BRIAN MORRIS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

Thanks for your solution. I had the same problem as you after an infection by ZeroAccess, I downloaded vista.zip and used the bits.reg file. Now update works

By trobbo on Aug 21, 2012

THANKS! I have been trying to fix my son’s computer. He had several nasty viruses and getting the update service was the last thing to get fixed. This solution was easy. Thanks again.

By Carlos Delgado on Aug 24, 2012

This worked for me. I had over 18 updates that WindowsUpdate could not access. I had tried several other solutions, from Microsoft, blogs, etc. This worked like a charm. Thank you Brian, thank you, thank you!!!

By The SaltyCroc on Aug 27, 2012

Your the man…I have spent the last 2 days looking ofr a solution… worked like magic…My sisterinlaws … vista machine was whacked with a bunch of virus stuff… keep telling her not to let the kids play on it..this is one solution I wont forget.

By Stephen on Sep 6, 2012

THANKS a lot… it worked!! I struggled a lot to resolve this problem. Your solution was so quick and easy. Thanks once again..

By Sandeep D on Sep 6, 2012

Appears to be working. Thank you very much!

By gh on Sep 23, 2012

I was infected with the rootkit 0access and lost my ability to update WIN7 after I got rid of it.
I spent days trying to fix this.
I tried about a dozen fixes I found on the net but no go.
Your instuctions and links fixed it all.
Thank you, you are the man.

By Greasemonkey on Sep 25, 2012

FIXED IT! thank you

By Bubba Jackson on Sep 25, 2012

I had tried many other fixes but this worked great and was super easy.
I had a nasty virus a few months ago and deleted BITS service which prevented updates from Microsoft and Security Essentials. I was manually updating but missed something and another virus infected my computer. Was so happy to see this post and even happier when it actually worked.

By Susan on Sep 28, 2012

Fantastic fix! It took me a week to find it and Microsoft website was useless. So many failed fixes attempted and in the end a 2 second registry amendment fixed it. Unbelievable!

Thanks a million you star!

By Mark on Sep 29, 2012

Thanks for this solution. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I double clicked the bits.reg and wuauser.reg and restarted the computer. I still don’t have the Background Intelligence Transfer Service when I run SERVICES.MSC and Microsoft Securities Essentials couldn’t install the definitions update

By Tom on Sep 30, 2012

After more than a month reading and trying unsuccessfull solutions, finally i got to this site, and now Windows Update is working.

Thanks!!!

By Felice on Sep 30, 2012

Thanks, fantastic!

By lingfeng on Oct 1, 2012

This worked for Vista Business. Thank you!

By Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabbadoo on Oct 2, 2012

I appreciate the solution. This in fact worked for me. I had issues installing updates on Windows Vista. The B.I.T.S service was missing and all the solutions I found online were not working.

Thank you

By Mike on Oct 3, 2012

Thanks a lot, I have been searching the net for a couple of days.
It works briliantly!

By Martijn on Oct 5, 2012

The link “Smartest Computing’s cache of registry keys” does not seem to work for me,is there another link I can use?

By Paul on Oct 7, 2012

This appears to have fixed my issue. One of my computers got 0access and I was able to clean the most damaging effects, but I could not install updates afterwards. I did not notice this becase often I refuse to install them.

After a month of updates accumulated I decide to do it today and they failed. I hand noticed that IE would not run anything that I would download, unless I only downloaded it. Then I would have to open the folder and run it myself after the download.

It looks like both issues are resolved.

Thanks.

By Kurt Radcliffe on Oct 9, 2012

Hi,

Tried various ways to solve the problem. But finally only solution worked.. Thanks

By Abhilash Thachil on Oct 11, 2012

Thank you very much for this fix. Simple and it worked.
Adding the following text to help others find this page:
Windows Update Service missing
Windows Update Service not starting
Windows BITS service missing
Windows BITS not starting
Windows defender service missing
Windows defender not starting

By Stephane on Oct 12, 2012

You are a MASTER! This worked great! Thanks!

By JR on Oct 13, 2012

I have this message after double click for bits.reg “Cannot import C:\Users\XXXX\Downloads\bits.reg: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other process.”
And still my windows update services missing

By Dhaniel on Oct 14, 2012

Wow… it worked for me at last. Your solution is great. Though it is very simple.

I was struggling with this issue for a week and tried every other thing but in vain.

Thank you very much!

By Praveen Rao K on Oct 15, 2012

Thanks a lot man! I tried everything, but today i fixed my problem adding in register those hex values for BITS service.
Greetings from Italy!

