Windows Updates Stuck Server 2016/2019

This fix can be used on either stuck windows update downloads where you are left waiting hours at 10% or 25% through the native windows update interface OR when you try to install an update package manually and it gets stuck on “copying packages to the update cache”.

Method 1: Manually Reset Windows Update Components

 

a)       Press “Windows Logo” + “X” keys on the keyboard and then select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from the menu.

b)       Copy the following commands and then right click in the Command Prompt window and select “Paste” to paste all the commands in it.

 

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

 

c)       Please wait for the process to complete and then press “Enter”.

d)       Type “Exit” in the Command Prompt to close it.

 

Now, run the Windows Update and check if it installs all the pending updates. There are also possibilities that something might have happened when the SFC Scan was stopped in between while it was repairing/recovering the corrupted system files. So, let’s try that again and check the result. You may need to use the Windows 8 installation disk for the SFC Scan to recover the corrupted system files.

 

Method 2: Run an SFC Scan

 

The sfc /scannow command scans all protected system files and replaces incorrect versions with correct Microsoft versions.

 

a)       Press “Windows Logo” + “X” keys on the keyboard and select “Command Prompt (Admin)” from that menu.

b)       On the command prompt window, type the following command, and then press “Enter”

 

sfc /scannow

 

c)       Follow the on-screen instructions and complete the scan.