventually, a small update (less than a megabyte, I think) took an hour or so to finally download and install, but the downloaded data was never shown (in percentage OR KB size). Eventually, I repeated this process for groups of other updates and the cycle became faster as time went on, even with larger updates. I managed to clear the whole update set over time and now Windows Update appears to function normally. I don't even know how to properly report the results other than what I mentioned, either. Thanks for your help.