High usage by windows update service wuauserv

The wuauserv or Windows Update Service is a service present on your PC that allows detection, installing and downloading updates in Windows. If the service is disabled, computer users will not be able to update their PC with Windows Update.

There are many cases where this process consumes many of your resources, as CPU, memory or network. There can be many causes for this behavior. Your update client may have a conflict or Windows may be looking for possible updates. We have listed several solutions to aid in this process. Check.

Solution 1: Waiting for the Windows update to be verified

Before resorting to any technical solution, can you wait a bit. The computer may be looking for possible updates with the Windows servers. After a while, the process itself should slow down and keep running in the background. However, if the behavior continues for several hours, you can start running the following solutions.

Solution 2: restart update service after deleting downloaded content

We will temporarily deactivate the Windows update service to be able to delete the content already downloaded by the Update Manager. Later, we will delete the content of the Software Redistribution folder. After restarting the service, Windows will check which files are already downloaded. If you don't find any, will start the download from scratch. Most of the time, this solves the problem and the service does not consume as many resources.

Disable update service

There are two methods to disable the Windows update service. You can follow any of them to facilitate access.

Method 1: use of services

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run application. In the dialog, write »services. msc «. This will show all the services that are running on your computer.

2. Browse through the list until you find a service called »Windows Update Service«. Right click on the service and select Properties.

1. Click Stop Present under the Service Status subheading. Now your Windows update service is stopped and we can continue.

Method 2: using command line

1. Press Windows + S, scribe “symbol of the system” in the dialog, right-click on the app and select “Execute as an administrator”.

2. On the command line, escriba »net stop wuauserv«. Don't close the command line yet, we may need it later.

Delete downloaded files

Now we will navigate to the Windows Update directory and delete all the updated files that are already present. Open your file explorer or My Computer and follow the steps.

1. Navigate to the address written below. You can also start the Run app and copy and paste the address to get there directly.

C: NWindowsN software distribution

1. Delete everything inside the Software Distribution folder (you can also cut and paste them to another location in case you want to put them back).

Note: you can also rename the software distribution folder. Name it as “SoftwareDistributionold”.

Reactivation of the update service

Now we have to re-activate the Windows update service and run it again. Initially, It may take a few minutes for Update Manager to calculate the details and prepare a manifest for download.

Now, if you used method one to disable Windows Update, follow method one here too. If you have followed method two, follow method two.

Method 1: use the services

1. Open the Services tab as we did earlier in the guide. Navigate to Windows Update and open its Properties.

2. Now start the service again and start your update manager.

Method 2: using command line

1. Launch your command prompt (or if it is already working, just write).

2. Escriba »net start wuauserv«. This will start the Windows update service again. Now start your update manager again and start the Windows process 10.

Note: Always run command prompt and services tab as administrator. You may experience an error if you forget to use all authority.

Solution 3: install updates manually

Before resorting to uninstalling the necessary updates, we can check if fixing the updates manually fixes the problem in question.

1. Press Windows + S to start the search bar. Type »Windows update» and open the output that appears.

2. Under the heading »Update Settings«, select Advanced Options.

1. Scroll to the bottom of the page. Here you will find an option »Choose how updates are delivered«. click on it.

1. Now a new window will appear with options on where to download the updates. Deactivate it and go back to the previous window.

1. Enable »Pause updates«. Now restart your computer.

1. Navigate to the official Microsoft website, select the recent update that is causing you the problem and download it.

2. After installing the update, restart your computer and check for updates manually. It may take a while, so be patient. Once the computer has successfully verified the updates, restart it again and see if the problem is fixed.

Solution 4: uninstall installed updates

If you experience this problem after installing a recent update, we can try to uninstall it before resorting to the complete deactivation of the process. Make sure to restore your windows image before resorting to this solution. In this way, you can always back off if something goes wrong.

1. Press Windows + R to start the application Run. Type »appwiz.cpl» in the dialog box and press Enter.

2. A new window will appear with all the programs installed on your computer. Ignore them and click on »See installed updated» present in the upper left part of the window.

1. A list of all installed updates will appear. Select the one that started having problems, right-click and select »Uninstall«. After the uninstall process, restart your computer and see if the problem is resolved.

Solution 5: disable windows update service

If all the above solutions don't work, we can try to disable Windows Update Service. Note that after this method, your update client will not run automatically, nor Windows will be updated.

1. Press Windows + R to open the Run application. In the dialog, write »services. msc «. This will show all the services that are running on your computer.

2. Browse through the list until you find a service called »Windows Update Service«. Right click on the service and select Properties.

3. Stop the service by clicking the »Stop» button under Service Status. Then click on Startup type and select »Disabled» from the drop-down menu. Press Apply to save changes and exit.

1. Now restart your computer and check if the problem has been resolved.