Why are computer fleet updates failing to install?
Updates are failing after completely installing and restarting, leaving administrators with persistent error codes across multiple servers and machines. Short of fully reimaging the systems, standard recovery methods are failing to resolve the issue.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1trying DISM with source iso'sDid this help you?
- 2resetting update cacheDid this help you?
- 3trying an IPUDid this help you?
- 4growing the EFI partitionDid this help you?
- 5installing the .NET update manuallyDid this help you?
- 6deleting the contents of the SoftwareDistribution folderDid this help you?
- 7clearing out the CCMCacheDid this help you?
- 8running SFCDid this help you?
- 9Running DISM component cleanupDid this help you?
- 10Rebooting the serverDid this help you?
- 11Reviewing CBS logsDid this help you?
- 12Manually installing older security cumulative patches or Servicing Stack Updates (SSU)Did this help you?
- 13Performing a fresh installation of the target operating system and migrating roles and data manually instead of doing an in-place upgrade.Did this help you?
- 14Comparing failing machines against successful ones to check for vendor agents, pending updates, and storage or driver issues.Did this help you?
- 15Get Intune.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“After installation, halfway through the Windows Update process, the laptops all start to fail in weird ways.”source ↗
“A reboot doesn't fix it - usually a black screen with a cursor is all that comes back up.”source ↗
“My entire fleet of computers is failing to take the September update.”source ↗
“Short of reimagine, I’m not really sure what else to try.”source ↗
“Anyone has any tips in increasing the success rate of in place upgrading Server 2016s to 2022? I swear I’ve had 10x more issues with 2016 than 2012 R2 to 2019 with upgrades getting stuck and having to rollback/revert snap.”source ↗
“I had 2 tonight that kept getting stuck on “working on updates 99%” for 4+ hours and would not finish.”source ↗
“I've a windows server 2019 without updates from 2021.”source ↗
“I'm searching to update but when windows update prompt the cumulative update 2026-09 I've always error 0x80073701”source ↗
“DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup ok”source ↗
“Rebooted but I can't solve.”source ↗
“I’m noticing that the Windows Server patch updates are failing after completely installing and restarting to apply the patches.”source ↗
“We use WSUS, and are seeing similar issues with 4 of my 40 servers.”source ↗
Where this came up
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