Windows 7 won't download updates

[dennis thompson]

All of a sudden my windows 7 will not update. It just goes to update and says " 0 kb total, 0% complete" even if I let it run for hours it's always "0% complete"
Any thoughts on how I might fix this? (Microsoft was no help, what's new about that?)
I am not very tech savvy
Please don't suggest I buy an Apple

Thanks

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Is Microsoft even supporting Windows 7 any more?

[dennis thompson]

Is Microsoft even supporting Windows 7 any more?

They keep sending updates so I assume they are supporting it

[glenn bradley]

Extended support runs through January 2020.

[Larry Browning]

Have you "googled" it yet?
Try going to Google and type in your question "Windows 7 won't download updates" . See what that get you.
I found this solution doing that:
1. Open up command prompt as admin
2. Run command .. net stop wuauserv
3. Delete files within c:\windows\softwaredistribution\downloads\
4. Run command .. net start wuauserv
5 Do a Windows Update.


I don't know if it works but I would start there.

Here is the full post I found. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...l-updates.html

looks like the guy had to run windows update several times after he deleted the files in that directory to get them all.

[Rich Engelhardt]

1. Open up command prompt as admin

Right click on desktop and select new shortcut.
Type in cmd where it says - Type location of the items.
Hit next.
Hit finish when it asks for a name for the shortcut.

That will place a shortcut on the desktop.
Right click that shortcut and select - run as administrator.

That will open the command line window to allow you to type the net stop and net start commands.

That's the easiest way to allow you to run as administrator.

[Robert Engel]

I had the same problem. My computer guy said the system file folder updater called "Software Distribution" is probably corrupted.

I wouldn't do that without checking for error codes first. If you see an error 8007000E then use this link to fix: Here is the link to the fix I used and it worked.

You can get the error codes by checking the log. (Start>Control Panel>Review your computer's status>Windows Update (bottom left)>view update history.)

There is a second part of the procedure where you delete the "Software Distribution" folder and create a new one but I didn't have to do that.

If it works you'll get a whole string of updates and your computer will reboot then you know its working.

Mine hadn't been updated since 2013.

And then you'll get Microsoft's annoying little reminder to upgrade to Windows 10 which I refuse to do!

[Scott Donley]

Well, you are not alone. I just had the same thing happen on one of mine, last updated 3 weeks ago. Funny thing is my other 7 machine that has not been updated in months worked fine. No error code, just sits there 0/0. I give up for the day.

[Bruce Page]

After reading this this morning I checked both my win7 machines. Both Updated without any problems.

[Scott Donley]

Just an update. I tried everything I could think of from resetting Win update and reregistering it. system restore to last update , hiding all updates but one then trying to hide that one while unhiding one that I had hidden , plus a bunch of stuff I could find with Google. No luck. Last try I changed update settings to Automatically download but let me choose when to install. It worked ! I know not a fix, just a workaround but at least I have my updates.

[dennis thompson]

Just an update. I tried everything I could think of from resetting Win update and reregistering it. system restore to last update , hiding all updates but one then trying to hide that one while unhiding one that I had hidden , plus a bunch of stuff I could find with Google. No luck. Last try I changed update settings to Automatically download but let me choose when to install. It worked ! I know not a fix, just a workaround but at least I have my updates.

Scott
I tried several fixes none worked,l'll now try yours. Thanks for the info.