By Anonymous on Oct 16, 2012

This worked / After the virus called ” Win 7 Antivirus 2013″ attacked my friends laptop. We got rid of the virus but Windows Updated would not work.
Thank You

By Guy on Oct 16, 2012

works awesome, thanks dude !!!!

By Bob on Oct 17, 2012

Thanks!!!!! So easy and worked fast.

By Kristin on Oct 17, 2012

Perfect fix – thanks for posting I could not find this information anywhere. Fixed leftover missing update service after FBI moneypack infection was cleared with tdskiller and malwarebytes. The variant of the FBI virus I had was missed by avast and avg. Just locked up the sytem – luckily it is rather easy to clear, but requires a reboot in safe mode, and mucking about with the registry and startup files. Thanks again

By Marc Gagliano on Oct 19, 2012

Hey! Thanks for posting this fix! I rarely add to forums, but I’ve been searching for a solution to this for a while now and this worked. Thanks!

By gh33 on Oct 19, 2012

Thanks for your help. I looked all over for that exact fix. It all works now.

By Glenn on Oct 24, 2012

Thank you so much for this, works like a charm.

Windows forums fail so hard like always.

By SoulesS on Oct 25, 2012

Worked like a charm!
Thank You!

By Mark Kennedy on Oct 25, 2012

Wow! Thank you so much for this – I couldnt find a solution to fix the missing BITS anywhere, good work! Thanks again.

By Dave on Oct 28, 2012

It worked perfectly. Thank you for this simple and effective solution.

By Jesper on Oct 29, 2012

This is what you need if you are missing BITS because of a virus or what have you.
I used 7-zip from cnet (Free)to unzip and extracted the files wuauserv.reg, bits.reg, then double click just those 2 after unzipped and confirm each. REstarted, Went to Windows update and updated this time everything worked.
You need this if you get error:80246008
Or you go look for BITS and unable to find it.

By Works on Oct 29, 2012

THANKS SO MUCH !!!!!!!!

By Works on Oct 29, 2012

Wow your the man fixed as items were missing as you said thanks mate

By derek on Oct 31, 2012

Cannot import [reg]: Not all data was successfully written to the registry. Some keys are open by the system or other processes or you have insufficient privileges to perform this operation.

for bits

I am logged on as administrator and I did this directly after rebooting so I don’t understand why this is happening?

By Chris on Oct 31, 2012

Thank you!I’ve spent days trying to fix this, but nothing worked. Your suggestions worked first time.
I really appreciate it,
Becca

By Becca on Nov 4, 2012

Thanks Brain, worked great. The MS fixit didn’t work at all. Said there was nothing to fix. haha

Just wish this site was higher up in the search order for google. By the time you get to this site, you have read and tried several things.

By Don on Nov 5, 2012

this worked for me when i had this issue on server 2008 R2. Thank you!!!

By Mike on Nov 7, 2012

This worked as well after I did one more thing! The root kit denied access to the everyone group on the following folder.

c:\programdata\application data\

So remove the DENY Everyone group entry and then apply the registry changes that is suggested and BAM working again!

By Leeman928 on Nov 8, 2012

Thanks!! it worked! you are the MAN!!!

By bohica on Nov 9, 2012

Thanks a million! Why the hell doesn’t Microsoft offer this as the first solution is just shows how they don’t know what to do.

Long live bro!!

By Oz on Nov 10, 2012

It worked!!! After months of frustration, my updates are finally working again. Thank you!!!

By Sara on Nov 11, 2012

Oh my gosh!!!!…this work for me. I was trying to fix it for the last 6 months.
Thank you so much

Gavina

By Gavina on Nov 11, 2012

Thanks Brian, this has solved my updates problem and now updates is back up and running

Bobbyray

By Bobbyray on Nov 13, 2012

Thanks bud, it worked beautifully.

I used the reg files from Vista.zip as that was my OS

wuauserv is also necessary to download the Windows 8 $40 upgrade.

People, such as I, who are repaving after a malware misadventure and are choosing to use the Windows 8 Upgrade will find this article helpful.

By Sherm on Nov 14, 2012

Great. Solved my issue in seconds

By jet on Nov 14, 2012

thanks, worked when nothing else helped!

By joe on Nov 15, 2012

Worked like a champ. Thought I was hosed for good and this was very easy to do.

