Windows Update isn't downloading updates? why?

[taylor1277]

So I had a hard drive failure so the geeks at Best Buy tell me, but when I pug my drive into a slave drive,hmmmmmm I will be damn it works. Windows wouldn't load up, so that is why I took it to the best.
So I asked them to download windows 8.1 x64-bit. and install Chrome and update windows completely. I will take it from there which you think you wouldn't have to ask them to do. ( do you ask your mechanic to put the wheel on when he finishes your brakes) anyway so I am looking at my windows update today. it says it was never updated, and won't update now. it actually says that I have all updates. that was like 2 weeks ago that I took my system to Best Buy can someone help. I am getting tired of buying programs that don't work. I have been looking at Tweaking.com software another program that promises to fix this and fix that I do a lot when I need to fix situations. I try but I am getting tired of spending more time keeping my computer to run and I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to computers I do good. So can someone help me with this. 

[Boggin]

Has your HDD been assigned a drive letter ?

Go Start - type diskmgmt.msc and press enter.

Is your clock showing the correct date and time ?

It's quite possible that you are up to date with updates if Best Buy did as you asked them, but you could either perform a Reset which will keep your personal stuff but remove all 3rd party installed programs, or you could perform a repair install which won't affect your personal stuff or installed programs.

https://www.winhelp.us/non-destructive-reinstall-of-windows-8-and-8-1.html

[taylor1277]

My hard drive is assigned a letter it is C. time and date are correct. so I ran the diskmgmt.msc and this is what I got. it is in a snippet photo I am going to add as an attachment below. you can see the drive is marked C I don't know what the others are. I greatly appreciate any help I get. can I download updates manually and will I know the right ones to download if possible. and will that make windows update work afterwards. I wish there was a file that Microsoft would make after each download on tuesday so if there was a possibility to manually download windows update I could just go get that file and download it. still not done. hopefully we can resolve this.

[Boggin]

The others in Disk Management are okay.

What exactly is happening when you try to download updates - if it says you are up to date after doing a Check for updates then you won't get any.

[taylor1277]

Come on Tom yeah I know that when it is done updating all it will say you have no more updates. But hasn't there been any updates since two weeks ago and my update history says that I haven't updated anything.

[Boggin]

Try the top two for Win 8.1 9th June to see if they will download and install.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=security+monthly+quality+rollup

If they install then that may trigger others to download if you are missing any.

[taylor1277]

I am going to post this in here too, I found a workaround as they call it not a solution. I am going to copy and paste the article. To me this seems like it is a ply of Microsoft to get people to download win10. But my question after you read the article is how do I fix this problem, will Microsoft fix it? And do I need to turn the WIndows Modular Installer off and on each time? Article below:

Rohit, thank you for the suggestion. Your Method 1 was a point in the right direction. For anyone else experiencing this problem, the conflict was with "Windows Module Installer," which is the parent process that calls TrustedInstaller.exe. I'm not a Microsoft tech, but for my situation I recommend the following: 1)  Run msconfig.exe as administrator. 2)  Under Services, deselect Windows Module Installer. Apply and reboot. 3)  Windows Update now runs. Download and install any updates. However, other software updates and installations may not run anymore.  Therefore: 4) Leave Windows Update set NOT to check for updates automatically. 5) Run msconfig.exe again and reselect Windows Module Installer. Apply and reboot. 6) Set yourself a reminder to run Windows Update periodically by following these same steps. Note that this is a workaround, not a solution.

[Boggin]

Did you try those two updates I'd suggested, with or without the Windows Module Installer disabled ?

[taylor1277]

I did try the two on that date listed under Product Windows 8.1 and they both said they were not applicable for this computer.

[Boggin]

I think I was in error about one of them as one was for a 32bit system.

Can you go to Installed updates and enter KB4503276 into the top right search box to see if you have it installed ?

[taylor1277]

No its now there, it keeps now saying Windows Update is up to date. It also seems as though it only downloaded like three KB's they are and I didn't realize this, but it updated two numerous times. I also have the Windows Modular Installer off I am going to restart that and then I will let you know if it works that way. I think the major problem is when my hard drive failed they put everything and I mean everything back on the new drive, wouldn't that make the new hard drive practically fail like the old drive?

And isn't there a way to contact Microsoft and let them know that there is something wrong with the Windows Modular Installer. it may have happened after an update?

[Boggin]

No - HDDs have a natural life span with some failing prematurely and some that seem to go on for ever.

Providing you have sufficient free space on the HDD for the OS to work then it should be okay.

Generally 15 - 20% free space is advised for HDDs for swap and temp files with 10% min for a defrag to work.

When a clean install is done and all of the updates are installed during the process, Windows Update would report as never been updated.

As you have now had some updates and are now fully up to date, you'll probably have to wait until next month for any more to come your way.

[taylor1277]

Well I did all the updates you said to do, they are not applicable for this system, I restarted Windows Modular Installer and Windows Update went right back to running continuously. Are they doing this with Windows 7 that they may have also included Win 8.1 in that they are forcing those people out, win 7. Is there a place that in Microsoft that this can be mentioned and they can look into the Windows Modular Installer and why it isn't working?

What is the importance of running Windows Modular Installer, does it need to be running or can I turn it off and leave it off? And can someone please tell me when the next update drops and I can try both ways to see if it installs. The two KB downloads that I said downloaded numerous and and I mean numerous times were, KB2990967 and KB3063843 I had to hide them so they wouldn't keep downloading. Here I thought I was making progress and I realized that it was only downloading two at a time and said hmm I wonder if they are the same two, checked and sure enough they were.

[Boggin]

While I haven't checked my Win 7 machine, in Win 10 the status for Windows Module Installer in Services is Manual.

Go Start - type services.msc and press enter when it comes up and scroll down to see what yours is set to.

Win 10 checks for updates when you boot up but once it has checked and not found any, it goes back to a quiescent state.

[taylor1277]

Windows Modular Installer is set at manual. that is also another can of worms where it seems as though services keep being stopped. I started it, and Windows Installer. were stopped. ( god I hate bothering people for this stuff )

[Boggin]

While this article is for Win 10, it says what I've generally said. - https://www.howtogeek.com/316122/what-is-windows-modules-installer-worker-and-why-is-it-running-on-my-pc/

Windows will start and stop these services as required.