I have a unique problem that I can't seem to find a solution to that works in my environment.  I have found some answers for this problem, but the only one I could try, does not solve the issue...

We have Windows 7 SP1 (x86 and x64) deployed across our domain, running on hardware that ranges from very old to very new.  A common problem that has started occurring (since the deployment of Windows 7) is that machines with 2 GB of memory will run very slowly during various times of day.  Through process monitoring and live captures, we have narrowed it down to the wuaserv.exe service running inside an svchost.exe process.  The service will consume as much memory as it can, until the machine is unusable.  Stopping the windows update service immediately releases the memory and the box will run in a normal state again.  

There seems to be several others out there who have come across this problem, and all have come up with a couple common answers.  Repair the windows update service (has not worked), or stop using Microsoft Update in favor of Windows Update (not applicable since we use SCCM 2012 SP1 for update management.)  

I can't just change the SCCM setting to stop scanning so frequently, I need to ensure my systems have the updates we've applied, and enforcement is critical.  Even if I reduce the scans, the problem still occurs when the scan kicks off.  This is having a negative impact on our business, and I'm not looking for a workaround.  I need a solution to this problem so we can move forward.

If this is not the right forum for this post, please let me know where this would better fit.  Thanks in advance.

tags:  SCCM high memory svchost.exe wuaserv windows 7 

• Edited by steelie Friday, November 14, 2014 8:08 PM

Hi  ,

The main issue is wuaserv.exe service included in svchost.exe eating much memory space, right?

Considering the machine`s memory is only 2GB and its hardware is a little old,in our experience it`s a normal situation.When wuauserv starts eating memory, the best thing to do is to wait until it finishes installing the updates and then reboot.

To relieve this issue ,have you tried to flush the DataStore Folder?

To flush the data store, run the following code in the command line:

net stop wuauserv

net stop bits

rd /s /q %windir%\softwaredistribution

net start bits

net start wuauserv

Best regards

Thanks for the response..

We've tried to flush the data store, with no success.  The service still consumes a high level of memory.

There are no actual updates being installed.  From our troubleshooting, it happens whenever the machine kicks off an update store scan, to compare what updates it has installed versus what updates are available in the SCCM catalog.  It's not installing anything, it's just the reporting piece.  

• Edited by steelie Monday, November 17, 2014 1:59 PM

Hi,

Please check the following links :

FIX: When you run Windows Update to scan for updates that use Windows Installer, including Office updates, you may experience a memory leak, or you may receive an error message for the Svchost process

http://support2.microsoft.com/kb/916089/en-us

When you use Automatic Updates to scan for updates or to apply updates to applications that use Windows Installer, you experience issues that involve the Svchost.exe process

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932494

According to the two links ,this issu seems to be related to the Windows Update Agent.Have you tried to update the Windows Update Agent?

Best regards

• Edited by MeipoXuMicrosoft contingent staff Thursday, November 20, 2014 1:01 AM

Those articles are pretty ancient.. I verified the version of Windows Update we are using is far beyond anything mentioned in those articles.  

On all of the clients I've checked, version 7.6.7600.256 is installed.

Hi steelie,

Those articles are pretty ancient..

Those articles show us an important information, this issue is mostly  related to the Windows Update Agent .

Even though you have the latest Windows Update Agent ,I still recommend you to reset the Windows Update Agent to check if the issue persists?

To reset Windows Update Agent:

DOS Script to Reset Windows Update Agent

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Dos-Command-Line-Batch-to-fb07b159

Here is another link for reference:

Auto-Fix Windows Update Agent

http://blogs.technet.com/b/michaelgriswold/archive/2010/04/15/auto-fix-wmi.aspx

Best regards

Unfortunately, this has not worked.  I do not know if anything is actually 'wrong' with windows update.. it could be the machines are just being pushed too hard (with only 2 GBs of memory) and the scheduled scan is taking them over the edge.  Thanks for your assistance.  

Hi steelie,

"it could be the machines are just being pushed too hard (with only 2 GBs of memory) "

Considering this issue only occurs in the machines with 2 GBs of memory. This issue is understandable. If it is available,you may need to extend the memory to solve this issue.

