Better method to update Win7, new install? Solved!!!

[EvilHorace]

I finally got tired of dealing with Win10 on my older laptop and got a copy of Win7 pro. I know that there are a bazillion updates (it's SP1). I try Windows update and it's just hanging......

I believe that I saw a post here a while back (maybe years?) where there's a site where you can just DL all the updates, like SP2, etc a faster way. Haven't seen it here so far. Anyone?

[Executioner]

Try autopatcher. I just used it last week on a fresh install with SP1. Ran autopatcher and it after downloading and installing about 120 security updates only, the whole process was about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

http://www.autopatcher.net/forum/

It's the first link at the top: The autopatcher download.

[FlyingPenguin]

When you install Win7, tell it NOT to do auto updates for now until you get caught up.

You must have SP1 installed. If your Win7 installer does not include SP1, get it here:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... pack-1-sp1
You want either the 32 bit version (windows6.1-KB976932-X86.exe) or the 64 bit version (windows6.1-KB976932-X64.exe)

Then download and install in this order:

Windows Update Client Update:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/kb/3138612

Service Stack Update:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020369

Win7 SP1 Convenience Rollup (you need to use IE to access this site):
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3125574

Patch to fix slow Windows Updates:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=53332

This gets you up to date as of August. You can turn on Windows Update at this point and put it on automatic.

[EvilHorace]

So far nothing's working. I've done this before many times but have never seen where I can't get Windows to find ANY upgrades. Everytime I try, the methods above too, it'll say something like "checking for updates" and the status bar just keeps going forever until it eventually times out. Never finds anything.
It's Win7 64 SP1. I bought it from a seller on Amazon (new) for new PCs from a seller on Amazon for $34. Is it possible that there's something jazzed up with the OS? Goes online, no problem but it can't even find me a better video card driver, same thing happens, "searching......." and nothing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G2 ... UTF8&psc=1

[FlyingPenguin]

Sorry, I forgot the most important patch that should come first

I corrected it above.

Windows Update Client Update:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/kb/3138612

I'd reboot and run the Windows Update Troubleshooter first to clean up the Update Cache files:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/ins ... bleshooter


I need to setup a new Win7 OS install on a charity PC here so I'm going to carefully document this procedure this time for my own notes and will post it here. Up until now I've done this off the top of my head without following a checklist.

[FlyingPenguin]

Also, that SP1 Convenience Rollup (which is ALL the updates up until April this year) is a pain to download from Microsoft. You have to use their stupid Update Catalog and it only works in IE. It's not just a simple download. So for convenience, if anyone needs it, here's copies of the 32 and 64 bit Convenience Rollups I uploaded to my FTP server:

64 Bit:
http://soldcentralfl.com/bob/tools/Win7 ... v4-x64.zip

32 Bit:
http://soldcentralfl.com/bob/tools/Win7 ... v4-x86.zip

[Executioner]

Thanks for the links. I grabbed both.

[EvilHorace]

I'm baffled by this. No matter what I try, nothing upgrades whatsoever. Even the files that Bob posted above fail to run. I'll start it and it does a "searching for upgrades on this computer" and just stays there forever, never passing that point. Sometimes the PC just seemingly crashes too, shuts down for no reason, no error messages, nothing.
Anyone ever run into anything like this?

[Executioner]

Did you try autopatcher? I just wiped my spare laptop that had 10 on it yesterday, and it installed 123 security updates. After downloading all the updates, it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to install them all in one shot.

[FlyingPenguin]

The crashing makes me wonder if it's a stable install, or maybe there's bad sectors on the drive. But yeah, all else fails, try autopatcher, at least to get everything up to date, and then it might update on it's own after that.

[EvilHorace]

I'm not sure exactly how to use Autopatcher so if someone can explain it, I'd appreciate trying that. I go to that link, look around, try this, that and then .....?
If it installs anything that has to first check for previous upgrades first (like the other links above), it's incapable of going past that stage. The thing can't even seem to update IE to a newer version.

I've emailed the seller where I bought that disc from so I'll see what he says, if anything. That same laptop has run Vista, Win8, Win8.1 (which ran great btw) and then Win10 (which never seemed OK BUT it did updates, etc, didn't crash, no errors, nothing. Just seemed slower overall with Win10. It's a Dell Vostro, maybe 10+ yrs old, 2GB ram, SSD which I installed years ago.

Still have its original HDD with Vista on it (which wasn't bad on it really) so I could always just swap that in.

I might be beating a dead horse with this old laptop too. I have two other, even older laptops running Win7 but they generally suck as well.

[FlyingPenguin]

Has nothing to do with the disc. If Windows installs, it installs. If it wasn't a legit key, it wouldn't activate.

I haven't used autopatcher in ages but Exec is up on it.

No, it doesn't scan your system in the same way that Windows Update does. It's a mechanism totally outside of Windows Update.

[Executioner]

For autopatcher, download the package, which is small, to a folder on a hard drive. I usually call it "autopatcher". Here is the direct link:

http://www.autopatcher.net/forum/viewfo ... 1957bccb91
It's the very first on the forum. It's called THE Autopatcher Download.

Once extracted, double click to open the autopatcher executable. On the left side of the screen, select Download Updates. It will start to download the updates. After the updates have been downloaded, on the right side you select Install Updates. A new window will open, and select your version of windows. That is pretty much it. After installing, you'll have to reboot.

[EvilHorace]

Autopatcher gets to 5%, 4 of 166 security updates and the clock stops, just stalls and that's that. I've rebooted, re-run 3Xs so far, same results. Damn, this is irradiating! I've never seen anything like this before.

[FlyingPenguin]

I really think there's something wrong with that pc. Have you run Spinrite, or just a sector scan on the drive? Got another drive you can try?