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Can't update windows 10

K

Kristijonas

Senior member
I'm on build 10240, trying to update to 10586.
Windows Update downloads and prepares 10586 for installation. Then it asks me to restart. When I restart, usually nothing happens or sometimes percentage of update goes to 100%. Either way, the update is not installed and still asks me to restart every time and nothing happens when I restart again. It's like an update is stuck.

Things I tried:
Returning as many settings to their defaults as I can remember (including gpedit, services, msconfig)

restarting Windows Update and related services through command prompt (this makes Windows Update re-download the update, but when I restart, same shit happens)

Updating through Media creation tool. Which simply says "Something happened. Windows installation failed." 🙂

Are there any options left?
 
I suppose I'll return my services gpolicies and msconfigurations back to where they've been and just stay with 10240 then...
 
Is there a Windows Update Readiness Tool for Win10?

Have you tried:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
?

If it's installed on an SSD, a disk check wouldn't take long:

chkdsk C: /f /v /r

I'd also consider stopping WU service then renaming C:\windows\softwaredistribution
 
mikeymikec said:
Is there a Windows Update Readiness Tool for Win10?

Have you tried:

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
?

If it's installed on an SSD, a disk check wouldn't take long:

chkdsk C: /f /v /r

I'd also consider stopping WU service then renaming C:\windows\softwaredistribution
Click to expand...

Sorry, I forgot to mention: Yes, I have also ran chkdsk and dism. Also tried running "Windows Update Diagnostic" tool to no effect.
 
I worked on a laptop recently that wouldn't update for whatever reason. I cleaned up the Windows Update with the disk cleanup tool and left it run overnight, and when I came back to it, it had redownloaded and installed it just fine.

No idea.
 
^^ this is why that worked

Ok this is what you do.

open the File Explorer

Navigate to C : \Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download

Delete EVERYTHING inside this folder, dont delete the download folder, only everything in it.

Then run updates again.

It will work. It could take a while, it will redownload everything and install it. The reason you have this problem is that the download of the updates got corrupted somehow.

If not, you must backup and clean install. Or there could be malware etc.

Source: I am a repair technician and have solved this problem many times.
 
Last edited:
These problems tend to go away by themselves after you've given up. That's how windows updates have always ended up resolving after initially failing for me.
 
Thank you all for replies!
LPCTech, I will try your suggestion, I get a feeling this might just work. It is most likely NOT a malware though, I scanned my PC with 6 very different programs. If only I took care of myself as much as I do of my PC, needlessly, too. Heh.

Nerp, unfortunately this problem had persistend since the new build was released November. I thought it will resolve itself, too, but it didn't.
 
Huh. Weird.
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
Only has 1 empty folder in it. The folder is called "276a7816fb04eaed556201bfa10995e6".

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download is 0 bytes.

There is also an softwaredistribution.old folder. Should I delete everything in Downloads there? It has ~600mb

Also, since I have disabled so many services, now windows update looks for updates forever. I have reenabled windows update, background intelligence and cryptographic services. Did I miss something?
It does seem like I can't start the background intelligence service. hmm.
Which services should I enable besides the ones mentioned on dependencies?
Managed to get BITS running by enabling various services that had to do with network connection, security account, update orchestrator, some others.

Windows is only downloading 10586 and nothing else. Just as before. So why is my C : \Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download empty?
 
Last edited:
So just as expected, I'm in the restart loop again.
So how do I delete all my windows updates so I can download ALL of them again?
Why is my C : \Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download empty?
 
Kristijonas said:
Are there any options left?
Click to expand...
To be honest you really should consider performing a clean install. Whenever you upgrade from one OS the likelihood of registry errors is always higher than with a clean install. I upgraded my laptop from 7 ult x64 to 8 pro to 8.1 pro to 10 pro in that order. It seemingly worked fine for a few weeks but in the end I had to clean install it and waited until the revised 1511 update to do so. My desktop had issues when I originally upgraded from 8.1 pro x64 to 10 pro x64 that only a clean install could resolve. The fact that you're enduring such difficulty suggests that if you actually succeed in upgrading your current version of windows that whatever errors exist in your registry will get imported into the new install.

I learned a long time ago not to store files and data on the boot drive, not even a separate partition on a boot drive (which is in fact just the same drive). I always keep them on a physically separate hard drive/ssd so if the boot drive should fail or become in need of a wipe that they will not be compromised in the process. I always back them up to an optical disc (bd-r or rw) and some type of cloud storage (one drive, google drive, apple icloud).
 
Good points, Puffnstuff

Anyway, I have now uninstalled any windows updates I could and reinstalling them. Interestingly, Windows Update this time DID NOT reinstall the updates I uninstalled. Instead, it went straight for 10586 first. It is in my hopes that previously the installation of 10586 was inhibited by one of earlier windows updates. Will report here if this time it'll work.
 
Nope. Still 10240 and Windows Update still is in restart loop, never actually updating to 10586.

I surrender. I'll just stay on 10240 until my next PC upgrade. Will disable windows updates.
Wish I hadn't deleted ~15 previous windows updates because they weren't reinstalled now 😀

Sorry to have wasted your time folks. Maybe this thread will be useful to someone with similar problem and one of the methods I or others mentioned will be useful to them.
 
Have you tried looking at the logs I mentioned?

Disabling a bunch of services would seem to be high on the list of possible problems...you do need BITS for this stuff (and I don't know why you'd want to disable that of all services.)
 
You might try using the Media Creation Tool to burn a disc or USB and executing the installer from Windows (not booting from the media). I had to do this for a laptop that was stubborn applying the TH2 update it downloaded. Worked great!
 
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