My Windows Update is totally messed up!

thewizardoz · 31 Jul 2019

For a cuppla days my Windows Update has been useless!

Clciking on Update and security it shows Your device is missing important security and quality fixes.

But clicking on Check for updates just sits there for 15 to 20 minutes with the dots running across the screen then comes back to the same message Your device is missing important security and quality fixes.

I have used two versions of Brink's update reset batch file but no fix.
I have also used the Reset Windows Update Tool app but no fix.
I've even manually deleted the contents of the Catroot and Software Distribution folders in Windows but no fix!
All attempts to do a Repair Install fail at 54% and the blue Installing screen just closes - vanishes!

I cannot think of anything alse I can do to "fix" "Windows Update" once and for all!

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

dalchina · 01 Aug 2019

All attempts to do a Repair Install fail at 54% and the blue Installing screen just closes - vanishes!

Since that is failing, there is something more amiss than merely Windows Update.

Do you use disk imaging as we so frequently recommend to users here? (E.g. Macrium reflect - free/licensed). If so you can restore your PC to a previously working good state if you have an appropriate image file.

I will assume you haven't yet discovered the value of doing that.

Your system may not be recoverable. That said, start with basics.

a. Test your disk. E.g.
Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) - best instant report I know.
Less obvious: e.g.
HD Tune (free) - both Health and Error Scan tabs.

b. If that passes: run
chkdsk C: /scan
from an admin command or Powershell prompt (this tests only).

Report the result.

c. If that passes, examining the log files created by your in-place upgrade repair install attempt. E.g.
setuperr.log
setupact.log
might help.

thewizardoz · 04 Aug 2019

dalchina said:

Since that is failing, there is something more amiss than merely Windows Update.

Do you use disk imaging as we so frequently recommend to users here? (E.g. Macrium reflect - free/licensed). If so you can restore your PC to a previously working good state if you have an appropriate image file.

I will assume you haven't yet discovered the value of doing that.

Your system may not be recoverable. That said, start with basics.

a. Test your disk. E.g.
Hard Disk Sentinel (trial) - best instant report I know.
Less obvious: e.g.
HD Tune (free) - both Health and Error Scan tabs.

b. If that passes: run
chkdsk C: /scan
from an admin command or Powershell prompt (this tests only).

Report the result.

c. If that passes, examining the log files created by your in-place upgrade repair install attempt. E.g.
setuperr.log
setupact.log
might help.

Thanks for your input dalchina .

Yes, I did pretty much all of those things and did a repair install of my 18908 without any problems but I still get newer Insider updates just dissappearing part way through!

I even went into Group Policy Editor and manually turned on updates with the download and notify option. Windows Update STILL fails at Checking for updates... when after about one minute of doing that the update screen just drops back to this one saying that You device is missing important security and quality fixes.

My Windows Update is totally messed up!-image.png

This is getting very frustrating!!!

dalchina · 04 Aug 2019

Part of the risk of being in the Insider program perhaps? Perhaps you need to compare experience with other insiders...

thewizardoz · 04 Aug 2019

dalchina said:

Part of the risk of being in the Insider program perhaps? Perhaps you need to compare experience with other insiders...

Thanks.

Yeah well that's what I am really trying to do mate.

dalchina · 04 Aug 2019

Does this - from the Insiders section of the forum- sound similar?
Insider Build 18941.1001 updating dissappears around 34%

thewizardoz · 04 Aug 2019

dalchina said:

Does this - from the Insiders section of the forum- sound similar?
Insider Build 18941.1001 updating dissappears around 34%

Thanks for the suggestion but my computer is a laptop so stripping it down to bare bones is not possible.

I'll have to wait and see if anyone else has any brilliant ideas.

By the way, I've tried 18912, 18916, 18922, 18932, 18936, 18941 and 18945 ISOs from the UUP dumpsite but all finish up with the same problem.

dalchina · 04 Aug 2019

The (rather obscure) comment there was about stripping the OS down to bare bones, not the PC physically. Quite what was meant I can only guess.

I posted that not as a solution but to suggest more than one Insider might be experiencing a similar problem. You could look further at the Insiders section there to see if there are more.

thewizardoz · 04 Aug 2019

dalchina said:

The (rather obscure) comment there was about stripping the OS down to bare bones, not the PC physically. Quite what was meant I can only guess.

I posted that not as a solution but to suggest more than one Insider might be experiencing a similar problem. You could look further at the Insiders section there to see if there are more.

Yes, I understand that you weren't posting it as a solution mate.

I have looked in the Insider Preview section but no ideas from there at the moment.

So I've given up for now and paused my updates for a week and I'll have another look at this problem then.

Thanks for your suggestions.