After running SFC/ SCANNOW, performing a clean boot and about a dozen other standard IT tricks, I found a blog that nailed the issue. It had to do with the Notification Area… yes, I know that sounds stupid but that is what it was and later I found MS documentation to back it up.
Apparently if the Windows Update icon can not popup in the Notification Area, Windows Update won’t.
Solution:
- Right click the START BUTTON (or any empty space on the task bar) and select PROPERTIES
- Click the TASKBAR tab
- Click the CUSTOMIZE button for the Notification Area
- At the VERY bottom of the window, click on the ALWAYS SHOW ALL ICONS AND NOTIFICATIONS IN THE TASK BAR
- Try your Windows Updates again. Note that I did not have reboot, log off or even restart services
This allowed about a third of my 20 outstanding updates to install but others still would not. I found that changing to a different profile allowed me to install the balance.
If this does not work, you can always try the Microsoft FIXIT tool for Windows Update. It is free fast and I have never seen it cause a problem:
I also found that individual updates like the MICROSOFT MALICIOUS SOFTWARE REMOVAL TOOL would not install without this setting being changed and I was getting a:
This version of the Malicious Software Removal Tool is not compatible with the version of Windows you’re running. blah blah 32bit 64 bit
even though there is only one version of MSRT!
For some screen shots and more detail, take a look at http://todd4tech.blogspot.ca/2012/03/windows-update-failing-with-error.html
29 Comments
Jeani · September 14, 2021 at 7:23 am
Still works!
mahmoud · December 12, 2019 at 1:37 am
Solved !!!!!! … OMG OMG OMG i can’t believe it .. you know how many steps i tried and how much times ive wasted trying to solve this … ohhh mannnnnnn … thank you so so so so so so very much .. you are the best … may god bless you sir .. you saved my life <3 <3
johnsautoexperts · August 17, 2019 at 6:11 pm
it was the notification tray! Thank you!
Jesse Hutchens · August 4, 2019 at 5:07 pm
Damn, that’s some good sleuthing and sharing!
wawan · January 8, 2019 at 6:37 pm
It works… Thank you man…
James · November 3, 2018 at 8:17 pm
In an old VM I was updating, I ran into this, and checked the notification tray to find a roughly 16×16 grid of empty icons that vanished as soon as I moved my mouse over them. Rebooting fixed it.
https://i.imgur.com/10gFb1u.png
Michael R · March 26, 2020 at 5:43 am
Same thing but on a physical host.
Michael R · March 26, 2020 at 5:44 am
It crazy but it actually worked. Such a random odd problem!
DNS server not responding windows 10 · October 29, 2018 at 11:01 pm
Error 80243004 occurred while trying updating Windows 10. Is there any connection of this Error to DNS Server also?
Ian Matthews · December 11, 2018 at 6:42 pm
Not that I know of.
artemis55 · October 27, 2018 at 12:06 pm
Solved! Many thanks.
Claude · October 21, 2018 at 9:22 am
Thanks for this one. Problem solved.
MystiCobra · October 18, 2018 at 5:33 pm
It worked for me on my old laptop with Windows 7. Really stupid unrelated solution but did work. Thanks,
Larry · October 16, 2018 at 1:28 pm
I tried the five step solution, nothing worked for me until I rebooted the computer. Thanks for posting the solution. I’ve been trying to updated windows for sometime.