• A solution to slow Vista update times?

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    #39843

    Just got this from MG: I just wanted to add my 5 cents to vista part of this topic. To solve that issue on vista there are 2 updates that contain both
    [See the full post at: A solution to slow Vista update times?]

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    • #39844

      Take the time to read this page…carefully.

      It’s updated every month.

      http://wu.krelay.de/en/

      “Valid as of: Jun 2016 (2016-06-14)
      Valid until (presumably): Jul 2016 (2016-07-12)

      This HowTo is valid for Win7 SP1 and Vista SP2, which have been newly installed or haven’t been updated for some time. It should also help on systems that were up-to-date last month – just install the missing updates from the list below in this case.

      These instructions were only tested on Win7 SP1. However, the list of updates should speed up the search for updates on Vista SP2, too.”

    • #39845

      Right. Got it. But I’ve seen reports that it doesn’t speed up Vista.

      Anybody have real-world results? (I’m not running any Vista machines any more.)

    • #39846

      I have both on my Vista systems and they don’t make the slightest difference in update times. It’s still painfully slow and svchost consumes huge amounts of memory.

    • #39847

      Ouch.

    • #39848

      I remain utterly bemused by this episode.

      I have Vista SP2. Since April I’ve been unable to apply any updates. (26 outstanding now)

      I’ve tried to run the updates again today with no success.

      I’ve also tried to run KB3145379 on its own, again with no success. (KB 3138612 does not appears in the important updates list)

      It seems to me that any attempt to install these updates simply sends the machine into an infinite loop.

      I would be very grateful to anybody who can explain to me in simple English what can be done.

    • #39849

      sorry woody. unless Microsoft releases a new Windows Update Client patch for Vista SP2 that’s similar to KB3161608/KB3161647 for Win7 SP1, Vista SP2 (and Win7 RTM w/out SP1) users will have to expect very long WU search/scan times using the outdated WU client from 6/2012 and have to install the newest WIN32K.SYS update from KB3161664 which is only a temporary solution.

    • #39850

      Woody;

      Looking carefully at wu.krelay.de/en… I clicked on all of the five listed KBs in the first box to see what they contain and THE DATES they were issued.

      Maybe the reason the KBs from MG in his post above (Windows6.0-KB3078601-x86 and Windows6.0-KB3109094-x86)

      don’t work for Vista SP2 is they are too old.

      Top to bottom:
      KB3161664 June 14, 2016
      KB3145739 April 12, 2016
      KB3078601 August 11,2015
      KB3087039 Sept 8, 2015
      KB3109094 Dec 8, 2015

    • #39851

      I have both KB’s installed on 2 Vista machines (one x86, the other x64) and currently Windows Update works as fast as it should. However, for the last 4 months it has always been that on Patch Tuesday Windows Update works slow again, unless I install the kernel patch as described on krelay.de manually first. For me this now seems to be the pattern: check for the kernel patch first, apply that update manually and then let Windows Update do its thing.

    • #39852

      I’m just imagining how we could have gotten to this point… A hypothetical conversation at Microsoft, perhaps?

      “We can’t make it fail outright; people could prove that we did that and that would put us in a legal bind.”

      “But if we do nothing and the older Windows installations continue to work as well as they do now, the users who COULD upgrade might not do so – certainly they haven’t up to now.”

      “Well, if we can’t break it, maybe we can at least make it more painful to continue to use, in order to get a few more die-hard users to move to Windows 10, where we need them to be for our future plans. Plus it would actually lend some credibility to our claims that Windows 10 is faster.”

      -Noel

    • #39853

      Off-topic but MS has KB3170735 available for download.

    • #39854

      Or it’s entirely possible that Microsoft has decided it isn’t worth their while to make Vista better….

    • #39855

      Vista SP2 has a several more months to go before it joins its predecessors in the unsupported end of life bit bucket.

      IMHO anybody who believes that MS will do any more than the absolute minimum for security patches during this sunset period is deluding themselves.

    • #39856

      Well, of course it’s not worth their while. Especially when they are in overdrive to push adoption of the latest Windows.

