14 DAY TRIAL // A number of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 systems are experiencing a Windows Update error that prevents them from checking for updates for an unclear reason.
Posts on the company’s Community forums seem to indicate that the bug first appeared on December 3 and it’s a server-side issue, which means that users might not have anything to do to have this fixed. Instead, Microsoft has remained tight-lipped on the actual cause of the bug, despite the growing number of posts on the said Community thread.
Checking for updates on the impacted systems fails with error “Windows could not search for new updates,” with some saying that an additional message reading “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer,” when they click the “Get help with this error” option in Windows Update.
Rebooting the system or hitting the “Try again” option doesn’t make any difference, and for the time being, there are signs that at least two workarounds fix the problem.
Set back the time to March 12
Some recommend deploying older fixes released by Microsoft, as this is isn’t the first time the software giant breaks down Windows Update on Windows 7, but at the same time, it appears that setting back the date to March 12, 2017 also restores Windows Update functionality.
Funny enough, long-time Microsoft rival Apple recently experienced an iPhone bug that could also be addressed by setting back the date on its devices, but it goes without saying that the two issues aren’t related in any way.
As it typically happens on Microsoft’s Community forums, there’s no helpful answer for users who are trying to deal with the Windows Update bug, and officially the company has remained completely tight-lipped on how to fix this.
Most likely, the software giant will fix it in the coming days ahead of the Patch Tuesday rollout that kicks off this month on December 12.