Q: Apple Software Update - "Server could not be found"

Sorry, didn't realise it was working after the iTunes update. This is a strange problem. For some people, like me, it has never worked since the ASU update, you have dropped from working to not working and presumably most people don't have a problem (or maybe they have ignored it). My main point is that there is a method for getting back to a working ASU.

YYes thank you, understood on the fix. I will certainly try that if ASU never returns to a working state - or at least isn't working when I am aware of a new iTunes version that needs downloading. But yes my issue is slightly different, it was fine and then stopped working on all three of our machines (2 Windows 10 and 1 Windows 7) today. Well today was the first time I noticed it but it was definitely working on Monday evening (uk time) and had been ever since its initial release. I'd wager it's pretty widespread for Windows users but many people don't realise or check like I have, they probably will only notice if the weekly update or whatever schedule they have fails. Or many just don't care that much. I manually check it quite a bit in case a new iTunes drops (it drives my wife mad how much  I check things - lol)

Just very dissapointed with Apple, they do seem to be ignorant to issues they create and let glitches fester. That's why I think it's good if as many of us target apple support on Twitter to report it. Just maybe they will acknowledge they have screwed up

Other than the Bootcamp drivers, I have no other Apple software such as Itunes or Icloud installed and I have received  the same message as you and others are getting. I am running a 2011 model Imac with Windows 7, maybe Apple will take care of this in a number of days.

ASU V2.2 back to working state this morning. Does it work again for everyone else?

Just re-downloaded and reinstalled ASU v2.2. Still doesn't work!

The problem is with ASU v2.2. You only need to have that installed to (maybe) have the problem. If you haven't got ALU installed already then you will get it if you install iTunes or iCloud.

How galling that Apple should recommend you should update or change your operating system because its own update system is broken. My Windows Pro 7x64 computer is very up to date and no other software has any kind of internet access problem. I'm tech-pro-savvy and run a clean ship.

This is particularly upsetting because the latest iOS 9.3 upgrade bricked my iPhone 5 (and my old iPad 2 which is not so urgent to fix), and to get the phone back, the latest iTunes is required on the computer for recovery. And of course the Apple bug for updating desktop iTunes software prevented trying to unbrick the iPhone. ASU still not working on my desktop as of 10am Australian Eastern Daylight Time 29th March 2016.

I took a shortcut and it seems to work, folks. I downloaded the full iTunes package from the Apple download site and installed it (without uninstalling the existing version). That's updated iTunes to the latest version, and running ASU doesn't give an error, but that MIGHT only be because everything is up to date. At least ASU doesn't crash now and iTunes is the latest.

Now to see if I can un-brick my iPhone and iPad 2. No thanks to Apple. Please lift your game and test your systems properly before inflicting them on millions. If I can't unbrick my iPhone today I'm off to get a Samsung and it will be Goodbye Apple.

I had the same problem with Apple Software Update 2.2. I got the error message: "The Apple Software Update server could not be found. Check your Internet settings and try again.".

I went to the Control panel -> Network and Internet -> Internet Options.

In the "Advanced" tab I scrolled down to "Security" and unchecked "Do not save encrypted pages to disk".

Now Apple Software Update 2.2 is working without problems.

Thanks, c0ret3x. I unchecked "Do not save encrypted pages to disk", and Apple Software Update version 2.2 is now working for me!

THANK YOU. This worked for me on Windows 10.

Thank you. This 'fixes' the problem.

Some time ago you could not download a pdf statement from one of the banks (I forget which one) if this flag was set. They eventually fixed it.

As the Apple update relates to encryption I should have remembered to check that setting. However, unsetting this flag is a potential security risk and should not be required by Apple's implementation of the feature. It is ironic that a security enhancement should require you to reduce the security of your machine for it to work.

c0ret3x,that did it for me. Thanks!

Thanks a lot. This worked for me.

Apple Update Software with Windows 7 will ONLY run ver 2.1.4

I unchecked "Do not save encrypted pages to disk", and Apple Software Update version 2.2 is now working for me!