New version of the Windows Update troubleshooter

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I just noticed in the KBNew list that Microsoft modified its Windows Update troubleshooter early this morning. The Windows Update troubleshooter, KB 1
[See the full post at: New version of the Windows Update troubleshooter]

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JDeC, Elly, SueW, HiFlyer, MrBrian, Fred, AJNorth, WildBill, Pepsiboy

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I had a laptop that would not resolve an ‘update’ issue for the last couple of days and the new troubleshooter fixed the issue.  Thanks!

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What were the steps you took as I too had trouble installing a security update for IE11?

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The actual files within WindowsUpdateDiagnostic.diagcab are dated May 2016 or earlier. I had tried this last year after I first installed the April 2017 Security Only update which blocked Windows Update for two of my three Haswell i5 CPUs. I tried it again after I uninstalled the April 2017 Security Only update. That too was a no-go to fix Windows Update. I had to restore the OS partitions of those two computers from offline backups.

On the other hand, the update troubleshooter has come in handy in the past when I used it on a couple of computers at the office which had Windows Update issues does indeed fix a variety of issues.

Here is one trick to remember when reinstalling Windows 7 in order to avoid installation failures for some of updates:

1. After installing IE11, immediately configure IE11, and then turn off Protected Mode in IE11 for the time being.

2. After the new Windows 7 computer has been fully updated, at least up to the point where one has to then make the decision as to whether to go Group A and install the Monthly Quality rollups or to go Group B and instead install the Monthly Security Only rollups, re-enable IE11’s Protected Mode.

3. Occasionally an older update may show up in the build process. If any update fails to install, try disabling IE11’s Protected Mode, and then immediately try to reinstall the failed update.

4. Remember to avoid KB3133977 which is the bitlocker update. KB3133977 will fail to install on Win7 computers which do not support bitlocker, and can also brick some ASUS computers. KB3133977 was presented as a recommended update and not as a security update.

Some updates were released before IE11 was released. If Protected Mode is enabled in IE11, then some updates will fail to install since those updates are not aware of the Protected Mode feature and can not successfully check IE or integrate into IE if Protected Mode is enabled.

 

4 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, HiFlyer, woody, AJNorth

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Actually never encountered that. In fact I usually enable enhanced protected mode (64-bit mode on Win7, 64-bit + run in appcontainer integrity on 8.1) as soon as I get the chance. Interesting observation none the less.

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HiFlyer

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Not sure what’s new because the tool is the same shipped a year ago, and none of the code (the tool is just a bunch of PowerShell scripts) has been modified. Maybe they just bumped the version of the KB article?

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That’s entirely possible.

I didn’t mention any specific changes because I couldn’t find any – but if somebody has the time to wade through the wayback machine, it might make for interesting reading.

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Noel Carboni, AJNorth

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If permissible to do so, I should like to put in a strong plug for the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/) which, for those not familiar with it, is a stultifying assemblage of information – virtually anything that one can imagine from A to Z – that is continually being added to, and which is also dependent upon the support of its users.

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GoneToPlaid, Noel Carboni, SueW

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I wonder how many disks (and what file systems) such services use…

-Noel

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AJNorth

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It’s the new Galactic Parsec Volumetric Storage System ®, using the yet-to-be-released QMFS (Quantum Mechanical File System) — in the General Relativistic Mode, of course.

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Cascadian, Elly

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Does it have an actual User Manual with comforting lettering on the cover?

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Yes, but it’s a combination of Quaternion Notation and Greek, alas (the good news is that there’s also a Braille version available).

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Cascadian

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Using the Windows Update troubleshooter is only one of multiple steps listed in article Fix Windows Update issues.

Also, there is a related but more advanced KB article: You can’t install updates on a Windows-based computer.

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AJNorth, woody

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It was like an April fools joke.  You run it ,then it says can`t fix.  Then it has a link for other suggestions.  One of them is ”  Ask Friends”.    Meaning go back to Ask Woody for help.

4 users thanked author for this post.

GoneToPlaid, AJNorth, Noel Carboni, Fred

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Could be a coincidence but after running the trouble shooter my hidden infamous Kb2952664 showed up again and I had to hide it again.

