How to solve the problem of not getting updates to Windows 10/11

There are many Windows problems, but the problem of security updates not arriving is the most important problem because it prevents you from getting security updates

It shows many errors and codes related to the problem of not updating Windows, such as

0x80240034; 0x8007000E 0x80242006, 0x80244018, 0x80D0202, 0x80246017, 0x80240438, 0x80070070, 0x8007000D, 0x80246008, 0x80096004, or 0x80070020.

Mostly all these problems are solved by following the following steps in Windows 10 and Windows 11

Solve the problem of not updating Windows 10/11

Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

The Windows Update Troubleshooter is a tool specifically designed to fix the update process. This troubleshooter won't necessarily fix every update error, but it can fix some update issues though. Since it is a straightforward method of troubleshooting, Windows Update troubleshooting is always worth a try. This is how you can run this troubleshooter in Windows 11

Click on Start and open Settings

Select Troubleshoot on the System tab in Settings.

Then click Other Troubleshoot to view the Troubleshooting Tools

Click the Run option to troubleshoot Windows Update errors.

The Windows Update Troubleshooter will then open and detect problems automatically. Wait for the troubleshooter to perform its tasks. If you applied any fixes, it will say that it found problems and made some changes to your system.

Verify that the Windows Update service is enabled and running

Windows Update is a service that needs to be running within Windows services. The operating system cannot download and install updates when this service is not running. So, check that this service, and others needed for updates, are enabled and running when update errors occur.

Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box.

Type services in the open box.

Click OK to open Services.

Look for Windows Update in the services

Double-click Windows Update Service.

Make sure Automatic is the selected startup type option.

Check and free up drive storage space

Windows reserves special space for updates, but the full disk space may cause the problem of Windows not updating

Make sure your computer's C: drive (or primary partition) has enough space for updates. Check how much space is left on it by clicking This PC in File Explorer to view the drive's storage icon shown directly below.

If this code shows that your storage drive is more than 90 percent full, you should free up some space on it. The best way to free up drive storage space is to uninstall large software packages that you don't need. Also, perform a disk cleanup scan to clear out unwanted files.

Disable (or uninstall) third-party antivirus software

Third-party antivirus tools can sometimes interfere or conflict with Windows Update To make sure that third-party software is not causing any problems with the update, try disabling it temporarily before checking for updates in Settings. You can turn off many third-party antivirus shields by right-clicking the system tray icons and selecting the Disable or Pause context menu option.

Clean Boot

A clean boot of Windows will eliminate the possibility of startup programs and services conflicting with the update process

You can modify the clean boot settings by disabling all third-party startup programs and services. To do this, you will need to adjust some MSConfig settings as follows.

By pressing WIN + R to launch the RUN window

Then type MSCONFIG and press Enter

Clear the check box for the Load startup option However, you must select Load system services and use the original boot configuration options there.

Go to the Services tab

In the box below select Hide all Microsoft services Hide all Microsoft services on the Services tab shown directly below.

Click Disable all to remove all third-party services listed from startup.

Hit the Apply button, and click OK to exit MSConfig.

Select Restart in the dialog that will open after closing MSConfig.

After restarting Windows, try to do the update and see if the problem of not updating Windows has been resolved or is it still continuing

Run a system file check

Windows update errors can appear due to corrupted system files. System File Checker is one of the best tools included in Windows 11 for repairing system files. The command line utility will check the integrity of system files and replace damaged files. You can perform an SFC scan using Command Prompt

From the Windows search menu, type cmd and open it in Admin mode

Then type the following command

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

Leave until finished

Then type the following command

sfc /scannow

After the system files have been checked and repaired, you can now test whether the problem of Windows not updating has been resolved or is it still continuing

Clear Windows Update Cache

If the above steps do not resolve the Windows Update Not Resolved issue, you can manually clear the Windows Update cache to fix Windows download issues (basically, updating Windows files stored in a folder called “software distribution”). The update failed to download and install.) We are in the process of clearing the inside update cache files stored within the Software Distribution/Update. So that next time the following windows will download the recent update files and install the windows updates successfully.

Before clearing the cache , you will need to stop Windows Update and its associated services. To do this, from the search button, press "Win + q", search for "services" and open it as administrator. Find the "Windows Update" service, right-click on it and select the "Stop" option. Do the same with Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)

To clear the temporary memory

Press "Win + R" to open the run menu and then type

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

and press the Enter button.

This folder contains all files related to Windows updates.

Open the "Download" folder, select all files and delete all files.

You can copy the command and put it in the run command box

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\

Next, you need to restart Windows Update. To do this, open Services again and start Windows Update Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)

To start the service, right-click on it and select the "Start" option in the context menu.

Reset Windows Update Components

Often the problem of not updating Windows is due to damage to the components responsible for Windows Update

Resetting these components is another potential solution to many update issues. You can update Windows Update components by renaming the SoftwareDistribution and catroot2 folders.

Open a command prompt as administrator by clicking on the start menu and then typing cmd

Enter these four separate commands, copy the command, and then right-click inside the command prompt. The command will be pasted

net stop bits

net stop wuauserv

net stop appidsvc

net stop cryptsvc

To rename the SoftwareDistribution folder, enter this command and hit Enter:

Ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old

Then enter this command to rename catroot2 and hit Return :

Ren %systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old

To restart the services, enter these commands separately like the previous step

net start bits

net start wuauserv

net start appidsvc

net start cryptsvc

Windows will prepare new SoftwareDistribution and catroot2 folders for Windows Update when renamed as shown above. The net stop and start commands restart the services needed to update the platform

Now restart Windows and try again to update Windows

Update Windows with Microsoft Update Tool

If all the previous steps fail, we will only have one last step, which is the manual update by downloading the special update tool

Microsoft media creation tool