Why is the 2023-11 Cumulative Update Failing with error 0x800f0905

Question

Hi,

We have recently started migrating our servers from Windows 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2022 VMs. We installed each server from scratch using the Eval version of Windows Server 2022, which was later converted to Server Standard and activated. However, we are now facing an issue with 10 servers that refuse to install the November 2023 Cumulative Update, as well as subsequent updates. We have tried various solutions found on the internet, but none of them seem to work. Is there any solution available online, or is this a stubborn error that cannot be fixed? We invested a lot of money in this software and would appreciate any help.

The updates that are not installing are:

• KB5032198
• KB5033118
• KB5034129
• KB5034770

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Based on the description, I understand your question is related to windows update failure. The error code 0x800f0905 indicates there is corruption or problem with the Windows Update component.

You can try below fixs:

1. System File Checker (SFC) and DISM: These are built-in Windows tools that can repair system files. You can run these commands from the Command Prompt in Safe Mode:

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

2. Install the November update manually: Download the update package from: Microsoft Update Catalog
3. Follow the methods listed in below document to help fix:

Troubleshoot problems updating Windows - Microsoft Support

Have a nice day. 

Best Regards,

Molly

Answer 2

This does simply not help - the issue is much deeper than just trying to fix it with scans and dism, etc.

This is going on for a year if not more and the only viable solution for not is format or upgrade (when possible).

Answer 3

Sorry Molly,

But this is one of the solutions that I already tried, without success. I believe my best option now is to reinstall and migrate again. Perhaps, I could ask Microsoft to compensate me for the extra time and effort I have had to put into dealing with this problem myself. Thank you for your assistance.

Best Regards

Andras

Answer 4

Hello,

Thanks for yoru reply, if you decided to reinstall, refer to this link to do an in place upgrade to keep files:

Perform an in-place upgrade of Windows Server | Microsoft Learn

Best regards,

Molly

Answer 5

I believe this is because the Server 2022 EVAL version does not properly change to Standard when a valid product key is added and incorrect language packs and Eval packages remain installed after the fact. On our client's Windows Server 2022 Standard we see the following installed packages:

Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP-Component-SKU-ServerStandardEval-Eval-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.20348.1 | Installed | Feature Pack | 8/05/2021 9:45 AM

Microsoft-Windows-Server-LanguagePack-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~10.0.20348.1787

So not really sure which language pack to remove. I have yet to try this fix below, because we don't have 6 hours to wait around for a production server to reboot after removing the language package.

This may help someone.

Another user on Reddit noted a fix as follows: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/120p7qq/comment/jvwj83u/

discosoc •7mo ago

This is old and probably no longer useful for the OP but if anyone else comes across this, here's the how I was able to fix it after finding basically every advise online to be useless.

Symptoms: Updates fail with error code 0x800f0982. Manually installing the latest Comulative Update also fails. Attempts to repair with DISM from a local source also fail.

Cause: A previous update installed packages for multiple languages, at least one of which is does not have local package sources or is included in the normal ISO images (Polish, pl-PL in my case).

Resolution: in PowerShell as admin, run the below commdand to confirm the presence of extra language packs. Look for entries starting with "Microsoft-Windows-Server-LanguagePack" which should be grouped together. Towards the end of each name will be the language code (ko-KR, pl-PL, en-US, etc).

dism /online /get-packages /format:table

Next use the the below command with the full package name listed (copy/paste is ideal) to remove each non-English language pack (or whichever languages you aren't actually using).

dism /online /remove-package /packagename:<insert package name here>

Reboot the computer and it will run through an "Updating Windows" process and spinning dots before letting you log back in. This has been observed to take a very long time (6+ hours in the most recent case) so be patient and plan for the downtime.