Weird Windows Update behavior

I just tried to install Windows Updates on a fresh Win 8.1 machine - however, immediately after the downloading completed, I got this screen:



No installation progress, no record of how many updates were successfully installed, not even a request to reboot the machine...

 

Means the updates didn't install. Try looking for an update for the actual Windows Updater.

Install the latest Windows 8.1 Update - Windows Help

 

You're right - nothing was actually installed, despite the contradictory text.

Is it just me, or has Windows Update gotten more and more unreliable ever since Microsoft moved away from XP's IE-based updater?

 

Quite the opposite for me. And I say good riddance to being forced to use IE to update Windows.

 

Second that. The IE based updater was plane crashing into a train wrecked shoved onto a crowded highway.

But in your instance, updater might just need to be updated itself before it can apply the system updates. See the link I posted earlier.

 

Thirded! WU has been a blessing as far as I am concerned. However, I will say that lately, it seems that updates have been hit or miss in terms of reliability compared to previously. I have seen more update "recalls" so to speak and more complaints about updates breaking things than before.

 

I did try manually applying the update you linked to, but it was already installed - I should mention that a Windows 8.1 Update ISO (dated April 2014) was used to install Windows, not the original Windows 8.1 ISO (dated October 2013). Ultimately, attempting to install the updates again fixed the issue, but I still have no idea what happened.

The only time I ever had any problems with the IE-based updater on XP was on a heavily corrupted system (various DLLs were missing and the system could barely even boot). On the other hand, the modern Windows Updater can double install updates (start installing updates, close the Windows Update window, open a new Windows Update window, and check for/install updates again - it won't stop you until the download is complete and updates start installing), conflicts with Windows Defender (check for updates, update Windows Defender's definitions within its own UI, then install updates - Windows Update will fail) - and those are just the regular issues that I have to constantly keep in mind every patch Tuesday. And then of course there's all the random blips like this one, as well as the fact that almost every month there's an update that breaks a popular third-party application.

Unless if you guys totally trashed your XP-era machines, I don't see how you could possibly prefer the modern Windows Update, which can permanently screw up your system unless if you exercise extreme caution while patching, over the almost foolproof IE-based updater.

 

I feel the current Windows Update is no different than the old IE version method that first came with Win 98.
To me, it just another interface with the same perks and with the same problems.
Rarely have a problem with.

The times I did have a problem with it cause I clean installed with my own ISO integrated with the latest Windows updates.
It contained an update that was later pulled out that caused problems with future updates months later.
Cause that problematic update couldn't be automatically removed as that update lacks the uninstaller entry.

 

Nah, I kept a lean, mean XP machine and still hated the old Windows Update. One of the annoyances was that Windows would sometimes try to double-install updates through its OS GUI even after I had already installed them through IE. I guess it didn't detect them as already being in the system. And since I never updated from IE 6, it eventually became more of a security risk to update Windows using it than it was not installing the updates in the first place.

Windows 7 has been nearly flawless for me since release. Even the recalled updates have never caused me any grief, and I'm one to jump the gun and install Windows Updates as soon as they come out on Patch Tuesday. Once in a blue moon, I'll get an update that downloads but fails to install and requires me try it again. Usually, it's because another prerequisite update wasn't already installed first and Windows, in all its infinite wisdom, decided not to install them in order. However, I had more issues with Windows Update during my 1.5 years of using Windows 8 than I've had in more than 5 years of using Windows 7.

 

This has not changed - if you allow Windows to install updates automatically, it will still try to double install updates.

The worst instance I can remember was about 5 years back, shortly after Windows 7 came out. There was one time when automatic updates started running in the middle of a (manual) update, causing both to fail spectacularly. That was the day I swore to never again allow Windows to patch itself.

 

I was talking about Windows XP. Never had any issue with Windows 7.

 

And I was talking about Windows 7. You're simply fortunate to not have encountered it, because the issue you're referring to still exists and still has not been fixed at least as of Windows 7.

 

I'm not sure how you can still call it the same issue since Windows Update has not used IE since Vista...