Windows-10 1903 Not Updating Guests - Why?

[RetiredGuy]

VB 6.0.12 guests "Check For Updates" returns a clean bill of health that updates are up-to-date.
Yet, there is additional information advising that the latest (1903) is available for download...
Been there, done that. Update dies midstream.

Anyone else have this problem? Got a solution?

[socratis]

Update dies midstream.

What does that mean? You lose the network? What network mode are you using, the default "NAT"?

Windows update servers can be finicky. Just because an OS/program that runs in the context of VirtualBox has a problem, it doesn't make it a VirtualBox problem necessarily. You're having an issue that has most probably nothing to do with VirtualBox, so my suggestion would be to treat it as such, as a native problem with the OS or the application of the guest.

[multiOS]

My approach to the 'major' Windows updates is NOT to rely on the somewhat flaky Windows Update procedure. Instead, I always download the latest Windows ISO and do the update manually, after making full backups of the current working VM Folder, of course. Never had a problem doing it that way.

[socratis]

Since we're going that route, there's the WSUS Offline Update. I found it often to be way, way more reliable than Microsoft's own update mechanism.

[RetiredGuy]

I greatly appreciate the efforts of one "socratis", though s/he seems to be trying to identify the problem via distraction.

Update dying midstream? Sure, we can get to that.

LATER.
First question that needs answering is why the update does not run AUTOMATICALLY in the Windows Update process. What does Windows know that I don't?

As to not writing earlier? Due to spending 2+ days running and re-running "download/install" unsuccessfully

[BillG]

Windows update does some weird things sometimes, but I have never seen it behave differently just because it is running in a vm.

1903 is a new version of the OS (what used to be called an version upgrade rather than an update). It has been out since May this year. It is always better to do a version upgrade manually rather than rely on Windows update. When a new version is released, the online download of Windows 10 is replaced by the new version (Google Download Windows 10). I always download the iso from there and manually upgrade all of my machines, physical and virtual, by running the installer from within the current OS.

The next version upgrade will not be released until the first half of next year. The expected half-yearly upgrade (19H2 not 1909) has been replaced by a feature update (due very shortly. It is nearing the end of beta testing)). The next version will be 20H1 (yes, they have changed to naming system again).

[socratis]

First question that needs answering is why the update does not run AUTOMATICALLY in the Windows Update process.

That is not a problem with VirtualBox, unless you can specifically show how this is a VirtualBox problem. Solid evidence, not a question. Just because an OS/program that runs in the context of VirtualBox has a problem, it doesn't make it a VirtualBox problem necessarily. You're having an issue that has most probably nothing to do with VirtualBox, so my suggestion would be to treat it as such, as a native problem with the guest OS.

Windows Updates can take several hours, on my physical PC, this is why I personally use WSUS-Offline, that's why I suggested it...

[multiOS]

First question that needs answering is why the update does not run AUTOMATICALLY in the Windows Update process. What does Windows know that I don't?

If you do some research on the Windows 1903 Update, instead of worrying about a non-existent Virtualisation issues, you'll find that Microsoft, through Windows Update, has been blocking the installation of that update on 'unspecified' devices since it was originally released, because of 'compatibility issues'. The routes to getting the update downloaded and manually installed have already been explained on the basis these are the approaches experienced users take after years of dealing with failed Windows updates. They also have the advantage of allowing the user to ensure they have an opportunity of creating a working Virtual Machine backup prior to implementing significant and, in many cases, unknown system changes. In my experience Virtual Machines, being limited to a narrow range of virtual hardware rather than the multitude of various hardware options in real hardware, rarely present significant problems if this approach is adopted. Compare that with the fact that Microsoft has consistently delivered problematic monthly ("patch Tuesday") updates ever since Windows 10 was launched and that there are a multitude of threads on the Microsoft forums about broken Windows Updates, the vast majority obviously being on 'real' hardware.

[mpack]

It's certainly true that on my physical home PC, which has seen a lot of junk installed on it over a couple of years, still had not received the 1903 update as of a couple of weeks ago. In the end I took the matter into my own hands: created fresh install media using the online Microsoft tool, backed up then wiped my PC, installed Windows from scratch then reinstalled apps.

That fixed my main problem: crippled LAN because of buggy Win10 updates over the last couple of years.

Happily I have a folder with all my app installers, so reinstalling apps isn't as tedious as it sounds. I specifically didn't want to retain any registry strangeness from the old incarnation.

[socratis]

Virtual Machines, being limited to a narrow range of virtual hardware rather than the multitude of various hardware options in real hardware

The only hardware being different, if you stick with the templates, is the CPU. Right now for example, I started a Win7 VM that I moved from my MBP (i7-4870HQ CPU @ 2.50GHz) to my "grandpa PC" which sports a Core2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.50 GHz. Win7 installed "drivers" for the Q9300, don't ask me why...

[RetiredGuy]

WOW! Can't believe how many contributed here.
It's not like I've been ignoring y'all; I have seriously been precluded from participating due to health and religious holiday as well (now - who will ever believe all that???)
Anyway, I did try BillG's suggestion, ran the Media Creator Tool, and whaddya know. Win Update will look for extra disk space, use USB Flash as needed, while the Tool gives no option other than 'close'.
Apparently 12gb is required for old files (I have only 9.5gb free).
So I figure I'll revert to what I did before, add a new separate 20gb virtual drive and hope to advise soon...

[RetiredGuy]

Gonna wait till it's stable. No joy here

[Rootman]

Sorry, to chime it with the same old' same 'ol. For the last few major Win 10 updates I've had issues with it working both in physical AND virtual instances.

I download the Windows 1903 ISO file either directly or with the media creation tool and use 7Zip to unpack it - you can also run it directly form the ISO too, but overall it seems faster unpacked. Either run it from a USB drive, or copy it directly to the running OS's SSD / HDD and run it there. Delete the files once installed.

I've also created a small .cmd file to make it run unattended - at least without intervention. Write this to upgrade.cmd and put it in the root of the files from the ISO, or stick it IN the ISO if you want.
I've done this on dozens of physical drives and a few VMs as well.

@Echo off
start setup /auto upgrade /dynamicupdate disable /priority high

[multiOS]

@RetiredGuy

Not sure what you are waiting to become stable but the next major update to Windows 10 is due later this week (possibly as soon as tomorrow).

See: https://news.softpedia.com/news/windows ... 7722.shtml

Perhaps you'll have better luck with that! But I would still recommend you directly download the ISO when it''s available, or use the specifically designed Windows Update Tool to obtain the installation file - see https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/hel ... -assistant - rather than relying on the standard Windows Update procedure. I presume you have been getting other regular Windows updates for your present version as you didn't specifically say.

The other thing is to make absolutely certain that, if you are relying on the Windows Virtual Machine to both download and install these updates, you must have sufficient free space in the virtual machine, as it's a multi-gigabyte download, storage and installation process.