NightOwl

I just got back after a few days away. I started the computer and left it alone for ½ an hour. That is the approximate time it takes to check for updates for Windows and other MS products plus Microsoft Security Essentials which gets run separately.

I started the computer at 17:14, WU reports the last search at 17:27 and MSE at 17:36. After that, it takes another 10-15 minutes before the process "Trusted Installer" goes away and used RAM is released.

I have installed the most recent WUC and applied the regedit "Windows7-DisableOSUpgrade". I can't find a download link but I can send the reg-files to you by Email.

I install this WUC and the regedit each month because they are not included in my monthly image. The reason is that all manual installatons of updates must be done one at a time with a reboot in between, unless you have the time to wait for "Trusted Installer" to go away, making it available for the next update to be manually installed.

It's still a mess and I have given up. The "original" WUC works fine doing manual installations, at least but is still a worse memory hog and takes longer for the automatic searches than more recent versions of WUC. I like installing the updates manually, that's why I keep the "original" WUC in my images.

As a side note, I'll be away from home during the next few weeks and will check in only when time permits.

Christer


Christer wrote on Aug 12^th, 2016 at 7:57am:


Well, that certainly adds to the puzzle.

I found a web posting that seems very interesting--it may or may not have anything to do with your situation, but it speaks to how *what version of Windows Update* has been installed effects how a system interacts with the Windows Update experience.

But, before that, let me preface with some baseline information:

1.  My system has never experienced the never ending *searching for updates*, and/or the high CPU usage problem--don't know if those two things are separate problems, or part of the same problem.

The only anomaly my Windows Update has demonstrated was back in the Aug./Sept., 2015, time period when the *Get Windows 10* issues were developing.  I lost the icon in the *Notification* area saying the *New Updates* were available--Windows Update would not search for and find new updates and announce their availability.  My Windows Update was set for *Let me know when new updates were available, but do not download or install--let me decide*.  I could do a manual search and updates were found quickly and I could install them readily.

Sometime in the Sept./Oct., 2015, time period, I found the Registry hack that was supposed to block the *Get Windows 10* program from being able to *invade* one's system unannounced.  As soon as I applied that hack, my Windows Update was back to *normal*, searching for, finding, and announcing that new updates were available.  No high CPU usage--and no long waits for the icon to appear indicating that Windows Update had found the new updates.

2.  Prior to applying the above Registry hack, and since then--my system was never offered the *Get Windows 10* program.  I have always wondered why Microsoft was never interested in placing that program on my system!

3.  Since *forever* (since installing WinXP, and now Win7), I have pretty much followed the advice of the *Ask Woody* forum (thanks Brian--I think you pointed me to that website many moons ago!)--basically don't install the latest Windows Updates when they first come out--let the dust settle for 3-4 weeks--and if all seems well, then apply the updates.  Only have applied Security Updates, and Important Updates--never Optional Updates (unless there was a specific reason to do so, as explained on the Ask Woody site.  Driver Updates, if any, have only come from the manufacture of whatever device may have needed it--never from Windows Update.

So, my system is *patched* and up to date to Microsoft's recommended standards--I've not hidden or prevented Windows Update from installing *everything* it has recommended.  I have delayed installing a few updates when the Ask Woody website indicated that a persistent problem was continuing to occur, but eventually installed the update when the *all clear* notice was given.

4.  My motherboard is this one by Gigabyte:  http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3238&dl=1&RWD=0#ov .  I installed it (if I can remember correctly ?!  ) in the 2011 time period (wow--it's been that long!), and it is an Intel CPU based system.

If I'm not mistaken, Christer, you have a similar vintage motherboard from Gigabyte also, but yours is for an AMD CPU. 

When I first started reading about all the high CPU usage and long delays to get Updates, I thought maybe if was an Intel vs AMD difference--but that seems unlikely because it sounds like lots of Intel CPU systems are having the problem too--just not me (knock on wood!).

With all that said, I will point to the website in my next post that seems to shed some light on some aspects of using different Windows Update clients (i.e. versions of Windows Update).

NightOwl

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More or less the same on my system. CPU- and RAM-usage have become lower but still a pain in the rear end, until this last (?) version which actually isn't an Update to the Windows Update Client but bundled with other "improvements". Also, I don't know if it is connected with the new version of the WUC or the fact that GWX is no longer promoted but with this version, the regedit (mentioned further down) is no longer needed to keep the WU-icon in the notification area.

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I let the GWX (get windows 10) update install, checked out what happened. It checked system compatibility and let me know that it was compatible and ready to install. I never did it this route but used Ghost to roll back. Since then I have not installe anything remotely connected to GWX. I did have the same problem (no WU-icon in the notification area) but it has nothing to do with a specific version of the WUC. I have tested them all and without the regedit you mention, the WU-icon is gone.

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Yes, I used that regedit to get the WU-icon back in the notification area. I don't think it has anything to do with the GWX-update itself or to any specific version of the Windows Update Client that has been installed since "preparation for upgrading Windows" was launched. I roll back using Ghost each month and the updates to the WUC have not been included in the Images so, in this respect, the WUC on my system is the first one KB2990214 in the series of updates to the WUC that accidentally ended up in an image. On each occasion when a new update to the WUC had been installed, as long as I didn't connect to the internet (and automatically to WU) nothing was changed, the WU-icon was still there but as soon as it connected to the internet and WU, some way or another, WU removed the icon.

(I wonder how the original WUC, included in Windows 7 SP1 would behave in this regard? I could uninstall KB2990214 and find out but I'm not that curious since the "bundled update to the WUC seems to have cured most of the issues.)

