Updates operating system necessary to maintain it in optimal condition for comfortable work. In Windows 10, the update process itself requires virtually no user interaction. All important changes in the system that relate to safety or ease of use take place without the direct participation of the user. But there is a possibility of problems occurring in any process, and Windows updating is no exception. In this case, human intervention will be necessary.
Problems updating the Windows 10 operating system
A variety of problems may arise when installing updates. Some of them will be expressed in the fact that the system will immediately require updating again. In other situations, the error will interrupt the current update process or prevent it from starting. In addition, an interrupted update may even lead to undesirable consequences and require a system rollback. If your update doesn't complete, do the following:
And now that your system is safe, it’s worth finding out what was causing the problems and trying to correct the situation.
Update unavailable due to antivirus or firewall
Any installed antivirus If the settings are incorrect, it can block the Windows update process. The easiest way to check is to simply disable this antivirus while checking. The shutdown process itself depends on your antivirus program, but usually this is not difficult.
Almost any antivirus can be disabled via the tray menu
Disabling the firewall is another matter entirely. Of course, you shouldn’t disable it forever, but you may need to pause it to install the update correctly. To do this, do the following:
- Press Win+X to open the Quick Access Toolbar. There, find and open the “Control Panel” item.
Select Control Panel from the Quick Access Menu
- Among other Control Panel items is “Windows Firewall”. Click on it to open its settings.
Open Windows Firewall in Control Panel
- On the left side of the window there will be various settings for this service, including the ability to disable it. Select it.
Select "Turn on or off" Windows Firewall" in its settings
- In each section, set “Disable Firewall” and confirm the changes.
For each network type, set the radio button to "Disable Firewall"
After disconnecting, try updating Windows 10 again. If it is successful, it means that the reason was indeed the restriction of network access for the update program.
Unable to install update due to lack of space
The update files must be downloaded to your computer before installation. Therefore, you should never fill your hard drive space to capacity. If the update was not downloaded due to lack of space, you need to free up space on your drive:
- First of all, open the Start menu. There is a gear icon there that you need to click on.
From the Start menu, select the gear symbol
- Then go to the "System" section.
IN Windows settings open the “System” section
- There, open the “Storage” tab. In "Storage" you can track how much space you have free on which disk partition. Select the partition on which you have Windows installed, because this is where updates will be installed.
Go to the “Storage” tab in the system partition
- You'll get detailed information about what exactly is occupied by space on the hard drive. Review this information and scroll down the page.
You can study what your HDD, via "Storage"
- Temporary files can take up a lot of space and can be deleted directly from this menu. Select this section and click "Delete temporary files."
Find the “Temporary files” section and delete them from “Storage”
- Most likely, most of your space is taken up by programs or games. To remove them, select the “Programs and Features” section in the panel Windows management 10.
Select Programs and Features from Control Panel
- Here you can select all the programs you do not need and remove them, thereby freeing up space for updating.
Using the Uninstall or Change Programs utility, you can remove unnecessary applications
Even a major Windows 10 upgrade shouldn't require too much free space. However, for the correct operation of all system programs It is advisable to leave at least twenty gigabytes free on a hard or solid-state drive.
Video: instructions for clearing space on your hard drive
Windows 10 updates won't install
It's good if the cause of the problem is known. But what if the update downloads successfully but fails to install without any errors. Or even the download does not go well, but the reasons are also unclear. In this case, you should use one of the methods to correct such problems.
Fixing problems with updating through the official utility
Microsoft has developed special program for one task - fixing any problems with Windows updates. Of course, this method cannot be called completely universal, but the utility can really help you in many cases.
To use it, do the following:
- Open the Control Panel again and select the “Troubleshooting” section there.
Open Troubleshooting in Control Panel
- At the very bottom of this section you will find the option “Troubleshooting problems using Windows Update.” Click on it with the left mouse button.
At the bottom of the Troubleshoot window, select Troubleshoot using Windows Update
- The program itself will start. Go to the "Advanced" tab to make some settings.
Click on the "Advanced" button on the first screen of the program
- You should definitely choose to run with administrator rights. Without this, such a check will most likely be of no use.
Select "Run as administrator"
- And then press the “Next” button in the previous menu.
- The program will automatically search for certain problems in the center Windows updates. The user is only required to confirm their correction in the event that a problem is actually discovered.
Wait until the program detects certain problems
- Once the diagnostics and corrections are completed, you will receive in a separate window detailed statistics about bugs fixed. You can close this window and after restarting the computer, try to update again.
