Agent causing Windows Update service to hang

[BN-S]

Platform: Windows 2016 Server Essentials
Veeam Agent for Windows: 5.0.0.4301

The service "Windows Update" hangs in the 'Stopping' state until the "Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows" is stopped then "Windows Update" recovers and returns to the running state.

This stops the server installing Microsoft updates so I intend to schedule the Veeam service to only run for enough hours overnight to get a backup then shut it down again, so it is not a show stopper but it is annoying and it would be good to find a solution. I could also change the backup to Windows Backup but it is not as straight forward as Veeam to get emailed backup reports.

Any help or useful suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards, BN

[Dima P.]

Hello BNS,

Veeam Agent for Windows does not affect Windows Update engine (there is not dependencies or code that should somehow suppress Windows Updates). Can you please raise a support case and share the case ID with us? Thanks!

[BN-S]

OK, I will find out how to raise a support case and do so, in the emantime I found this post with the same issue:
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/ ... 016-server

Regards, BN

[BN-S]

I tried to open a support case but it will not let you without logs and/or screenshots which I do not have right now, it is more important I get the updates working right now. The agent logs in Windows events\Applications and Services Logs\Veeam Agent show nothing but the backup starting and backup results, it does not log the Veeam service stopping and starting. The Windows Update logs only log what is happening when it is running, it too does not show what is going on in the problem state 'Stopping'.

To be honest, statements like "Veeam Agent for Windows does not affect Windows Update engine (there is not dependencies or code that should somehow suppress Windows Updates)" just sound like a defensive reaction, as I said originally stopping the "Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows" service returns the "Windows Update" service to a running state, nothing else was done so there is very obviously some interaction whether you think so or not.

Regards, BN

[deanpearl71]

OK, I will find out how to raise a support case and do so, in the emantime I found this post with the same issue:
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/2080889-employee monitoring-service-hangs-on-stopping-2016-server-

Regards, BN

Hello!
Did you find the answer to your question or perhaps you got an answer from the support team?
I have the same problem, but I did not find the answer on the forum, and I would not like to create a new branch with the same problem
if you have any useful information - please share
Thank you

[BN-S]

Hi Dean,

The answer we got from the support team was they do not provide support for free products which is fair enough.
I've just updated Windows and will watch how it goes, I currently have both services running having found out that it appears " Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows" just prevents the "Windows Update" from stopping, by stopping the Veeam service it allows the "Windows Update" service to stop, both can be started again then.

Regards, BN

[Egor Yakovlev]

There are no tracked records for this issue, so my bet would be on something infrastructure specific, otherwise there would be a flood of cases with such strange behavior.
Also worth letting Windows Update restart to time out, as Windows should log an event for that under System > Source: Service Control Manager.

/Thanks!

[BN-S]

Thanks Egor, unfortunately Windows Update does not seem to timeout it just sits there with a status 'stopping' and as soon as I stop the Veeam service it completes the stop (and starts again if it was a restart), with no error event that I have found in the logs.

The platform is server 2016 Essentials, the post I found above was server 2016 too.

[Dima P.]

BNS,

Wild guess: try to disable the periodic checks for Veeam Agent for Windows updates and check if that makes any difference.