That was not the only problem. No matter which version of the WUC was installed, as soon as it had been connected to the internet, manual installation of multiple updates to Windows 7 with a single reboot was not possible. I had to reboot after each one to "reset TrustedInstaller". Disabling WU in its settings made it possible to install multiple updates but this was clearly not what was intended, I hope. I label it the "biggest bug ever"! (I haven't tested this "bundled" update to the WUC regarding "manual installation of multiple updates with a single reboot" but next week I will, prior to rolling back to August.

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I do basically the same but I didn't ask Woody. I install them, say in May and create my Image. If something is wrong when June comes, I can roll back to April and take it from there. I have Images 6 months back but didn't notice the problems with KB2990214 until too late.

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Yes, GA-870A-UD3 rev 2.1 with the most recent BIOS version F5 (I think)

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AMD or Intel is one of an uncountable number of parameters and that's only the hardware. Next we have software, update status regarding Windows and other stuff. A member over at the WindowsBBS says that "there are not two systems that are identical due to all the parameters" and I tend to believe his statement.

Christer

Christer wrote on Sep 6^th, 2016 at 9:17am:


Good suggestions.  However it may be that 2nd glass of wine that aggravates the *fat finger* syndrome--at least in my case!  But, yes, it was the *browser's* short cut key strokes that was my undoing--not the forum's software.

So, the above link takes you to a forum posting by Ken Morley back on Jan. 19, 2016.  As you have noted, it is specifically in regards to a problem that occurs after a *fresh install* of Win7, and was not specifically aimed at the problem folks have been reporting to an older OS installation where they have long waits for the update search to occur and/or high CPU usage.  In Ken's case, Windows Update simply will not proceed at all--there's an endless wait and nothing actually happens.

But, there appears to be some important parallels to the other problem.  And there are, as of today, 499 replies covering 50 web pages which suggest that this is a problem more than a couple folks are having.  I have read through all the replies--it took a couple days at 100+ per session to get through them all--and there are some postings that suggest that this *solution* by Ken helped some folks having the slow updates and high CPU usage.  I plan on reading through the replies again--this time noting the specific replies that are of importance and trying to better summarize them here later.

You will see that there are *two* solutions listed.  There was the *original* that was from the original posting back on Jan. 19, 2016.  And, the *new* solution was posted only within the last week or so.  In the last couple of pages of replies, Ken has finally relented, and accepted that there was new evidence that there were newer *updates* that can be used than what he had discovered back in the Jan., 2016 time period.

To summarize Ken's findings, if you install Win7 from the original installation media, Windows Update works fine finding new updates and installing them.  But, as soon as you hit the SP1 update, then Windows Update stops responding shortly thereafter.  Or, if you install Win7 from installation media that has SP1 integrated into the installation media, again Windows Update stops responding shortly after the installation.  Apparently this does not happen on every system, and perhaps not every time--but obviously it's happening a lot based on the many replies to Ken's posting.  Ken speculates *I suspect that it (Windows Update) works fine for computers that are updated incrementally.*  I'm not sure why he thinks this--there's no *evidence* to support that statement--but........... who knows--there is no real *explanation* that helps resolve the *why* of this happening when it does.  But, he seems to have identified *what* seems to be going wrong--and how to avoid it happening in the first place.

Ken states that the freshly install Windows Update version is 7.5.7601.17514 dated 11/20/2010, if you are using Win7 with SP1 integrated in the installation media.  I have my original Win7 installation media that is without SP1 integrated, and I am unable to verify the Windows Update version because it can not be found on the installation media.  I actually downloaded an iso of Win7 that already had SP1 integrated on it from Digital River--the *official* source for installation media for Microsoft (no longer an available source) that I used to install my current Win7 installation, and that media also does not have the Windows Update file that can be *found* on the DVD--so I can not verify the version number of the file that was initially installed.

What I can say is that I did not experience the problem that Ken has described on my system.  I never had a problem with Windows Update.  My current version is v7.6.7601.23453 dated 5/13/2016.

What Ken says is that shortly after having SP1 installed, if you are connected to the Internet, Windows Update will *automatically* update itself in the background without any notification to the user.  And, if you experience the problem of Windows Update never updating after that, then the version number of the update will be v7.6.7600.320.  That updated Windows Update Client is not associated with any KB number and is not something that you can either install manually or *uninstall*.

So, more to come later.

NightOwl

I'm confused, yesterday I wrote:

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This morning, for some obscure reason, I checked again and now there are no files with the version number 7.5.7601.17514. Luckily, I copied the files to a separate folder, enabling me to follow any development. With reference to the attached screenshots (WUC.jpg):

7W2a is after uninstalling all updates to the WUC

7W2b is after connecting and letting WU update itself

7W2c is from this morning, thus after WU having checked for updates (yesterday) and a restart

The files with different version numbers are: wuapi.dll, wudriver.dll and wups.dll.

7.5.7601.17514, WUC of SP1, have the time stamp 2010-11-20

7.6.7600.320, updated files on the first and (?) second session, have the time stamp 2014-05-14

This indicates that WU ran on the original SP1 version for 3½ years until May 2014. Until then, things had worked fine (as I recall it) but why did "7600", indicating RTM, sneak in on a version of SP1 which should be "7601"? Fat fingers or ... ... ?

NightOwl

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I forgot to comment that the difference between my system with the WUC updates uninstalled and the system restored to a totally fresh state is the number of updates for WU to manage and I believe that "7.6.7600.320" actually would finnish ... ... later rather than sooner!