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Fix: Windows 7 Update stuck on "Checking for updates"

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Woow!! I recently did a fresh install on a Windows7 laptop wich had a bad HDD so i put an SSD on it and so i went straight to the updates, no matter what steps i took on the damn laptop it would get stuck there checking for updates for days!! i even left it the hall night and still... This guide was a perfect fix, it found 209 updates in just a few minutes!!! Very nice guide on how to fix those damn updates man, keep up the good work!! I would've saved hours searching online for those fixes that didn't do nothing!! Thanks!!

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Glad this guide was helpful.

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Awesome!very helpful.I will redirect people to this when any similar issues are reported by the users.
Mark Yes below the post if it helped or resolved your problem

Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not represent the views or opinions of Microsoft.

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Thanks!

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Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. Stage 3 started checking for updates, on my computer, and ran for 12 hours before I finally decided to kill the process. I have been working on this problem for weeks, trying the above and others (Fixit50123,sfc and various KBxxxx.msu), but nothing works. Every KBxxxxxx.msu I try gets stuck "checking for updates." Even after two completely clean installs of Win 7 x64 I cannot get Update to run and my DataStore.edb rebuilds itself to a massive 976MB. I need a more aggressive fix.

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Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. Stage 3 started checking for updates, on my computer, and ran for 12 hours before I finally decided to kill the process. I have been working on this problem for weeks, trying the above and others (Fixit50123,sfc and various KBxxxx.msu), but nothing works. Every KBxxxxxx.msu I try gets stuck "checking for updates." Even after two completely clean installs of Win 7 x64 I cannot get Update to run and my DataStore.edb rebuilds itself to a massive 976MB. I need a more aggressive fix.

This is a very aggressive fix; in fact, the most aggressive that I know of. Did you follow the article carefully, in order?

Deleting the SoftwareDistribution folder and running the Fix-It will enable the any KBxxxxxxx that you download to install correctly. Also, before running any KBxxxxxx, try checking the service statuses as noted above.

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Thank you!!

I tried may things for 5 hours before I meet you...

It works.... very well...

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Unfortunately, this didn't work for me. Stage 3 started checking for updates, on my computer, and ran for 12 hours before I finally decided to kill the process. I have been working on this problem for weeks, trying the above and others (Fixit50123,sfc and various KBxxxx.msu), but nothing works. Every KBxxxxxx.msu I try gets stuck "checking for updates." Even after two completely clean installs of Win 7 x64 I cannot get Update to run and my DataStore.edb rebuilds itself to a massive 976MB. I need a more aggressive fix.
 if you use kb3102810 do it network unplugged, because the "fix" trigger windows update agent which for whatever reason will try to connect to microsoft update server and then... trigger the dreaded loop.

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I finally got Update to work correctly by changing the setting to "Never" check and then Manually requesting check for updates.  The process took ~20 hours but it finally produced an installation list with 191 updates.  I discovered the obvious secret; "too leave it working" and to be "very patient" from a technet article that commented that the Windows Update server was complete overloaded by >5GB updates for Windows 10 and the fact that Windows 7 is effectively now on the lowest priority. So the message to all is "if it reports no errors, leave Update to keep searching, even if this takes 24 hours or more.

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Very helpful article and worked as described.

I had a fresh Win7 Enterprise install that was stuck looking for updates for around 2 hours. I ran this fix and it found 160 updates after around 20 minutes of Checking.

A+

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Last updated March 11, 2024 Views 576,226 Applies to: