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Microsoft have yet again released another Windows Update which has caused corruption and crashing on Windows computers.
So, having spent a few hours searching for todays culprit, we found that the update causing the issue is this one:
It turns out that its an update for Visual Studio 2010 so it may not affect the huge amount of machines that other corrupt updates have in the past.
So, what can you do to fix it?
The simple solution is that you have to uninstall it, but you should also ensure that you have declined it in your WSUS or SCCM or other popular Windows Update system and if you are using SCCM, you could create a task sequence to remove it en masse.
If you need to know the command line for removing this update, you should try this:
C:\Windows\System32\wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3001652 /quiet /norestartIf you have any questions or comments on this, please feel free to use our comments system below.
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Hi, I found this guide really helpful, but I have one question: Is it normal after clicking "Check for Updates" to have 100+ updates ready to be installed? I have not deleted the old SoftwareDistribution folder. Please get back to me, thanks.
Thanks for replying.
Thing is, I followed the steps exactly as they were presented, and elevated the command prompt by clicking "Run as administrator". Believe you me, I followed your instructions to a tee (they're not that complicated anyway – thanks for that!) yet I still got the "access denied" line. It could be something with my system's set up though, and not a general issue.
my laptop has been on for 36hrs but has been stuck on 30% updated. microsoft said to leave it for a day. when i turn the laptop off and then back on, it goes straight back to 30% updated. i can not get into my system to try to fix it. is there anyway around this
For some reason the elevated command prompt still didn't give me permissions to rename the directory, I did consider taking ownership of the directory to rename it but it can be a lot of hassle resetting permissions properly. I assumed the problem was that some process was using the directory/files which was preventing the rename command so I tried safe mode which stopped the problem. In theory the elevated command prompt should enable you to rename system files/directorys but as usual with windows nothing is certain
Thanks for replying.
Thing is, I followed the steps exactly as they were presented, and elevated the command prompt by clicking "Run as administrator". Believe you me, I followed your instructions to a tee (they're not that complicated anyway – thanks for that!) yet I still got the "access denied" line. It could be something with my system's set up though, and not a general issue.
For some reason the elevated command prompt still didn't give me permissions to rename the directory, I did consider taking ownership of the directory to rename it but it can be a lot of hassle resetting permissions properly. I assumed the problem was that some process was using the directory/files which was preventing the rename command so I tried safe mode which stopped the problem. In theory the elevated command prompt should enable you to rename system files/directorys but as usual with windows nothing is certain
Thanks for replying.
Thing is, I followed the steps exactly as they were presented, and elevated the command prompt by clicking "Run as administrator". Believe you me, I followed your instructions to a tee (they're not that complicated anyway – thanks for that!) yet I still got the "access denied" line. It could be something with my system's set up though, and not a general issue.
For some reason the elevated command prompt still didn't give me permissions to rename the directory, I did consider taking ownership of the directory to rename it but it can be a lot of hassle resetting permissions properly. I assumed the problem was that some process was using the directory/files which was preventing the rename command so I tried safe mode which stopped the problem. In theory the elevated command prompt should enable you to rename system files/directorys but as usual with windows nothing is certain
The reason we have not included booting into safe mode is because you do not have to do it. If you elevate the command prompt and then rename the directory and you have local admin rights – it will work. What we have seen so far is that a lot of people getting the access denied on the renaming of the directory are assuming that having local admin rights is the same as "Run as administrator" – its not. Run as administrator elevates the command prompt giving it a much higher level of security rights allowing you to change system folders (which SoftwareDistribution is). If you elevate the command prompt as we have stated in the guide, it should work.
If for some reason you are still getting this access denied error, a work around is doing it in safe mode. We will write up a guide on how to access safe mode soon for Windows 8 although it is pretty simple and there are a number of ways to do it. You can hold shift key before clicking the restart option in windows 8 or instead of pressing F8 on boot up (like in Windows 7) press Shirt+F8 and go from there.
I googled "windows update stuck restart" and you were the first page. And I am so glad you are! I was stuck on the same 9 of 32 updates upon a forced restart for about an hour. Apart from getting an "access denied" error when trying to rename the directory, the rest of the steps seemed to have worked.
Seeing however that another friend of mine seems to be having the same issue with the denied access, and restarting windows 8 in safe mode is NOT an easy process, may I suggest you add that to your otherwise very helpful guide?
Hi, this worked thank you so much. I typed 'windows update 8 of 22 stuck' and you were third on Google. I clicked on some other links to compare different processes but yours was the clearest and most effective.
