Windows XP Updates

[Mike Stefanik]

For those of you who still use Windows XP, the infamous Windows Update problem that has been around for years has cropped up again with the last update. Typically what happens is that the update stalls, pegging one of the CPUs at 100% utilization and never actually performs the update. The only thing that you can do is either stop the update service or force close Internet Explorer (if you're doing the update manually). Because we have several XP systems that we use for testing (both physical machines and VMs), I got to experience the joy of fixing this. I thought I'd share what worked for me, just in case anyone else here runs into the problem. Step by step:

1. Temporarily disable automatic updates through the control panel.

2. Download the latest cumulative update for the version of Internet Explorer that is being used. Go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin for a list of the latest security updates. For November, 2013 the list is found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms13-nov and the cumulative update for Internet Explorer is MS13-088.

Make sure that you download the correct update for the version of Windows XP and Internet Explorer that you have installed. The list of updates for MS13-088 is at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms13-088. For November 2013, there are updates for Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8.

3. After applying the update and rebooting the system, open a command prompt and issue the following commands (note that this will have the effect of "unhiding" any previously hidden updates):
   

Code Select Expand


net stop "Automatic Updates"
del /f /s /q %WinDir%\SoftwareDistribution\*.*
net start "Automatic Updates"
wuauclt /detectnow


4. Open Internet Explorer and have it check for updates normally. After it has downloaded and installed the updates, reboot the system.

5. Re-enable automatic updates. Because this has been a recurring issue with Windows Updates on Windows XP, you may want to set it to only notify you of updates, rather than having it automatically install them.

If you haven't updated your XP system in a while, or if you're performing a new install, it may be necessary to run Windows Update multiple times. If you successfully update Windows and then a subsequent check immediately fails indicating that it can't connect to the update server (and your Internet connection is working), issue the commands in step 3 again and then attempt to perform the second update.

When searching Microsoft's knowledge base about Windows Update problems, they may offer a "FixIt" utility that will attempt to repair Windows Update. Be very cautious about using this, it can actually cause more problems that can only be fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling Service Pack 3. Hopefully this helps anyone else who runs into this.

[Frederick J. Harris]

For those of you who still use Windows XP, the infamous Windows Update problem that has been around for years has cropped up again with the last update. Typically what happens is that the update stalls, pegging one of the CPUs at 100% utilization and never actually performs the update. The only thing that you can do is either stop the update service or force close Internet Explorer (if you're doing the update manually).

Drattz!  Had it happen to me yesterday.    But my little Win 2000 Pro laptop is working perfectly and hasn't been updated in years!!!!  Perchance a connection between the two???

[Mike Stefanik]

In fairness, it's not an issue for Win2K because it hasn't received updates for over 3 years now. That's fine if you're using it in a very limited way, but I definitely wouldn't use it as a general purpose system (e.g.: surfing the net). There's been no security updates and there's very few AV products that support it. Not to mention that Microsoft took an active hand in dealing it a killing blow by changing the C runtime to make kernel function calls that don't exist in Win2K (and the same thing is happening with Windows XP as it approaches its end-of-life).

[Keith D. Shelton]

I forgot to turn my xp pro system off last night and the update downloaded and updated with no problem.
KS

[Steve Hutchesson]

I have a view on XP SP3 that I still regularly use, I turned OFF Microsoft updates on install and only manually installed the later .NET stuff. I avoid Microsoft security like the plague and absolutely don't use Internet Exploder. Google Chrome and another lone of it that I use are much faster, more reliable and better secured. Handle your own security, turn off un-necessary drivers and make sure your NAT in your router is working.

I run the Win7 64 bit box ALA Microsoft but every time I turn it on it wants another hundred meg of junk and sometimes I have had to run the update twice to get all of the updates. Had to unbundle some Norton junk after one of the Microsoft updates but I don't rely on the Win7 box, my XP box still does it all and its Microsoft free.

[Mike Stefanik]

It looks like Microsoft is still trying to fix this before support goes dark next year.

http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-still-trying-to-fix-svchost-bug-in-windows-xp

[Mike Stefanik]

This problem appears to have been "fixed" by Microsoft deprecating older security patches that were included in later updates. I've been able to update my Windows XP, XP x64 and Windows Server 2003 systems without a problem (there's still some issues when patching up a completely new XP or Server 2003 installation, but I doubt they'll address those directly).

[Frederick J. Harris]

Thanks for the info Mike.  Might give it a 'go'.  I turned it off after that 11/15 deal.