Issues updating Windows 7 and 10
Status: Resolved
Publication date: 2017-12-28
Last edited by: Garyf
Last updated: 2023 - 08 - 26
The problem
So, I had a problem come to me with a Windows 7 and Windows 10 machine that was always updating all the time, sometimes taking hours at a time without allowing the users any time any notice that the computer was about to shut down.
The resolution
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Device: Lenovo
Operating system: Windows
Software: Windows 7, Windows 10
Guidance for Lenovo, Windows, Windows 7, Windows 10
To solve this I had to reset the Windows Update components.The first thing thing you need to do is create a system restore point. Depending on the version of Windows this is done different.
With Windows 7
Right click on the start button, select control panel and navigate through system maintenance and systems. In the left hand part of the screen hit system protection, then create. You will be presented with a box, type in a description of what the restore point is for, then click create.
With Windows 10
Click on Start, type in create a restore point, click on the create a restore point that comes up, then simply click create.
Reset Windows Update components
First we need to open the command prompt as the administrator.
This is done differently depending on the version of Windows:
For Windows 10, press and hold (or right click) the Windows button. Select Command Prompt (Admin). If you get User Account Control box, click yes.
For Windows 8.1 and 8, from the start screen swipe in from the right side of the display and click on search. Search for CMD. Press and hold, or right click on Command Prompt and Run as Administrator.
Finally, Windows 7, type in cmd, right click on the command prompt or cmd and run as administrator.
Now we have to stop a number of services, these include:
- BITS,
- Windows Update,
- Cryptographic.
To do this run the following commands separately:
- net stop bits
- net stop wuauserv
- net stop appidsvc
- net stop cryptsvc
Now we need to delete the qmgr*.dat files. From the command prompt run:
- Del “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\qmgr*.dat”
The chances are you are already in your Windows directory, but on the off chance you’re not, run:
- cd /d %windir%\system32
Now, we need to run the following, I found some worked, some didn’t, so if you get an error saying that Windows can’t find the file don’t worry about it:
- regsvr32.exe atl.dll
- regsvr32.exe urlmon.dll
- regsvr32.exe mshtml.dll
- regsvr32.exe shdocvw.dll
- regsvr32.exe browseui.dll
- regsvr32.exe jscript.dll
- regsvr32.exe vbscript.dll
- regsvr32.exe scrrun.dll
- regsvr32.exe msxml.dll
- regsvr32.exe msxml3.dll
- regsvr32.exe msxml6.dll
- regsvr32.exe actxprxy.dll
- regsvr32.exe softpub.dll
- regsvr32.exe wintrust.dll
- regsvr32.exe dssenh.dll
- regsvr32.exe rsaenh.dll
- regsvr32.exe gpkcsp.dll
- regsvr32.exe sccbase.dll
- regsvr32.exe slbcsp.dll
- regsvr32.exe cryptdlg.dll
- regsvr32.exe oleaut32.dll
- regsvr32.exe ole32.dll
- regsvr32.exe shell32.dll
- regsvr32.exe initpki.dll
- regsvr32.exe wuapi.dll
- regsvr32.exe wuaueng.dll
- regsvr32.exe wuaueng1.dll
- regsvr32.exe wucltui.dll
- regsvr32.exe wups.dll
- regsvr32.exe wups2.dll
- regsvr32.exe wuweb.dll
- regsvr32.exe qmgr.dll
- regsvr32.exe qmgrprxy.dll
- regsvr32.exe wucltux.dll
- regsvr32.exe muweb.dll
- regsvr32.exe wuwebv.dll
Nearly there.
We now have to reset the Winsoc, in your command prompt, run:
- netsh winsock reset
Those services we stopped before, well guess what, we need to restart them, run the following in your command prompt:
- net start bits
- net start wuauserv
- net start appidsvc
- net start cryptsvc
Now restart the machine.
In theory that should be job done. There is a more aggressive way to make these changes, but this is a good starting point.
If you still can’t get it to work, I quite like my Mac and Fedora.