Here we go again: Win7 updates frozen at 0%

So, ever since the "wondrous" release of Win10, updates have become a chore. You have to make sure no sneaky updates for Win10 prep are installed.....or any sneaky Win10 info you don't want.
Win10 may be wonderful for you, but not all of us are thrilled and eager

I don't mind that you have to install them 2-3 at at time.....I'm not in a bug hurry.
And, for my desktop, they do eventually install.

That is not the case with the laptop.
It's running 64-bit Win 10.
It installed 3 updates on the 14th, 3 on the 15th, and one yesterday morning.
Then...NOTHING....froze at 0% for up to an hour....and this is doing one update at a time.

We ran sfc /scannow and that came up clean.

We emptied SoftwareDistribution folder....and yeah, I know we should have renamed it, but the first links I found said to empty it. Afterwards, we ran update, and all the uninstalled updates and files repopulated the folder.
We did a deep anti-virus scan.

So, now I come to you:
Any ideas....up to and including just "turn off" the updates altogether.
Not a fan of a clean reinstall....just a wee bit too stressful ATM....I've never done it before, but do have discs.


Please feel free to offer constructive ideas......and installing Win10 is not an option ATM.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Have you tried a system restore back to before you downloaded the updates ?

Otherwise you could try a repair as opposed to full install with your discs

a reply to: Discotech

We've thought about that, but then we would lose whatever we were able to download.
And doesn't scannow show no Windoze files are corrupt?

I'm puzzled as to why some updates went through, and others not.
Also, we tried the Defender Update this morning, and it failed.

ETA
By repair, do you mean chkdsk???

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Repair and restore should only revert things you've installed and windows system file/registry related items, anything you've downloaded (apart from updates) should be fine, but just in case you could always back them up to another partition if you have one or a usb stick ?

By repair I mean repair, Chkdsk only checks your HDD for errors on the drive

a reply to: Discotech

How is a repair done?
I'm only familiar with chkdsk, and scannow.

I got my mother a new PC a few months ago with a fresh install of Win 7 on it. Got it home. And it started auto updating, for the next 51 hours!

51 hours to update. Insane.

And even then about half the updates 'failed', with no reason given by Windows, just 'failed'.

So I switched off auto-updates. Enough of that nonsense.

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Have you tried a system restore back to before you downloaded the updates ?

Otherwise you could try a repair as opposed to full install with your discs

this was my recommendation as well also you might consider try restoring any drivers you've updated recently back to an older working version and then try updating

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

windows.microsoft.com...

originally posted by: Painterz
I got my mother a new PC a few months ago with a fresh install of Win 7 on it. Got it home. And it started auto updating, for the next 51 hours!

51 hours to update. Insane.

And even then about half the updates 'failed', with no reason given by Windows, just 'failed'.

So I switched off auto-updates. Enough of that nonsense.

some of your Windows updates failed because Windows needs to reset for the options to take hold and without that reset it won't allow a new updates to adjust settings and they fail. What you might want to try doing it continuously restarting and updating as you go along just to make sure that some of the updates take hold and once they do you should be able to continue installing the rest

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Boot from your windows disc and it should give you the option to run repair

Bare in mind that repair will delete any of your personal settings and anything in documents/settings and your desktop will revert to fresh install status. But most programs will remain installed providing they're NOT installed to selective profiles.

A System restore is the much safer option if it's possible to do but if not repair is really the only option (as far as I know)

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I hate to be THAT guy, but did you try the Microsoft Fixit for common Windows Update issues?

a reply to: Discotech

I'll try a system restore, first, then.

But most programs will remain installed providing they're NOT installed to selective profiles.

Does this mean things like Malwarebytes and Avast will remain??

a reply to: theantediluvian

Actually, no I didn't, so thanks.
I'll try that BEFORE I do a system restore.
Do you have any idea what that FIX IT does?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Yeah they should all be fine unless when you installed you didn't install with Admin privileges and instead only installed to specific profile

Best advice I can give you is, if in doubt back anything important to up

i've had the same problem of being stuck at 0% before, booting in safe mode and trying again worked.

we got a solution for this and it's called OSX

a reply to: yeahsurexxx

But then they would have to adopt a whole douchey image.

a reply to: Rikku

That is an interesting idea, thanks.
I'll try that as well.....or at least keep it in mind should this happen again.

a reply to: Discotech

OK, thankds I understand the difference now, and not a huge issue to reinstall those programs....if that happens.
Those were likely NOT installed as an Admin.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I honestly have no idea what this particular one does but they typically do things like verify/fix registry settings, check dll registration and clear queues.

BTW, did you check your event logs for any update related errors?