Windows Vista forum: Windows Vista updates are available, but won't download and install

As this is a Windows Update issue, you are entitled to free technical support from Microsoft, regardless of current warranty status. Given their abilities to better troubleshoot such issues using their own diagnostic tools and non-public reference databases, I recommend you click here to begin a new support incident. There are simply too many possibilities and too much data in the resulting log files to adequately address in a forum setting, though others are more than welcome to provide their own suggestions.

Good luck.
John

Do contact Microsoft. The same thing happened to me with Vista. The MS support person in India had me report several things to him then reinstall Vista, which solved the problem. My other symtoms were Vista would not recognize my virus protection program nor let me run MS Defender.

XP is out of date, why bothered on it ?
I wondered you been caught by Vista update problem for a week, which never occur for me.
I format first HDD and re-install Vista every 3 ~ 6month, and it take you 1~2 hours at most. So don't be hesitant to do reintall when you find any problem in Windows. 2 hours is much more better than One week delay.

Here's a link I found that may help you fix your problem.

http://thebackroomtech.com/2008/04/07/using-checksur-to-repair-windows-vista-update-problems/

...

Hi,

I had a case just like this recently, Windows Vista was not able to download and or install updates.
First - check the error code windows update will generate when it fails - most likely it some device driver which conflicts with the update. In my case it was the display drivers which needed to be rolled back to earlier version and that enabled the updates once again.
After the update finished installing a new version of display drivers was available again - and now all works well.

First thing I would say is Vista operating system is like poking a sharp object in your eye over and over again. Vista OS crashed 19 times in 24 month period.

I recently switched back to XP and I was having the same issues it refused to up date and Microsoft tech could not resolve the issue. What a surprise.

I ended up uninstalling Explorer 7 and up dating to Explorer 8 and it allowed the automatic updates to finally work.

Good luck!

If you know the number of the update, you can download it to a flash drive on another computer. I know this doesn't fix the problem but it lets you get the updates.

hey this person is right i forgot. or use a blank dvd-rw

Hi Jason,
it isn't obvious from your question whether you are explicitly running Windows Update or using Windows Update's Automatic Update feature. Are you running the Windows Update from the Start Menu or are you responding to the "Yellow Shield" in the task bar?

I have three different systems (plus another I'll mention later), so let me describe them - one appears to have similar symptoms to you, if you are using Automatic updates. Why three? I run a consultancy and they reflect what my clients are doing.

One uses the Yellow Shield Automatic Update feature. It is set to notify me when updates are available but lets me decide when to download and install them. When the yellow shield pops up, I pick a convenient time and tell it to go do it using the custom option This lets me choose what to install (IE 8 and WGA aren't popular with my clients and a few are still deferring service packs). If you use this method, you know that the information bubbles disappear by default but I always click on them to monitor progress, so I can wathch the downloads and installs. This works fine. If this isn't what you do, give it a try, it might work for you.

One client system doesn't work using this method - to be honest, I still haven't determined why but I have a clone of his system. It would pop up the updates are ready, click here to download and install but would then apparently never complete the download. I changed the Automatic Update setting to Download but let me choose when to install. I get the Updates are ready for your computer and it goes away and starts the download automatically. For some reason, I never get a notification that the downloads are complete. The only indication is when I shut the system down and there is a little shield on the shutdown button. Clicking this causes the updates to be installed and when finished, the system shuts down.

Note that neither of these methods installs all available patches, only critical and some important ones.

The preferred method is to use the Windows Update or Microsoft Update from the Start Menu. This method will offer all the critical patches, all the optional patches and all the hardware and driver patches. Note that your system must pass the WGA test for this method to work. You will need to use Internet Explorer to install the patches - there is a Firefox Add-in which supposedly does the same but I've never tried it. You also need to allow scripting and accept cookies during the process. You can delete the cookies afterwards, they serve no useful purpose. But do check you IE Internet Options to make sure you aren't disabling some essential scripting element. If in doubt, set it to prompt and allow it when you get the pop up. Mkae sure your firewall isn't blocking them either.

I would always recommend using the Custom Install option - you can read the description of each patch and decide whether to accept it. You will also see each patch download and then install. So if you have a download failure on a particular patch, use the custom option to ignore it and do the rest.

If this process fails, you could always try Microsoft Update instead, this will do a whole bunch of MS products as well as just Windows. It's an option on the Windows Update home page.

If none of this works for you, all is not lost. Try Secunia.com. It's worth trying this anyway because it will check many programs, not just Microsoft. Fire up your browser and go to www.secunia.com. Select the online scan and follow the instructions on screen until the Start button turns blue. The defauult is to check standard file locations and flag only exceptions. Reverse both these options! Uncheck the box for exceptions only (under the blue start box) and check the deep scan box. Then click Start and it will scan your system. Note that you will need Java enabled in your browser.

It will flag all the missing patches and in most cases, give you a link to download the patch and then manually install it. Some products, Adobe Flash Player is a prime offender, do not remove older versions when newer ones are installed. Secunia will flag these but so long as you have a later one with the green tick, you can ignore them. Secunia is a great product and better yet, it's free to use the online scan. You have the option to set it to send you an email when products are updated - I recommend this and do a scan when you get the emails.

It could be that Windows Uodate has become "confused" by a partially installed patch (it happens). If you get your system up to date with Secunia, you may well find that it cures your problem for the future.

I'm assuming you've done a full virus and spyware scan, by the way, if not do one as soon as you have time. As a last resort, you might want to try turning off System Restore and then turning it back on again (take a manual restore point) I've had a couple of odd situations that that has cured.

