Windows Update - Refuses to Update

I've had this problem a few times in the past.

I find that freshly-squeezed VMs running Windows Server 2008 R2 ( built on VMware Fusion using an ISO downloaded from Microsoft Developer Network - MSDN ) simply refuse to update.

I run the Windows Update tool, click the "Check for Updates" button and am immediately told that no updates are available i.e. that I'm up to date, even though I know that I'm using a piece of software that was released in 2009.

The solution ?

Google :-)

The solution ! 

Install an update to … Windows Update :-)

Found here: -

How to update the Windows Update Agent to the latest version

which is nice :-)