Windows HVM doesn't get updates

226 views
Skip to first unread message

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 7:21:26 PM4/10/16
to qubes-users
I just installed Win7 in a HVM and I can ping and I can access websites but it doesn't find any windows updates.
Any suggestions what I might be missing?
Any ideas where I might look for information? The update just seems to hang...

PetAni

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 7:31:19 PM4/10/16
to Salmiakki, qubes-users

Win 7 update from original 2011 state took most of 2 days on HP notebook with 4 GB ram, and about 3 weeks on one that had 1 GB native. There was traffic on occasions, but significant times lapsed with no visible activity. I just wonder if this is what you see...??

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "qubes-users" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to qubes-users...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to qubes...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qubes-users/7d52f516-fed1-4472-b64a-d9462e1ae60b%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Axon

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 7:31:26 PM4/10/16
to Salmiakki, qubes-users
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Salmiakki:
Does this thread help?

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/qubes-users/Qvv_G3E_9T4/discussion
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=RQvT
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 7:34:59 PM4/10/16
to qubes-users, simonthecr...@gmail.com, pet...@aol.com
Well, maybe. I haven't looked at traffic yet. Is there a simple way to do that with qubes?

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 7:35:55 PM4/10/16
to qubes-users, simonthecr...@gmail.com, ax...@openmailbox.org
In so far that I now know that others have the same problem and I'm not doing anything wrong, yes. It does however offer no solution. ;)

raah...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 9:35:57 PM4/10/16
to qubes-users, simonthecr...@gmail.com, ax...@openmailbox.org
On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 7:35:55 PM UTC-4, Salmiakki wrote:
> In so far that I now know that others have the same problem and I'm not doing anything wrong, yes. It does however offer no solution. ;)

you just have to wait man. if you see it eating a core just let it run lol. especially if its for new tuesday's updates you haven't installed yet. every tuesday it will be like that. for mysterious reasons since windows 10 came out.


raah...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 9:36:23 PM4/10/16
to qubes-users, simonthecr...@gmail.com, ax...@openmailbox.org, raah...@gmail.com

it might take hours before it shows updates to install.

Jeremy Rand

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 10:09:46 PM4/10/16
to qubes...@googlegroups.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256
Last time I did a fresh Windows install, the update process hung for
about 48 hours (with no visible status changes indicated), and then
proceeded to install many gigabytes of updates. I infer that
Microsoft just isn't as good at designing updaters as the people who
made apt-get and dnf.

So yeah, probably harmless. If it's been 3-4 days and the update
process is still hung, then it might be worth worrying.

Cheers,
- -Jeremy

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2
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=3Jjg
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

raah...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 10:12:43 PM4/10/16
to qubes-users

well 2 days is pretty crazy, i was thinking more like 2 or even 4 hours.

Jeremy Rand

unread,
Apr 10, 2016, 10:20:41 PM4/10/16
to qubes...@googlegroups.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

On 04/10/2016 09:12 PM, raah...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 10:09:46 PM UTC-4, Jeremy Rand wrote:
> On 04/10/2016 06:21 PM, Salmiakki wrote:
>>>> I just installed Win7 in a HVM and I can ping and I can
>>>> access websites but it doesn't find any windows updates. Any
>>>> suggestions what I might be missing? Any ideas where I might
>>>> look for information? The update just seems to hang...
>
> Last time I did a fresh Windows install, the update process hung
> for about 48 hours (with no visible status changes indicated), and
> then proceeded to install many gigabytes of updates. I infer that
> Microsoft just isn't as good at designing updaters as the people
> who made apt-get and dnf.
>
> So yeah, probably harmless. If it's been 3-4 days and the update
> process is still hung, then it might be worth worrying.
>
> Cheers, -Jeremy
>
>
> well 2 days is pretty crazy, i was thinking more like 2 or even 4
> hours.

Objectively yes, 2 days to install updates is insane, given that
upgrading Fedora 21 to Fedora 23 only took a few hours, I think.
However, I've gotten sufficiently accustomed to Microsoft's
engineering failures that I no longer really get surprised when I see
something like this. It's a huge mystery to me why people continue to
buy stuff from Microsoft... but I don't claim to be an expert in
psychology of computer users.

