Windows Updates stopped working with error 0x80244010 and 0x80070003

Question

After releasing the November 2016 updates in WSUS we encounter the following situation:

• All physical clients (4 x W7) stopped to download updates from the local WSUS
• All virtual clients (2 x W7) are working correctly

Errors

• Error 0x80244010 is reported in the local windows update logs

From my experience this means to wait a little bit longer for the updates. In this case nothing changed the next two days.

After that we tried the following for the next days:

• Stopping local update client; deleting C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
• Forcing windows updates (wuauclt /resetauthorization /detectnow; wuauclt /reportnow)
• Reinstalling the local Windows Update Client
• Trying to directly synchronize against Microsoft Updates instead of the local WSUS
• Running the "Windows Update Diagnostic" from http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9830262

0x80070003 as Result of Windows Update Diagnostic

• Windows Update Diagnostic shows Error 0x80070003
• Microsoft describes how to solve this error here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/947821
• Running the "System Update Readiness tool" as suggested

Result of the "System Update Readiness tool"

No errors are shown:

=================================
Checking System Update Readiness.
Binary Version 6.1.7601.22471
Package Version 26.0
2016-11-19 12:59

Checking Windows Servicing Packages

Checking Package Manifests and Catalogs

Checking Package Watchlist

Checking Component Watchlist

Checking Packages

Checking Component Store

Summary:
Seconds executed: 3098
 No errors detected

Addtional Informations

• I'm checking this with two W7 clients, the newest and the oldest one
• The server is a Windows 2008 R2
• Two virtual W7 clients are working correctly

Solution

The error 0x80244010 means:

//
// MessageId: WU_E_PT_EXCEEDED_MAX_SERVER_TRIPS
//
// MessageText:
//
// The number of round trips to the server exceeded the maximum limit.
//
#define WU_E_PT_EXCEEDED_MAX_SERVER_TRIPS _HRESULT_TYPEDEF_(0x80244010L)

So this is Windows Update related and so sfc and System Update Readiness tool can't fix this issue.

You should always have he latest Windows Update Client installed. The last one is part of the July 2016 Rollup, which also fixes slow Windows Update search and maybe your error messages.