OK I received a Dell Inspiron Duo in for repair. Windows 7 Home premium 2GB RAM. Folks paid $100 for this. Looks factory new. I turned it on this morning when they were present & it was slow as molasses. They told me the other person they purchased it from left everything on it. I said that's not good, the best avenue is a factory reset.
All went well. I am trying to do updates on it & it did 1 set of updates. Now it just spins & spins & eventually gives me no more updates and I get the red X. It says most recent check for updates Never. Lies!!! I ran Windows update troubleshooter, it had 1 issue that it fixed. I ran Microsoft Fix it tool says all is well. I know there are updates for this thing what gives?
I installed Adobe updates, I have internet connectivity, no splats in device manager. The machine is much faster now with the factory reset done. Any advice? I will not return it to them knowing there is some sort of underlying issue with updates.
Also would it be wise if I work out the issues to put Windows 10 on it? 
Sherri, running the update troubleshooter will often delete Windows Update history, that's probably why you're seeing the "Never".
The reason for the no more updates could be down to a corrupted update file, try this:
1) Go to Services and stop the Windows Update service.
2) Navigate to C > Windows > SoftwareDistribution and delete the SoftwareDistribution folder.
3) Start the Windows Update service again (it should recreate the SoftwareDistribution folder).
4) Check Windows updates again and see if that fixed it.
To help prevent this happening again; if there are lots of updates, try installing them in blocks, say 20-30 updates at a time.
As for upgrading to Win10; that decision should really be down to the client. By all means recommend the upgrade to them explaining the benefits. Then ask them if they'd like you to upgrade while you have the machine on hand.
Let us know how you get on.
Thanks Jim,
As always you are a wealth of information. DCT Is lucky to have you.
I want to preface this with I would never ever upgrade an OS without the customers approval ever. I would not be in business and regraded as highly as I am, if I took liberties with others equipment like that. I was asking because this little laptop on Windows 7 was really slow. It is better having been factory reset. The people left it with me and asked if I could make it faster and get rid of the other persons stuff. They also said if it can take Windows 10 & not be slow update it. I did not check to see if RAM upgrades were a possibility.
I did everything you said. I ran Windows Updates again and it is checking for updates. It has been running over 30 minutes now just the green bar running back & forth across the checking for updates area. I am pretty sure there should've been some updates.
I downloaded Win 10 iso to try & install it. It is on WIndows 10 setup checking for updates been that way over an hour. The Windows update that I started before the Windows 10 is still checking for updates. Arghhhh
FYI it is running WIndows 7 SP1.
I would recommend upgrading to Windows 10 to all my clients Sherri.
When the progress bar has finished going back and forth you should receive some sort of message - no updates available, updates are available, error!!!, something. Let me know the end result, and if there's an error message please provide details.
You could download a Windows 7 ISO and clean install, yes. But then you'd still have to start right from the beginning with installing updates. It's one thing MS has never done, and probably should, is update the ISO occasionally to include progressive updates - if you know what I mean. 🙂
I'm sorry for intruding on this thread.I'm having update problems as well and when I went to look for this "Windows" folder in "C" drive it's not there.Anyway I can get it back Jim?Thanks.
Hey Clyde - Assuming "C" is your main (system) drive, the "Windows" folder MUST be there. It's an integral part of your Windows operating system, if it wasn't there you wouldn't be able to boot into and run the operating system.
"C" is my main drive.I even looked under program files for it.I'm not seeing it.
That is too weird Clyde. I have no idea. As I said, it should be there otherwise Windows shouldn't be working.
Moderators
I am not sure if this would keep windows from booting but it would sure stop windows update from working. Curious as to what might be blocking the Software Distribution folder from being created.
Daniel, it's not the "Software Distribution" folder which is missing, it's the main "Windows" folder in the root of C drive.
Moderators
How can windows boot without the "Windows" folder? I thought clyde was referring to the Software Distribution folder. Pardon me for my error.
No problem Daniel. Yes, seems rather odd that the operating system would boot and run without the Windows folder being present. It must be there somewhere.
Moderators
Do you think the windows folder may have been hidden at some point?
Yes, I guess that's a possibility Daniel, good thought. The folder isn't normally hidden by default but if "Hidden" has been enabled under Properties...
@Clyde: Try this Clyde:
Go to Control Panel > Folder Options
Now click on the View tab and locate "Hidden files and folders"
Enable the option to "Show hidden files, folders, and drives"
Close out by clicking Apply then OK.
Can you see the Windows folder now?
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