Cheers,
- -Jeremy
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2
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=R6LP
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 11, 2016, 4:13:08 AM4/11/16
to qubes-users
Once you know it's not actually a qubes problem...

I have manually installed some updates as suggested here: https://superuser.com/questions/951960/windows-7-sp1-windows-update-stuck-checking-for-updates
And it seems to have improved the situation somewhat. I get a few new updates every reboot. It's still pretty slow and somewhat annoying, though.
If I have to start again I will try this instead: http://www.wsusoffline.net/docs/

Related question: Is it possible to permit the VM to restart? Right now I always have to start it manually when it tried to restart and it prolongues the process a bit because I constantly have to watch it

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 11, 2016, 4:21:32 AM4/11/16
to qubes-users
Note that before the mentioned step I just let it try over night and nothing seemed to have happened.

jose

unread,
Apr 11, 2016, 7:03:12 AM4/11/16
to qubes-users
On Monday, April 11, 2016 at 1:21:32 AM UTC-7, Salmiakki wrote:
> Note that before the mentioned step I just let it try over night and nothing seemed to have happened.

I also tried the accepted solution in the superuser.com, however even with the small improvement I found it unacceptable. (KB3102810)

Look below for the answer by Moab. That worked for me: KB-3138612 and then the SUR Tool. See his detailed instructions. Running Windows 7 inside and outside Qubes and no problem whatsoever with the update.

And yes, it is not a Qubes problem.

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki

unread,
Apr 11, 2016, 2:55:38 PM4/11/16
to Salmiakki, qubes-users
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 01:13:08AM -0700, Salmiakki wrote:
> Related question: Is it possible to permit the VM to restart? Right now I
> always have to start it manually when it tried to restart and it prolongues
> the process a bit because I constantly have to watch it

Unfortunately currently it isn't. There are some services (guid,
qrexec-daemon, qubesdb-daemon) which needs to be restarted after VM
restart and currently it can be done only by manually starting the VM.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2

iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJXC/MgAAoJENuP0xzK19cszgQH/1lBp37dUSGIcOMSqmKz64gt
z3yGU0Y8Q7h32ZaaBMiQEDIolmKnk0Aww75OotqXzqFwm5YLrFcJFkA1IZXr1d8C
eTNKetSGOT4OUglNpUAYmY/F3ZRjITzAWRKw6iBpz3VCZ+vivEBD8Bcpv//daSIu
B+kSUC/5eQGUsqdoBCqaG09lXOI2ZFdkKrHSGjn80SLgAZ6i886AUD4iCpuBR2hn
YbBe0ljeDaN4c4JoVPGbtZcwj57fQt7nzCyQ2jpvg6TsB8BYtgWHx16At4IbZbjS
dqzLvvGYDZ19OEvAgDV/bs4pmirvgnKW14rvkqqvBjM0q/Tqs/nmz74HWCXZu68=
=2aVD
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Axon

unread,
Apr 11, 2016, 6:50:54 PM4/11/16
to Marek Marczykowski-Górecki, Salmiakki, qubes-users
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512

Marek Marczykowski-Górecki:
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 01:13:08AM -0700, Salmiakki wrote:
>> Related question: Is it possible to permit the VM to restart?
>> Right now I always have to start it manually when it tried to
>> restart and it prolongues the process a bit because I constantly
>> have to watch it
>
> Unfortunately currently it isn't. There are some services (guid,
> qrexec-daemon, qubesdb-daemon) which needs to be restarted after
> VM restart and currently it can be done only by manually starting
> the VM.
>

What about some workaround like "qvm-start <vm>" as a cron job in dom0
running every few minutes?

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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=zO3a
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

semimatter

unread,
Apr 11, 2016, 11:21:40 PM4/11/16
to qubes...@googlegroups.com
The above is a good solution.  IMO this should be added in the docs on Qubes, because people can sink a lot of time into this without understanding why (or blaming Qubes for it.)

