Windows Automatic Update

Is there a problem with this?

It used to work as it should, but now it doesn't work properly on both my notebook and the desktop. I thought I had changed something by accident on my notebook until I discovered the desktop does the same thing.

I set it to notify when updates are available and when they are I get the yellow shield in the System Tray to select which ones to install, all is good to this point, but after I have clicked the shield, selected what I want and click to download, it minimises to the yellow shield and then a few seconds later it disappears and nothing else happens, so I go to the Windows Update site to get them and after I download them from there and during installation the shield appears prompting that updates are available to download.

As I said, it worked as it should a couple of weeks ago and it seems odd that both computers are doing the same thing.

Any ideas please?

 

I would guess that an update or two did not install properly, so it thinks they need to be installed again. I've had this issue before. They might show up on add/remove. If they do, remove the offending updates and try again. If not, they're probably in a temporary folder somewhere on your machine, if they are, remove those and try again.

 

Thanks, but how will I know which ones they are in Add/Remove or if I find them in a temp folder?

 

try manually by going direct to windows update option on ur start menu. check for update and then custom.

cheers ...

 

Thanks, but that way works.

I'm curious to know why the auto update facility has stopped working.

 

can u give us some more info regarding the Knnnnnn of the updates in question? might have to chase it down and remove it from windows download directories. something got corrupted somehow. can u trace back to when it was before the issue? an update, upgrade, new software?

cheers ...

 

That's a tough one because both the notebook and desktop have the same problem, yet they are used differently.

The last successful auto update on my notebook was Security Update for Windows XP (KB899587) on 7 June, then the next one to appear and then not work was Security Update for Windows Media Player 10 for Windows XP (KB917734) on 13 June, so since this one I have been using Windows update site.

I don't have access to the desktop right now to check this information

 

I finally sorted this out!

After pinpointing it to the download part of the process I did some searching and found this site/page:

http://www.amset.info/windows/auto-updates.asp

I tried a few things it suggested on our desktop PC and got it working, then I tried less on another notebook and got that working too.

I just stopped the Automatic Updates service and ran the reset.cmd batch file:

This doesn't reactivate previously hidden updates either.

The repair.cmd batch file deletes all previous update history, displayed on the Windows Update web site, and reactivates hidden updates (I ran this batch file by accident on my notebook).

Hoefully it will now continue to work as it should.

 

It's not working again and like before is prompting that downloads are available, but after I've made my choices it will not download them. The above fix doesn't make any difference this time.

 

Make sure you have Active X enabled. Use IE to go to the Windows update site, and do it from there.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I've checked all this before.

I finally took the plunge and did a repair using the original backup disc and over two hours later and Windows Automatic Update still doesn't work properly.

As part of the repair process it cleared nearly all previous Windows updates, so the first thing it did was prompt for a lot of these, which it did via the yellow shield. The download progress got to 63%, then the shield disappeared. After a few minutes I checked the shutdown menu and the 'Turn Off' showed updates were ready to be installed, not the shield prompt. It installed all of these, except for IE7. I then got some other updates from the Windows Update site including an XP MCE Rollup and IE7, all these installed fine. I finally restarted and got a shield prompt for another rollup, just a small one at 2.5 MB, so I clicked download and like before the shield disappeared from the system tray and nothing has happened since.

Despite the repair I still have the same problem. The only other thing I can think of doing is a clean install or just deal with having to go to the Windows Update web site every time I have to install them. So much for this automatic security update feature and what a waste of two hours.

 

on a side note... the optimization guide in one of these forums suggests turning of windows auto update since microsoft only releases updates every month or so. does anyone kno if this is true and if so are the updates released at some regular time of the month? thanks.

 

The second Tuesday of each month.

 

The infamous "Patch Tuesday"

 

I'm going to try another repair, but do something different when using updates for the first time:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555615

Failing that I'll have to resort to these:

http://www.amset.info/windows/auto-updates.asp#Reset Automatic Updates

 

I've tried it as per the instructions above and I've used every batch file from here, all without success.

Looking at the C:\WINDOWS\WindowsUpdate.log file it says this next to all the updates: "Update is not allowed to download due to regulation."

This confirms that it's failing to download, but how do I get it to download?!

 

After trying the various things last night I thought I better install all the updates before I shut down my notebook, but was going to leave a couple of Windows Media Player ones so I could continue to test the auto update feature. When I went to the Windows Update web site (not Microsoft Update, should I update to this one?) to make my selections, all of them had already been downloaded and were ready to be installed, despite the shield icon only prompting that downloads were available, not that they were ready to be installed.

I think I've spent enough time trying to figure this out and I can't believe I can't resolve it, but since searching "Update is not allowed to download due to regulation" it appears I'm not the only one with this problem.

 

Do not use Microsoft Update as it will install all updates to your computer. Also choose custom install instead of express and uncheck the ones you don't want to install. Hope that helps a little.

 

A couple of updates were out this week, one being an IE7 security update KB929969, my notebook did its usual notify and not download thing, but the desktop installed it fine.

I've given up any hope of resolving it outside of a clean install, which I'm getting close to doing, but the time it takes and installing everything else again is putting me off.