On my windows 2008 r2 server, Windows update was running forever 🙁
I tried a lot of things but fixing the problem was really simple:
- Go to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971058
- Download the fixit
- Run the fixit and follow the wizard
Then your problem will be fixed automatically 🙂
Still problems? Try this post: http://superuser.com/questions/951960/windows-7-sp1-windows-update-stuck-checking-for-updates
Note: If you have a WSUS server and you still have problems to find windows updates you can try to temporary disable the WSUS client to change the registry key UseWUServer to dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"UseWUServer"=dword:00000000