Sadly, none of these steps work.
Super useful
Make sure you are using an administrative account and using an elevated command prompt. If still this doesn’t work, you can take ownership of the folder and try again.
I typed in ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old and it said access was denied.
Make sure you are running command prompt as administrator. Press Windows + S, type “Command prompt”, right-click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
Are those instructions ok for both 32 bit and 64 bit systems?
I’m finding that Windows 10 will report it checked for an update and that everything is up to date. Just today, Update Status reports as “Your device is up to date. Last checked: Today 4:05 pm”.
So I clicked on “Check for updates” and it reports that there is an update (apparently released on March 22) and proceeds to download and install it. I’ve noticed this behaviour several times over the past 3 or 4 months - does not find anything automatically, but manually check and an update is available. Very strange.
Using Windows Update Troubleshooter usually finds something and corrects it. Something in the last major Win10 update broke Windows Update.
the ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution and en C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 catroot2.old commands deny my access
It worked through windows update troubleshooter. thanks a lot.
I did Solution 3 above and it worked!! But patients was in order as I had to ignore the many cycles of it saying it was installing then it saying it was undoing the install so I just left it to run and sort itself out overnight. In the morning it was all good.
If you have Discord I can try to help you.
I agree in GENERAL, however I have most definitely had several instances where it amazingly DID actually resolve some issues, even after spending several hours of doing some fairly advanced troubleshootin myself, and following posts like this. So OCCASIONALLY it can actually help. Most of the time I hesitate even trying it, knowing from experience that it’s likely gonna be a big fat waste of time, and indeed it usually is. But in a pinch if you’ve tried other things and still stuck, might as well try.
None of the solutions worked unfortunately. One of them did as was intended and reset the downloads so I could check for updates but the download button still won’t click, and the downloads still won’t download. I’m trying the windows install media next and if that doesn’t work I’m doing a windows reset.
Sorted, thank you.
Try this!
We have a dedicated article written on this error: Fix: Windows Update Error "We Couldn't Connect to the Update Service"
I tried every single step and still cannot install Windows 10 Update (KB5017308) or upgrade to Windows 11. I’m ready to format and restart with a clean install. Any other ideas?
We just updated the article! Can you try new methods and give feedback?
didnt work for me
Solution 3 worked for me. Thanks KA