I have a little notebook/tablet computer with Windows 10 installed on it. It came from the store with factory-installed Windows 10. Which is to point out that Windows 10 was not an upgrade over an older operating system, which is something that can cause problems.
The pc auto-updates itself, but I can also manually check for updates. I hadn’t turned on the pc for about a week, so I decided to turn it on and run the “Check for Updates” service. It ran and said a cumulative update was available. The update had a long name: “2017-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 version 1607 for x86-based Systems (KB4041691)”.
As an update was available, I decided to start the update process. Then the problems began. The update package refused to download. The progress bar stayed at 0%, no matter how long the pc was left on. Restarting the pc did not help. The progress indicator was stuck firmly at 0%.
Using my Desktop pc, I started hunting for answers. I saw that I was not alone with my Windows 10 update problem. Lots of people seemed to have the same problem. A user pointed me to a Microsoft web page where I could download a script that would fix the problem. When I tried to run the script, I received an error message, which I’ve already forgotten. But whatever, it didn’t fix the problem with Update.
A second person posted a procedure for fixing Update. I was supposed to begin the procedure by opening a command prompt window in administrative mode and then typing net stop wuauserv followed by net stop bits to stop the Update process. I did that but no luck – it reported the Update process could not be stopped.
A third person suggested running chkdsk. You can’t run chkdsk on a drive that is mounted and being used, such as the system drive. So I told the pc to run chkdsk the next time it was started, and it did. Chkdsk found no problems.
Next I found a tool on the Microsoft website that was supposed to find and fix problems with Windows Update. I downloaded it and ran the installer. The installer reported that some files it needed couldn’t be found and gave up.
At this point it occurred to me that the Control Panel might be helpful. Under “System and Security” there was a troubleshooting section and in that was an option called “Fix Problems with Windows Update.” I ran that and it said “Detecting problems” and I got a little bar that looked like a progress bar but wasn’t. It had a moving green band that moved left to right over and over and, I suspect, was only there to give the user something to look at.
Next I got a window that said, “Repair Windows Update Database Corruption” and I clicked on “Apply this fix.” Then it said “Resolving problems.” It never got any further than that. Eventually I closed the Find & Fix tool and re-opened it and ran it again. When it got to “Apply this fix” I chose the alternate button, which was “Skip this fix (and keep looking for problems)”. That didn’t help, either.
Then someone suggested running the system file checker: “sfc /scannow”, which is a command prompt file. It took a while to check the files, but finally sfc reported that it found no problems – or, as sfc put it, no “integrity violations.” I was in the windows/system32 folder so I moved up to the windows folder and looked around. I found a folder called SoftwareDistribution. Moving around in the command prompt window was awkward, so I closed it and opened File Explorer. I went to the Windows folder and there was the SoftwareDistribution folder. For a minute I pondered deleting it. I suspected it held temporary files and if deleted, Windows would just recreate it. But deleting a Windows system folder is a rather big step so I decided to hold that as a last chance fix.
I went back to Control Panel and ran the “Fix Update” tool one more time. I got the window that said, “Repair Windows Update Database Corruption” and I clicked on “Apply this fix.” It said “Resolving problems.” Finally it said all problems were fixed and told me to try whatever I was doing before. I went back to the Update window and lo and behold, it began downloading the update. Then it installed the update. Hallelujah.
I find it telling that Windows comes with a tool that lets you fix problems with Windows Update. Wouldn’t it be easier on their customers to fix the issues with Windows Update? Perhaps Windows Update is so buggy and complex, and possible errors are so obscure, that Microsoft coders don’t know where to start fixing it, so they devised a tool that would cover all bases.
I have to wonder, how do people who don’t know much about computers handle problems like this? Probably, some of them use their pc and never know it can’t be updated. Some of them don’t care. Some of them are paranoid about not being able to install security updates, and they stick the pc in a closet, or give it to some kid on their street who knows how to fix it.
I’m not a computer geek. I do have years of experience with Windows, going back to Windows 3.1. But the main thing I have going for me is persistence. I won’t give up as long as there is one more thing I can try. Sometimes it pays off.
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