I downloaded some recent Windows Updates and I was constantly stuck on 9/22 updating.
I had a quick look online using 'Windows updates stuck on 9 of 22' as I thought it might've been a similar issue to other users using Safari (from my mobile phone) and this page was the top hit.
Tried the workaround suggested by these guys and it worked a treat. Only thing I will say was that the first line of code wasn't fully legible using Safari and I couldn't widen/zoom out the page. Once I had a quick look at the page on a different browser, I was able to see what was needed to be entered.
Otherwise though, thanks a million for your suggestion!
Mark
The reason we have not included booting into safe mode is because you do not have to do it. If you elevate the command prompt and then rename the directory and you have local admin rights – it will work. What we have seen so far is that a lot of people getting the access denied on the renaming of the directory are assuming that having local admin rights is the same as "Run as administrator" – its not. Run as administrator elevates the command prompt giving it a much higher level of security rights allowing you to change system folders (which SoftwareDistribution is). If you elevate the command prompt as we have stated in the guide, it should work.
If for some reason you are still getting this access denied error, a work around is doing it in safe mode. We will write up a guide on how to access safe mode soon for Windows 8 although it is pretty simple and there are a number of ways to do it. You can hold shift key before clicking the restart option in windows 8 or instead of pressing F8 on boot up (like in Windows 7) press Shirt+F8 and go from there.
I googled "windows update stuck restart" and you were the first page. And I am so glad you are! I was stuck on the same 9 of 32 updates upon a forced restart for about an hour. Apart from getting an "access denied" error when trying to rename the directory, the rest of the steps seemed to have worked.
Seeing however that another friend of mine seems to be having the same issue with the denied access, and restarting windows 8 in safe mode is NOT an easy process, may I suggest you add that to your otherwise very helpful guide?
Are you definitely elevating the command prompt – not just doing it as a local administrator account?
Just add another where statement to the query using LDSK.DeviceID0 IS LIKE "C"
how can i specify in this report to only show drive letter c ?
Hi, this worked thank you so much. I typed 'windows update 8 of 22 stuck' and you were third on Google. I clicked on some other links to compare different processes but yours was the clearest and most effective.
I downloaded some recent Windows Updates and I was constantly stuck on 9/22 updating.
I had a quick look online using 'Windows updates stuck on 9 of 22' as I thought it might've been a similar issue to other users using Safari (from my mobile phone) and this page was the top hit.
Tried the workaround suggested by these guys and it worked a treat. Only thing I will say was that the first line of code wasn't fully legible using Safari and I couldn't widen/zoom out the page. Once I had a quick look at the page on a different browser, I was able to see what was needed to be entered.
Otherwise though, thanks a million for your suggestion!
Mark
The reason we have not included booting into safe mode is because you do not have to do it. If you elevate the command prompt and then rename the directory and you have local admin rights – it will work. What we have seen so far is that a lot of people getting the access denied on the renaming of the directory are assuming that having local admin rights is the same as "Run as administrator" – its not. Run as administrator elevates the command prompt giving it a much higher level of security rights allowing you to change system folders (which SoftwareDistribution is). If you elevate the command prompt as we have stated in the guide, it should work.
If for some reason you are still getting this access denied error, a work around is doing it in safe mode. We will write up a guide on how to access safe mode soon for Windows 8 although it is pretty simple and there are a number of ways to do it. You can hold shift key before clicking the restart option in windows 8 or instead of pressing F8 on boot up (like in Windows 7) press Shirt+F8 and go from there.
Are you definitely elevating the command prompt – not just doing it as a local administrator account?
Just add another where statement to the query using LDSK.DeviceID0 IS LIKE "C"
how can i specify in this report to only show drive letter c ?
Hi, this worked thank you so much. I typed 'windows update 8 of 22 stuck' and you were third on Google. I clicked on some other links to compare different processes but yours was the clearest and most effective.
I downloaded some recent Windows Updates and I was constantly stuck on 9/22 updating.
I had a quick look online using 'Windows updates stuck on 9 of 22' as I thought it might've been a similar issue to other users using Safari (from my mobile phone) and this page was the top hit.
Tried the workaround suggested by these guys and it worked a treat. Only thing I will say was that the first line of code wasn't fully legible using Safari and I couldn't widen/zoom out the page. Once I had a quick look at the page on a different browser, I was able to see what was needed to be entered.
Otherwise though, thanks a million for your suggestion!
Mark