FAQ

Common Update Issues

Nothing happens when I run LegacyUpdate.exe

There is an issue in Windows XP that appears to be triggered by the digital signature on the latest versions of Legacy Update (1.8 and later). This makes Legacy Update setup not run at all, with no error message.

To work around this, you will need to unblock the file:

  1. Right click LegacyUpdate.exe and select Properties.

    Context menu on LegacyUpdate.exe, with Properties highlighted.

  2. Click Unblock at the bottom of the window, then click OK.

    LegacyUpdate.exe Properties dialog, with the Unblock button highlighted.

This workaround isn’t needed if legacyupdate.net is in your Internet Explorer Trusted Sites list. This is done for you automatically when you install Legacy Update.

If you’re nervous about whether the file is legitimate, you can review the Digital Signatures tab of the file properties on a newer operating system such as Windows 10, which will have no issue confirming that it’s signed by Hashbang Productions.

“Checking for updates” taking too long

Windows Update has an infamous flaw: Checking for updates, especially for the first time, can be incredibly slow. This has been caused by the significant number of updates released by Microsoft over the years, and the effectively infinite number of configurations a Windows system can be in. To determine which updates are applicable to your system, Windows needs to evaluate many thousands of queries against your system configuration. Simply put, the age of the Windows version you’re using, and the number of additional Microsoft products installed on it, will affect how long you need to wait for Windows to check for updates.

This issue is especially apparent with Windows Vista and later, which significantly overhaul Windows’s “servicing” system. While the new servicing stack is far more reliable than in prior versions of Windows, it also exponentially increases the amount of work Windows must do to check for updates.

In 2016, Microsoft recognised the performance issues with Windows Update, and released servicing stack updates that dramatically improved, but still didn’t fully fix, the issue. Legacy Update installs these updates for you.

After installing Legacy Update, here is what you can expect:

Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender

Attempting to update Microsoft Security Essentials or Windows Defender on Windows XP or Vista will display an error message with code 0x80072EFE - “The definition updates couldn't be installed. Please try again later.” Instead, you will need to manually download and install the final definition update that supported these versions:

*Processors that initially implemented SSE2 instructions include the Intel Pentium 4, Pentium M, and AMD Athlon 64. If you have an older processor, use this version.

After running the correct update for your system, you won’t see anything appear. This is normal - wait approximately 1 minute, and then check Security Essentials or Defender again. It should confirm that the definitions have been installed.

Updating Security Essentials still won’t be possible, because no more updates exist. However, once manually installed, these definitions can always be used to scan your PC for malware.

Windows Live Essentials

Attempting to install Windows Live Essentials on Windows XP or Vista, as offered by Windows Update, will fail. This is because it ignores your PC’s Windows Update configuration and will always try to retrieve updates directly from Microsoft, bypassing Legacy Update. Instead, you will need to manually download and install the full/offline installer of Windows Live Essentials.

Security Update for Windows XP (KB2686509)

This update is unusual, and is notorious for failing to install. The cause is that the update is slightly different between standard Windows XP and Windows Embedded 2009, so if you’ve selected to receive Embedded 2009 updates on XP, the incorrect version of this update will be downloaded.

Despite the name, this update is not a security fix - it only creates a log file listing vulnerable keyboard layouts on your system. More information can be found in the Microsoft Support article, and this mailing list thread.

To fix this, manually download and install the Windows XP variant of the update:

If you still have issues installing this update, you may consider hiding the update.

2019-02 Security Update for WES09 and POSReady 2009 for x86-based Systems (KB4486463)

This update only applies to systems with a multi-core CPU, and is incorrectly displayed on single-core systems. If your computer uses a single-core CPU, you can safely hide this update.

More information can be found in the Microsoft Support article.

DirectX 9.0c End-User Runtime

Attempting to install DirectX 9.0c on Windows 2000, as offered by Windows Update, will silently fail. This update is a “web” installer, which no longer works because Microsoft has deleted the files it downloads. Instead, you will need to manually download and install the full/offline installer of DirectX 9.0c.

DirectX 9.0c for other versions of Windows can be found at our Download Center.

One or more Windows Update services are disabled

To access Windows Update, the following services must be enabled and running:

To make sure these services are running:

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. Type services.msc and then click OK.
  3. In the list of services, double-click “Automatic Updates” (Windows 2000/XP) or “Windows Update” (Windows Vista and later).
  4. Confirm that the startup type is “Automatic”. If not, select “Automatic” and click OK.
  5. Repeat steps 3 - 4 for Background Intelligent Transfer Service and Event Log.

If you are running a modified version of Windows, these services may have been removed entirely. Legacy Update is not supported on these versions of Windows.

“NTLDR is missing” after installing updates

The final version of the Windows Update Agent released for Windows XP has a bug that triggers a limitation of XP’s bootloader (NTLDR). This seems to only occur on Windows XP Home Edition and Embedded, and is not an issue on Professional. Specifically, the bug is that the installer enters an infinite loop of creating temporary folders in the root of C:, which causes the NTFS Master File Table (MFT) to become too fragmented for NTLDR’s master boot record (MBR) program to make sense of. This is covered by KB320397, a patch for XP SP1 that was later built into XP SP2, but the issue still seems to occur despite the fix.

Legacy Update 1.6 and later work around this by using an older version of the Windows Update Agent without this bug. If you’ve installed an older version of Legacy Update, or manually installed Windows Update Agent 7.6.7600.256, you can resolve this in one of a few ways: