In this material - about what to do and how to fix the situation when updates are not downloaded in Windows 10, or the download stops on a certain percentage, about possible causes of the problem and on alternative ways to download the update center. If the methods proposed below do not work, I strongly recommend reading With additional methods in the instructions how to fix Windows 10, 8.1 and Windows 7 update center errors.
Windows Update Solutions Utility
The first of the actions that makes sense to try is to use the official utility for troubleshooting when downloading Windows 10 updates, moreover, apparently, it has become more efficient than in previous versions of the OS.
Steps will be as follows:
- You can find the necessary tool for troubleshooting to the "Control Panel" - "Troubleshooting" (or "Search and Fix Problems" if you view the control panel in the form of categories).
- At the bottom of the window in the "System and Security" section, select "Troubleshooting Using Windows Update".
- The utility will start to search and eliminate the problems that interfere with downloading and installing updates, you will only be left to click the "Next" button. Part of the fixes will be applied automatically, some will require confirmation "Apply this hotfix", as in the screenshot below.
- After the end of the check, you will see a report on which problems were found, which was fixed, and what to fix failed. Close the utility window, restart the computer and check whether the updates have become loaded.
- Additionally: in the "Troubleshooting" section in the All Categories item, there is also a utility to troubleshoot the "Background Intelligent Bits Transmission Service". Try also to start it and it, since when the specified service fails, problems are also possible with downloading updates.
In Windows 10, troubleshooting can be found not only in the control panel, but also in parameters - update and security - troubleshooting.
Manual cleaning of Windows 10 update cache
Despite the fact that the actions that will be described below, the troubleshooting utility also tries to perform, it does not always have it. In this case, you can try to clear the update cache yourself.- Turn off the Internet.
- Run the command line on behalf of the administrator (you can start you to search in the command line taskbar, then click on the result of the Right Mouse button on the result found and select "Run on the name of the administrator"). And in order, enter the following commands.
- NET STOP WUAUSERV (If you see a message that failed to stop the service, try to restart the computer and execute the command again)
- Net Stop Bits.
- After that, go to the C: \ Windows \ SoftWaredistRibution \ folder and clean its contents. Then return to the command prompt and enter the following two commands in order.
- Net Start Bits.
- Net Start Wuauserv
Close the command line and try downloading updates again (without forgetting to connect to the Internet again) using Windows 10 Update Center. Note: After these steps, turn off the computer or reboot can delay the longer than usual times.
How to download offline Windows 10 updates for installation
There is also the ability to download updates not using the update center, but manually - from the update directory on the Microsoft website or using third-party utilities, such as Windows Update Minitool.
In order to go to the Windows Update Catalog, open the https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/ page in Internet Explorer, using the search in the Windows 10 taskbar). When you first log, the browser will also offer to install the component you need to work with the directory.
After that, everything that remains is to enter the update number to the search string you want to download, click "Add" (Updates without specifying X64 are intended for x86 systems). After that, click "View basket" (in which you can add multiple updates).
And in the end, it will only be left to click "Download" and specify the folder to download updates that you can then set from this folder.
Another possibility of downloading Windows 10 updates is a third-party program of Windows Update Minitool or other Windows 10 update programs. The program does not require installation and when working uses Windows Update Center, offering, however, more opportunities.
After starting the program, click the Update button to download information about installed and available updates.
Next you can:
- Install selected updates
- Download updates
- And, interestingly, copy to the clipboard direct links to updates for subsequent simply download .CAB update files using a browser (a set of links is copied immediately to the buffer, so before entering it into the address bar of the browser, it is worth inserting the addresses somewhere in the text document).
Thus, even if downloading updates is not possible using Windows 10 update center mechanisms, it is still possible. Moreover, the autonomous updates installed in this way can also be used to install on computers without access to the Internet (or with limited access).
Additional Information
In addition to the above mentiones related to updates, pay attention to the following nuances:
- If you have a "limit connection" of Wi-Fi (in the wireless network parameters) or use 3G / LTE modem, it can cause problems with downloading updates.
- If you have disabled "spyware" functions of Windows 10, it could cause problems with downloading updates due to blocking addresses from which the download is made, for example, in the Hosts file of Windows 10.
- If you are using third-party antivirus or firewall, try temporarily disable them and check if there was no problem.
Finally, in theory, you previously could perform some actions from the article How to disable Windows 10 updates, for example, third-party utilities for shutdown, which led to a situation with the impossibility of downloading them. If third-party programs were used to disable updates, try to turn them on again using the same program.