Server 2012 Error 80072EFE

Question

Good day have installed a fresh version of Server 2012 on a machine and windows update gives Error 80072EFE pretty sure this is related to missing security updates that's need to be installed first for it to work can anyone please advice to what updates must be installed first thank you

Answer 1

Hi,
For Windows Update 80072EFE error, firstly, we could check two things.
System time would be correct and Firwall has been disabled.

Trying to download and install the update manually from the Microsoft Update Catalog site. It might work, or you might get a more useful error message about why the update can't be installed.
https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Home.aspx
For Windows server 2012, if we want to install new security update, we need to install SSU firstly.
For Example, the latest security update is February 9, 2021—KB4601348 (Monthly Rollup). When we view the update history in the link below, we could see the latest SSU KB4566426 needed to be installed.
If the issue still insists, update the Windows Update Agent to the latest version.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/deployment/update-windows-update-agent
Hope this helps and please help to accept as Answer if the response is useful.
Best Regards,
Carl