Windows updates is the part of Windows that keeps you system up to date, which can help keep you protected against the latest threats. Because of this it is important to keep it in working order. Usually it is just fine on its own, doing its thing, but sometimes something goes wrong and it stops working; When that happens it is important to fix it so your computer doesn’t fall behind in the updates and potentially become vulnerable.
Today we will look at three fixes that can resolve issues with Windows Updates, two easier ones and one more advanced one.
The first fix is one that can work on many Windows’ issues and that is the troubleshoot button. Whenever something goes wrong or doesn’t work the way Windows thinks it should, there will usually be a troubleshoot button. Just click it and follow the onscreen instruction and Windows will try to automatically fix the problem.
The second fix works when there are communication problems between your computer and the Update Server. If your clock doesn’t match their clock, then Updates won’t run. To fix this, simply click on the clock in the bottom right corner and click change date and time. From here you can correct the time and date which will solve the communication error. Also make sure your time zone and daylight savings time settings are correct as this can cause the same issue.
The third fix is much more difficult and in-depth, but it will fix a larger amount of problems.
- We start by stopping the Windows Update services. First we open computer management by clicking on the start button and then right-mouse clicking on computer. Then click on manage. We then navigate to services and applications at the bottom on the left and then to services. We will now find the three different update services and stop them. The services are “Background Intelligent Transfer Service“, “Cryptographic Services“, and “Windows Updates“. Find each of these, right-mouse click on them and then click on “stop“. We are done in computer management for now, but I would leave it open because we will be back before we are done.
- The next thing we do is open up our windows folder. Click on the start button and left-click on computer. Once that comes up we will navigate to the drive that Windows is installed on (usually C) by double clicking on it. We will now go to the Windows Folder at the bottom and double click to enter it. From here we are looking for the “SoftwareDistribution” folder and double-click on it. Inside this folder which is likely to be located here, “C:\Windows\Software Distribution” we want to delete everything in this folder so it is empty. Now that it is empty we can close this window and return to the management window.
- Finally go back to computer management windows. In here we want to go find those three services again and start them by right-clicking on them and clicking start.
- Once they are all restarted we recommend restarting the computer.
- When the computer comes back up Windows Updates will say it has never run, this means the reset worked. Go ahead and tell it to search for updates and try installing them.
If none of these things worked, then it is probably time to bring it in to the experts here at Computer Pro and let us fix it for you. Microsoft also recently released an update that is breaking Windows Updates in a few special cases, unfortunately there is not an easy fix readily available. I hope this helps some of you and, if you run into any issues that you can’t solve, you know where to find us.
