XP and updating

[Chrisbf1]

Anyone else having problems doing Microsoft updates on an XP machine. It either hangs for ages or gives an error code. Is this a unsubtle hint we need to retire these machines

[MatthewL]

I had it the other week, if you can find a solution I would be greatful as I gave up in the end.

[free780]

The end is nigh, April isn't too far away. You could try windows update offline if you can't shed xp.

[Edu-IT]

What is Windows update offline?

[Edu-IT]

What error code are you getting? Sorry for double post can't see how to edit on app.

[Arthur]

It either hangs for ages or gives an error code.

I've found installing the latest Windows Update Agent helps a lot. I'll post a link a bit later if you need it?

[Arthur]

What is Windows update offline?

Google 'WSUS Offline'.

[Martin]

Anyone else having problems doing Microsoft updates on an XP machine. It either hangs for ages or gives an error code. Is this a unsubtle hint we need to retire these machines

 

Chris,

 

i had a similar problem last week, with (IIRC) the checking for updates "progress bar" scanning forever.

 

Did lots of searches which came up with lots of "solutions", but all (most) seemed to be a bit amateurish. Some suggested that IE (whether 6 or 8) had bugs that prevented downloading etc.

 

In the end i downloaded the windows security updates to date (in my case to November 2013) ISO (i.e. DVD image) which is a mere 2.5GB and contains all updates for all OSes. I then ran the four EXEs (that were a few tens of meg in size) related to XP 32-bit, rebooted and tried the online Microsoft Update again and it started working again (with a bunch more updates).

 

I am at home ATM, but i think that Download November 2013 Security Release ISO Image from Official Microsoft Download Centre should take you to the correct download site at Microsoft.

 

It was a huge download, but at least it sorted things without having to manually faff around with individual patches and tweaks.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Cheers,

 

mb

[rad]

I did a laptop yesterday that kept going with the search bar, gave up thinking it was lack of Internet wifi signal.

[MatthewL]

Thanks for that link Martin, been after that for ages but could never find one. Back in the day of Windows 98/2000 I ordered one of these free online!

[Arthur]

@MatthewL. I usually install the following items before visiting Windows Update and rarely have any issues on clean installs of XP. The links included below are the direct links to each update.

 

1. Internet Explorer 8.0 (IE8-WindowsXP-KB2888505-x86-ENU.exe)
   
2. Latest Cumulative Security Update for IE8 (IE8-WindowsXP-KB2888505-x86-ENU.exe)
   
3. Latest Root Certificate Update (rootsupd.exe)
   
4. Windows Update Agent (WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe or WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe)
   

If you also install WindowsXP-KB2868626-x86-ENU.exe and WindowsXP-KB2900986-x86-ENU.exe, then there won't be any need to download the massive ISO above because you will have installed all of the updates included for XP.

 

http://snag.gy/IufEe.jpg

 

Btw, there's currently a known issue with Windows Update being extremely slow on XP (details below). If Microsoft are unable to release a fix before April then it will remain unfixed forever.

 

SVCHOST bug still spikes CPU at 100% 6 months before Windows XP support cut-off « Neowin

[MatthewL]

Cheers for that, will take a look tonight.

[Chrisbf1]

thank you everybody for your replies. At least we are all in the same boat.

[MatthewL]

Thought the 2.5GB iso would include more than just 10MB of updates, just ran windows update and got 122 high priority and 14 optional ones!

[Arthur]

Thought the 2.5GB iso would include more than just 10MB of updates, just ran windows update and got 122 high priority and 14 optional ones!

The ISOs from Microsoft only contain the current months updates. Seems a bit of a waste of time to me since you would need to download hundreds of gigs of ISOs to get all of the required updates for XP.

 

That's why WSUS Offline or WSUS are better choices.

[MatthewL]

I installed the 4 tiles @Arthur mentioned, minus the rootupdates as this would not play ball and just ran Microsoft Update and it worked, far less hassle so will do me.

[CyberNerd]

I'm not sure if this is related to the problem described, but it sounds like it could be.

In the office we refer to this issue as "Windows Cancer" that windows gets worse with age.

Ars have some evidence:

Exponential algorithm making Windows XP miserable could be fixed | Ars Technica

[Arthur]

The SVCHOST bug has finally been fixed.

 

Microsoft Quietly Fixes Windows XP Resource Hog Problem « Redmond Mag

 

Microsoft indicated this week that it has fixed a Windows XP resource-hog problem associated with the system's SVCHOST.EXE processes.

 

Windows XP users affected by this problem typically found that the operating system was using up system resources for 15 minutes to an hour after startup, making it difficult to use the machine during that period. The Microsoft Update team had vowed last month to spend the holiday break tackling the issue, which has plagued some users for years.

 

The fix involved stopping the system from perpetually checking Internet Explorer updates. Microsoft indicated that the fix was rolled out on Tuesday.

 

On Tuesday, Microsoft depreciated legacy security updates for Internet Explorer that had been replaced by more recent ones. We did this to improve customer experience, reducing the time Windows Update requires to check existing updates before installing new ones. This action was purely to improve update performance and does not affect customer security. - Dustin Childs, group manager, Microsoft Trustworthy Computing

[the_one_that_cant]

There is a microsoft fixit in place. I think it had something to do with enabling auto updates. i had it this morning, clicked more help and the Fixit page came up. Started working fine after that.