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Coincidence confirmed, I did not run the tool. I have been getting my MSE definition updates through Windows Update for a couple of weeks now. A temporary exercise to monitor an unrelated issue.

KB2952664 the superpromoted version had vanished from the ‘Restore Hidden’ list and had become Optional, published today, quoted size 6.4MB. Immediately hid the b***** yet again.

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Geo wrote:

It was like an April fools joke. You run it ,then it says can`t fix. Then it has a link for other suggestions. One of them is ” Ask Friends”. Meaning go back to Ask Woody for help.

How synical, the doctors doctor had a doctor who didn’t know nomore.
This community is a place to return to, for sure

* _ ... _ *

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Noel Carboni

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Frankly, the troubleshooter has never ONCE done me any good when a Win 10 configuration gets to the (seemingly inevitable) point where it stops accepting updates. And how am I supposed to get the “better” one when a system already doesn’t update?

The “let us manage your system for you” thing falls entirely on its face when a) they don’t log/emit any useful information that even the most dyed-in-the-wool geek could find, and b) their “fix it” tools don’t fix it.

And no, reinstall Windows every 6 months is NOT a viable option.

-Noel

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BobbyB

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@Noel yeah me either, it normally tells me what I already know or I have to go in the Software Distribution Folder with a “Hatchet” or take out the errant update using DISM at the X: prompt.

Although for win7-8.1 just a simple batch file fix’s most if not all and if not more draconian measures are called for.

net stop wuauserv
net start wuauserv

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Yet one gets pretty darned good at reinstalling Windows rather quickly. A couple of iterations of reinstalling Windows quickly transforms the average user into an expert at doing it. Maybe this is part of the Customer Experience which Microsoft talks about? I wonder if Microsoft counts Windows re-installations as new installations in their metrics?

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Cascadian

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@GonetoPlaid lmao yeah it makes you wonder, the biggest, and allegedly best, “Flagship” of the “Windoze” family aka Win10 has probably the quickest install time of the lot going back years. I always thought it was down to improving Hardware. Could this be by design for those little “niggly” problems that just wont go away?

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They have a new replacement for WindowsUpdate.log.

It requires a special tool to use (which as it turns out was so complicated to use they made a second special tool to use the first tool). Now you can recover some of the text that would have been in WindowsUpdate.log (after the tool downloads the debugging symbols for your OS).

Special note: If you are running any version of windows 10 before 1709 and have ANY updates installed the debugging symbols won’t work and you will won’t be able to read most of the log.

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Thing is they didn’t do it accurately. Of the Windows 7 path, Step 4 condenses their own KB971058 into a suggestion that doesn’t work. Step 5 updates an obsolete KB3200747 (in case you remember) by half.

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geekdom, Elly

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Have a toolkit comprised of uninstallers and troubleshooters. Work through them one by one until results are attained — either Microsoft or third-party packages. At some point, a particularly stubborn piece of software will refuse to cooperate and you will wind up digging it out of your system, or alternately putting it into your system, piece-by-piece.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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Bottom line is, it’s not a tool for geeks who prefer to customize and harden their Windows setup. Basically, the tool just checks if there is an Internet connection and attempts to establish otherwise, checks if the Windows Update service is running and starts it otherwise, and checks for updates and attempts to install them if available.

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The Troubleshooter does a lot more than that. It checks for Registry entries and reregisters the service and the components as necessary. It also will report if the Windows Update History or logs are out of sync.

The most common cause of Windows 10 MS Updates mechanism errors in my experience come from caches, History and Software Distribution files or folders being messed up or not connecting properly with Windows Updates components. Much of this can be addressed by doing a thorough Disk Cleanup, cleaning up Windows Updates in the process. Reboot, and probably the updates wheel will spin to recreate the Updates History and logs. Then run MS Updates, restart even if this fails, and if the updates still do not work, run the Troubleshooter. If all of these steps fail, a non-destructive Repair Reinstall of Windows is probably the next step upward (or, downward).

-- rc primak

4 users thanked author for this post.

AJNorth, Cascadian, woody, Elly

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