New Machine and No Access to Windows Update?

New Machine and No Access to Windows Update?

We cannot understand the reasoning behind it, but some computer manufacturers have chosen to restrict access to the Windows Update site, preferring instead that you download your updates from their Web site as opposed to Microsoft.

Now this might be useful if the manufacturers were adding their own customized updates, but they don’t. Instead, they route you to a less-than-useful page on their Web site, and leave you with a cryptic error message that informs you that your system administrator will have the answers you seek. Well that’s great, but what if you don’t have a system administrator?

We haven’t seen one computer manufacturer yet that allows you to download all of the necessary service packs, browser updates and security fixes that any Windows version continually needs! You would think that these manufacturers would see the light and realize that this practice is more of a detriment than a benefit to their customers.

In any event, this may be helpful to you. Just open Regedit and navigate to the registry keys shown below and delete all of the values contained except the Default value.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\LocalURL
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\RemoteURL

Notice: Windows® 95, Windows® 98, Windows® NT, Windows® 2000 and
Microsoft® Office are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.