By Stever20 on Nov 16, 2012

It worked to me but only after a long fight… I had the malware Rootkit.0Access. Everytime I restarted the PC the keys disappear from the Registry, dead point!
I used Malwarebytes Anti-Malware but the malware was also inside services.exe. To discover this, it didn’t help the emergency start. I had to install another copy of Win7 and run the Anti-Malware from there scanning the drive of the other Operating System.
It deletes the exe, but you can easily copy the original file because you have a fresh install

I hope this help to complete resolve this problem in the problem.

By Davidoff on Nov 17, 2012

Thanks a lot. It worked and Issue got resolve. Now updates are working.

By Kishore on Nov 18, 2012

re: bits.reg and wuauserv.reg. While I see wuauserv.reg in the extracted files, I don’t see bits.reg. there is a netbt. Close but no cigar? Also, what is Legacy_ as a prepend? OS is XP for awhile yet.

By tom on Nov 18, 2012

Thank you so much. Worked like a charm and I was able to download all updates.

By Andara on Nov 19, 2012

Great tip! Thanks for helping with this problem.

By Larry on Nov 20, 2012

Hi There i re inserted the Registry Keys without error however i am still getting the same error message saying that i can not download update because the update service is not unning but when i check the service it says that it is running i have tried to stop and restart the service with no success please help

By Matt on Nov 20, 2012

didn’t work i’m afraid. this is driving me nuts

By leo on Nov 22, 2012

This actually worked, thanks a ton man I feel like I owe ya one, now I can install .net framework again!

By Some guy on Nov 24, 2012

It’s great, it work 100% for me, but first install kaspersky internet security 2013 and do the updates for it, start a quick scan, fix any infected files, restart and after that do the steps posted by Brian Morris Technologies Services.
Thanks a lot!!

By George on Nov 28, 2012

Thank you so much for this fix. It worked perfectly. You are the best.

By Ryan on Nov 28, 2012

Worked! Windows 7 ultimate 64bit. Thanks so much

By cory on Dec 1, 2012

Worked great saved me a lot of time and aggravation. Thank you.

By whgarner on Dec 3, 2012

It worked! Thank You!

By Carl on Dec 4, 2012

This solurion added the missing registry keys. I still had the error but all I had to do was change the WinUpd settings to never check for updates, then when I did a Check Now, it worked.

By jb6362 on Dec 9, 2012

worked great!! thanks

By tom on Dec 9, 2012

Finally! After many hours of searching and trying, this one did the trick for. Thanks a lot Brian!

By Ben on Dec 13, 2012

I just wish I had found your solution earlier. Many thanks to you.

By Mark on Dec 15, 2012

You are freaking awesome!
Quick, easy, and worked perfectly.
Thanks a lot

By Matthew on Dec 17, 2012

I did add both the wuauserv and bits back into the computer. However, after a restart I did not see Windows Update in the services list, so I still cannot update or install Net Framework 4.5

By justin on Dec 18, 2012

Awesome!!! This solved the problem I was having with a client’s computer. Thanks!

By Alonzo on Jan 3, 2013

This worked for my notebook. Well done that man.

By Midnight on Jan 6, 2013

This worked beautifully. Thanks!

By Richard Nash on Jan 9, 2013

Worked like a charm!…You da`man
– Had both services showing in services.msc, but still Win Update would not run. MS Fix software was a bust
– Applied your fix and even though the BITS.reg key gave an error; after a reboot, Update is working again
– thanks for being 1 of 50% of online helpers who actually give useful help without making you jump through hoops, dl 3rd party software, or just charge for BS.

By HammockLounger on Jan 9, 2013

I read your instructions and find that I DO have the BITS service, AND windowsupdate service as well, both are started but I still cannot get windows to update. I tried stopping and restarting both, but still get the error that “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer”

What now, coach?

this little notebook has not had updates for a long time now.. and I’m afraid there’s going to be tons when I get this fixed.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Dale

By Dale on Jan 11, 2013

Yes yes worked so worth figuring out thanx so much! Was having problems with installing updates in windows vista running SP2.

By Antoinette on Jan 15, 2013

Brian,
Just to let you know, I went to Tweaking.com and got their free “windows repair all” program. I then also got a malware checker which found nothing, and also did a file check which again, found nothing. So I then ran the Tweaking program, and now all is well!!! Thanks for the tip. Others may note that even though the “BITS and windows update services show up in the services screen, they can still be garbaged up in the registry. this program fixes them.
Dale

By Dale on Jan 15, 2013

Brilliant, simply brilliant

By Gino on Jan 17, 2013

YOU ARE THEEE MAN!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

By George on Jan 19, 2013

This works, but on reboot after a short while my windows update reg key gets deleted automatically again.

