Or maybe Windows 7 Ultimate and Loader. Then, disable updates and use one of the manual methods available at MDL.
I have the same issue since the Win10 promo started. Multiple clean installs on multiple computers using 100% clean ISO images from MSDN. The first thing I thought was also MS f...ing with W7 users for not switching. but then I realized something. MS wants to push W10. They want to push it through Windows Update. Why disable Windows Update then? It won't be able to deliver W10 to the audience, it defeats the purpose. (And yes, I've seen hundreds of people complaining about not being able to update to W10 due to Windows Update doing this, even though they wanted to join the hype train.) So my guess is that this is simply a bug. A similar bug that was in the XP WU Agent for years and has only been fixed last year.
I have not had any issues updating my (freshly reinstalled) Windows 7 machines; WU took roughly the same time as usual (>5 mins) to pull all the available updates each time. I do run using "Check for updates but allow me to download and install".
I did a fresh install of Windows 7 on 2 laptops over the last 2 days and both had the problem that Windows Update gets stuck in the "checking for updates" I had 1 machine keep running and I finally got fed up with it after 4-5 hours of finding nothing apparently. Another normal PC I have which had a fresh Windows 7 install in January has no problem finding updates. After a post on another forum someone pointed me to the Simplix pack, so the laptops are updated now but even after all those updates are installed the searching for other updates still won't continue past the "checking for updates" So U guys are fairly certain this is an issue at Microsoft's side (maybe even intentional) ? and not a local issue since my other pc has no trouble checking for updates.
What seemed to help me is, try this, disable IPv6 in your Wireless Adapter settings by unchecking it then reboot and try again.
Same issue with fresh msdn installs on a Asus netbook, at first search it quickly updates windows update client and then it goes into forever maxing out CPU and RAM with wuauserv service.
3 days ago I thought I would do myself a favor and uninstall several updates from my Win 7 Ultimate desktop. I uninstalled the new telemetry ones and then rebooted and that was about it. Win 7 was barely functional. it was so bad I just wiped and reinstalled it and I am getting all the slowdowns from Win 10 downloading in the background. I am going to try NOT installing them and see if that is an improvement.
You know, you have a real gem of an idea there. Why not make an official MDL approved Win 7 ISO that features all of the known good updates and none of the garbage so there would not be any need to have to even turn on updating?? it could be installed and made genuine and that's that, it works hassle free. maybe even throw in periodic updating of the ISO. If it was done right then it could be a working ISO for long after MS drops all support for Win 7 in 2020. It would be awesome. Just an idea. What do you think?
Oh wow... I thought it was just something on my end and that I royally screwed something up. I have/had been endlessly searching Google for possible fixes but none of them seemed to work. Just endlessly looking for updates and then finding nothing. I'm not sure now where to get updates, as I'm still new to these forums but I guess I better start doing some reading.
OMG I thought I had screwed the pooch! I have installed I don't know how many Windows 7 IOS on laptops and desktops from MDL and I have been going crazy for a week or more and then I saw this thread. I promised this old laptop to my sister in law since she was running Vista on her old laptop and I bought a new one. I formatted my old laptop and loaded an "untouched" MDL Windows 7 version. I was stuck in the endless loop of searching for updates. It never would connect. It recognized that it was a genuine version - at first. I realized that I had downloaded the Ultimate version and I had always had a problem updating that version so I ran Dban and installed the Professional version instead. I STILL could not update. I searched everywhere for the solution except here. I even downgraded to the Home Edition and then tried to do the in place upgrade. That didn't work because it wouldn't accept the DAZ loader. DAZ worked for all the other editions. This one was just stuck in the endless loop. This just infuriates me. I promised this laptop to my sister in law and now I'm stuck. I can't load Windows 7. She is not computer savvy. She can't use Windows 10 on this old laptop of mine. There must be a way around this! Help!