Best regards

• Edited by MeipoXuMicrosoft contingent staff Monday, December 01, 2014 12:25 PM

Another question... since it seems that I'm pretty much stuck with this issue, how can I alter the time of the scan?  Assume I'm not using SCCM to manage the clients, is there any way to change the auto-scan frequency or time it occurs?  I can't seem to find anything on this..

Hi steelie,

how can I alter the time of the scan?

After a deep research ,we have found a work ground.

There is a group policy Automatic Update Detection Frequency.

Its path is Computer Configuration\ Administrative Templates\ Windows Components\Windows Update\Automatic Update detection frequency.

This policy specifies the hours that Windows will use to determine how long to wait before checking for available updates. The exact wait time is determined by using the hours specified here, minus 0 to 20 percent of the hours specified. For example, if this policy is used to specify a 20-hour detection frequency, then all WSUS clients to which this policy is applied will check for updates anywhere between 16 and 20 hours.

We can make it by combining forcing a scan using a command wuauclt.exe /detectnow in the time you want to scan with this policy.

Once a scan has been performed ,it will not scan until the hours expired according to the policy you have configured.

Apart from this ,I recommend you to take the following links` suggestions to optimize the WSUS client performance:

General guidance on optimizing WSUS client performance(Pay attention to Run the WSUS Server Cleanup Wizard and Check Custom WSUS Admin Scripts parts)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2517455

Best regards

• Marked as answer by Yolanda ZhuMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Tuesday, December 09, 2014 10:04 AM
• Unmarked as answer by steelie Thursday, December 11, 2014 6:29 PM
• Marked as answer by steelie Thursday, December 11, 2014 6:29 PM
• Unmarked as answer by steelie Sunday, March 22, 2015 11:48 PM

hi.

 i know about the CPU issue at windows updates, but you can try this solotions :

the level of use on the CPU svchost process. exe the  WMI comes to 100 percent. In addition, extensive use was made in relation to the size of the largest memory buffer of the WMI.
For example - The computer's boot process takes too long. , and it's slow the user's login

 

The solution that I Recommend to you - is to delete the contents of the folder C:\ WINDOWS system32 \wbem \Repository
But unfortunately you can not delete this folder contents while the system is working without pause the WMI service, so first you have to pause the WMI service and then deleted the folder contents.

 http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/svchostexe-netsvcs-using-a-ton-of-cpu/5f6bb576-219f-4565-b241-96cab321bad3

Thanks,

Israel Chemo

Interesting workaround MeipoXu... I'll give this a shot on some test clients and see if that works.  

Edit:  Rescheduling the task has been successful.  It no longer scans during business hours, and the machines are running well.  Thanks for your help!

• Edited by steelie Thursday, December 11, 2014 6:31 PM

Israel, I appreciate your input, but in our case it is memory usage, not CPU, that is causing the problems.  I can certainly test this on one of my clients, I'll get back to you.

Thanks

• Edited by steelie Thursday, December 04, 2014 4:01 PM

We're seeing similar problems - the svchost.exe running wuauserv is using up to 1.5GB of memory while scanning for updates. This is causing a host system with 2GB RAM to start paging to disk at which point it becomes unresponsive. It's been verified by stopping wuauserv, where the svchost.exe process memory usage drops to approx 70MB.

A memory upgrade to 4GB resolves the issue. Given 2GB of RAM is the supported RAM requirement for 64-bit, therefore it's not unreasonable to expect a fix.

The workaround provided by the marked answer has proved useful for our situation.  It basically makes the scans happen only once a day, during a more predictable time window.  

I do agree with you, though, that Microsoft shouldn't ignore the complaints of users who are operating within the specified hardware recommendations.

• Edited by steelie Monday, February 09, 2015 7:01 PM

Hello Steelie,

Has this issue abated at all? I am seeing it happening to my machines, but these run with 4GB of RAM. I've seen the wuauserv take up to 2GB of that at a time, causing slowdowns like you describe.

