Windows XP update locks machines with SVCHOST redlined at 100%: Fix it with KB 2879017
NOVEMBER 13, 2013
Windows XP update locks machines with SVCHOST redlined at
100%: Fix it with KB 2879017
Bug returns with recent patches in Windows XP's Windows
Update processing, as SVCHOST pegs 100% CPU utilization
By Woody Leonhard | InfoWorldFollow @woodyleonhard
Windows XP update locks machines with SVCHOST red lined
at 100%: Fix it with KB 2879017
It isn't a new bug, but it's a killer, and this month's
round of Automatic Updates has brought it back with a vengeance. Freshly
installed Windows XP SP3 machines running Windows Update -- typically because
Automatic Update is turned on -- will stall twice. First, when Windows Update
accesses the Microsoft website to gather a list of available updates, the
machine can lock up for five, 10, 15 minutes -- or more -- with the CPU and fan
running at 100 percent. Then, if the customer waits long enough for the updates
to appear, and clicks to install them, the XP machine goes racing away again for
five or 10 or more minutes, with the CPU redlined at 100 percent.
If you've turned on Windows Automatic Update, your
brand-new WinXP SP3 installation may just sit there and churn and churn.
Microsoft has known about the problem for months --
probably years -- but it hasn't fixed it. I first saw the problem described in
a TechNet post for the June 2013 Black Tuesday patches. In September, reader
warwagon on the Neowin support forum described the same problem -- and drew
more than 100 comments, many of which repeated the same story. Jeff Duntemann
talked about the problem in October -- and he traces its origins back to 2004.
Now the November 2013 Black Tuesday patches are bringing back the same litany,
and Microsoft hasn't made any moves to fix it.
The source of the problem isn't hard to track down. In
every instance I've seen, wuauclt.exe -- the Windows Update Agent -- running in
a SVCHOST wrapper takes over the machine. Clearly, there's a bug in wuauclt
running on Windows XP and/or a bug in the way Microsoft's servers handle
wuauclt on XP. Whether Microsoft will ever deign to fix it remains a sore
point.
Some people advise that you turn off Automatic Update --
I do, too, for reasons painfully obvious in the 17 epic Windows Auto Update
meltdowns slideshow -- but turning off Automatic Update doesn't solve the
problem. As soon as you venture into Windows Update manually on a fresh Windows
XP SP3 machine, the problem comes back.
The best solution appears to be a manual update to
Internet Explorer. Yes, Microsoft has messed up wuauclt.exe so badly that it
has to be repaired by installing an IE update -- not a Windows update -- to get
it working properly. The fix is part of the October cumulative IE patch known
as MS13-080/ KB 2879017. If you manually download and install the October
cumulative patch, then you should be able to use Windows Update with no
problems.
Operative term: "should."
The precise download location varies depending on which
version of IE you're using. For IE6 go here...
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40612
IE7 is here... http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40519
And IE8 is here... http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40390
You would think that simply upgrading to the latest
version of IE would solve the problem, but it doesn't. You have to manually
download and apply the patch for your version of IE.
Will Microsoft go in and fix wuauclt.exe -- or, better,
fix whatever is broken in its back-end processing -- before Windows XP turns
belly up next year? I wouldn't bet on it.
This story, "Windows XP update locks machines with
SVCHOST redlined at 100%: Fix it with KB 2879017," was originally
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