Windows Update fails after clean installation

Discussion in 'Software' started by Sotsiak, Feb 18, 2015.

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  1. Sotsiak

    Sotsiak Private E-2

    Hello,

    yesterday I assembled a new PC and installed the Windows 8.1 64-bit ISO from MSDN (with a UEFI USB stick).

    I installed my favorite programs and drivers for motherboard and GPU. Everything was fine until the Windows Update downloaded some updates and after the restart to install them, it said that they failed and it was reverting the changes.

    I thought that maybe something was wrong with a driver or the installation so I formatted again.

    The second time I didn't install any driver or program and went straight to the windows update. It found 52 updates, I downloaded them and made a restart for installation. And the same thing happened again, at 98% it said that they failed.

    Some Notes: Although it downloaded lots of updates, at restart it was 1/1. And after it reverted I tried again it was 37/37 updates, second time failed again.
    Also, although the updates were almost 1GB I downloaded much faster than usual, so I believe that not all updates were downloaded.

    I formatted and installed Windows again, I disabled windows update. I'm afraid to update again, everytime an update fails and tries to revert the changes, I feel like the system produces corrupted files. That's why I re-install.
    What's bugging my is why a new clean installation produces such errors.

    Sorry for my English.
     
    Sotsiak, Feb 18, 2015
    #1
  2. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    HI

    No English is fine.
    What security software have you installed? I would also disable then for now while testing Windows update (WU).

    What I would do is run the Windows Update Fix HERE first, run the automated one to start, its listed as RUN in the blue box, then reboot.

    Then I would install any updates in a measured way, so do not install all at once, as I dont know whats listed for you I can only advise over knowing exactly what ones to install first, so rule of thumb will be:

    Do not install any Drivers if listed by WU
    Do not for now install any .NET updates
    Do not for now install any Office updates if you have MS Office installed
    Do not for now install any updates that are listed as Optional

    Install the rest listed ones, can do these in small blocks of 4 for instance, this way if one fails you know roughly the ones that are likely to have caused the update issue.
     
    DavidGP, Feb 18, 2015
    #2
  3. Sotsiak

    Sotsiak Private E-2

    Ok, I'll start installing as small blocks as you said. I will let you know how it goes.
     
    Sotsiak, Feb 18, 2015
    #3
  4. Eldon

    Eldon Major Geek Extraordinaire


    Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation, or a suggestion, just an observation.

    I use Windows 7 Ultimate. From day 1 Windows Update has been disabled, by me.

    No SP1, No updates, No problems. Can anybody explain this? While evaluating Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, I visited some unmentionable sites. I found them thanks to IE9's Tracking Protection Lists. No problems...

    Again, I will not advice you to NOT download Windows Updates but, why are users having so many problems? And I don't have any? Am I missing something?

    Just an observation... DavidGP, I'll appreciate your input.

    I apologize for almost hijacking your thread. :-o
     
    Eldon, Feb 18, 2015
    #4
  5. Sotsiak

    Sotsiak Private E-2

    Hehe, no problem, thanks for the observation.

    I followed your advice David and everything worked fine, I don't know what went wrong when I mass-installed them, but by installing 4-8 updates each time, I managed to finish all the important ones. Now I have a few optional left, all of them "Update for Windows 8.1 x64" and they seem to install fine.

    So, thank you!
     
    Sotsiak, Feb 18, 2015
    #5
  6. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    Hey your welcome

    I think with a new build install or a PC that's been left without updates for a while, WU has an issue, with the timeline of updates, as some need to be install before others can install, this is where I see the failures happen.

    I have reported this before to MSFT in that WU should release date as well as stagger knock on updates, by knock on I mean an update that needs to be installer before another one can install properly. By doing in small groups and criticals first you tend to minimise this happening.

    From now on you shouldn't need to do this but I tend to install Windows updates first then any for Office 2nd, especially these days as a set of windows updates plus office ones can be around the 1GB in size mark.

    Glad all is going ok now.
     
    DavidGP, Feb 19, 2015
    #6
  7. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    HI Eldon

    What the cause is could be many but as a guess the issues with some are from 3rd party apps and if a security update comes from MSFT for a possible zero day/exploit then some 3rd parties that are poorly coded may fall foul of the tightened windows code, thus cause issues.

    Then there will be poorly written windows updates that cause issues on some/not all PCs.

    The only thing with not updating is that you "may" leave your PC open to an exploit used from the OS or one from a 3rd party that exploits a hole in Windows, sadly Microsoft can never cover all possible exploits as the job is too big, similar to the likes of Adobe and Sun don't with their small apps.
     
    DavidGP, Feb 19, 2015
    #7
  8. Nexus_

    Nexus_ Staff Sergeant

    I had this issue too

    If you pick more than say 10 updates the first 3 or so times it seems to always fail but not on every computer...

    The times where i had this issue i had to pick 10 updates at a time for the first 3 times, then afterwards i could increment to 50+ and i didn't have issues.

    Some of the windows updates aren't all that useful and some people actually have more problems with them than not. I actually do some updates however i generally don't have much issues if i don't.


    I have a sibling who rarely does any updates if ever ( kind has the same take as Eldon does) , and his pc is running probably better than mine. I remember i brought something up some weeks ago about windows 7 not being supported by updates around 2020 and he kind of scoffed saying its not like he bothers with them much now anyways.

    I swear on some websites and microsoft themselves they overstate sometimes to keep ''windows up to date'' through the upate and they did so even more when xp support ended ( maybe because they wanted to sell newer OS)
     
    Nexus_, Feb 19, 2015
    #8
  9. DavidGP

    DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

    No they don't as EOL is EOL the fact that XP kept updates going was more for enterprise than end user consumers. XP was a nightmare when released, only at SP2 was it really a good OS. The timeline for Windows OSes was really distorted from Longhorn which a small part ended up as Vista due to anti-trust, if it was not for that 1-2yr delay in Vista the normal 2yr Windows OS turnaround would be continued, we are back to normal timelines as to Windows releases now. Apple have a 6mth HW turnaround and no-one scoffs at that.

    But as the OP has the issue sorted the thread is done.

    If you want to discuss this further can PM me as only too happy too.
     
    DavidGP, Feb 20, 2015
    #9
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