[SOLUTION] Windows Update and BITS services missing

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You get: “Windows Update cannot currently check for updates, because the service is not running. You may need to restart your computer.” on Windows 7 when checking for updates.

In my case, this happened on two computers that both were infected with the ZeroAccess trojan. The reason this message appears is that the malware deleted the registry keys for Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) and Windows Update (wuauserv).

I searched and searched today, but came up empty trying to find a utility or easy fix. Thankfully, I previously figured this out and here is what to do:   (this is an advanced fix and I highly recommend leaving it for professionals; I cannot support you if this causes problems)

1. Run SERVICES.MSC after hitting WINDOWS-R and look for Windows Update and Background Intelligent Transfer Service in the list of services. If they are missing, keep going.

2. Visit Smartest Computing’s cache of registry keys. Click Download at the top and save the SEVEN.ZIP (or adapt this if your OS is different) and pull out the bits.reg and wuauserv.reg, double-click each one and restart the computer.

3. Leave a comment if this worked or not. There are times when the files have been changes or removed that this wouldn’t work.

[UPDATE 4/2013] If this doesn’t work for you, Tweaking.com has an All-in-One Windows repair tools that has had success with some: http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/windows_repair_all_in_one.html I’m interested in feedback on that tool.

[UPDATE 11/2013] Some users have been able to repair Windows XP with this advice here:  http://www.philmorgan.net/techie-tools/windows-update-bits-background-intelligent-transfer-service-fix-batch-file-for-windows-xp

204 replies
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  1. trobbo says:

    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 🙂

  2. Carlos Delgado says:

    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.

  3. The SaltyCroc says:

    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!!!

  4. Stephen says:

    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.

  5. Sandeep D says:

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

  7. Greasemonkey says:

    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.

  9. Susan says:

    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.

  10. Mark says:

    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!

  11. Tom says:

    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

  12. Felice says:

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

    Thanks!!!

  15. Mike says:

    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

  17. Paul says:

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

  18. brmorris says:

    Wow, their domain is gone. We’ll see if they restore it soon. If not, I’ll try to figure out a plan.

  20. Kurt Radcliffe says:

    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.

  22. Stephane says:

    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

  24. Dhaniel says:

    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

  26. Praveen Rao K says:

    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!

  27. Anonymous says:

    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!

  28. Guy says:

    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 🙂

  31. Marc Gagliano says:

    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

  32. brmorris says:

    Marc,

    I’ve had variants of the FBI warning missed by Symantec and ESET, so don’t look down on AVG & avast.

  33. gh33 says:

    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!

  37. Dave says:

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

  39. Works says:

    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.

  42. Chris says:

    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?

  44. Becca says:

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

  45. Don says:

    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.

  47. Leeman928 says:

    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!

  49. Oz says:

    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!!

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