A week or two ago, my work computer suddenly would not allow me to run Windows Update (Windows 7 machine). The program even disappeared from my Start Menu. When I went to run it from the Control Panel, the message "Can not run Windows Update. Some settings are controlled by your System Administrator". So I checked my user account, still shows me as an Administrator. I figured our IT consultant changed some setting somewhere, and I got locked out.?ÿ This weekend I powered up a Windows 7 computer at home that hadn't been on for a couple of months; ran WU an installed about 26 updates; rebooted, and went to re-run WU. Lo and behold, I get the same message "Can not run Windows Update. Some settings are controlled by your System Administrator". I did a little Google search, and found that the problem was probably due to a Group Policy Change. Well, I can see that possibly being a valid thing on my work computer, but my home computers are not set up with anything but the default Group Policies. I decided to deal with it some other time, and moved on with life.
So, last night I rebooted my work computer just before leaving the office, logged in this morning, and worked cheerfully until just now. I noticed WU was back in my Start Menu. Eh??? Ran WU and, as if by magic, no "Tough luck, Chuck" message. WU ran normally. I checked the dialog, and it had automatically downloaded and installed updates when I shut down last night. Thing is, the only updates listed for yesterday and today are Definition Updates for Windows Defender. So I'm thinking the folks at MS figured out one of their updates had changed a setting it shouldn't have, and they quietly put a fix out. It's time for lunch. I'll get back to working cheerfully after I eat.
My computer has been giving me "this version of windows is not valid" message for months.
It still works right except a few commands no longer work like choosing my wall paper and will only give me a black screen when nothing is open.
Well, my computer at work is back to not allowing me to run Windows Update. I ran it yesterday before heading home, installed a few updates, and rebooted, but went home instead of logging in. Logged in this morning, and WU has again disappeared from my Start Menu, and when I run it from the Control Panel, I get the "no can do" message.
@peter-lothian You may want to do some anti-virus/anti-malware work on your computer.?ÿ Several links I found say that it is common for malware to flip the Windows Update switch in the registry to keep you from updating your system so that if will remain available for them to misuse.
Yeah, that will be my next step.?ÿ Leaving work at noon today, so I can set a virus scan to run while I'm out. I checked the home computer this morning, and a .dll file that Avast needs to run has gone missing, so I'm getting worried about a possibly very difficult virus to detect/clean.?ÿ I ran a boot-time virus scan on the home computer on Saturday with Avast, and it only found one PUP (OpenCandy).
Do some Googling.......there are how-to's out there that tell you which Registry entry to edit to get Windows Update functioning again.?ÿ Also, Malware Bytes and others offer online scanners that do a solid job of finding the viruses.
Avast may be removing those proprietare files and causing the problem.
Ha dc to reinstall windows and start over without Avast, Norton and few other security programs that kept clearing out needed files from my cadd and other work programs that needed to access Web sites for authentication and automatically retrieve data.
Malwarebytes and ESET NOD32 Antiviral are less likely to zap needed dll and other needed commands.
Ran a virus scan with Sophos Endpoint Security and Control on my work computer last night. Nothing found. Vacation starts as soon as I get my time sheet done, so I'm done worrying about this for the next week. I'll look into those registry hacks later. Thanks for the advice.