You can review the fixed issues in the diagnostic completion window
Manually downloading Windows 10 updates
If all your problems are related exclusively to Windows Update, then you can download the update you need yourself. There is an official update catalog specifically for this opportunity, from where you can download them:
Make sure updates are enabled on your computer
Sometimes a situation may arise that there are no problems. It's just that your computer is not configured to automatically receive updates. Check it:
Windows update version kb3213986 is not installed
Cumulative update package version kb3213986 was released in January of this year. It includes many fixes, such as:
- fixes problems connecting multiple devices to one computer;
- improves background work system applications;
- eliminates many Internet problems, in particular problems with browsers Microsoft Edge and Microsoft Explorer;
- many other fixes that improve system stability and fix bugs.
And, unfortunately, errors may also occur when installing this update package. First of all, if the installation is unsuccessful, specialists Microsoft It is advised to delete all temporary update files and download them again. This is done as follows:
Another reason for problems with this update is outdated drivers. For example, old driver motherboard or other equipment. To check this, you should open the “Device Manager” utility:
- To open it, you can use the Win+R key combination and enter the command devmgtmt.msc. After that, confirm the entry and the device manager will open.
Enter the command devmgtmt.msc into the Run window
- In it you will immediately see devices for which drivers are not installed. They will be marked with a yellow symbol with exclamation mark or will be signed as an unknown device. Be sure to install drivers for such devices.
Install drivers for everything unknown devices in "Device Manager"
- In addition, check other system devices.
Be sure to update all drivers for system devices in case of Windows update error
- It's best to click on each one right click and select "Update Drivers".
With the release of the operating room Windows systems 7 added a large number of various functionality and capabilities. Among them, we can especially note the offline update installer. The list of its capabilities includes automatic search on official Microsoft resources and on local computer suitable updates and installing them without unnecessary notification to the user, as well as an intelligent system for searching for updates according to those specified in a specific directory.
Installation methods
There are two main ways to install this software product.
- Download Windows 7 Update Tool. After the download is complete, create a folder called Updates and copy it to it setup files system updates you need. Then run the downloaded file and wait for the installation to complete. The program is designed in such a way that it automatically checks whether the next update is installed. In case of repetition, this file skipped. When all work is completed, the computer will reboot. As a result, the user receives a system with all the necessary updates installed.
- You can use the services of the operating system itself. The tools that the auto-installer uses are fully present in the starting version of the Windows operating system and it is enough to access it correctly to start the installation. The second method involves running auto updates using executable file bat. Create a directory with subfolders CAB and MSU. Place the necessary updates in them according to the extension. After that create a clean one Text Document and copy the following into it:
@EchoOff
Title Installing Windows7 Updates
For %%A In (CAB\*.cab) Do Call: kbin %%A/quiet
For %%F In (MSU\*.msu) Do Call: msin %%F/quiet
Exit
:kbin
Start /Wait pkgmgr /ip /m:%1 /quiet /norestart:msin
Start /Wait %1 /quiet /norestart
@EchoOff
GoTo:EOF
Exit
In a nutshell you can comment this code like this: read all files with the cab and msu extension and run them without restarting the computer and without additional messages.
Save the document in the root folder in bat format and run it. Upon completion of all Windows installations will reboot.
During the installation process, you must follow a number of rules:
- Observe the bit size of installed updates and operating system. It is useless to try to install an update for an 86-bit system on a 64-bit Windows and vice versa.
- Avoid express updates. This type of file is designed to eliminate critical errors and is subsequently included in the general update. That's why this type files are not accepted by the autoinstaller.
- Avoid changing directory names and locations. The script from the second paragraph refers to specific folders with a specific location relative to the file being launched. If you do not know how to change path data in the script code, then strictly follow the specified position.
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Who has used it and is still using it? mobile internet 2G, he knows well how slow downloading even small files can be. And even if you have 3G-Internet, data transfer speed can remain very low when you are far from the signal source. The question is, how can you update Windows under such conditions if the Update Center is barely working?
Or, for example, this situation.
Do you want to update Windows 10 on your desktop? office computer, but the latter, being connected only to local network, does not have Internet access. The solution in such cases may be an offline update, since Microsoft has provided such an option. All you need for this is a computer with stable and fast Internet and a flash drive or any other portable device.
The ability to download and install cumulative updates offline has been available since 2016.
Everything is very simple. You go to a special website and see which update is the latest, and then compare the build number on the website with the version number of Windows 10 installed on you. If a new update is available for your PC, download it from the cumulative updates catalog and install it as a regular program.
And now everything is in more detail.
First, we check the current version of Windows 10 on the computer by opening the application "Options", go to the section System -> (in build 1703 “About the system”) and write down the current version number.
Then follow the link support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4018124, look at the current number at this moment version and compare it with what we have on the local computer.
