I have just received my brand new computer, and have just installed Windows 7 Pro 64-bit with the necessary drivers, and all. Now I want to run Windows update, but it fails saying that the service is not running.
However, running services.mcs
I can see that Background Intelligent Transfer Service
and Windows Update
are both set to Automatic (Delayed Start
(as they should). I have tried reseting the "Windows Update Settings" and even running this scripts (and restarting… whatever). Nothing works and I always get the same error.
Any help appreciated.
** Edit **
If I change the Windows Update Settings (to any value), nothing happens when I click "Check for updates". After Windows restarts, it goes back to the "Service not running" error message.
** Update **
Here is a screen cap of the error message.
NOTE: as I wrote, the services are running! Changing the "Windows update settings" to any value makes the error disappear… but also nothing happens. The error is displayed whenever I try to update after a restart.
** Update 2 **
Running MS WU did not find anything O_o
Best Answer
I encountered this once or twice. The solution for me was deleting the contents of
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
:1) Stop BITS and Windows Update (and make sure they weren't automatically restarted).
2) Make backup of
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
.3) Delete contents of
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
, the folder itself shall remain existing.4) Start BITS and Windows Update.
5) Start update. (The first run will take a hell of a time, so don't panic.)
6) If everything is OK, you can delete the backup from (2).