If the Log On User for IQService does not have administrator privileges to the server it’s running on, it is likely that account will not be able to start or stop the IQService instances. It appears IQService’s upgrade check considers this a requirement before it will check for an upgrade.
I found entries in my IQService trace log like 02/18/2026 14:53:13 : RpcServer [ Thread-7 ] INFO : "Log on user does not have start permission on : <IQService-name> . Skipping the check for upgrade."
I was able to grant the Log On User (a gMSA) access to start & stop the service with help of this article. I followed the steps outlined in “Manage Service Permission with Windows CMD” to add the permission tokens RP and WP to the SU (Service logon user) trustee for the primary and secondary IQService services.