I thought I had a good shot at defeating this with the latest version of WU Agent, but apparently not. I too will make the change to the update frequency above as you have, but if there have been any further updates to your progress, I'd be interested in hearing about them.

Thanks,

John

The workaround does move the scheduled scan to an anticipated window.. but we have also been upping the total ram in boxes with the issue.  We have not had the problem with systems using 4 GBs, so maybe you guys are pushing your systems harder than we do.  Kind of crazy that we've had to add memory just to accommodate an update scan...

Thanks for the reply. I guess I'll just keep working on it.

John

FYI, in case this helps someone else, my problem was that we had printer shares for our digital copiers out on some servers, but forgot to add the latest x64 driver to one of the shares when upgrading. Windows Update was trying (really really hard!) to download the missing printer driver itself, causing a surprisingly massive memory load on wuauserv.

The thing that tipped me off was entries like "Synchronizing Applicable Printers" in the WindowsUpdate.log on a troubled machine. Deleting all of the local printers and restarting the Windows Update service brought things back to normal immediately, which led me to discover the server that was missing the new x64 driver. (Also, even with the WU service stopped and disabled, the WindowsUpdate.log was getting a lot of activity from the spooler, looking to update the printer.)

Probably not the same thing that happened to you, Steelie, but perhaps it will help someone. :)

Best,
John

• Proposed as answer by Anonymous6185 Thursday, March 26, 2015 1:43 PM

We have exactly the same concerns about our Windows 7 PC with 2GB of ram.

We use SCCM to manage our Windows updates.

Given solutions are not acceptable.
We do not have a 'slot' with no activity to try to force updates to this moment. Some services operate at night, others during the day. In addition we use FEP and we want our antivirus to be updated several times a day, so we can not restrict updates to a daily scan.

Why we have this problem on Windows 7 and not on Windows 8?
Is it because of fewer update to evaluate? Is it a correction made by Microsoft?

Can we get an official response from Microsoft on the subject?
Windows 7 is supported with 2GB of ram, SCCM also ....

Interesting questions..

The workaround provided by the marked answer has proved useful for our situation.  It basically makes the scans happen only once a day, during a more predictable time window.  

I do agree with you, though, that Microsoft shouldn't ignore the complaints of users who are operating within the specified hardware recommendations.

Hi Steelie,

I am having the exact same issue. What did you set your policy to? I set it to 22 hours is that suffient

22 is fine if you're trying to push it until very late at night.  I've had this in place for a couple months now, but I've had mixed results.  Some machines seem to now only scan late in the evening, but others still scan during the day.  The machines are exactly the same specs, with the scan policy successfully applied to both.  I'm starting to wonder if the scan delay is really having any effect.  They do seem to scan once a day, but I don't know if I'm really controlling the time.

Hello,

The machines with 2GB of RAM get stuck after booting. When this happens we see this in the WindowsUpdate.Log

2015-03-12 07:54:20:624 416 b38 PT Initializing simple targeting cookie, clientId = 340cd7ca-519e-4809-9ee0-017c97af592e, target group = ClientesW7, DNS name = ComputerName.domain
2015-03-12 07:54:20:624 416 b38 PT  Server URL = http://wsusserver:8530/SimpleAuthWebService/SimpleAuth.asmx
2015-03-12 08:02:58:150 416 de4 AU AU setting next sqm report timeout to 2015-03-13 07:02:57
2015-03-12 08:06:00:842 416 b38 Agent WARNING: Failed to evaluate Installed rule, updateId = {189A8F50-0C3A-4FDF-8BC2-BC23A3EB11FB}.101, hr = 80242013
2015-03-12 08:06:30:137 416 b38 PT +++++++++++  PT: Synchronizing extended update info  +++++++++++
2015-03-12 08:06:30:137 416 b38 PT  + ServiceId = {3DA21691-E39D-4DA6-8A4B-B43877BCB1B7}, Server URL = http://wsusserver:8530/ClientWebService/client.asmx
2015-03-12 08:18:32:526 416 b38 Agent  * Added update {E6842A69-D38C-4EBA-A0E6-87E948B39293}.200 to search result

There is a pause between 08:06:30:137 and 08:18:32:526, that's where the service starts tu use all the available memory.