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 13, 2016, 6:44:36 AM4/13/16
to qubes-users, semim...@protonmail.ch

The above is a good solution.  IMO this should be added in the docs on Qubes, because people can sink a lot of time into this without understanding why (or blaming Qubes for it.)
 
I wouldn't call it a good solution. It seems to work only partially and sporadically. I am currently reinstalling and I have the same problems again and nothing seems to work so far.

raah...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 13, 2016, 9:46:47 PM4/13/16
to qubes-users, semim...@protonmail.ch
On Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 6:44:36 AM UTC-4, Salmiakki wrote:
> The above is a good solution.  IMO this should be added in the docs on Qubes, because people can sink a lot of time into this without understanding why (or blaming Qubes for it.)
>
>  
> I wouldn't call it a good solution. It seems to work only partially and sporadically. I am currently reinstalling and I have the same problems again and nothing seems to work so far.

my bare metal machine has been checking for updates for over 3 hours right now. i tried every suggestion in that thread and others for kicks, nothing helps.

The fact this happens to people on even fresh installs, still leads me to believe that is all just MS purposely frustrating windows 7 users hoping they will update to 10. Either that or giving them no bandwidth and giving all other windows users priority. Because this only started happening for me around the time windows 10 was released. and only when i havn't installed the monthly updates yet. during the week it will scan in minutes usually only showing me sivlerlight and mse virus defintions... but if i'm checking for that big monthly update. hours....

Salmiakki

unread,
Apr 13, 2016, 10:01:24 PM4/13/16
to qubes-users, semim...@protonmail.ch, raah...@gmail.com
I have managed to bring my HVM machine up-to-date over the course of today. I would say this is definitely better than the several days other people have reported. ;)

raah...@gmail.com

unread,
Apr 15, 2016, 5:14:11 PM4/15/16
to qubes-users, semim...@protonmail.ch, raah...@gmail.com
On Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 10:01:24 PM UTC-4, Salmiakki wrote:
> I have managed to bring my HVM machine up-to-date over the course of today. I would say this is definitely better than the several days other people have reported. ;)

Ty Salmiakki that wsus updater works great!

I waited my normal 2-4 hours for this months updates, and noticed that half of the "important" updates were all windows 10 and telemetry stuff. I coudln't believe it. so I unchecked them and proceeded to update, and it would just get stuck on downloading at 0% for hours and hours. I feel like MS was purposely not installing my updates cause I wouldn't install the windows 10 stuff, even including the get windows 10 app tray item. Or maybe it was the w7fw or services i have disabled. All i know is i never had that stuff appear in "important" updates and never had this issue.


SO I used that WSUS updater. and wow. it downloaded all the updates and installed them. Then i went to check for windows updates after a reboot. And it found the updates in minutes! and the only ones there were non security ones. all the windows 10 and telemtry and other nonsense. :) so I'll be using that wsus from now on. In fact I shoudln't have said anything on here and kept it a secret lmao. But ty for the link.

Manuel Amador (Rudd-O)

unread,
Oct 28, 2016, 5:19:39 AM10/28/16
to qubes...@googlegroups.com
On 04/10/2016 11:34 PM, Salmiakki wrote:
> Well, maybe. I haven't looked at traffic yet. Is there a simple way to
> do that with qubes?

sudo tcpdump -i eth0 -nn in the ProxyVM that your Windows VM is attached to.


--
Rudd-O
http://rudd-o.com/

Robert Mittendorf

unread,
Oct 28, 2016, 9:05:54 AM10/28/16
to qubes...@googlegroups.com
Try to install KB3020369 first and then KB3020369 (May 2016 Rollup
Update). That worked for us.
Searching for updates is reasonably fast now on our Qubes Win HVMs

Myron Weber

unread,
Nov 4, 2016, 12:07:59 AM11/4/16
to qubes-users

Here is the authoritative way to fix Win7 update issues on a new install. I've used it multiple times, including my recent Qubes HVM install. However, one thing it doesn't say that I highly recommend is to STOP the Windows Update service before installing the downloaded update package(s) in step 3.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-update/windows-7-update-solution/f39a65fa-9d10-42e7-9bc0-7f5096b36d0c

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages