Windows 10 update stuck on endless "Retry"

Question

I am trying to install the latest Windows update

Upgrade to Windows 10 Pro, version 1511, 10586

... and I am stuck in an endless Retry loop.

Every time it tries to install this update, it fails with this message:

There were problems installing some updates, but we'll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help:

(nothing printed here!)

Retry

I've rebooted and retried a bunch of times and get the same exact result over and over, stuck on Retry:

I have no idea what to try, or even how to get out of this endless update "problems installing some updates, but we'll try again later" retry loop. Suggestions welcome!

Disk partitions look like this, which I suspect may be the problem somehow:

Updates based on the answers and comments:

• This is a wired computer, no wifi, no battery
• Plenty of free space on the boot C:\ drive, almost 200GB
• There are no removable drives or USB keys attached
• Does have multiple drives (boot SSD and two large media HDDs)
• sfc /scannow reports good integrity
• Machine is Haswell based, 8GB RAM, built in mid 2013

Update! 11-28-2015! After grabbing the, uh, "fixed" version of this update, it did finally install fine on this machine. There was a little weirdness where I had to reboot it in the middle, but otherwise it definitely worked, 10586 is installed now.

I will hopefully be able to provide an answer with the full set of troubleshooting from someone at Microsoft who helpfully assisted me in case anyone else runs into this.

Solution 1

I had something similar. Eventually it told me that it needed 10GB of free space on C: (not Pro version)

Solution 2

If the download always fails, download the ISO from Microsoft, mount the ISO into a virtual DVD drive (double click on ISO). Now run setup.exe and select upgrade.

To troubleshoot what went wrong during the upgrade, you have to look at the setuperr.log from C:\$windows.~bt\sources\panther.

Gov Maharaj from Microsoft posted some known error codes/causes in his Defrag Show on channel9.msdn.com. There is no general answer, we need to check the log files for each user.

Solution 3

Usually in cases like this there might be several items in play:

1. The update was pulled.
2. The update is simply throttled and therefore temporarily unavailable.
3. There is a problem with the Windows Update configuration on your machine.

It looks like at some point your update did install fine, so option 1 and 2 are the most likely culprits.

If something like this happens, it's super helpful for us to look at Panther logs, that can be located in:

C:\windows\panther 

If that folder is empty, look at the logs here:

C:\$windows.~bt\sources\panther

The contents should be small enough to simply throw them in the ZIP and forward for analysis.

Now, there are also cases when there really is an issue with the OS configuration, and specifically with the Windows Update (WU) subsystem. In that case, it's worth trying the following:

1. Open Command Prompt (CMD) as admin.
2. Trigger the following commands sequentially:

Batch Code:

net stop bits
net stop wuauserv
net stop appidsvc
net stop cryptsvc
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\qmgr*.dat"

bits is the Background Intelligent Transfer Service.

wuauserv is the Windows Update service.

appidsvc is the Application Identity service, used by AppLocker.

cryptsvc is the Cryptographic Services, responsible for confirming signatures for Windows Files.

3. Time for some RegSvr magic to re-register core DLLs:

Batch Code:

cd /d %windir%\system32
regsvr32.exe atl.dll
regsvr32.exe urlmon.dll
regsvr32.exe mshtml.dll
regsvr32.exe shdocvw.dll
regsvr32.exe browseui.dll
regsvr32.exe jscript.dll
regsvr32.exe vbscript.dll
regsvr32.exe scrrun.dll
regsvr32.exe msxml.dll
regsvr32.exe msxml3.dll
regsvr32.exe msxml6.dll
regsvr32.exe actxprxy.dll
regsvr32.exe softpub.dll
regsvr32.exe wintrust.dll
regsvr32.exe dssenh.dll
regsvr32.exe rsaenh.dll
regsvr32.exe gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32.exe sccbase.dll
regsvr32.exe slbcsp.dll
regsvr32.exe cryptdlg.dll
regsvr32.exe oleaut32.dll
regsvr32.exe ole32.dll
regsvr32.exe shell32.dll
regsvr32.exe initpki.dll
regsvr32.exe wuapi.dll
regsvr32.exe wuaueng.dll
regsvr32.exe wuaueng1.dll
regsvr32.exe wucltui.dll
regsvr32.exe wups.dll
regsvr32.exe wups2.dll
regsvr32.exe wuweb.dll
regsvr32.exe qmgr.dll
regsvr32.exe qmgrprxy.dll
regsvr32.exe wucltux.dll
regsvr32.exe muweb.dll
regsvr32.exe wuwebv.dll

4. Reset WinSock:

Batch Code:

netsh winsock reset

5. Reset the WinHTTP proxy:

Batch Code:

netsh winhttp reset proxy

6. Restore the previously disabled services:

Batch Code:

net start bits
net start wuauserv
net start appidsvc
net start cryptsvc

7. Reboot machine.
8. Check for updates once again.

All of the above can be wrapped in a single batch script to save time, but it's worth breaking them down 1-by-1.