      So, customers, consult your EULAs and your lawyers if you like, but what do you really expect from these people? Their promise to provide updates is similar to the promises made by a life insurance company. Either they do what they contracted to do, or they don’t. The only way to enforce it, if it comes to that, is likely to be in court.

      No one else, except those in the same fix, cares, apparently. And that is what M$ is counting on.

    • #39857

      +1

    • #39858

      It worked for me. I tried Dalai’s workaround at http://wu.krelay.de/en/ this month and pre-installed KB3161664 on my 32-bit Vista SP2 machine. After that, the initial “Checking for updates…” phase for my June 2016 Patch Tuesday updates ran to completion in 20 min, compared to 5 or 6 hours for my April 2016 and May 2016 Patch Tuesday updates.

      I posted step-by-step instructions based on Dalai’s workaround in multiple threads in the MS Answers forum, including m#l’s thread at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-update/updates-not-working-it-has-been-searching-for/92cd6922-17f6-4730-b46b-91a480b95dd3?auth=1 and many Vista SP2 users confirmed that this workaround significantly speeded up Windows Update. A few users who had a newly installed Vista SP2 reported that pre-installing all five missing Win32K.sys updates listed on Dalai’s webpage allowed “Checking for updates…” to find their remaining ~ 230 missing updates in under 30 min.

    • #39859

      I should add that I searched Control Panel | Programs and Features | View Installed Updates for the two updates mentioned by MG in your original post and both were installed by Windows Update on my system in 2015 (KB3078601 on 16-Aug-2015 and KB3100904 on 10-Dec-2015) so they weren’t the solution to the slow Windows Updates on my 32-bit Vista SP2 machine.

    • #39860

      Anybody?? KB3170735? Hide? Pass? Update?

    • #39861

      I’m writing about it for InfoWorld at this very moment.

      (Hint: Pass.)

    • #39862

      Writing it up right now.

    • #39863

      “This update adds the capability to notify you about future Windows Journal developments.”

      And what else will you notify about?

    • #39864

      Interesting backstory here. It’ll be up on InfoWorld in a few minutes.

    • #39865

      Making something worse to use is not the same as neglecting to make it better.

      Yes, we are talking about updates. But we’re not talking about the CONTENT of the updates, but the pain in checking for them.

      It’s all very subtle, but have we forgotten that there was a time that you could get through an update check in relatively short order?

      Neglecting to update Vista would be just not releasing anything for it and having the update check tell you that in a minute or so.

      -Noel

    • #39866

      Noel Carboni says:
      July 5, 2016 at 2:14 pm

      “Well, if we can’t break it, maybe we can at least make it more painful to continue to use, in order to get a few more die-hard users to move to Windows 10, where we need them to be for our future plans. Plus it would actually lend some credibility to our claims that Windows 10 is faster.”

      -Noel

      Yeah, that’s exactly what i thought. I was exhausted, just in April had resolved this hang-on Vista SP2 update with some un-related updates, found it (don’t know how) on some site and now it re-happen!
      I was being just to give up and say “you won!” give me this furshlinger W10 but i can’t give up without get a chance to WSUS Offline.
      Can’t believe was so simple! Now everything it’s ok!And above all, without losing afternoon in search of what furshlinger unrelated update could be the turning point to unblock the update

    • #39867

      Just an update that more Vista users in the VistaForums and MS Answers community are reporting that the workaround at http://wu.krelay.de/en/ solves the initial “Checking for updates…” hang during Windows Updates.

      I was fully patched as of June 2016 so I only had to pre-install this month’s KB3168965 (MS16-090: Description of the security update for Windows kernel-mode drivers: July 12, 2016). I then ran a manual Windows Update to install my July 2016 Patch Tuesday updates, and “Checking for updates…” completed in 20 minutes (compared to 5 or 6 hours for my April 2016 and May 2016 Patch Tuesday updates). My entire Windows Update session, including detection, download and installation of seven important updates, finished in 45 minutes.

    • #39868

      That’s excellent news!

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