WindowsUpdate stuck in "Verifying the Download" stage

Hi,

Here is my problem. Windows Update was automatically downloading the
latest security updates released this week (today is 12/15). While it
was downloading, I launched IE and tried to use the windows update
website.

This might have generated some problem because now Windows Update won't
complete the downloads of the hotfixes and install them. Once the
progress bar reaches 100% for a download, it says: "Verifying the
download." Then it switches back to <some text about downloading
updates>. It keeps switching back and forth between these two things
and each time and it keeps downloading data from Microsoft.

I let this run over two hours and it kept downloading the same update
over and over again (I had only selected one update to download).
An update that should have been only 1 or 2MBs came out to be 40MBs and
it was still trying to download it when I killed it. I have a website
to check my internet usage and I downloaded 20MB + 20MB of data over 2
hours. I
had no other downloading programs running.

Rebooting didn't help.

Deleting files from C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ didn't
help (could I delete the whole folder SoftwareDistributions?)

My Machine is a Windows XP SP2 with ZoneAlarm Pro. I'm running as
Administrator. This machine is not part of a domain.

Has anyone seen this? What to do? I searched for quite a while
through MS's Knowledge Base and this newsgroup, but didn't find
anything.

Help is appreciated!

I have this same problem and have also tried to remedy the problem the same
way that did, with the same results.

"" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Here is my problem. Windows Update was automatically downloading the
> latest security updates released this week (today is 12/15). While it
> was downloading, I launched IE and tried to use the windows update
> website.
>
> This might have generated some problem because now Windows Update won't
> complete the downloads of the hotfixes and install them. Once the
> progress bar reaches 100% for a download, it says: "Verifying the
> download." Then it switches back to <some text about downloading
> updates>. It keeps switching back and forth between these two things
> and each time and it keeps downloading data from Microsoft.
>
> I let this run over two hours and it kept downloading the same update
> over and over again (I had only selected one update to download).
> An update that should have been only 1 or 2MBs came out to be 40MBs and
> it was still trying to download it when I killed it. I have a website
> to check my internet usage and I downloaded 20MB + 20MB of data over 2
> hours. I
> had no other downloading programs running.
>
> Rebooting didn't help.
>
> Deleting files from C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ didn't
> help (could I delete the whole folder SoftwareDistributions?)
>
> My Machine is a Windows XP SP2 with ZoneAlarm Pro. I'm running as
> Administrator. This machine is not part of a domain.
>
> Has anyone seen this? What to do? I searched for quite a while
> through MS's Knowledge Base and this newsgroup, but didn't find
> anything.
>
> Help is appreciated!
>
>

I am having this exact same problem running Windows Media Center Edition
2005. Just purged my catroot2 folder and am giving it another shot...annnnnd
same issue. It is up to having downloaded 115MB worth of data (for a ~300k
security update). Would love an official response.

-Aaron



"sebster718" wrote:

> I have this same problem and have also tried to remedy the problem the same
> way that did, with the same results.
>
> "" wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Here is my problem. Windows Update was automatically downloading the
> > latest security updates released this week (today is 12/15). While it
> > was downloading, I launched IE and tried to use the windows update
> > website.
> >
> > This might have generated some problem because now Windows Update won't
> > complete the downloads of the hotfixes and install them. Once the
> > progress bar reaches 100% for a download, it says: "Verifying the
> > download." Then it switches back to <some text about downloading
> > updates>. It keeps switching back and forth between these two things
> > and each time and it keeps downloading data from Microsoft.
> >
> > I let this run over two hours and it kept downloading the same update
> > over and over again (I had only selected one update to download).
> > An update that should have been only 1 or 2MBs came out to be 40MBs and
> > it was still trying to download it when I killed it. I have a website
> > to check my internet usage and I downloaded 20MB + 20MB of data over 2
> > hours. I
> > had no other downloading programs running.
> >
> > Rebooting didn't help.
> >
> > Deleting files from C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\ didn't
> > help (could I delete the whole folder SoftwareDistributions?)
> >
> > My Machine is a Windows XP SP2 with ZoneAlarm Pro. I'm running as
> > Administrator. This machine is not part of a domain.
> >
> > Has anyone seen this? What to do? I searched for quite a while
> > through MS's Knowledge Base and this newsgroup, but didn't find
> > anything.
> >
> > Help is appreciated!
> >
> >

Also,

Just to clarify. The "Verifying the Download" window being stuck is
when I visit the windowsupdate website. When I am not using the
website and automatic update is downloading it for me (taskbar icon),
an svchost.exe process keeps using a percentage of my CPU. If I end
that process, it just starts up again. For those experiencing this as
well, my only workaround at this time is simply to stop the Automatic
Update service.

