Guide: How to fix failed Windows 11 Updates (Works!)

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Important: I am not affiliated with any of the manufacturers, brands, services, or websites listed on this page and this is my personal experience.  If you find this helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!

If you use Windows, you’ve probably had the dreaded Windows Update fail error with some random error code. What’s worse, no matter how many times you click “Retry” or “Troubleshoot” you get nowhere – well there is a fix, it takes less than a few minutes.

First, try Windows Update Troubleshooter.

To do this, Select Start  > Settings  > System  > Troubleshoot  > Other troubleshooters. Next, under Most frequent, select Windows Update > Run.

If that doesn’t work and if you can cut and paste, the below should fix your Windows Update fail problem.

  1. Click Start, and type Terminal.
  2. Right-click on Terminal (before it runs) and select “Run as Administrator”
  3. When prompted, select Yes.
  4. Copy the code below (copy it all at once)
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptSvc
net stop bits
net stop msiserver
ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start wuauserv
net start cryptSvc
net start bits
net start msiserver
  1. In the Terminal window, right-click and select Paste (again, paste it all at once, not line by line).
  2. You will receive a warning, click Paste anyway.

TIP: The commands will run one at a time. If this is your first time, you can mostly ignore any errors or warnings. If this is your second time, see the note at the end.

  1. Hit “Y” or any prompts that come up.
  2. You’re done! Retry Windows Update, it should now work or the “failed” update will be gone.

NOTE: If you get red error messages in Windows Terminal with the error “Cannot create a file when that file already exists.” The chances are you (or someone) ran this before and there is already a SoftwareDistribution.old and catroot.old file. You will need to delete these and run the commands again.

To delete SoftwareDistribution.old

  1. Start File Explorer, browse to the Windows folder, and delete the “SoftwareDistribution.old” folder.

To delete catroot2.old

  1. Start File Explorer, browse to the Windows\System32\ folder and delete the “catroot2.old” folder

Hope this helps someone else!

Important: I am not affiliated with any of the manufacturers, brands, services, or websites listed on this page and this is my personal experience.  If you find this helpful and want to say thanks, please buy me a coffee or take a look at my book on Amazon. It keeps this page ad-free. Thank you!

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