I tried deleting c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution with no success.

What I don't understand is, why this didn't happen 3 months ago? When did this start happening to you?

We have the default 22 hours check frequency. We can't make the machines check for updates at night as the computers are turned off by the users when they leave.

• Edited by _YoMismo_ Tuesday, March 24, 2015 10:52 AM

We just found out the reason it's using so much memory now and not three months ago. It's because three months ago we changed our wsus server to a 2012R2 instead of a 2003, this updated the WU client to version 7.6.7600.320 which apparently uses much more RAM.

My niece has a laptop with 2 GB of RAM running under Windows 7 x64. Her laptop has also become unresponsive after the Windows Update client updated to 7.6.7600.320. The svchost would sometimes consume as much as 1.5 GB of RAM which would render her laptop unusable. She has disabled Windows Updates. Is there a fix available? Thanks.

Same here with Lenovo tower witch using Windows 7 x64 and 2GB of ram. Checking for updates takes ages and PC is unusable. svchost uses 1.5GB of RAM

We have over 30 different laptop at our repair shop right now all running into this issue. The all started havening this is issue after SP1 was installed on them and the update manager updated. We have resorted to manually installing update off network. This fixes it for now but the issue still persists cause it lock up 1.8-3.5 GB RAM just when checking for updates. After locating the updates and during download and install it goes down to less than 700MB.

Looks like this is a pretty big issue, based on the responses here... I wonder if there's any chance a MS person could address the issue?  I'm tempted to unmark the answer since it's not really an answer, just a workaround. 

It looks like the common issue is Windows 7 SP1, and 2 GBs of memory.  It is a supported minimum, so it would be nice to get a fix for the update agent.

I have been dealing with this issue for months now.  Acer laptop with 2gb of memory, Windows 7 SP1,  that is used mainly for internet and mail.  I too have narrowed it down to an svchost task that will use up to 900,000 memory which basically shuts down my computer until I manually stop the update line.  Responses above are beyond my paygrade in tech skills without more detail re: implementation (ie for the computer user who knows just enough to be dangerous).  Yes, please unmark the answer until MS supplies something lay people can use.

Iv got big group of windows 7 64 with 2 GB of RAM computers experiencing the same issue. Once windows updates fires up, all the ram drains and the system becomes unusable. Hope this gets fixed soon as I work IT at a university and they keep rolling in. 

I have a net-book running Win 7 32bit with twice the minimum amount of RAM - i.e. 2GB is installed.  The same thing has been happening on it for a long time now, with Windows Update (i.e. the wuauserv service) running under the svchost process, alongside a few other services.  When checking for updates the memory allocated to that particular svchost process can run at more than 0.5 GB, which is enough to render the net-book almost unusable; only about five minutes after boot up - in fact the machine has sometimes run out of memory and crashed with only a couple of simple applications open at that time.  When the Windows Update service has been stopped manually the memory usage for the relevant svchost process drops dramatically, to below 0.1 GB.  No updates are usually found or installed during the Windows Update scans (which seem to cause such a dramatic loss of performance) as my net book is up to date most of the time.  The net book is a standalone device and not networked.  Turning off automatic updates seems to be almost the only solution at this point as 2 GB is the maximum RAM allowed for the motherboard, unfortunately.             

I went ahead and unmarked the answer to this, since it was just a workaround and not a true answer addressing the excessive resource usage.  

Same problem with a Dell, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 2.00 GB ram.

After running, AdwCleaner, Spybot 2.4 Free Edition, with no success decided to reinstall windows.

Windows reinstalled but the problem still exists and tried to fix by running this https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058 even though it does not support windows 7 with no success.