I’ve ran many anti virus programs and mailware programs and I don’t seem to have a virus or mailware.

By k on Jan 24, 2013

I did, yes, and MalwareBytes didn’t come up with anything wrong. I don’t remember HitmanPro though. I also ran a complete file check with no suspicious problems. but like I said, the windows update started working beautifully. do you think I should still run HtmanPro?

By Dale on Jan 24, 2013

T H A N K Y O U!!!!! Worked like a charm!!!

By winansphd on Jan 27, 2013

Love it when a solution is quick and simple. Worked perfectly!

By Doug on Jan 31, 2013

Thank you!!!!! Thank you!!!!! Thank you!!!!! I have been trying(unsuccessfully) for days to fix this problem and you helped me do in in a few minutes. One more time Thank You!!!!!

By Charlie on Feb 3, 2013

it works for me. thanks.

By Angus on Feb 4, 2013

Awesome, this was so frustrating. It worked perfectly.

By Scott on Feb 4, 2013

Thank you for posting this fix. We searched many sites looking for a fix. Worked great!

By Linda on Feb 12, 2013

YOU ARE THE BEST THANK YOU.

By JABIR on Feb 16, 2013

seeing all the positive comments here and tried it out and was glad I did! it works!! many thanks

By kaylie on Feb 17, 2013

Awsome sollution
I Googled many times for fixing windows updates
but couldnt find it
at last got it here
thank you very much

By saketh on Feb 26, 2013

Sadly this did not work for me, I still get the “cannot check for updates” error message.

By scotsbilly on Mar 2, 2013

You are the MAN. Thank you so much. I also wasted hours on this. I can’t thank you enough

By John Day on Mar 2, 2013

It worked….currently downloading 68 updates.
THANKS!!!!

By fferrara on Mar 10, 2013

Got the error adding the BITS registry entries like others did, and found I was still unable to Check for updates after a reboot.

However, as previously mentioned, Changing the update settings to “Never check for updates” then checking manually worked like a dream.

Thanks very much!

By Stan on Mar 15, 2013

Thank you for the help. It worked and I’m rounding out my head to the way it was.

By Jon on Mar 17, 2013

Nice fix. It worked for me.

By Jo on Mar 17, 2013

Thank you very much… Problem SOLVED

By Hazem on Mar 21, 2013

Great Fix!!! only one I found that has worked. TY

By Chris on Mar 23, 2013

Thanks, thanks thanks thanks . Been struggling with this for 2 days and this worked first time.

By Gilbernuk on Mar 31, 2013

I think I love you…..

By Kel on Mar 31, 2013

You are a champion, thank you! I also had a zeroaccess infection cleaned off and the MS site was USELESS to help getting the update running again.

By Sandiepooh on Apr 1, 2013

BTW, I had to also do wscsvc and windefend, in addition to wuauserv and bits and I’m sure I’ll find something else…
Thanks again. It makes me feel better that with all that malware crap out there, there are still decent people who help others. You restored my faith in humanity.

By Sandiepooh on Apr 1, 2013

great job man. really fix it. thank you.

By Unpawned on Apr 2, 2013

cheers for the help now my laptop is finally updating woohoo

By craig on Apr 7, 2013

This worked when nothing else did. Thank you very much!

By Scott on Apr 9, 2013

This worked a charm, I only needed wuauserv. Wish I would of come here 4 hours ago

By Vaughan on Apr 10, 2013

I double clicked bits.reg and wuauserv.reg from Seven folder. Went fine. But restarting still doesn’t show up BITS and windows Update service in Services.console.

Windows update still not working.

Am I missing something?

By Alok on Apr 11, 2013

Thank you very, very much!!!!

By Jason on Apr 12, 2013

I just used the Windows Repair-All in one tool from Tweaking.com and right after I ran this I restarted the laptop I’m working on and I clicked on Windows update and guess what, no more error!
It’s checking for updates as I’m writing my praises to who ever developed this tool, kudos and thanks very much for your help, you truly are “da man”!!! ;-D

By RoyHobbs 25 on Apr 16, 2013

Wew. This is nice. Used this in assisting my customer and works like a charm.
anyway, I have saved all the reg files and uploaded it on my skidrive and share it as public. If any case the download server will be down, you can download it here: https://skydrive.live.com/#cid=9A23A1E1164BA10F&id=9A23A1E1164BA10F%21356

Thanks again..!

