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Q: My laptop running Windows 10 will not accept the Windows update version 22H2. I get a cryptic response of “Some update files are missing or have problems. We’ll try to download the update again later. Error code (0x80070000d)”. The Retry button generates the same response. I have tried running the Troubleshooter for Windows Update problems and it claims to have fixed some issues, but the update still downloads, installs 100%, and then gives the same “can’t install” message.

 

– Mike B.
Niceville, Florida

A: This problem can be caused by a number of things that might go wrong during the update attempt.  That error code you mentioned – 0x8007000d – does have a meaning, and it does translate to that supposedly “cryptic” message that you received.  When this error occurs, it does prevent the installation process from completing, since the installer has detected a problem with one or more of the files that are required in order for it to complete its task.

Now, while you might think that the message “Some update files are missing or have problems” is cryptic, ask yourself, if it told you exactly what files were missing or corrupted, what would you do?  It’s unlikely that individual files are available for download, and even if they were, various versions of updates often contain files with similar or the exact same names, and you would probably run the risk of corrupting things even further if you tried to tweak individual files. 

Rather than doing that, the course of action to fix the problem is often just to allow Windows to try again a time or two, and only if it can’t do it on its own, step in to give it an assist, and even then, only if you have some idea of the cause, so you can purposefully affect a repair rather than randomly hacking at files in the hope that you’ll stumble onto a solution.

Windows offers some tools to help you to fix these things.  That “Retry” button is not really one of them, because activating it is probably only going to do the same steps that just failed, without having fixed anything.  One pretty good tool is the Windows Update Troubleshooter, which is programmed to look for common problems that occur during updates, and knows how to fix them.  The method to activate it is slightly different between Windows 10 and 11.  For Win 10, press [WinKey]+i to open Settings.  Clickk on “Update & Security”. From the left-hand navigation menu, select “Troubleshoot.”  Click the line that says “Additional troubleshooters.”  Click on “Windows Update” to begin.  For Win 11, start the same way, by pressing [WinKey]+I to open the Settings dialog.  Click “System” and then click “Troubleshoot.”  Navigate to “Other troubleshooters” then click on the “Run” button next to “Windows Update.” For both versions, the troubleshooter will run a diagnostic of the Windows Update system.  If an issue is found, it will automatically repair it, and let you know what the problem was.

Other checkers available include the System File Checker, or SFC, and the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool, or DISM.  To run SFC, go to the Start menu and type “Cmd” in the search box.  Under “Command Prompt” click “Run as Administrator.”  You might be required to provide credentials for the Administrator account.  Once the command window appears, type “sfc /scannow” at the prompt.  Once it has completed, reboot the system to check if it resolved the issue.  To run DISM, open a command prompt as instructed above, and at the prompt enter each of the following commands in-turn: “dism /online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth” then “dism /online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth” and finally “dism /online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth”.  Restart Windows to check whether these fixed anything.

There are multiple problems that could cause the issue you’re having, Mike.  What I’ve provided are some basic techniques to attempt to fix the most common causes.  Without having hands-on your machine, it’s tough to tell whether any one of these will work.  But, there’s always a very good possibility that the problem will resolve on its own, given a couple of tries.  I wish you patience, and good luck!