Windows update doesn't progress beyond 0 KB 0%

Solution 1:

I've found that sometimes you just have to wait, but if it takes a significantly long time try the following:

• Click the start button and type in services.msc
• Stop the Windows Update Service.
• Delete the contents of the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder
• Start the Windows Update Service.
• Try Windows Update again.

Solution 2:

Almost went crazy trying to fix this. The problem is that there wasn't a problem at all.

Yes you heard it. Even though it said 0% downloaded, it was downloading all the time. There were too many updates available to be downloaded to be computed and shown. Just have patience and leave it to do its work.

If you want assurance that it is working, click on the Windows symbol at the bottom left, now look at the "Shut Down", see the little icon beside it that shows that it will shut down after it installs the updates that you have downloaded.

Plus if you have the patience and leave it, you will see that after a while, 30-40 minutes for me, the details will then change to say, installing updates... Bingo!

Solution 3:

SOLVED

I've had the 0kb 0% problem for a while, and I have tried everything including completely restoring my laptop to factory settings, but it turns out that the only thing that was broken was the 0kb 0% text, if you click install updates, then every so often look at the size of the software distribution folder, and if the size changes then you will know that it is downloading the updates, around an hour and a half later (I had 109 updates) it started installing all the updates.

So to fix:

1) click update

2) monitor the size of the SoftwareDistribution folder to see if the size changes

Also Checking the dates of the updates is also an indicator that you are getting more recent updates.

3) wait at least an hour (depending on how many updates you have), and hopefully it should start installing the updates (and it will say on the Windows Update windows " Installing update xyz "

Example: It may also say for example, Downloading 66 updates (386.5 MB total, 57% complete)

4) restart computer if said after installing updates.

Solution 4:

This happens if Windows has already started downloading and installing updates on its own. The foreground process just sits there waiting for something. I guess either the foreground process is waiting for a lock held by the background process, or the background process is too busy to communicate to the foreground process. If there are many updates, e.g. it's a fresh install or the system has been offline for months, it takes hours to download and install the updates, and until the background process in the the right mood, there is no progress shown, there are still 0% of 0KB downloaded. Eventually, the download progress starts showing reasonable numbers, just be patient. Please don't assume that nothing is being downloaded - it's just not being reported by the foreground process.