At the end of the automated Microsoft Fix It kb/971058 there is a View Report Details that is reporting the following :

Windows Update

Publisher details

Issues checked
Searching for updates failed	Checked

Issues checked

Detection details

Searching for updates failed Checked

<data id="Description" name="Description">Windows Update encountered an error searching for updates online.</data>

Detection details

Collection information
Computer Name:	User-PC
Windows Version:	6.1
Architecture:	amd64
Time:	Monday, March 23, 2015 3:03:38 PM

Publisher details

The one that seems wrong to me is the (Architecture: amd64) since the laptop is Intel based chipset and cpu.

Do not know if this is of any importance just thought to contribute to this thread effort to find a fix for this memory leak the update scan is causing.

First I do not work for MS

I understand this is a pain point and has been for a while but AFAIK MS is not doing further development on/in win 7 except for security fixes.  They (MS) seem only to be concerned with their bottom line lately and are not concerned with much of anything else.

We have more than 100 clients with Win7 and 2GB showing the same problems. It's so obvious it's a memory leak in Windows Update 7.6.7600.320 and no workaround yet. Doesn't matter if its 32 or 64bit, neither if its communicating with a WSUS or directly to MS WU.

As Windows Update memory usage skyrockets to 2GB or more when checking for updates, pagefile has to be used - and that disk I/O blocks everything on the clients.

If not enough memory is available for wuauserv (like, say, you turn the pagefile off), it can't check for updates and an error is generated.

It's disappointing to see that no effort has been made by Microsoft to fix this. Win7 was such a neat system until this appeared...

A workaround I've used in the past is using Task Scheduler to start wuauserv once a week at an allotted time in the evening, in which I'll try to have my computer on, and then have it turn off a few hours later.

I am not sure, but I found an answer at another posting site that may work.  I have Windows 7, 32 bit, 2 GB RAM, with the same lockup when Windows Update runs (wuauserv), 600-800MB memory sucked up and the computer virtually stops for 30 minutes.

Because I am a newbie to this site, I can't post the link where I found this, but Google "Why is windows update services is a memory hog?"  and pick the answer that is from "staff.kfupm.edu.sa"  It comes up about 9 down the list. 

This is all Greek to me, but it seems to be the only solution proposed.  It came from some publication at The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, someone who has a "Microsoft Most Valuable Professional" tag on the page.

This is the text of A. Elshafei's answer:

Note:  There was a problem in the cutting and pasting and the headings were cut off.  The first is "Problem", then "Background", then "Solution".  Everything else is complete.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

AuAutomatic Updates causing high CPU and memory usage in svchost.exe

Problem:   You may receive one of the following symptoms:   - svchost.exe has 100% CPU usage   - svchost.exe has high memory usage that is above 60,000K   - The computer stalls during windows update   - svchost.exe causes the computer to stop responding for periods between 5-30 minutes.   - extremely slow windows startup   - The generic host process that is causing all the mess holds the following services:   AudioSrv, BITS, Browser, CryptSvc, Dhcp, ERSvc, EventSystem, helpsvc, lanmanserver, lanmanworkstation, Netman, Nla, RasMan, Schedule, seclogon, SENS, SharedAccess, ShellHWDetection, srservice, TapiSrv, Themes, TrkWks, W32Time, winmgmt, wscsvc, wuauserv   - You tried downloading the fixes for the automatic updates and svchost problem from Microsoft, and the problem persists.

Background:   The problem described above is due to some corruption with automatic updates. A workaround that has been commonly prescribed suggested is to to turn off automatic updates from the control panel or from the windows services. However, this may not be recommended solution as you need the updates to keep your windows secure from vulnerabilities.   I have devised the following solution that takes no time and has been tested and works.

Solution:

       Step1: Disable automatic updates from the control panel temporarily to stop the frequent slow owns  

       Step2: Copy everything inside the quote box below (starting with @) and paste it into notepad. Go up to "File > Save As", click the drop-down box to change the "Save As Type" to "All Files". Save it as fix.bat on your desktop

   

==========================

@Echo OFF
    net stop wuauserv
    net stop bits
    rmdir /s /q %windir%\SoftwareDistribution\
    REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL /s
    regsvr32 wuaueng.dll /s
    REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL /s
    REGSVR32 ATL.DLL /s
    REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL /s
    REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL /s
    REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL /s
    REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL /s
    net start bits
    net start wuauserv
    wuauclt.exe /resetauthorization /detectnow

 ==============================        

Step3: Double-click fix.bat A window will open and close quickly, this is normal.  

