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windows update service missing in services.msc

Answered windows update service missing in services.msc

  • Tuesday, February 10, 2009 12:51 PM
     
     
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    Hey, I've been using the beta for a while and have been working under the assumption that winupdate was running in the background doing its thing, however now upon launching windows update I get the red cross shield and 'check for updates' button, which upon clicking gives an error message"
    'windows update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer'

    Restarting does nothing, upon checking services.msc, there IS NO WINDOWS UPDATE SERVICE! I have the wuaueng.dll, and wusa.exe, but am unable to use wusa to install microsoft updates manually (such as the windows media player fix for corrupted mp3s), when I try to launch a .msu file I get this:

    'Installer encountered an error 0x80070424
    The specified service does not exist as an installed service'

    So how can I install... the windows update service?!

    I have tried sfc/scannow in cmd and it told me that it did not find any integrity violations
    I'm on beta 7000 ultimate x86
     

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  • Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:49 PM
     
     
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    This is a tough one.
    Ok i couldn't find one single solution that may fix this. I DID however find some postings and i found a microsoft document that MIGHT be of some help.

    The posting is here:
    http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsupdate&tid=193e4018-f93d-4eb9-8d75-9b5f571b7ae8&p=1

    And the Microsoft document about manually downloading and installing the windows update agent is here:
    (I have no clue if you re install this agent if it will re setup the service or not. The download Links are located about Halfway Through the article) Maybe worth a shot?

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949104


    Maybe a Microsoft Employee with experience of a this issue could comment on this? I have never seen this before.

    Wish i could be more help! hopefully its at least a starting point!

     
  • Wednesday, February 11, 2009 12:32 AM
    Answerer
     
     
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    Try this from a command prompt (elevated to administrator privileges)

    net start wuauserv

    Does this start the service?
    - John
     
  • Wednesday, February 11, 2009 3:47 AM
     
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    Do you have the following registry key info below? It is very likely that your computer/network is infected with a variant of the Conficker virus. One of it's first attack actions is to cripple the Windows Update service to prevent itself being removed by thngs like Windows Defender or the Maliscious Software Removal Tool. Even though Win7 does not have any vulnerabilities conficker can attack, it also attacks accounts with weak or blank passwords.

    Review: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/SearchResults.aspx?query=conficker
    Download and run MSRT - http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/families.mspx

    ==========

    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv

      Name:            PreshutdownTimeout
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x36ee800

      Name:            DisplayName
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            @%systemroot%\system32\wuaueng.dll,-105

      Name:            ImagePath
      Type:            REG_EXPAND_SZ
      Data:            %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

      Name:            Description
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            @%systemroot%\system32\wuaueng.dll,-106

      Name:            ObjectName
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            LocalSystem

      Name:            ErrorControl
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1

      Name:            Start
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x2

      Name:            DelayedAutoStart
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1

      Name:            Type
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x20

      Name:            DependOnService
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            rpcss

      Name:            ServiceSidType
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1

     =====

    Once you have that all done, let me know if you need asistance getting your Windows Update service registry entries back together. Honestly, our recommendation after infection is to reinstall the OS to guarantee that a Conficker variant did not leave behind a rootkit, worm, or backdoor account that AV tools don't catch.

    Ned Pyle [MSFT] - MS Enterprise Platforms Support - Beta Team
     
  • Thursday, October 01, 2009 12:08 AM
     
     
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    From what I can tell, it sounds like you are running a beta version of Windows 7. I've seen Windows 7 in action, and it seems a lot like Vista, so here is an idea that may help! (This applies to all versions of Windows 7 and Windows Vista)

    I recently noticed that a system infected with this same issue had the registry associated with windows updates completely removed from the registry. Playing with the registry can be bad if you do not know what you are doing. WARNING! Unless you know what you are doing, or you are following instructions from someone who does, do *NOT* make changes to your Windows Registry! You can seriously harm your computer, causing programs not to function properly, or even prevent Windows from starting at all!! Before making any changes to your Windows Registry it is highly recommended that you create a system restore point!

    The first part of this requires a windows vista or windows 7 OS that is uninfected and working properly (including windows updates), a portable USB drive, or other means of transferring files from one computer to another. This procedure requires administrative credentials in order to complete, and you may need to restart your computer once the procedure is complete in order for the changes to take effect.