By Jash on Apr 18, 2013

After everything I found on the web and even on the Microsoft website itself it kept repeating the same error. I realized I had deleted a trojan a month ago, via the registry and didn’t think anything of it until my computer stopped updating. Thanks so much, my Vaio is working awesome!

By Nicholas on Apr 18, 2013

worked GREAT! thanks

By GMB on Apr 19, 2013

it worked with me thanks a lot for your help

By hany on Apr 21, 2013

After i installed Trend Micro I could not get any updates in fact anything to do with security, I have tried everything for months to no avail, I managed to get updates running today, but not BITS, until I found your forum, I have to thank you for your information i.e. cache of reg. keys and followed for BITS reg, and it worked, I have just downloaded 80+ updates, thank you again

By Bill Anderson on Apr 22, 2013

I checked al for Windows Repair-All in one tool from Tweaking.com and everything is working now.

Thanks to whoever did the application.

By MathekaJnr on Apr 23, 2013

After months of struggles, sucess finally. Thank you very much!

By Chris on Apr 27, 2013

Thank tou .. It works really well

By Yum on Apr 27, 2013

Worked for me! Thank you very much!

By Jeff on May 1, 2013

IT totally worked! THANK YOU! It was easy to do, you don’t have to be a pro, just follow the directions and go slow!!!

By Larry on May 3, 2013

Thank you so much man , it worked

By Ahmed mawari on May 3, 2013

Windows update on my laptop was non-functional. The Bits.reg would not complete, due to running processes. I tried running in safe mode with no success. As last resort I ran the tweak solution with only the Windows update fix checked and it worked flawlessly. Thank you very much.

By Jim on May 5, 2013

Tremendous!!! Solution for the ages… I worked seamlessly with out any problems. Thank you for all your help.

By Michael on May 5, 2013

You are awesome!!!!

Performed this fix. And it worked perfectly. After fix. Downloaded all my windows updates. And during the restarts bit defender found two Trojans. And we’re removed. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work and helping others. And me of course.

By Res0nshn on May 5, 2013

I have been trying to fix this for a week. I’ve tried everything! This worked perfectly.

By S. on May 6, 2013

super. and I’m no techy.

By carol on May 8, 2013

The Seven.zip file worked for me after three days of trying to figure this out!! Can’t thank you enough!

By Roger on May 15, 2013

After a long search for a solution you were the only one that had an easy solution. I hope you are not wasting your talent…. Thanks a lot!!!!

By Nombosia on May 27, 2013

So far, so good. It appears to be working. I had to go to step 2 and download the VISTA.ZIP file from “Smartest Computing’s cache of registry keys”. I was only missing the BITS file, so that was the only one I pulled out and double-clicked. I then restarted my computer and checked to see if it showed up in Services. It did and it said it was running so I went back to Windows Update and tried again. It downloaded the updates and is in the process of installing them now. Fingers crossed that I do not encounter any other problems. The update feature has not been working since the beginning of January so there are a lot of updates that need installing.

By jars on May 28, 2013

An update to my previous comment. Windows Update is complete. I was able to fully download and install the updates. This worked!

I previously tried multiple other suggestions found on other websites which did not help at all. This was the simplest suggestion and it worked.

By jars on May 28, 2013

thank you so much this fixed it perfectly

By mike on May 28, 2013

I have tried some many things and could not get them to work. I tried your solution and it worked. Thanks a million.

By Rosalind on May 29, 2013

I spent whole day trying to fix this windows update issue before I found your advise.
Thank you so much, it worked like a charm.
Have a nice day!

By Roman on Jun 1, 2013

It Worked. Thanks a Lot.

By Kun on Jun 3, 2013

Worked great for me! Thanks!

By Sam B on Jun 6, 2013

I had the same problem. ZeroAccess trojan deleted Widows update and bits registry keys. Download your files and the fix was so simple and easy. Thanks for your help with!!!!!!

By Matt on Jun 8, 2013

Thanks! This works Extremely well.
Just download, double click the download and click on the files you need. Perfect!
Why can’t everything else be this easy.
No problems. No additional add-ons required.

By Robertf on Jun 11, 2013

It worked!

By Christopher M on Jun 16, 2013

Thank you so much! It works like a charm! I spent 3 days trying to find a fix for this.

By Carrie on Jun 17, 2013

To add to the accolades, this has worked for me as well. I’ve been looking for a solution for almost 3wks now..amazing. Thanks a bunch!

By Lexi on Jun 19, 2013