[Solved] Windows 7/8.1 Update Frozen “Checking For Updates”

Windows 7 and 8.1 come with this weird issue out of the box. The update checker usually gets stuck when the first time you check for updates.

It happens even when you reinstall Windows on your PC. As soon as you click that “Check For Updates” button, the screen gets stuck on that moving bar.

Don’t worry! I have a fix for this problem. This will help you to successfully check for updates on both Windows 8.1 and 7.

Fix Windows 7/8.1 Frozen Updater

The frozen or stuck update screen on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 looks like this:

Windows 7	Windows 8.1

Actually, this checking of updates doesn’t go on forever. If you leave it for 5-6 hours or overnight, then you will find in the morning that checking has stopped and updates are ready to download.

Also Check: Quickly Fix Windows 10 Update by Clearing Update Cache

Waiting for this long is not a great idea since this process should take only a few minutes. Let’s see how to fix this issue once and for all!

Step 1. Disable Windows Automatic Updates

First of all, you need to disable the automatic updates in order to install updates manually:

• Open Control Panel and select Windows Update
• On the left menu, select Change Settings
• Under Important updates, change the setting to Never check for updates and uncheck both Recommended updates and Microsoft Update
• To finish, click OK
• Finally, restart your computer

Step 2. Manually Install Standalone Updates

After your computer has restarted, it is time to install some software patches to fix the issue.

Microsoft released these small patches to fix the small update process. Download these standalone updaters according to your version of Windows and architecture.

Windows 7

Download both the patches (according to your system’s architecture) to speed up the update checking process in Windows 7.

32-BIT	64-BIT
DOWNLOAD KB3172605 DOWNLOAD KB3020369	DOWNLOAD KB3172605 DOWNLOAD KB3020369

Windows 8.1

• DOWNLOAD KB3112336 (32-BIT)
• DOWNLOAD KB3112336 (64-BIT)

After installing the patches, restart your computer and check for updates again and wait for 10-15 minutes.

This time it should successfully show a list of all the available updates.

Step 3. Windows Update Diagnostic Tool (Optional)

If the issue persists, your final resort would be to diagnose the Windows updater using the Diagnostic Tool.

Download it below and run it. It will try to troubleshoot and finally fix your broken Windows updater.

• DOWNLOAD WINDOWS UPDATE DIAGNOSTIC TOOL

That’s all! If you have any doubts or queries regarding this tutorial, then feel free to ask in the comments section below.