    On your uninfected system:

    1. click on start then type "regedit" (without the quotes). When regedit appears in the start menu, click it. If you have UAC enabled, you must give permission, or enter your credentials to continue.
    2. Find the following key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv
    3. Right click the key itself and choose "Export" (Make sure you are right clicking on the word wuauserv in the left pane)
    4. Save the export to a USB drive, or other means of transferring files between computers, and name it something like "Windows Updates registry fix" (without the quotes)

    On your problem system:

    1. Insert the removable USB drive or other means of transferring files between computers.
    2. Find the file you exported to the drive from your uninfected system.
    3. Double click the file (You may be prompted by UAC if it is enabled. Please provide credentials)
    4. You will get a warning from Windows about adding registry information. Please click Yes to continue, then click ok.
    5. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

    I hope this helps!
     
  • Sunday, November 01, 2009 9:59 PM
     
     
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    Thanx Jason, I've had same problem and successfully fixed it.
     
  • Monday, November 02, 2009 10:42 PM
     
     
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    I had the same problem, but not anymore! spread the word to use Microsoft's "MicrosoftFixit50202". It fixed it 100%.

     
  • Thursday, August 12, 2010 11:28 PM
     
     
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    I had Windows Update removed from a virus I picked up because I didn't have my Java patched.  Totally hosed Firefox, IE, windows update.  I manually removed the virus causing popups in Safe mode and regedit and  I used the Microsoft Malicious software removal tool to find all copies on the system.  I had to do a manual update of security essentials because it wouldn't download anything due to removal of services.  After getting the virus off, and IE and FireFox working again (with confidence) I still couldn't get Windows Update to run (the service was gone).  I finally found this fix it appears to have worked:

    Fix It 50202

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058/en-us

    All of my update history is gone, but it's found the latest set of patches from Microsoft and appears to be working.  Wanted to post in case it helps anyone else.

     
  • Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:29 AM
     
     
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    This worked great. Thanks !!! One thing I add after removing the virus. I exported the wuauserv folder for another system's register which had Win XP Pro SP3 OS. Then I copied that file to the desktop of the other system with the missing folder. I opened the register path  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and I dragged and dropped the wuauserv file in the Services folder and reboot the system. It begin updating immediatley after I logged on. Thanks again !!
     
  • Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:31 AM
     
     
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    The other system has a win xp home edition SP2 OS.
     
  • Monday, January 16, 2012 1:39 PM
     
     
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    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058/en-us

    this did not work for me.  It ran and finished and said windows update still needed repair.  It would be nice if Microsoft would include actual logging information a user could actually see what their 'fixit' software could not fix.  They should call it 'mightbeabletofixitbutprobablynot' software.

     
  • Wednesday, May 30, 2012 6:00 PM
     
     
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    I have found that the "let me fix it myself" instructions for this issue seem to work more reliably than running the FixIt. I've had ths crop up on a couple of our end-user's systems. The FixIt never found anything it could fix, but the manual instructions worked well. Also if you use the manual instructions a couple of the regsvr32.exe commands seem to fail (specifically shdocvw.dll, wucltux.dll and wuwebv.dll) but the repair is successful anyway.
     
  • Monday, June 11, 2012 3:57 PM
     
     
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    I fixed the registry keys, bit still have the same message when try to do windows update: "Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. you may need to restart your computer." Could you, please, help?

     Thank you in advance.

     
  • Sunday, July 22, 2012 6:25 AM
     
     
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    Same problem, been dealing with this all week and have tried just about everything.  The service is installed and currently running, but still getting error message. "Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. you may need to restart your computer." really would appreciate any help at this point.
     
  • Wednesday, August 15, 2012 2:43 PM
     
     
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    Thanks everyone for the information here.  I had the same problem.  The Windows Update registry entry was missing.... not sure how long ago this happened but estimate about a week.  Tried all the fixes in this tip and got the Update to at least start trying to download but then it failed to download them.  Ran a full AV Scan with MSE and it found Trojan Win64/Sirefef on 4 files which is classified as severe.... time for a reload I think.... not going to take any chances with this one.....
     
  • Sunday, August 26, 2012 3:13 PM
     
     
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    That completely fixed my problem, thanks for the help! now i can play my game that needs crapy windows live!

     
  • Monday, September 03, 2012 4:07 AM
     
     
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    I did not have any of that entry posted by Ned Pyle in my registry- Windows 7 Home Premium SP1- and could not get anywhere at all with Windows Update because services were not running.  None of the Microsoft FixIt things I tried did anything for me.  Getting Windows Update back was a two step process for me.

    After seeing many references to wuauserv.dll I searched for it on my machine and never found it.  It seems to me that it is a holdover from Vista that does not exist in W7.  But I did find references to wuauserv AKA wuaueng and a place that talked about how to get wuaueng back into the registry.

    http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?wuaueng

    If you click on How to install wuaueng.dll and follow the directions it should get things started.  I already had a later version of wuaueng.dll in C:\Windows\System32 than the one they had for download, so I downloaded nothing.  But since I have a 64 bit OS I copied that dll into C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ as they suggested.  I do not know if it was needed.  I had to run the command console as administrator before I did Type regsvr32 wuaueng.dll and press Enter  but after that when I tried to run Windows Update from the control panel I had partial success.  I was able to see the list of items available for download.  However when I selected what I wanted to install and tried to do it, the downloads failed.

