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 mistake message:

Windows Update cannot currently cheque for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer.

Of class, restarting did not help. When nosotros checked if the Windows Update Service was running, nosotros found that information technology was running. And so at present we were confused.

In this state of affairs, y'all 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 affair to do is to stop the Windows Update service on your Windows seven car. You tin exercise this by going to Outset and typing in services.msc in the search box.

windows update services

Next, press Enter and the Windows Services dialog will appear. At present curl downwardly until you lot run into the Windows Update service, correct-click on it and choose Terminate.

stop windows update service

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

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

software distribution

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 tin offset downloading updates for your PC.

If you're nonetheless 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 Mistake Lawmaking 8E5E03FA. Enjoy!