Windows 8.1 Windows update hangs forever and never updates.

I have ran into this problem on just about every computer i run windows 8.1 on. Here are all the methods I've found for fixing the issue:

1. Run this script in safemode:

"net stop bits
net stop wuauserv
net stop appidsvc
net stop cryptsvc

pause

Ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.bak
Ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 catroot2.bak

pause

sc.exe sdset bits D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)
sc.exe sdset wuauserv D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)

pause

regsvr32.exe atl.dll
regsvr32.exe urlmon.dll
regsvr32.exe mshtml.dll
regsvr32.exe shdocvw.dll
regsvr32.exe browseui.dll
regsvr32.exe jscript.dll
regsvr32.exe vbscript.dll
regsvr32.exe scrrun.dll
regsvr32.exe msxml.dll
regsvr32.exe msxml3.dll
regsvr32.exe msxml6.dll
regsvr32.exe actxprxy.dll
regsvr32.exe softpub.dll
regsvr32.exe wintrust.dll
regsvr32.exe dssenh.dll
regsvr32.exe rsaenh.dll
regsvr32.exe gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32.exe sccbase.dll
regsvr32.exe slbcsp.dll
regsvr32.exe cryptdlg.dll
regsvr32.exe oleaut32.dll
regsvr32.exe ole32.dll
regsvr32.exe shell32.dll
regsvr32.exe initpki.dll
regsvr32.exe wuapi.dll
regsvr32.exe wuaueng.dll
regsvr32.exe wuaueng1.dll
regsvr32.exe wucltui.dll
regsvr32.exe wups.dll
regsvr32.exe wups2.dll
regsvr32.exe wuweb.dll
regsvr32.exe qmgr.dll
regsvr32.exe qmgrprxy.dll
regsvr32.exe wucltux.dll
regsvr32.exe muweb.dll
regsvr32.exe wuwebv.dll

pause

netsh winsock reset

pause

netsh winhttp reset proxy

pause

net start bits
net start wuauserv
net start appidsvc
net start cryptsvc

pause

sfc /scannow

pause"

2.  You could install these 2 updates (they install an newer version of the windows update client):

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53334

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3138615

3. Or you can try your luck with the troubleshooter utility built into windows 8.1:

Press the windows key and type "Troubleshooting" and press enter

Then click "Fix problems with Windows Update"

Click "Advanced" and then "Run as administrator"

and follow the prompt

How to Activate Windows 8.1 with Windows 10 OEM key

KB3044374 is the windows update that allows windows 8.1 to activate with a windows 10 OEM key. (I verified this on 2 computers)

1. A way to cleanly install and activate windows 8.1 on these computers.

Go to https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Home.aspx and download KB3044374
Once downloaded install the update and windows should activate automatically

2. To automate to process using windows deployment tools

Once you have done that take a windows 8.1 installation media and extract the "install.wim" and "boot.wim" files from it and save them somewhere
Then take KB3044374 you downloaded and inject it into install.wim file using these commands:

dism /mount-wim /wimfile:C:\Path_To_wim\install.wim /mountdir:C:\Mount_Point /index:1

dism /image:"C:\Mount_point" /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Path_to_updates"

dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:C:\Mount_point /commit

These commands will mount the wim file, inject KB3044374, and dismount the wim file
Use the updated wim file to install windows 8.1 and it wiil accept the windows 10 OEM key automatically
One final note if you are trying to inject KB3044374 from windows 7 you will need to use the copy of dism included on the windows 8.1 installation media under sources because the version of dism on windows 7 is incorrect


If the above doesn't work simply run windows update after the installation and install all of the updates. Once that is done download this tool:
 https://github.com/Superfly-Inc/ShowKeyPlus/releases

and use the OEM Key to activate your copy of windows. You may need to enter a product key in order to complete the installation, if you are asked for a product key you can enter one of the ones listed here as a place holder until you are able to install the windows updates and enter the correct one:
 https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx

If you are using WDS to install Windows 8.1 then you can enter the generic product key into the answer file under amd64_Microsoft-Windows-Setup_neutral > UserData > ProductKey

 
If you want to try to automate the activation you can do it with this bat file: @echo off setlocal enableextensions for /f "tokens=*" %%a in ( 'get_win8key.exe' ) do ( set myvar=%%a ) slmgr.vbs //B -ipk %myvar% slmgr //B -ato

You can get the get_win8key.exe tool from here:

https://github.com/christian-korneck/get_win8key

Retrieve Dell Service Tags Remotely!!!

This is a trick I love so much and use all the time. Thru command Line there is a way to get Dell Service Tags Remotely with-out disturbing the user. I know right pretty sweet.

1. Click start and type CMD
2. Right click on command prompt and run as administrator
3. In command Prompt type: wmic /user:admin-account /node:remote-computer bios get serialnumber and hit enter
4. type in the password for the admin account and hit enter 
5. YOUR DONE!!

Yeah its that easy!!