-IA-

I just spoke with one of the IT majors that lives on my floor who works at my
school. It would seem this issue has been traced to people running version
8.0i of McAfee. There was a folder he suggested that I delete in the Windows
folder. Reportedly his boss needed to do this and the problem went away. It
was the first folder (hidden) in my Windows folder (I'm not at that computer
right now so I don't recall the exact name) and if I recall correctly was in
the format $xx_xxx$ .

Not sure if this'll help, but I hope it does.

"" wrote:

> Also,
>
> Just to clarify. The "Verifying the Download" window being stuck is
> when I visit the windowsupdate website. When I am not using the
> website and automatic update is downloading it for me (taskbar icon),
> an svchost.exe process keeps using a percentage of my CPU. If I end
> that process, it just starts up again. For those experiencing this as
> well, my only workaround at this time is simply to stop the Automatic
> Update service.
>
> -IA-
>
>

I am running the same antivirus software (McAfee 8.0i), provided by my
school. I tried deleting the folder, it was named "$hf_mig$". Is there a fix
to this problem yet?

"Aaron" wrote:

> I just spoke with one of the IT majors that lives on my floor who works at my
> school. It would seem this issue has been traced to people running version
> 8.0i of McAfee. There was a folder he suggested that I delete in the Windows
> folder. Reportedly his boss needed to do this and the problem went away. It
> was the first folder (hidden) in my Windows folder (I'm not at that computer
> right now so I don't recall the exact name) and if I recall correctly was in
> the format $xx_xxx$ .
>
> Not sure if this'll help, but I hope it does.
>
> "" wrote:
>
> > Also,
> >
> > Just to clarify. The "Verifying the Download" window being stuck is
> > when I visit the windowsupdate website. When I am not using the
> > website and automatic update is downloading it for me (taskbar icon),
> > an svchost.exe process keeps using a percentage of my CPU. If I end
> > that process, it just starts up again. For those experiencing this as
> > well, my only workaround at this time is simply to stop the Automatic
> > Update service.
> >
> > -IA-
> >
> >

I have been working with MS Tech Support and they are still
investigating the issue. As he mentioned, it seems to be related to
McAfee 8.0, but he didn't explain why yet.

I tried stopping the services related to the antivirus software, but
the problem still occurs. Once I hear a response, I will post to this
newsgroup.

I have been working with MS Tech Support and they are still
investigating the issue. He mentioned it is most likely related to
McAfee 8.0, but he didn't explain how or why yet.

I tried stopping the services related to the antivirus software, but
the problem still occurs. Once I hear a response, I will post to this
newsgroup.

Igor

Hey everyone, I haven't heard from MS Tech Support for a while now (due
to the holidays), but I also think that's it's due to McAfee 8.0. This
time I properly stopped everything that the antivirus runs by opening
the Run window and launching "msconfig"

For those not familiar with what msconfig is an interface to control
boot up options of Windows XP. For more info, search online. Here's
what I did:

Under "Services" tab, uncheck the following ones:
- McAfee Framework Service
- Network Associates McShield
- Network Associates Task Manager
* I also disabled "Machine Debug Manager," but I'm not sure if this is
a antivirus service. Its manufacturer is listed as "unknown" in that
window, so I disabled it anyway.

Under "Startup" tab, uncheck:
-UpdaterUI
-SHSTAT

Close msconfig, reboot, and run Windows Update. Voila! Downloaded and
installed patches correctly. You can now change your settings back to
normal. Your other workaround is to get another antivirus other than
this crap one, but I can't do that right now.

Igor

Any updates on this? Has McAfee and/or Microsoft solved the problem? I did
the msconfig thing that "ICAB" wrote and it worked for me, but I dont want to
have to go through that procedure every time I have to use windows update.

Thanks for the temporary fix ICAB.

"ICAB" wrote:

> Hey everyone, I haven't heard from MS Tech Support for a while now (due
> to the holidays), but I also think that's it's due to McAfee 8.0. This
> time I properly stopped everything that the antivirus runs by opening
> the Run window and launching "msconfig"
>
> For those not familiar with what msconfig is an interface to control
> boot up options of Windows XP. For more info, search online. Here's
> what I did:
>
> Under "Services" tab, uncheck the following ones:
> - McAfee Framework Service
> - Network Associates McShield
> - Network Associates Task Manager
> * I also disabled "Machine Debug Manager," but I'm not sure if this is
> a antivirus service. Its manufacturer is listed as "unknown" in that
> window, so I disabled it anyway.
>
> Under "Startup" tab, uncheck:
> -UpdaterUI
> -SHSTAT
>
> Close msconfig, reboot, and run Windows Update. Voila! Downloaded and
> installed patches correctly. You can now change your settings back to
> normal. Your other workaround is to get another antivirus other than
> this crap one, but I can't do that right now.
>
> Igor
>
>