Windows Update - Pause updates acting strangely

W10 Tweaker · 16 May 2020

awalt said:

I thought I tried that the other day, do you mean do a Safe Boot? When I did that, it would not let me run Windows update. I even tried a Safe Boot with networking, there must be something it needed that was not running.

Hi awalt. a clean boot is different from a safe boot. With a safe boot you're running a very stripped down version of windows without any extras like gpu's. With a clean boot, Windows is completely operable, however; all third-party apps are disabled.

Very often many of our problems are centered around how third-party apps interact with Windows. Disabling them with a clean boot will prove if a fault is related to a third-party app interaction with Windows or not.

The fact that the issue returns after a reboot suggests it may possibly be related to a third-party app. It's an easy test for definitive information.

If that proves to be the case, it shouldn't be too difficult to isolate.

Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts

awalt · 16 May 2020

FIXED IT!!!!!!!

Well, I kept looking around, and I decided to focus my efforts on Parallels. I came to discover a setting in "Maintenance" that I remembered I casually turned on:

Windows Update - Pause updates acting strangely-screen-shot-2020-05-17-6.58.08-am.png

I remember thinking, "Why not - it's good to have Parallels checking to see if anything needs to be updated...?"

Well, as soon as I saw this and remembered setting it, I knew I had it! The key for me was "Updates are blocked at other times". So doing some more research, what Parallels does is it keeps pausing the regular Windows Update service, so it can control when updates occur. I can see this has some value if someone is running a lot of VMs, and they can't control updates from a central place. Anyway, I got my Windows 10 VM off of Pause, went into Parallels and turned this setting OFF, Shut down Windows, Shut down Parallels, then restarted Parallels and the VM, and voila - all is as it should be - no pause!! YAY!!

Thank you so much to all of you that helped me try to diagnose this - @W10 Tweaker, @dalchina, @jamis, @TairikuOkami, and especially @Bree for your many posts. You all are saints to try and help others so much. I am sorry it took so much time and postings to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully, having this documented here will help someone else one day!

Thanks again!

W10 Tweaker · 17 May 2020

awalt said:

FIXED IT!!!!!!!

Excellent news and congrats. You're most welcome for the suggestions and thanks for helping me learn a bit more. Cheers,

Michael

Bree · 17 May 2020

awalt said:

FIXED IT!!!!!!!
...You all are saints to try and help others so much. I am sorry it took so much time and postings to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully, having this documented here will help someone else one day!

It's our pleasure, especially rewarding when it lead to success. You should mark the thread as 'Solved' now so that others looking for solutions will find it. The button is at the bottom of this thread.