svchost.exe consumes 100% CPU on Windows XP, caused by Windows Updates

I reinstalled Windows XP on a clients PC recently, and came up against an issue where I couldn’t update Windows using Windows Update. I then noticed that the PC had slowed down to a crawl. Opening up Task Manager, Processes and Sorting by CPU, I found that svchost.exe was consuming 100% CPU.

I tried killing the process, and retrying the updates, but svchost.exe was back to 100% as soon as I did.

Having searched around multiple forums for a long time, I finally found a solution which sorted the problem;

Firstly, download Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP - http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/internet-explorer-8-details.aspx

Once that has downloaded, install the hotfix KB2870699 for IE8 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40119

Hey presto, problem solved. You can now use Windows update and install the 300+ updates that are required!

Installing IE10 offline

Today I came up against a problem where an application I was working on required IE10 to be installed. This all well and good, however this pc didn’t have access to an internet connection.

As such, I needed to download the IE10 install package, and copy it across to the machine.

However, when I came to install IE10, it simply told me that it needed to download “An Update” before it could be installed.

After a little searching around I found the following forum which lists the updates IE10 requires prior to being installed;

http://www.askvg.com/direct-download-link-full-standalone-offline-installers-of-microsoft-internet-explorer-10-ie10/

Basically, you need to download the following files, some of which require you to validate your copy of windows;

1. KB2729094 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30521 (Requires Validation)
2. KB2731771 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=34863 (Requires Validation)
3. KB2533623 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=26767 (Requires Validation)
4. KB2670838 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36805
5. KB2786081 - http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=36326 (Requires Validation)

Download and install all of the above, there’s no need to restart between each update, but you must restart afterwards.

Once you’ve completed that, download the IE10 install package from;

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/internet-explorer-10-details.aspx

Your install should then work smoothly!

Note: there are two different versions for x86 and x64 platforms.