As of December 18, the most current version is the version under the index 16299.125 , and you, for example, have the version installed 15254.125 . This means we are lagging behind life. It's not good, it needs to be fixed. Record the ID of the latest cumulative update (it always starts with KB) , we sit down connected to normal internet computer, open the update catalog at www.catalog.update.microsoft.com, enter the recorded ID in the search field and click "Find".
On next page Select from the list the cumulative update that corresponds to your bit capacity and processor architecture and download it to the flash drive.
One of the common problems Windows users 10 - stopping or inability to download updates through the update center. However, the problem was also present in previous versions OS, as described in the instructions.
Although the troubleshooting utility also tries to perform the steps described below, it does not always succeed. In this case, you can try clearing the update cache yourself.
- Disconnect from the Internet.
- Run command line as an administrator (you can start typing “Command Prompt” into the search on the taskbar, then right-click on the result found and select “Run as administrator”). And enter the following commands in order.
- net stop wuauserv(if you see a message that the service could not be stopped, try restarting your computer and running the command again)
- net stop bits
- After that, go to the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\ and clear its contents. Then go back to the Command Prompt and enter the following two commands in order.
- net start bits
- net start wuauserv
Close Command Prompt and try downloading updates again (remembering to reconnect to the Internet) using Windows 10 Update. Note: After these steps, shutting down your computer or restarting it may take longer than usual.
How to download Windows 10 offline updates for installation
It is also possible to download updates not using the update center, but manually - from the update catalog on the Microsoft website or using third-party utilities such as Windows Update Minitool.
To access the Windows update catalog, open the page https://catalog.update.microsoft.com/ in Internet Explorer(you can launch Internet Explorer using the search in the Windows 10 taskbar). When you first log in, the browser will also offer to install the component necessary to work with the catalogue, agree.
After that, all that remains is to enter the number of the update you want to download into the search bar, click “Add” (updates without x64 are intended for x86 systems). After that, click “View cart” (to which you can add several updates).
And finally, all you have to do is click “Download” and specify the folder to download updates, which can then be installed from this folder.
Another option to download Windows 10 updates is third party program Windows Update Minitool (the official location of the utility is the ru-board.com forum). The program does not require installation and uses Windows Update to operate, however, offering more advanced features.
After starting the program, click the “Update” button to download information about installed and available updates.
- Install selected updates
- Download updates
- And, interestingly, copy direct links to updates to the clipboard for subsequent simple downloading of .cab update files using a browser (a set of links is copied to the clipboard at once, so before entering it into address bar browser, you should paste the addresses somewhere in a text document).
So, even if downloading updates is not possible using the Windows 10 Update mechanisms, it is still possible to do so. Moreover, offline update installers downloaded in this way can also be used for installation on computers without Internet access (or with limited access).
Additional Information
In addition to the above points related to updates, pay attention to the following nuances:
- If you have a “Limited connection” Wi-Fi set (in the settings wireless network) or is using a 3G/LTE modem, this may cause problems downloading updates.
- If you are, then this could cause problems with downloading updates due to blocking of addresses from which downloads are made, for example, to.
- If you are using a third-party antivirus or firewall, try disabling them temporarily and check if the problem is resolved.
And finally, in theory, you could previously perform some actions from the article, which led to the situation with the impossibility of downloading them.
Before talking directly about troubleshooting problems with updating the Windows 8 operating system, I want to talk a little about the update process in general - what it is and why it is needed.
What are Windows updates?
I know that most beginners don’t even worry about updating their Windows and don’t know where it is configured, and most importantly, what role it plays.
The fact is that initially, as soon as the next version of the Windows operating system is released, it usually has a number of problems: some programs conflict with each other, something is not installed or configured, some errors and other various problems occur. All this is eliminated over time with the help of Windows updates.
For example, in August of this year the Windows 10 operating system was released, which could be installed via free update with Windows 7 or Windows 8. Initially, for many it worked terribly unstable, with glitches and a number of problems. But to date, many updates have already been released for Windows 10 and the system is becoming more and more stable every time. The latest update turned out to be very capacious and contained a huge number of corrections and improvements. The changes even affected the Windows interface in some places.
You can read my review of the Windows 10 operating system in the article:
You probably already understand why Windows updates are needed. First of all, they eliminate various jambs, bugs, and malfunctions in the system. Updates also install new versions of your computer's device drivers, update some Microsoft programs, antivirus databases built-in Windows Defender.
How to update Windows using the Windows 10 version as an example!
Windows is usually set to receive updates automatically by default. This means that, in principle, you don’t need to do anything yourself; the system itself will search for and install all the necessary updates.
However, there are situations when the automatic search for updates for some reason does not work or the updates themselves are not installed. In this case, you can search for updates yourself.
I will show the process of searching for an update using the latest operating system as an example. Windows family– Windows 10. In older versions Windows process system update is similar, only the location of the update settings will differ. But you can always go to the update settings via Windows search by typing "Updates" or something similar.
