How to Resolve Office Update is Unable to Check for Updates

Error: Office Update is unable to check for updates

The Office Update site is unable to check for updates on this computer. This may be happening because of one of the following reasons:
* You do not have administrative privileges for this computer.
* There is a network problem and the detection catalog used by the Office Update site failed to download. Go back to the Downloads home page and try running detection again.
* Windows Installer patch files (.MSP files) from previously applied Office updates are missing from the \Windows\Installer hidden directory on your computer. MSP files are stored on your computer after update installation completes because they need to be referenced for future update operations. If the files are missing you will not be able to apply Office updates. You may also be unable to uninstall Office products as a result of the same problem. Please contact Microsoft Product Support Services for assistance.
* You installed Office updates in the past and then upgraded from Windows Installer version 1.0 to Windows Installer version 1.1. For more information see the KB article Windows Installer May Prompt for Install Source if Unavailable.

Resolution:
If your temporary Internet Explorer cache folder starts to run out of the allocated disc space, you may be unable to download the Office Update control. Free disk space by deleting the Temporary Internet Files cache.

Start Internet Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
Click the General tab, and then click Delete Files under Temporary Internet files.
Click to clear the Delete all offline content check box, and then click OK.
Click Delete Cookies, and then click OK when you are prompted for confirmation.
Under Temporary Internet files, click Settings.
In the Settings dialog box, click View Objects.
In the Microsoft Windows Explorer window that appears, click Details on the View menu.
If the status of any listed object is Damaged, delete the object.
Close the Windows Explorer window, and then click OK in the Settings dialog box.
Under History, click Clear History, and then click Yes when you are prompted for confirmation.
In the Internet Options dialog box, click OK.
Enable cookies. To do this, follow these steps:
In Control Panel, double-click the Internet Options icon.
Click the Privacy tab, and then click Default.
Click OK.
Click Start, click Run , type %temp%, and then click OK.

In the Windows Explorer window that appears, delete the contents of this Temp folder. Note Any file that cannot be deleted is probably being used. Make sure that you have closed all applications that were running. Then, try to delete the contents of this folder again. If you cannot delete a specific file, delete all the files that you can delete.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, Install Windows Script 5.6.
To obtain Windows Script 5.6, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c717d943-7e4b-4622-86eb-95a22b832caa

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, Delete the Office Update detection folder if it exists on your hard disk. This folder contains the detection catalog and the downloaded update files that are used by the Office Update site.

Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
In Windows Explorer, locate the OfficeUpdate11 or OfficeUpdate12 folder. By default, the folder is in the following location:
C:\Program Files\OfficeUpdate11
or
C:\Program Files\OfficeUpdate12
Right-click the OfficeUpdate11 or OfficeUpdate12 folder, and then click Delete.

When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.
Close Windows Explorer.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, remove and then reinstall the Office Update ActiveX control.

Exit Internet Explorer.
Click Start, and then click Search.
In the Search Results pane, click All files and folders under Search Companion.
In the All or part of the file name box, type opuc.dll, and then click Search.
In the list of files, right-click opuc.dll, and then click Delete.

When you are prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.

Note If there are multiple copies of the opuc.dll file, delete them all.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, temporarily turn off personal firewalls, download managers, pop-up blockers, and Web acceleration products.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, enable Internet Explorer to register signed ActiveX controls.
Start Internet Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
Click the Security tab, and then click Internet.
Click Default Level, and then click OK.

Add http://office.microsoft.com to your Trusted sites list in Internet Explorer so that the Office Update ActiveX control can load successfully.
Start Internet Explorer.
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
Click the Security tab, click Trusted sites, and then click Sites.
Clear the Require Server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone check box.
In the Add this Web site to this zone box, type http://office.microsoft.com, and then click Add.
Click OK two times.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, Open an Office product, click Help, and then click Detect and Repair.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, Disable script or proxy settings

In Control Panel, double-click the Internet Options icon.
Click the Connections tab, and then click LAN Settings.
Click to clear the Use automatic configuration script check box, and then click to clear the Use a proxy server check box.
Make sure that the Automatically detect settings check box is selected.
Click OK two times to close the Internet Properties dialog box.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, change the Startup Type for Windows Installer:
Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
Right-click Windows Installer, and then click Properties.
On the General tab, click Manual in the Startup type list, and then click OK.

Try again to install updates from the Office Update Web site.

If this does not resolve thie issue, Disable and then re-enable the Local Installation Source by using the Local Installation Source tool.

Download the Local Installation Source tool from: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10FA7AA3-695B-42C3-9045-B812BA0FED3E&displaylang=en

In the File Download dialog box, click Save.
Locate the folder where you want to save the LISTool.exe file, and then click Save.
Open the folder where you saved the Local Installation Source tool, and then double-click LISTool.exe.
Click Delete and disable LIS, and then click Next.
Accept the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then click Next.
Click to select the check box for the program for which you want to disable Local Installation Source, click Next, and then click Delete.
Click OK when you receive the following message:
Microsoft Office Local Installation Source has been successfully deleted and disabled.
Run Detect and Repair for the product that was disabled by using LISTools.
After the update is complete, run LisTool.exe again, and select the Enable LIS option.
Accept the Microsoft Software License Terms, and then click Next.
Click to select the check box for the program for which you want to enable Local Installation Source, and then click Next.
Click Enable.
Click OK when you receive the following message:
Microsoft Office Local Installation Source has been successfully enabled.

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304498