Do you do many Windows 7 builds anymore?

[Pinnacle-Project]

I have done several Windows 7 builds recently and with each, I had problems with Windows Update not working. I have had problems with Windows Update in the past but not very often. There are a few tools available from Microsoft which I have used with mixed success.

I am beginning to think these problems are not an accident. The frequent messages in Windows 7 encouraging upgrades to Windows 10 makes it pretty clear what Microsoft wants. I bet the problems with Windows Update are a known problem with Microsoft but they are ignoring them in hopes people will get frustrated and upgrade to Windows 10.

What do you think?

[74AD]

I have had the same issue with windows 7 and updates (not working or taking as long as 24 hours to download the list of updates)
I've mostly given in and given up on 7 and have been building 10 for the most part lately.

[Gazzak]

Windows 7 updates are a complete nightmare, but I'd rather put up with that than be forced to upgrade so stuff em.

[3fingersalute]

I don't do much with pc's on a daily basis any more, but I did get a new computer ready for my dad's church the other week and it took all night to download window 7 updates.....guess it makes sense now.

[slgrieb]

The only Win7 builds I've done recently are for a couple of clients with software that doesn't work well with 10, and there aren't upgrades currently available for 10. BTW, ever wonder why financial service companies are hacked so often? It because they are always years behind the curve when it comes to security and software updates.

On a Win7 build you can mitigate the pain of updating by installing a couple of patches for the Windows Updater:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3083710

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

This makes updating 7 much quicker. Install them from a pen drive or whatever before you run Windows Update for the first time. But, still, there's like 6 1/2 years of updates, so it still isn't pretty.

[Pinnacle-Project]

The only Win7 builds I've done recently are for a couple of clients with software that doesn't work well with 10, and there aren't upgrades currently available for 10. BTW, ever wonder why financial service companies are hacked so often? It because they are always years behind the curve when it comes to security and software updates.

On a Win7 build you can mitigate the pain of updating by installing a couple of patches for the Windows Updater:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3083710

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810

This makes updating 7 much quicker. Install them from a pen drive or whatever before you run Windows Update for the first time. But, still, there's like 6 1/2 years of updates, so it still isn't pretty.

This looks like it has good potential. The second link above specifically addresses how slowly Windows checks for available updates. I decided to run this patch first. The first thing it does is check to see what updates have been installed. I started it around 7:00 last night. Twelve hours later, it was still churning away this morning. Maybe by the time I get home from work it will have made some progress.

I suppose I could put Windows 10 on this old laptop. The thing is, if I switch to Windows 10 I want it to be because I WANT Windows 10 not because I felt FORCED into Windows 10. Hopefully, I will make some progress tonight which will enable me to keep this old laptop on Windows 7.

Thanks for the links.

[74AD]

This looks like it has good potential. The second link above specifically addresses how slowly Windows checks for available updates. I decided to run this patch first. The first thing it does is check to see what updates have been installed. I started it around 7:00 last night. Twelve hours later, it was still churning away this morning. Maybe by the time I get home from work it will have made some progress.

I suppose I could put Windows 10 on this old laptop. The thing is, if I switch to Windows 10 I want it to be because I WANT Windows 10 not because I felt FORCED into Windows 10. Hopefully, I will make some progress tonight which will enable me to keep this old laptop on Windows 7.

Thanks for the links.

I ran that specific update before and it does help. you have to pull the network cable though before you run it, otherwise you're in the same situation waiting for hours / days while it checks for updates. Another option that has worked for me in the past was to set the automatic update to occur sooner (like 1pm if it's 12:30pm while I'm working on the computer) for some reason automatic updates seem to not get hung up by the endless checking loop.

I had forgotten about these tricks until just now and will try them this morning on the computer I'm working on.

[slgrieb]

I ran that specific update before and it does help. you have to pull the network cable though before you run it, otherwise you're in the same situation waiting for hours / days while it checks for updates. Another option that has worked for me in the past was to set the automatic update to occur sooner (like 1pm if it's 12:30pm while I'm working on the computer) for some reason automatic updates seem to not get hung up by the endless checking loop.

I had forgotten about these tricks until just now and will try them this morning on the computer I'm working on.

You're right. I should have remembered to tell Pinnacle to disconnect from the network before installing the patches. Oops!

[Pinnacle-Project]

This looks like it has good potential. The second link above specifically addresses how slowly Windows checks for available updates. I decided to run this patch first. The first thing it does is check to see what updates have been installed. I started it around 7:00 last night. Twelve hours later, it was still churning away this morning. Maybe by the time I get home from work it will have made some progress.

WOW! I started the patch at 7:00 PM on April 20. Now, 7:00 AM on April 22 I see it finally finished looking for updates sometime while I was sleeping last night. Good grief!

[74AD]

WOW! I started the patch at 7:00 PM on April 20. Now, 7:00 AM on April 22 I see it finally finished looking for updates sometime while I was sleeping last night. Good grief!

same story for me. I finally have updates that were installed over night.