The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Automatic Updates Options Grayed-Out

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Apollo13, Mar 4, 2008.

  1. Apollo13

    Apollo13 100% 16:10 Screens

    Reputations:
    1,432
    Messages:
    2,578
    Likes Received:
    210
    Trophy Points:
    81
    [​IMG]

    As the picture shows, I cannot change my auto-updates option. It's been on Auto-Update recently and I'd prefer that it does not install them without me telling it to (i.e. one of the other options). I found this Microsoft Knowledge Base article and followed its steps, but it was still grayed-out. Apparently that article is for turning it on, not enabling all the options.

    Rereading the article, I decided to cause the problem it's supposed to fix, and deleted the registry keys:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\Root\LEGACY_WUAUSERV

    When I restarted I got a bubble saying Automatic Updates was off and Security Center said this as well and was unable to turn them on when I instructed in to do so. However, the Auto Updates Control Panel screen is still the same old grayed-out one pictured above. It still indicates updates are on, but based on the bubble and Security Center I don't think they are.

    So while I think I've managed to turn them off, I don't think I did it in the ideal way. Does anyone know how I'm supposed to do this? I know there has to be a way, my old SP2 desktop has all the options, but haven't found it yet.

    P.S. I did do a registry backup first, not just randomly deleting keys with no backup!
     
    Apollo13, Mar 4, 2008
    #1
  2. Doobi

    Doobi ToughBook DeityInTraining

    Reputations:
    414
    Messages:
    1,005
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    It appears your auto updates ARE indeed on, you just lack the permissions to change that option. Is your profile set up as Admin? Secondly, do you have a LEGAL copy of XP? Did you notice this happen after any recent updates?
     
    Doobi, Mar 4, 2008
    #2
  3. daves

    daves Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    So this thread is old BUT I have this problem and it is really bugging me. I have admin privilege, I have a legal copy, and I can't be sure when it started.

    I've trawled the Microsoft site without success. Any clues on where to go to find a fix for this?

    Correction - without success until just now. TaurArian's advice #3 worked for me:
    http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...&tid=d958b9b2-511d-4fda-a825-6f8e65bc05d1&p=1

    specifically: Windows Update Greyed Out - Restore (Line 179)
    http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

    thanks
    daves
     
    daves, Jul 2, 2008
    #3