Unable to set in "automatic" the windows update at services.msc

JEyv 6

It keeps pupping access denied, thanks for your help

Candy Luo 12,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-07-26T03:35:11.677+00:00

Just checking in to see if the information provided was helpful.
Please let us know if you would like further assistance.
Candy Luo 12,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-07-28T07:41:41.77+00:00

Please try to mark the replies which help you. It will encourage the person who help you.
Appreciate your understanding. :)
27772953 36 Reputation points

2023-05-04T16:21:35.7233333+00:00
Having spent 3 hours on a customer W10 PC I was happy to read Candy's reply because it put the final touch to getting the computer back on track.

Candy's contribution was the stopupdates10guard service which was present and kept changing the Automatic setting to Disabled.

For the record, as the OP's question is about Access Denied, and not service status changing automatically from Automatic to Disabled, I will post my entire findings and approach. • The cause of the problem was probably a virus (I found a few of them present and removed them).

• I kept getting Access Denied every time I tried to change something to the Update service. • That was due to the wuauserv service in the Registry (Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv) having in its permissions ONLY READ access rights to the CREATOR OWNER / SYSTEM / Administrators and Users objects along with a DISABLED INHERITANCE. • As soon as the Registry Permissions were fixed, trying to change the status of the service did not produce an Access Denied error but kept changing back to Disabled. • That's where Candy's STOPUPDATES10GUARD service tip saved the day, as after setting this service to Manual, the Windows Update service was up and running normally.

Steps to return wuauserv Registry Permissions to normal :

Activate the default Administrator account (net user administrator /active:yes) and sign in with it

Run Regedit with administrator rights

Navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv

Right click on wuauserv and go to Permissions

Click on Advanced

Click on "Change" to change the Owner to Administrator and click Apply (SYSTEM is the default owner)

Click on "Enable inheritance" (6 new entries should appear with correct Access rights and Inherited From MACHINE\SYSTEM)

Remove all previous not inherited entries and click Apply

Change the Owner back to SYSTEM

Click OK to close the two open windows

Credits are due to various answers I found on the Internet, among those but not limited to :

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/scexe-create-causes-access-denied-error/9369af3f-7966-4557-b9a5-ffe53cf40ca5

https://windowsreport.com/windows-10-registry-permissions/

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1164580/i-cannot-enable-windows-10-updates-services-msc-re

https://www.groovypost.com/howto/take-full-permissions-control-edit-protected-registry-keys/
Snaitf 0 Reputation points

2023-08-05T05:56:27.2466667+00:00

Thank you so much 27772953, I followed your steps exactly and it worked perfectly!

1 answer

Candy Luo 12,701 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-07-23T09:19:22.667+00:00

Hi ,

Please try to use the Registry Editor to change the Windows Update service’s Start type: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wuauserv

Double-click the DWORD value named Start and set its data to 2.

2 means Automatic start
3 means Manual start
4 means Disabled

If it still doesn't work, check if there is a stopupdates10guard service in services.msc. If yes, disable the service and change the Windows Update service’s Start type again.

For your reference:

How to enable windows update medic service and windows update service?

Best Regards,
Candy

--------------------------------------------------------------

If the Answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
Please sign in to rate this answer.

3 people found this answer helpful.
H8K11 6 Reputation points

2021-12-10T13:58:28.247+00:00

dear candy, i have tried this and it didn't work, my access is still denied. any ohter solutions?

Peraveen Kumar 1 Reputation point

2022-02-20T09:46:40.983+00:00

Dear Candy,

This actually worked for me.. Thanks a lot.. You just saved a day for me...

rapidswords 1 Reputation point

2022-03-06T16:32:08.903+00:00

I was sooooo annoyed by Windows not updating.. tried different articles but this worked... Thanks Candy...

D S Shah 6 Reputation points

2022-03-24T02:47:36.147+00:00

I tried this option and it gives me a message "Cannot edit Start: Error writing the value's new contents."

Joel James 6 Reputation points

2022-06-04T00:29:05.25+00:00

anyone still having permission issues with changing the value for start will want to change the ownership permissions of the wuauserv folder in registry editor
https://www.howtogeek.com/262464/how-to-gain-full-permissions-to-edit-protected-registry-keys/

Guardian Robertson-Hiri 6 Reputation points

2022-06-26T00:56:06.357+00:00

when in the registry editor go to Edit on the Top Bar, select 'Permissions', click on advanced which should be near the bottom of the small "Permissions for wuauserv" window. At the top left of the "Advanced Security Settings for wuauserv" window you'll see 'Owner: e.g LOCALUSER' or something along the lines of that, Click the blue change button, click object types, click users, click advanced click find now which should be on the right hand side of the new window and all the possible user names of your computer should appear, click on the user you are using, click ok, click ok again on the "Advanced Security Settings for wuauserv" window, click apply on the bottom right then click okay. Now you should be able to change your windows update settings and update your computer. If you need help just ask :)

Guardian Robertson-Hiri 6 Reputation points

2022-06-26T00:57:12.813+00:00

I also forgot to mention that after you have done this you can edit the data values in the regitry Editor for the windows update

Guardian Robertson-Hiri 6 Reputation points

2022-06-26T00:57:46.523+00:00

when in the registry editor go to Edit on the Top Bar, select 'Permissions', click on advanced which should be near the bottom of the small "Permissions for wuauserv" window. At the top left of the "Advanced Security Settings for wuauserv" window you'll see 'Owner: e.g LOCALUSER' or something along the lines of that, Click the blue change button, click object types, click users, click advanced click find now which should be on the right hand side of the new window and all the possible user names of your computer should appear, click on the user you are using, click ok, click ok again on the "Advanced Security Settings for wuauserv" window, click apply on the bottom right then click okay. Now you should be able to change the registry editor data values, windows update settings and update your computer. If you need help just ask :)

Guardian Robertson-Hiri 6 Reputation points

2022-06-26T00:58:07.88+00:00

when in the registry editor go to Edit on the Top Bar, select 'Permissions', click on advanced which should be near the bottom of the small "Permissions for wuauserv" window. At the top left of the "Advanced Security Settings for wuauserv" window you'll see 'Owner: e.g LOCALUSER' or something along the lines of that, Click the blue change button, click object types, click users, click advanced click find now which should be on the right hand side of the new window and all the possible user names of your computer should appear, click on the user you are using, click ok, click ok again on the "Advanced Security Settings for wuauserv" window, click apply on the bottom right then click okay. Now you should be able to change the registry editor data values, windows update settings and update your computer. If you need help just ask :)\

Mpho Makhwarene 1 Reputation point

2022-10-09T08:50:25.177+00:00

stopupdates10guard service in services.msc disabling this fixed my problem

Ignatia Jennifer 0 Reputation points

2023-03-16T09:04:16.6233333+00:00

Hello, I got the same problem but after I checked the DWORD and changed it to 2, it says "Cannot edit Start: Error writing the value's new content". There's no stopupdates10guard too. Is there any solution? Thank you in advance!

27772953 36 Reputation points

2023-05-04T17:52:45.4466667+00:00

It seems that the answers to every aspect of this issue were in these comments that I hadn't read until now. Therefore my comment is not really necessary. Kudos to all that had this covered.
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.

Share via

Unable to set in "automatic" the windows update at services.msc

1 answer

Your answer