Stop Windows Stand Alone Installer

Problem:
You try to install software but the Windows Stand Alone Installer comes up
and searches forever for Windows Updates thus preventing the installation.

Solution:

(1) Right click on the Dos shell and select Run as administrator.

(1) At the command prompt write

net stop wuauserv

(3) Now run the installation you want. It's now much more likely that the installation will go smoothly.

(4) The wuauserv service will later automatically restart.

You could also write a .bat file with net stop wuauserv inside. Then run it as an administrator if you want to temporarily disable wuauserv.

My Experience:
Anyway, for me this worked like a charm. I had Powershell version 2 and tried to install version 5.
The Stand alone installer had run for over 12 hours and was still searching without any installation.
I had to stop the wuauserv service to prevent the Windows Stand Alone Installer from running.

Background information:

(1) Type Task Manager in the Windows start box and double click Windows Task Manager.

(3) Select the Services tab.

(4) Click the Services button at the bottom to bring up the Services pane.

(5) Double click on Windows Update in the first/name column.

Now we see that the system name for Windows Update is wuauserv.
From the description box it seems wuauserv is the Windows Stand Alone Installer.
This is very likely because Microsoft says that third party programs should update
through the stand alone installer. Unfortunately the Stand Alone Installer = wuauserv
searches forever for other windows updates rather than just installing the program you want. ​

(6) Stop wuauserv for entire session: If you don't want the Windows Update = wuauserv service to restart automatically in your current computer session then at the Startup type box select Manual and then click the Stop button. This will reduce CPU usage for the entire session. Read further.

On my computer, the CPU usage is about 25%. Nearly 100% of this comes from the Windows Update Service. If I stop the service via net stop wuauserv or instead stop the service via the Services pane, then my
CPU usage goes down, from 0%-10% for awhile and then going even lower to 0%-1%. This might be good to
know if you are doing something else involving high CPU usage--Perhaps running a scan or downloading/uploading something. It really seems strange that the Windows Update Service could have so much CPU usage.

Create a shortcut to Services so you can stop Windows Update = wuauserv.
(1) In the Windows start box type Services .
(2) Right click on Services and select Open file location.
(3) Right click on services and click Create shortcut.

 

What Operating System and version?
WU is inbuilt to Windows and isn't a 'stand alone' program.
Apart from in Windows 10 Home, WU can be set to run when a user wants it to run quite easily and set it to 'notify' rather search and update automatically, and do it when it is most convenient.

 

The above workaround, or similar methods, had been needed/used a lot during the last 18 months or so, since the MS WU server responses were changing per WU cycle for Vista/W7/8.1.

Good info.

 

The answer 'WU for dummies' in Vista, 7 & 8.1 would be to simply disable WU and just diarise to turn it on once a month. A lot simpler. But never seen the 'problem' described in Vista, 8 or 10.

 

Perhaps you haven't looked at many of the workarounds for these issues over the last 18 months.

http://wu.krelay.de/en/

 

Sorry. I was sick for a week. Following up wasn't on my agenda.

64 bit Home premium Windows 7. Looks like a bit much for a first post. net stop wuauserv stops the service for the entire session. The windows stand alone installer is just part of Windows update = wuauserv.


Still curious to know why wuauserv takes so much CPU. I'll take Satrow' suggestion and peruse the forum before posting unsolicited threads.

 

If you clicked on the link in that thread you would see, as you scroll down reasons that could well be making it slow

http://superuser.com/questions/890038/why-is-checking-windows-update-so-slow/935299#935299

I thought your write-up, and what you tried were interesting, and it was something I wondered about in the past, but with my present laptop, not a problem, as it's a core i7, with 16gb ram, so I don't really notice it, in Windows 10.