Windows update fails on W2K19 CORE.

Question

Hi everyone!

How can I troubleshooting a failed Windows update on a W2K19 CORE server? I keep trying to install the updates, the server downloads, install and ask for reboot but after I check it again nothing happens.... it asks to install the same updates again and again.

How can I troubleshoot it deeper?

Thanks

Answer 1

Might also copy the ETLs to another machine that has internet.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/symbols-windows-update

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Answer 2

You may need to check the \windowsupdate.log, \cbs.log, \dism.log files for errors.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/windowsupdate/get-windowsupdatelog?view=win10-ps&preserve-view=tru

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Answer 3

Hi,

KB4576750 requires exclusive installation. Have you tried install KB4576750 first then install KB4586830?

• when asked to select an option, enter s
• when asked to enter the number of the update to download and install, enter 1
• If you get Installation Results: Succeeded, press return to continue to install KB4586830

If you have tried this, update logs are needed for troubleshooting.

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Answer 4

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your answers.

Well, I try to use PS to get the logs but I ran into another error:

PS C:\temp> Get-WindowsUpdateLog
Copy-Item : Cannot find path 'C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\SymSrv.dll' because it does not exist.
At C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\WindowsUpdate\WindowsUpdateLog.psm1:56 char:5

• Copy-Item -Path $SYMSRV_DLL_PATH -Destination $WORKDIR -Force -Er ...
• ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Program File...nder\SymSrv.dll:String) [Copy-Item], ItemNotFoundExce
  ption
• FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.CopyItemCommand

We removed Windows Defender (Remove-WindowsFeature Windows-Defender) from ours servers because we do not use it. Is there any workaround?

Thanks.

Answer 5

On time, solve it copying the SymSrv.dll file from 'C:\Windows\WinSxS' folder to 'C:\Program Files\Windows Defender' folder. Now, I got the following WindowsUpdate.log attached. Also, I found this:

Event[16]:
Log Name: Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient/Operational
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WindowsUpdateClient
Date: 2020-12-03T16:33:11.820
Event ID: 31
Task: Windows Update Agent
Level: Error
Opcode: Download
Keyword: Download,Failure
User: S-1-5-18
User Name: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: srvwi039.tce.ms
Description:
Windows Update failed to download an update.

45264-windowsupdate.log