Step4: Open internet explorer and go to www.windowsupdate.com   You will be notified that your automatic updates is turned off. Do not enable it yet. You will be also notified that can upgrade to microsoft update. Also ignore that.  

Step5: select express update -> download and install the updates required -> reboot the PC  

Step6: Turn on automoatic updates from the control panel and your PC should be back to normal.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can anyone interpret this to plain English and say if it is safe?

+++++++++++++

Update: I tried the program, the step 4 goes to what looks like an old Vista/XP website for the update and the questions listed above don't exist.  I am trying to download the updates thru Windows 7 Control Panel, and now it is a real memory hog because it must be checking for every single MS Update...30 minutes later...so patience....

Maybe this author was on to something great.

• Edited by brucefal Wednesday, March 25, 2015 2:50 AM Program may be for Vista/XP?

I also have this very same problem in 2 laptops with Windows 7 64 bits. I really hope that Microsoft will fix that very soon.

We are also facing exactly same problem. We have several hundred affected workstations. I hope that guys in Microsoft are paying attention because this is a huge problem.

List of Memory leaks related hotfixes post SP1 for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/30376.list-of-memory-leaks-related-hotfixes-post-sp1-for-windows-7-sp1-and-windows-server-2008-r2-sp1.aspx

@brucefal - What that process will do is 'repair' windows update.  That was one of the earliest mentioned fixes for this problem, but unfortunately, does not work.  The other option of turning off windows update is not something most people can do in an enterprise, where patching is a critical part of network security.

• Edited by steelie Wednesday, March 25, 2015 11:52 AM

@auzzie7 - Do you know if any of those hotfixes address the windows update agent?  I ran through the list and don't see anything that applies specifically for the wua service, unless it's one of the patches that address a subroutine that the update client may use.  

The one that seems wrong to me is the (Architecture: amd64) since the laptop is Intel based chipset and cpu.

Do not know if this is of any importance just thought to contribute to this thread effort to find a fix for this memory leak the update scan is causing.

This isn't an issue.

AMD64 just means it's a 64 bit device, as opposed to x86 which means 32 bit.

I increased the RAM as a last ditch effort. It didn't resolve the issue, but at least kept the system stable enough to complete the updates...... Took forever

I am not loving telling my clients that i cant fix it, as its a Microsoft problem. Please please a hotfix would be great now!

Me and the mountain of affected computers in my office would thank you!!!

I walked through article (KB971058 link below) "how do I reset Windows Update Components."  I skipped the "fix it" automated routine as that did not work and followed the "manually reset Windows Update Components" guide.  I also skipped step #4 as they suggested during the first attempt for resolution and it helped to a point.

Running 64 bit Win 7 Home Premium with 2 GB RAM and only recently (past few months) it used to eat up over 50% of my available memory when Windows Update Runs.  This meant the total RAM was 98% to 100% consumed.  Now when windows update runs, it does briefly consume up to 98% of memory but quickly drops down to 70%-90% and only takes less than 5 minutes to complete compared to 12-20 minutes as in the past. I also noticed my overall memory usage (when windows boots and basic services started but sitting idle) has consumed about 5% less RAM.

May walk through step 4 in this guide and report back after running this solution for a few days.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058

Cheers and good luck taming this Windows Update beast!

Steelie-

Thanks for the response.  As I reread all the threads, I saw that the main step the King's place had was removal of the SoftwareDistribution directory, which is the same as the 2nd post in this chain, and a later post.  My thoughts were that maybe my system received a corrupted DLL which, due to something on my CPU, never updated in the later months by a subsequent update by MS.  I was wrong, (at least so far).

The fix I listed does not work, but locks up the CPU even more.

To a very large degree, I feel like Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in "The Internship" (about Google) when the two are spouting off about trying to be friends with someone who knows the developer to debug the computer bug, and the other 3 true computer literates (pros) are working the numbers to solve the problem!  They finally send them off to find the wheelchair bound Charles Xavier at Stanford to get them out of the way!!!