Solution 4

I had the same issue on Windows 10 Build 10240. Here's what worked for me:

1. Go to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10/
2. Click on "Update Now"
3. This will download the upgrade tool, currently named 'Windows10Upgrade9252.exe'.
4. Run it as Adminitrator.

Windows 10 Update Tool

This upgraded this specific laptop to Windows 10 Build 10516 (currently the latest build) and from then on Windows Update worked as expected.

View more solutions

Comments

[Jeff Atwood]

Someone on Twitter said this happens for computers with multiple drives, and this computer does indeed have multiple drives, but I really don't want to disconnect them to try this theory out.

[Thalys]

I had no issues with multiple drives, Mine's a sata SSD (an 850 pro) and two spinning rust drives though.

[Mokubai]

Does it actually try to install at all? On the machine I have managed to get it installed on Windows Update spent time downloading, then "preparing" during which there was more downloading, and then finally the reboot and install. Which stage is it failing at? How old is the machine? What do you see in C:\$windows.~bt\ ?

[Jeff Atwood]

@mokubai it never gets to the reboot stage, it downloads, preps, fails. If only there was any kind of information about why it is failing...

[RobIII]

Just a hunch but you might want to check the system reserved partition (not the primary partition) for (enough) space which I happened to run into today. See this "fix".

[holiveira]

I had no issues with multiple drives as well, just upgraded two machines with more than one drive. One computer has 4 SSDs plus two normal drives and everything went fine.

[magicandre1981]

@JeffAtwood stop all the hassle and try the ISO upgrade

[Matija Grcic]

@JeffAtwood Had the exact same issue when upgrading to Win 10. The optional part did the trick and it didn't get stuck in the download,prep,fail loop. gist.github.com/matijagrcic/6cc656eac1cc16cb1a70 Helped several other people too.

[Jeff Atwood]

Actually I think this is a valid answer, I had a few people on Twitter say "I didn't have enough disk space and when I cleared some up it worked". However, I have almost 200gb free on the boot drive in this case..

[dbrower]

This worked for me when on-line update didn't work.

[Jeff Atwood]

I downloaded the ISO, but I get another mysterious "something happened" error when I try to install it. Looks like MS pulled this update altogether: arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/…

[magicandre1981]

WZOR posted a hack to still get the TH2 ISO. Open the download site, open a JS command window and run this script: pastebin.com/EHrJZbsV win-10-forum.de/artikel-attachments/…

[magicandre1981]

MS offers now the ISO without any hacks again. So try it again.

[Jeff Atwood]

installing from the ISO produces a "something happened" install failed error.

[Jeff Atwood]

@magicandre1981 when I install from the ISO (edit: using the "old" version of the update), I get a "something happened" error with no detail.

[Paras Sidhu]

Did you try unchecking "Give me updates for products same way when I update Windows" kind of check box? This option is present in Advanced Options. I know its a stupid idea but worked for me surprisingly.

[Jeff Atwood]

The updated installer from Windows Update actually worked this time, just now tonight, so I strongly suspect the previous update, the one that was pulled, was busted.

[magicandre1981]

upload the folder C:\$Windows.~BT\Sources\panther (zip file on OneDrive and post a share link here)

[magicandre1981]

@JeffAtwood I posted a link to some errors/fixes

[magicandre1981]

sorry, this answer is crap, no matter if you are from MS or not. you have to check the setuperr.log before trying anything.

[Den Delimarsky]

Thanks for the feedback! Like I already mentioned in the answer (and like you mentioned in the comment), we do need Panther logs to determine the source of any issues. SetupErr.log is part of that.

[Spencer Brereton]

Same here. But it offers to use another drive, which I've done. But even though it has plenty of space, it's still stuck in the same loop. I don't think anyone from MS has actually tested this :-(