I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and I keep getting the error code 80072ee2 Windows could not search for Updates. I know there are several other posts but none of them are helping me. I have tried the steps from microsoft but nothing worked. Please help. I am seriously thinking about going back to XP Dell Inspirion 580 OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 2.67 GHz Intel (R) Core (TM)i5 CPU

Download and install the System Update Readiness Tool for Windows 7 and check if all is okay or not. Download and run the tool, it will say that it's "installing"...it's actually running the readiness scan at this time so you should let the installation run to completion. The KB article says it will appear to hang at 60% completion and I've observed this as well. Just be patient and let it finish. After the "installation" is completed, try to download and icheck if it solve your problem. If this does not solve your problem, please reset windows update components. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration

Also, you can try the steps in this Help&How-to article: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Windows-Update-error-80072ee2 Hope it helps. Styx

If you uninstalled Trend Micro AV from your new Dell notebook, this is probably the answer to fixing Windows Update: I can confirm that deleting the UseWUServer registry entry (see below) solved my problems with Windows Update running properly. I received a "new" refurbished Dell notebook with Windows 7 Professional (32-bit) today and have been trying for hours to figure out how to get Windows Update to work normally. Like others, I also uninstalled Trend Micro AV almost as soon as I booted up the system. I think that product is the problem. I suspect it does not perform a "clean" uninstall and leaves the UseWUServer registry entry behind with a value of 1 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. Note that you need to *delete* the UseWUServer entry and reboot. Setting it to 0 results in Windows Update failing much faster with a different Windows Update error. I tried many, many fixes for Windows Update including: Internet Explorer settings Various Microsoft Windows Update repair utilities Error 80072ee2 fixes described elsewhere Reviewing/revising group policy settings Hours of effort and nothing worked. Deleting the registry key above solved the problem, so kudos to supakeepa in another thread for figuring this out.

I had the same experince. I just purchased a referbished Dell Inspiron running windows 7 and removed the McAffee trial version at first boot. Afterwards I would get the 8072EE2 error from windows update. I tried all the suggestions in the microsoft knowledge base, but I had no success until I removed the UseWUServer registry setting suggested above. That worked great!

I am hugely grateful to everyone who submitted the UseWUServer fix, which I used today with total success. I had almost the same situation as the User named Flatimus. I'm using a refurbished Dell XPS L501X that came with McAfee trial version installed. I did a full uninstall of the McAfee software. Since then, I have not been able to run Windows Update successfully and consistently got the 8072EE2 error message. I did just what this article suggests. I backed up the Registry entry. I did a System Restore point to be on the safe side. Then I deleted the Registry entry. After a reboot, I ran Windows Update again and it worked like a charm. Since then, I have been installing one update after another - more than 15 of them have been waiting for me, while I found the resolution to this problem. Including SP1, which is pretty major I guess! So, a big THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to share their knowledge about this. I registered with this site just to be able to leave this feedback, in case there is someone else searching for a solution to this annoying and frustrating problem, and who might be unsure whether the fix is legit. I am here to tell you that, yes, it is. PS - I blame McAfee for this. Why do people uninstall this bloatware at the first opportunity? Because it's garbage that drags down system performance - and lightweight, FREE software does the job just as well. The fact that the software can't even gracefully uninstall itself is proof of how bad it is. Shame on you, McAfee...

Deleting the AU Registry entry worked for me. Tried several things which didn't help, but that did the trick. Running Win 7 64-bit. Refurb laptop from Dell as well, but not sure about the TrendMicro thing. If I uninstalled that, I don't recall it. I use Norton Internet Security now. SOLUTION: DELETE HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. Note that you need to *delete* the UseWUServer entry and reboot. Setting it to 0 results in Windows Update failing much faster with a different Windows Update error. Thank you!

BKiz1 basically just explained my life for the last week. Although I didn’t have Trend Micro, I did the readiness tool, another upload, uploaded every driver from dell, found a forum that linked me to Mcaffee (they apparently have a patch to fully cleanse your system of their own software when you uninstall it)……everything you can think of. This is the greatest answer to any question I have ever had. I believe a shout-out to supakeepa is most definitely warranted. I just want to know why it took me 4-5 days of research to find this answer. I literally cracked open the regedit…which is something I never do, backed up the entry, and deleted it. I did get a wee bit confused at the last minute when I was unsure about deleting the whole string or just the “UseWUServer”, but I made sure to follow the directions exactly as proposed. There were two other entries in the path which I just left alone. Next time I have a minute….I’m going back to every help site I went to and posting this solution as an option for people. I have a dell refurb outlet system also, I’m guessing it must have something to do with that. Thank you everyone who contributed, I now feel comfortable actually using my new laptop instead of obsessing over Win Update not working.

AFAIK, the updating registry key in Windows 7 by Default is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU As to the above key, it is not uncommon to find refurbished systems have had the above key set when it was being administered via Group Policy.MowGreen Windows Expert IT Pro - Consumer Security *-343-* FDNY NEVER FORGOTTEN

I just want to say a great big THANX to BKize1 as I have run myself ragged, put myself to the grindstone and almost guillotined my head off as this problem was persisting for so darn long. Thanx so much for giving such a simple answer to such a complex and annoying issue. The removal of the entire entry of UseWUServer is the fix. Thanx again for all your hard work and diligence in troubleshooting and resolving our problem. MSE

If you uninstalled Trend Micro AV from your new Dell notebook, this is probably the answer to fixing Windows Update: I can confirm that deleting the UseWUServer registry entry (see below) solved my problems with Windows Update running properly. I received a "new" refurbished Dell notebook with Windows 7 Professional (32-bit) today and have been trying for hours to figure out how to get Windows Update to work normally. Like others, I also uninstalled Trend Micro AV almost as soon as I booted up the system. I think that product is the problem. I suspect it does not perform a "clean" uninstall and leaves the UseWUServer registry entry behind with a value of 1 under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. Note that you need to *delete* the UseWUServer entry and reboot. Setting it to 0 results in Windows Update failing much faster with a different Windows Update error. I tried many, many fixes for Windows Update including: Internet Explorer settings Various Microsoft Windows Update repair utilities Error 80072ee2 fixes described elsewhere Reviewing/revising group policy settings Hours of effort and nothing worked. Deleting the registry key above solved the problem, so kudos to supakeepa in another thread for figuring this out. Thank you so much, your a life saver, we have two refirb Dell's with Win 7 and Uninstalled Trend Micro as soon as we booted our new systems, we've tried everything under the sun to solve this update problem with both systems. Thank you thank you thank you... we've been trying to fix this problem for ages! Finally you had the answer the Microsoft nor Trend Micro couldn't provide.

Thank you!!! This one worked perfectly for me...as soon as I deleted UseWuServer.. the updating worked. Great, thanks.