Back to the issue...I have the latest windows update as listed in some of the above posts, (V 6.1.7600.16385).  As I look at my CPU and the DLL's reregistered with the procedure, all of those DLL's are also V 7.6.7600.320, installed for me on August 3, 2014.  Looking at the titles for those DLL's, one is "Windows Update Vista Web Control", which would be for the wrong operating system, so why is it there?  Is this one invoked some way by error?

While what I wrote is a repair to the Windows Update service, is there any possibility that we, who are writing in about the slowdown (it appears to be happening not only on big enterprise networks but also on individual computers, and all sorts of types of machines), that it may be only affecting a few tens of thousands of machines, all Windows 7?  If it was a true non-specific bug, every computer user in the world would be complaining about it; I have had it since August 3, 2014.  Everyone has received all updates.  You would see the internet on fire.  But it is not.

If anyone has a non-affected machine, maybe check to see if there is a different version of wuauserv out there; or one of the DLL's it invokes is a different version.

While I would like to blame MS, it is hard to buy the argument that MS has a coding error when there does not to appear to be a common thread affecting each of us.  But that's Vince Vaughn talking!!!

All-  I was checking the version of wuaueng.dll I have installed (Windows 7- Home Edition) and it is 7.6.7600.320.  Then I am looking at 4 or 5 MS Support technical articles, and they all say the latest version is 7.6.7600.256.  This is as of 12/24/2014.  See the below excerpt.

-----------------------------------------------

Article ID: 949104
Last review: December 24, 2014

Applies to: Microsoft Windows Update

 ==========================================

Note The latest version of the Windows Update Agent for Windows 8.1 is 7.9.9600.16422. The latest version of the Windows Update Agent for Windows 8 is 7.8.9200.16693. The latest version of the Windows Update Agent for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP is 7.6.7600.256.

---------------------------------------------

This was reviewed this last December.  I have had V.320 since August!

How is it that I have version 320????

Do any others of you out there with this issue have the same "future" version?

 

Are you guys using SCCM to deploy updates. Could there be common ground?

Same problem here - Win 7 + 2GB - when windows update check start, then computer is KO

I can't thank you enough, John, for posting this!  After fighting this issue for days and days, sure enough it was due to a printer driver that needed updating.  Thank you!

Speaking for myself, I am a single computer so don't have SCCM and the programs Google talks about, I haven't seen on my computer.

I am coming up with possibly some lead...at the MS website, I searched for which update from Windows installed wuaueng.dll.  Article 2887535 has it listed as a program installed in that update, showing version 7.6.7600.320 (my suspected bad version) to be installed.  The date of the file in the article was 5/14/2014.  I then go to the installed update list, and this KB2887535 is not shown as being installed ever.  I tried installing it, no error messages came up, but it doesn't get listed in the installed update list (maybe because the files already existed?).

So version 320 got installed by some other KBXXXXXXX update.  Which one?  Maybe that update had a bad file in it, causing the update manager to go nuts? Is this the version others with issues have?

@steelie unfortunately do not know. I just stumbled on the page while searching for a solution and the publishing date was 21 of march 2015 so thought someone could try and hit on a solution since personally I don't have the time.

Same problem here, all starting after the .320 WUA upgrade. We probably have 550 machines that are at 2GB of RAM. I was told by a MS guy that it was being reported as an issue by corporate accounts so hopefully it will be addressed.

I have a possible solution, as it is working so far (two days) on my computer (Windows 7 64 bit).

Go to Control Panel - Windows Update - Change Settings (on left):

Under the section "Who can install updates":

UNCHECK "Allow all users to install updates on this computer"

OK out of that window, then x out of the next window.

Restart your computer. Good luck.

Why this apparently works?

I had a previous problem where windows was trying to find software that was on a user account I had deleted. That problem caused a lot of delays until I figured out what was happening and stopped it from searching for a non-existant user account. After reading all the attempts at solutions here and elsewhere, and then looking at all the settings for windows update, I took a guess that the update program may have been slowed down in a similar manner do to some error in looking for other users that were not in use (default guest account would be my guess).