Exporting Power Profiles

 This is a simple task that can save you time when bringing up a new computer or even if you are in a corporate environment imaging several computers at the same time. I will be writing this how to for windows 7 users but the same thing should work in windows 8

1. Click start
2. Type CMD into the search bar
3. Right-click on CMD.exe and choose  "Run as Administrator"
4. In there you need to input: powercfg list
5. A list of power profiles will come up look for the one you want to export and copy the GUID for it (long string of numbers and letters)
6. Now you need to type powercfg -export "%UserProfile%\Desktop\What you want to call your power profile.pow" GUID
7. Now you need to copy the .pow file you just made over to your new computer
8.  On the new computer open CMD the same way you did it before and type:
powercfg -import "Path to the copied .pow file"
9. Press enter and you are done all you need to do now is go into the power settings and select the profile you just created.

Another way to activate a OEM copy of windows on a Dell computer

This solution was provided by Anonymousnone on Technet

Copy the install.wim from the Dell cd to your computer's hard drive
xcopy D:\sources\install.wim c:\WinPE\install.wim

Identify the index number of the Windows 7 pro install
dism /Get-ImageInfo /imagefile:C:\WinPE\install.wim

Extract the Windows 7 pro install from the Wim file
dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.wim /sourceindex:3 /destinationimagefile:DellPro7.wim

Mount the extracted WIM
dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:c:\WinPE\DellPro7.wim /index:1 /MountDir:c:\winpe\dell7\

Copy the files from the Dell DVD to the mounted WIM file structure
xcopy D:\sources\$OEM$\$$\setup\ C:\Windows\Setup\ /E /H
xcopy D:\sources\$OEM$\$$\system32\ C:\Windows\system32\ /E /H

Remount the image commiting the changes
dism /unmount-image /mountdir:c:\winpe\dell7 /commit

Import the newly WIM file into MDT 2012 and add it to your OS deployment task or import into Windows deployment services.

Useing Windows Deployment Service to install and activate your Dell OEM copy of windows 7

Hello Boys and Girls,

I spent the better part of 2 months figuring out how to install and active Dell OEM copies of Windows 7 using Windows Deployment Service on windows 2008 R2 server. 

The Idea behind this is if you get a large number of new Dell laptops and/or workstations you can use a blanket install image across the network for multiple computers at once. Pretty neat.

These instructions are designed around Dell Windows 7 64x laptops although the same concept may work on other brands. Also I'm only really going to talk about the OEM activation part because the rest of the process is really involved and would be easier to explain by breaking it up into multiple help docs.

So lets get started.

First things first you will need to copy the OEM cert and SLP.bat files from your Dell OEM CD. The OEM Cert is located on the CD under sources\$OEM$\$$\system32\OEM and is called OEM (XrML Digital License). slp.bat is located under sources\$OEM$\$$\setup\scripts. Copy these files to your Distribution share on your Windows Deployment Service server (make sure you allow Guest and Anonymous Logins to connect to this share). (Somewhere easy to find) Now this next part may seem strange and/or unnecessary but it is the method that gave me the best results. In your distro share crate 4 batch files.

The first one needs to run the command: mkdir C:\OEM (MakeOEM)

Next make one with this command: copy \\server\share\DellCert\slp.bat C:\OEM\ (CopySLP)

then: copy \\server\share\DellCert\OEM.xrm-ms C:\OEM\ (CopyCert)

and lastly: C:\OEM\slp.bat

After you have made your 4 Batch files you will need to edit slp.bat:

Currently it should look something like this:

cscript %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs -ilc %windir%\system32\oem\OEM.xrm-ms
cscript %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs -ipk 32KD2-K9CTF-M3DJT-4J3WC-733WD

but seeing as our OEM folder will be located under C:\ we will need to change it to this:

cscript %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs -ilc C:\OEM\OEM.xrm-ms
cscript %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs -ipk 32KD2-K9CTF-M3DJT-4J3WC-733WD

Now after you have done that its time to edit your Answer File. 

Under the OOBE pass in your answer file add:

Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup_neutral

  FirstLogonCommands

   SynchronousCommand(Order="1")

     Action- AddListItem

     CommandLine- \\server\share\dellcert\makeOEM.bat

     Description- Make OEM Folder

     Order- 1

     RequiresUserInput- True

   SynchronousCommand(Order="2")

     Action- AddListItem

     CommandLine- \\server\share\DellCert\copyslp.bat

     Description- Copy slp.bat to share folder

     Order- 2

     RequiresUserInput- True

   SynchronousCommand(Order="3")

     Action- AddListItem

     CommandLine- \\server\share\DellCert\copycert.bat

     Description- Copy Dell Cert

     Order- 3

     RequiresUserInput- True

   SynchronousCommand(Order="4")

     Action- AddListItem

     CommandLine- \\server\share\DellCert\Runslp.bat

     Description- Run slp.bat

     Order- 4

     RequiresUserInput- True

After you are done making changes to your answer file save it then in server manager under roles, Windows Deployment Services, select your server and your install image right click on the image you plan to use select properties check the box that says "Allow image to install in unattended mode" then click select file and find your answer and click open then click OK, Alppy, and OK.

Now your install should use the Dell OEM Cert and activate after your first login.

Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them. Also keep in mind this is just the OEM activation part of the install I might post more on the rest of it later If enough people want me to.