Windows Cannot Update Service Not Running

You can try too to check if 2 more services that windows update needs, are working, open windows update service and press in tab dependencies then press in + and you will see these 2 services that windows update needs, check that are running too. Windows Update Cannot Currently Check For Updates Because The Service Is Not Running. Richard Lloyd. Windows Update Cannot Currently Check For Updates And Update Service Is Missing. Click Start, type Windows update in the search box, and then click Windows Update in the Programs list. In the left pane, click Change settings, select Never check for updates, and then select OK. Restart the computer. After the computer restarts, download KB4516655 using the links under Method 2 in that article.

Recently, I was working with a client and they had an issue updating their Windows 7 PC. Basically, whenever they tried to run a check for updates, they would get the following error message:

Of course, restarting did not help. When we checked if the Windows Update Service was running, we found that it was running. So now we were confused.

In this situation, you can solve the problem by deleting all the currently downloaded updates and retrying. Sometimes an update gets corrupted and then Windows gets confused and thinks the service is no longer running.

Delete Windows Updates

The first thing to do is to stop the Windows Update service on your Windows 7 machine. You can do this by going to Start and typing in services.msc in the search box.

Next, press Enter and the Windows Services dialog will appear. Now scroll down until you see the Windows Update service, right-click on it and choose Stop.

Now that the Windows Update service has been disabled, you need to go to the following folder and delete all the files and folders inside of it:

Once you have deleted everything, go back to the Services dialog and right-click on the Windows Update service and choose Start. All the files and folders will be re-created and hopefully you can start downloading updates for your PC.

If you’re still having problems, make sure to check out our previous posts on removing and reinstalling all Windows Updates, fixing Windows Update Error Code 0x80072efe, and fixing Windows Update Error Code 8E5E03FA. Enjoy!

If you receive the following error when you try to check for updates on Windows 7 'Windows update cannot currently check for updates because the service is not running' then follow the steps in this guide to easily fix Windows Updates Error.

How resolve 'Windows Update cannot currently check for updates – Service not running' error:

Cannot Update Windows 7 Service Not Running

Step 1: Stop Windows Update Service.

1. Open Windows Services control panel: To do that:

  • Press Windows + R keys to open the run command box.
  • In the Search box, type: services.msc & click OK.
  • (Accept the UAC warning if appears).
Windows cannot update service is not running fix

2. In Services control panel locate the Windows Update service.

3. Right-click on Windows Update service and select 'Stop'.

Sony Update Service Download

Step 2: Delete SoftwareDistribution folder.

Windows can

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to: C:Windows folder.

2. Find and Delete the 'SoftwareDistribution' folder (or rename it. e.g. to 'SoftwareDistributionOLD') .

Step 3: Start Windows Update Service.

1. Now go back to Windows Services control panel:

2. Right-click on Windows Update service and select 'Start'.

3. Try to check for Updates again.

That's all!

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