To get into the Windows 10 update settings, open the Start menu and click the Settings button:
In the next window, click “Update and Security”:
The “Windows Update” tab will immediately open in a new window and start searching for updates.
If updates are found, they will begin to download and then be installed automatically. No action is required from you. If no updates are found, you will receive a corresponding message “Device is updated” and the date and time of installation of the latest updates will be indicated. But if you suddenly receive an error stating that for some reason the updates were not installed or you just want to start the update manually, then click the “Check for updates” button:
Now a little about the Windows 10 update settings. On the same tab there is a button “ Extra options" Let's go there:
At the very top you select the method for installing updates. There is an option “Automatically (recommended)”, then the update installation process will be fully automatic. If a reboot is required to install updates, it will be performed when the computer is not in use. Everything is fine, of course, but a couple of times I had the computer reboot when I didn’t want to :) For example, the computer was standing at night, not performing any tasks, but Skype, a browser and some other programs were open. I wanted to get up in the morning and immediately get to work, without turning on the computer, settings and other things. But at night the computer rebooted itself because some updates were downloaded and installed. I didn’t want to reboot anything, but the computer decided it for me :) Based on this, I recommend setting another option “Notify when a reboot is scheduled.” In this case, if you need to reboot, you will have to choose the restart time yourself and the computer will no longer reboot without asking.
The next option is “When updating Windows, provide updates for other Microsoft products.” It is better to leave this option and not disable it. This will allow not only Windows, but also various Windows applications to be updated.
The “Delay updates” option does NOT need to be enabled! In this case, many updates will not be downloaded and installed, but will be delayed for several months in advance. Only Windows security updates will be downloaded and installed.
Please note that, firstly, completely disable the ability automatic update not possible on Windows 10. In this version of Windows, this feature was removed so that each user would update their system. Secondly, updates will not be downloaded if your computer is connected to the Internet through a metered connection with traffic restrictions (for example, via a phone or modem).
You can always see what updates have already been installed by clicking the “View update log” button:
In the window that opens you will see everything installed updates for your Windows with installation date:
If you suddenly need to remove an update (sometimes you have to do this if some problems arise caused by the latest updates), then click the “Uninstall updates” button and in the next window, select the desired update from the list and click “Delete”:
In the main update settings window, there is another button at the top: “Select when to receive updates”:
These settings make it possible to download updates not only from the Microsoft service, but also from other computers on the Internet or in your local network. I recommend not changing anything in these settings, everything is configured optimally and there is no point in disabling options here:
At the bottom home page update settings have the last function - participation in testing. This function is called “Insider Preview”:
If you click the “Start” button in this settings block, you will begin to receive test updates for your system, which may not yet work quite stably. This function is intended for testing, for those who want to see all the innovations as soon as possible and thereby help Microsoft develop its products further through your feedback.
We have discussed how to get updates for Windows 10 and now we will look at what to do if the updates are not downloaded or installed.
What should I do if Windows updates won't download or install?
There are situations when updates for Windows for some reason are not downloaded or installed. The most common problem is with downloading updates. Those. the search for updates begins and continues ad infinitum. You do not receive a message that no updates were found and you do not receive any errors either. Or here's another situation. Some updates for your Windows were found, but they are not downloaded, i.e. The download process is at zero, for example. What to do in this case?
Sometimes it can go away suddenly on its own, but sometimes the problem does not go away on its own.
For such cases in recent Windows versions came up with a troubleshooter for updating Windows. Now I'll show you how to use it. And it's extremely simple!
So, if you start having any problems with Windows updates, you need to open the “Troubleshoot your computer” section. The easiest way to find this section is through Windows search. There we just type “Troubleshooting” and the corresponding button will be highlighted to go to the necessary settings:
In the next window, under the “System and Security” section, click “Troubleshoot using Windows Update”:
The Update Troubleshooting Wizard will launch. Click “Advanced” in the first window:
2 more will appear additional options. Be sure to click "Run as administrator" and check that the "Automatically apply patches" option is enabled. Then click “Next”:
The process of detecting problems in obtaining and installing updates will begin:
If any problems are detected, this module will automatically fix them and you will only have to open the updates section again and try downloading the updates again.
If no problems with updates are identified, the troubleshooting module will report this and you will only have to close it with the appropriate button:
In this case, for the updates to download successfully, you probably just need to restart your computer.
Here is a simple way to fix the problem with obtaining and installing updates for Windows.
Let me remind you that Windows 7 and 8 have similar update settings, but the interface and location of the parameters are different. If you need instructions for setting up an update on Windows 7 or Windows 8, then write in the comments, I will write additions for the article.
That's all for today. Merry Christmas to you! All the best, prosperity, health! :)