Good luck!

I believe that it is that your security settings in internet options is set to high. Set your security and privacy setting to medium.

nocman

I has similar problems recently with this, trying to update various SQL components. It turned out the problem was with my administrator settings, which refused to change.
Solution? Set up a new administrator account, download from there, then delete the new account. Not only did I get the updates but it reset my privileges on my main account. Don't ask me how, but it worked.

You can look into "NTPASSWD" as a free password recovery option, but you cannot create a new account unless you can successfully log in as an existing administrator.

John

Download Link: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Make sure you read through the FAQs before proceeding.

Good luck.
John

I had initial trouble installing multiple updates - installation was started, then repeatedly failed.
The cure as I found it was to only download and install a few at a time - maybe only one at a time, if it looks like a biggie.
It's a bit like giving someone too many jobs to do at the same time. Computers after all are only human ?!
Sometimes an update is not applicable, because whatever you have on your system is more up-to-date.

I have recently been asked to fix a very similar problem on a network of over 200 computers, this included machines running Vista, XP and 2000.

It turned out to be a virus called Conficker had changed all the system settings so we were unable to get to the update site. Here are a few things to check first. Nb. just because windows can't update doesn't mean there is a virus, it could be due to many reasons.

First thing to do go to this website

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ad724ae0-e72d-4f54-9ab3-75b8eb148356&displaylang=en

and download and run Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.

ensure it completes fully with a full system scan (the one that says "this may take a few hours" not the quick scan).

If it finds any infected files restart the computer when asked to. It might not remove the infection but at least then you are aware of the problem. If it is a virus check you have a fully up to date anti-virus package (I recommend ESET Smart Security, which you can get for 30 day trial to remove the virus - nb. if you do use Eset be sure to remove any other antivirus software you have before installing, chances are if you already have an antivirus software installed it's not a very good one if it's let a virus in that Windows malicious software removal tool can find!)

Run the antivirus on a complete scan to ensure the virus has gone.

If it turns out it isn't a virus, or even if it is follow these steps next...


1. Type in the search box SERVICES.MSC and press enter (or go to "Start" then select Run... and type SERVICES.MSC and press enter)

2. A list box will open up with a load of services in it, go down the list to BITS (Background Inteligent Transfer Service). Check this is set to Startup type: Automatic or manual (make sure it isn't disabled, if it is double click on it and change it to automatic, click apply and then click start and click ok).

3. Go down again to Windows Update (Vista) or Automatic Updates (XP/2000). Again ensure that this is set to automatic and start it.

Nb. sometimes these services claim to be started automatic but they are not started, if this is the case double click on them and ensure they are set to automatic, click apply and click start. You must ensure these services are started for updates to work.

After doing this don't restart the computer, just run automatic updates and it should work. If you are still infected with a virus and you restart the computer you will find that the automatic updates and BITS services will turn themselves off again (this is the virus to stop you from updating your system).

If you still have no joy, ensure your computer is connected to the internet (I know this may seem like a fairly obvious one, but your computer must be connected to the internet and be able to get to Microsoft to update.)

The easiest way to do this is to go to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and see if things start loading. If you get "This page cannot be displayed" or any other similar error, this is your problem. Even if you can get to sites like google, or cnet, something is blocking you from getting to Windows Updates and you need to find out what it is. If you have had a virus check your internet option (from Internet Explorer go to Tools->Internet Options and go to the Connections tab. The settings in here will depend on your ISP, most of the time if your either connected through a router (wireless or ethernet) you should have "Never dial a connection" selected (if it's greyed out don't worry that's fine) and in LAN settings the proxy settings should be blank and not ticked and the Automatically Detect Settings tick box should be ticked.

If it is set up to access the internet through a proxy note down the proxy and then remove it, see if that makes any difference, if it totally kills the internet put the numbers back in and re-tick the box for proxy usage. Most home networks wont use a proxy server, but some ISP's may, most set that up automatically though so the end user doesn't have to get confused, although quite a common trick of viruses is to add a proxy server. The proxy server then routes all traffic through their network, so they can do things like log sites visited, steal passwords, block updates, etc.

If you still aren't getting anywhere, try Wuinstall - http://www.xeox.com/index.php/en/tools/wuinstall

download the zip file and unzip it to your desktop, ensure the "Wuinstall" program is on the desktop and not in a folder e.g. use "unzip here" rather than "unzip to ..." or double click on the zip file and copy the program called wuinstall to the desktop using either windows copy and paste or drag and drop method (don't worry about the other files they're just licence agreements, you can read them if you want).

Go to start and in the search box type CMD (or click Run... and type CMD and press enter - nb. the run command isn't on all computers, it was replaced in Vista with the search box, although I have seen a few Vista computers this week with the Run box on them instead of search, it all depends on how you have Windows set up!).

A black box with text in it will appear (possibly the best way to get anything done in Windows, but only if you know what your doing - don't worry though if you follow my instructions you'll be fine).

Type CD Desktop and press enter, the prompt should change to something like

C:\All Users\Username\Desktop

type

Wuinstall /install and press enter

Wuinstall should now tell you it's searching for updates, then downloading updates, then installing updates. Remember there will be pop ups that appear on screen with end user licence agreements you need to accept these for the installation to be successful, if you cancel these the installations will fail. Also some of them (like Internet explorer 8) actually pop up behind all the windows so you need to keep an eye on the taskbar as well.

nb. this process can take quite a long time and at times the computer may seem like it isn't actually doing anything, especially when it's first scanning for updates, leave it going.

Once it's complete restart the PC, and your PC should be fully up to date.