For whatever actual reason, turning off allowing other users in the update has stopped the runaway ram usage on my computer for the past two days now. I hope this simple solution works for others here.

I have a possible solution, as it is working so far (two days) on my computer (Windows 7 64 bit).

Go to Control Panel - Windows Update - Change Settings (on left):

Under the section "Who can install updates":

UNCHECK "Allow all users to install updates on this computer"

OK out of that window, then x out of the next window.

Restart your computer. Good luck.

Did tasks quoted on one of our affected workstations but unfortunately no effect. Did also the manual steps described in article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058. But no luck with that also. Is there a possibility to downgrade WU agent 7.6.7600.320 to previous version to verify whether the new agent is the culprit? We are using SCCM to deploy  updates.

Perhaps after this update: https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/kb/2889748/en-us?wa=wsignin1.0

Perhaps after this update: https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/kb/2889748/en-us?wa=wsignin1.0

Can't see the relevance considering issue debated here. The article addresses an issue relating to Winmgmt memory leak. What we are talking about is a memory leak of Windows Update service (wuauserv)

Yeah I can't see any options that would affect the scanning by SCCM.  Unchecking the 'all users' wouldn't have any affect since the SMS Agent Host (SCCM client) runs under the 'System' context, thus allowing it to still scan.

Other than completely disabling the agent scans, there isn't really much we can do to control it.  In my environment, I can't disable the scanning, as compliance remediation is essential to our security policy.

We have about 600 Dell Otiplex 755 and 745  with that problem.

@Microsoft: This is security related. People are thinking about deactivating the windows update search!

I've had some success in forcing every update available manually.  It isn't very time effective but for what it's worth...  I have had the same symptoms on my windows 7 systems.  For the most part they're 2Gb or ram systems.  Microsoft needs to fix this ASAP.

Yep, same here.

Is there anyone out there who has this issue does NOT have version 320 of wuaueng.dll?  It would be good to pin down if this is a legitimate, proven version.

Also, if you try to install the article KB2887535 on top of this issue, you may have problems.  About a day later, a note popped up on the bottom right hand corner of the screen that my copy of Windows was not genuine, when it was.  When I went to go back to an earlier restore point to try to clear it, it loaded up a page on IE saying it could check if my copy was "genuine".  I ran it, it said it was genuine, then tried to sell me some programs, and the note on the screen cleared.

Spatrama- I tried the fix you proposed (unchecking the who can install updates) and before shutting down, I set the Updates to be everyday, about an hour after my shutdown/restart.  I shut down the computer (single user, Windows 7, x86, 2 GB memory), then restarted it 5 minutes later.  Watching at under Windows Services/Processes, the update loaded, and ran.  I tried doing other things with the unit while it was running, but they all locked up as before.  The memory usage still went through the roof, running at 600-750 MB for 18 minutes before shutting itself down.   So it didn't work for me.  Maybe because I am already running as the Administrator?

Thanks for proposing something.  I am still going through all of the updates to see how v.320 got on the computer and when.

I have a possible solution, as it is working so far (two days) on my computer (Windows 7 64 bit).

Go to Control Panel - Windows Update - Change Settings (on left):

Under the section "Who can install updates":

UNCHECK "Allow all users to install updates on this computer"

OK out of that window, then x out of the next window.

Restart your computer. Good luck.

Sorry for all those that this did not work for. After seeing everyone with no results, I went back and checked on what I did. I forgot that I also had previously changed the update settings to "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them" in that same settings window. When I combine these two changes, my ram usage does not spike when restarted. When I do only one of these two changes, my ram usage spikes on restart again. So for my case at least, it seems to be these TWO settings combined that have, for now, stopped the ram usage problem. There are other changes I made to my computer before this, including disabling AeLookupSvc (Application Experience) in the services area. So I am not sure if additional changes are needed beyond the two in the windows update area. That's all I have for now. If I get some time, I will do additional testing to see if any previous changes are also helping with the ram issue.