Over the years, the Windows 10 updates have smoothened but that does not mean that it no longer encounter some issues. One of these issues is when it gets stuck. As you know, Windows automatically checking for updates regularly or when you click the “Check for updates” button. However, if the Windows 10 update is taking forever and seems to be stuck, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on what you can do to resolve the problem.
This kind of scenario in Windows Updates can be quite confusing especially since there is no response or any indication of what is really happening since you don’t know if the update is still downloading or if it’s already getting installed. To resolve this problem, there are several options you can check out. You can try to exit settings and restart your computer. You could also try to restart the services related to Windows Update or clear both the Software Distribution and Catroot2 folders, as well as run a System File Checker scan. For more details follow each one of the given steps below.
Option 1 – Restart your computer
The most basic thing you can do to fix the problem is to restart your computer. It usually works in fixing common issues like the Windows Update getting stuck at the “Checking for updates” screen. However, if it didn’t work, proceed to the next given options below.
Option 2 – Reset Windows Update components
If the first two options did not work then you might want to reset the Windows Update components manually. Follow the steps below to reset them.
- Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
- After that, type each one of the following commands and hit Enter after you key in one after the other.
- net stop wuauserv
- net stop cryptsvc
- net stop bits
- net stop msiserver
Note: The commands you entered will stop the Windows Update components such as Windows Update service, Cryptographic services, BITS, and MSI Installer.
- After disabling WU components, you need to rename both the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders. To do that, type each one of the following commands below, and don’t forget to hit Enter after you type one command after the other.
- ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
- ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old
- Next, restart the services you’ve stopped by entering another series of commands. Don’t forget to hit Enter after you key in one command after the other.
- net start wuauserv
- net start cryptsvc
- net start bits
- net start msiserver
- Close Command Prompt and reboot your PC.
Option 3 – Try checking Services Dependencies
Dependencies of a Windows Service in Windows 10 are when windows services depend on other services. Such is the case with the Windows Update service – it also depends on three different services such as the Remote Procedure Call or RPC service, DCOM Server Process Launcher, and the RPC Endpoint Mapper. Meaning to say, if two of these services are not working as expected, then the dependent service will also be affected. This could be the reason why the Windows Update service could not start.
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
- Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open Windows Services.
- From the list of Services, look for the following services:
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service
- DCOM Server Process Launcher
- RPC Endpoint Mapper
- After you find these services, double click on each one of them and check whether the Startup type for all is set to Automatic and the Service status is set to Running or not.
- If the service status is not running, then click the Start button. Afterward, check if you can now run the Windows Update service.
Option 4 – Check the Background Intelligent Service and the Cryptographic Service
- Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
- Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open Services.
- From the list of Services, look for the following services and make sure that their Startup type is as follows:
- Background Intelligent Transfer Service – Manual
- Cryptographic Service – Automatic
- After that, check if the Service status of the listed services above is set to Running. If they’re not, click on the Start button to start these services and then check if you can now enable the Windows Update service or not.
Option 5 – Try running the System File Checker
System File Checker or SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files to good system files that might be the cause why your screen is stuck at “Checking for updates”. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.
- Tap Win + R to launch Run.
- Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
- After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow
The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:
- Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
- Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
- Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
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