    From what I had read, it sounded to me like I was also missing the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) so I went looking for that, and after seeing several somewhat complicated descriptions of how to fix it, I came across this gem

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/how-do-i-replace-the-missing-background/5b659487-f4ec-4f67-b352-e9d5af8b5a99?auth=1

    I created the BITS.reg file exactly as described there, made sure I had the dll files it called for and ran it.

    My Windows Update is now restored, complete with the "New updates are available" icon in the task bar, and a couple of sucessful updates.

    My Registry does not look exactly like what Ned posted, so here is what mine looks like

    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wuauserv
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   9/2/2012 - 4:21 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            Type
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x20

    Value 1
      Name:            Start
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x2

    Value 2
      Name:            ErrorControl
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1

    Value 3
      Name:            ImagePath
      Type:            REG_EXPAND_SZ
      Data:            %systemroot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

    Value 4
      Name:            DisplayName
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            Windows Update

    Value 5
      Name:            ObjectName
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            LocalSystem

    Value 6
      Name:            Description
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            Enables the detection, download, and installation of updates for Windows and other programs. If this service is disabled, users of this computer will not be able to use Windows Update or its automatic updating feature, and programs will not be able to use the Windows Update Agent (WUA) API.

    Value 7
      Name:            PreshutdownTimeout
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x36ee800

    Value 8
      Name:            RequiredPrivileges
      Type:            REG_MULTI_SZ
      Data:            SeAuditPrivilege
                       SeCreateGlobalPrivilege
                       SeCreatePageFilePrivilege
                       SeTcbPrivilege
                       SeAssignPrimaryTokenPrivilege
                       SeImpersonatePrivilege
                       SeIncreaseQuotaPrivilege

    Value 9
      Name:            DelayedAutoStart
      Type:            REG_DWORD
      Data:            0x1


    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wuauserv\Parameters
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   9/2/2012 - 4:21 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            ServiceDll
      Type:            REG_EXPAND_SZ
      Data:            C:\Windows\system32\wuaueng.dll

    Value 1
      Name:            ServiceMain
      Type:            REG_SZ
      Data:            WUServiceMain


    Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\wuauserv\Security
    Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
    Last Write Time:   9/2/2012 - 4:44 PM
    Value 0
      Name:            Security
      Type:            REG_BINARY
      Data:           
    00000000   01 00 14 80 78 00 00 00 - 84 00 00 00 14 00 00 00  ....x...........
    00000010   30 00 00 00 02 00 1c 00 - 01 00 00 00 02 80 14 00  0...............
    00000020   ff 00 0f 00 01 01 00 00 - 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00  ÿ...............
    00000030   02 00 48 00 03 00 00 00 - 00 00 14 00 9d 00 02 00  ..H.............
    00000040   01 01 00 00 00 00 00 05 - 0b 00 00 00 00 00 18 00  ................
    00000050   ff 01 0f 00 01 02 00 00 - 00 00 00 05 20 00 00 00  ÿ........... ...
    00000060   20 02 00 00 00 00 14 00 - ff 01 0f 00 01 01 00 00   .......ÿ.......
    00000070   00 00 00 05 12 00 00 00 - 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 05  ................
    00000080   12 00 00 00 01 01 00 00 - 00 00 00 05 12 00 00 00  ................

     
    • Edited by AntiSofti Monday, September 03, 2012 4:11 AM Deleted the <kbd> around bold text
    •  
     
  • Monday, October 15, 2012 6:54 PM
     
     
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    This worked for me, I use Win 7 Pro key on Win 7 Ultimate. Copy and restart. Thanks for the post !!
     
  • Wednesday, November 21, 2012 6:06 PM
     
     
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    After being stumped by Windows Updates on a Vista machine I ran across this thread - Thankfully ! !  

    The Vista machine did not have the wuausrv or the BITS thread in the registry probably because a virus.  I exported the wuausrv and the BITS registry keys from my Win 7 box and imported these threads into the registry on the Vista machine.  Finally, problem resolved and updates appear to be working perfectly.

    Note: before I tried this I had done all the prerequisite virus scans and cleanup and had a perfectly working machine except for the Win Updates problem, so if you've tried everything else this method may be worth a try.    

    Thanks to everyone that posted to this thread.  

    georgee2