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In Windows 10, I select get help, Virtual Agent comes up but only see dots endlessly passing through window.
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I found the solution. It was as simple as disabling my firewall and checking for updates. The problem KB5020683 file is now gone, and Windows Update says, "You're up to date." Prior to this, I spent many hours trying solutions I found online and downloading and running tools. I wish I had found the simple firewall fix first.
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Hi Robert Whitehead,
I'm glad to hear you were able to resolve the issue and thank you for sharing the solution.
It's helpful to know that temporarily disabling the firewall allowed Windows Update to complete successfully and that KB5020683 is no longer being offered. Your experience may help other community members who encounter a similar update issue.
Thank you for coming back and posting the outcome. Have a great day!
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Hi Robert Whitehead,
Windows 10 has reached End of Service, so support is limited, but I'd like to narrow this down first.
I understand how frustrating it is when the Virtual Agent in Get Help never loads and only shows the moving dots.
To help narrow this down, could you confirm:
In the meantime, please try the following:
1, Reset the Get Help app:
2, Check whether the issue occurs on a different network (for example, a mobile hotspot) to rule out a connection-related problem.
3, Open Microsoft Store, search for “Get Help”, and check whether an update is available.
I look forward to your update.
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"Get Help" is now working. I ended up reinstalling Windows 10 and have got some of the issues fixed. Windows update is having problems. I have successfully installed eight updates but have one that failed. It is (KB5020683) with error code 0x800f0984.
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Hi Robert Whitehead,
I'm glad to hear that reinstalling Windows 10 resolved the Get Help issue and that you're making progress with Windows Update.
Regarding KB5020683 (error 0x800f0984), could you confirm whether this update is still being offered repeatedly by Windows Update, or if it was a one-time failure and newer updates are now installing successfully?
In the meantime, you can try:
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
sfc /scannow
After both commands complete, restart the computer and check Windows Update again.
Since Windows 10 has reached End of Service, support is limited, but these steps can often help resolve update-related errors.
First, all of my problems started after a power serge and outage that corrupted Windows so bad it needed to be reinstalled.
I do not know if KB5020683 is being offered repeatedly but it is listed in the update history and noted as "Failed to install on 6/30/2026." Yesterday I did wonder if other updates were coming in okay but was not sure and decided to watch for that. This morning when I selected "Check for updates" a new definition update came in. Windows Update still says "You're not up to date" and "Your device is missing important security and quality fixes." I am enrolled in the Extended Security Updates. I also tried to download KB5020683 directly from Microsoft, but it could not be found.
I have run the troubleshooter many times and initially it found an issue, but I do not remember what it was, and running it again returned "Troubleshooting couldn't identify the problem." I will run the commands you suggest, restart and check Updates again. These commands look very familiar. I have tried things I found online and things that Copilot had me try. When something Copilot had me try did not work, it always had something else to try. This seemed like it would have continued forever, and I worried it was making things worse, so I decided to stop and just reinstall Windows 10 and start over. After starting over and fixing issues with "Get Help" and Copilot, I decided to just accept that my PC was not up to date and accept the risks. I continued setting up my PC. Then, a while later I checked Windows Update, and I was up to date and KB5020683 was no longer in the update history. It seemed to eventually fix itself. I wondered if something I did setting up my PC fixed the problem. One item edited the registry. This time around the problem persists even after I think I have done all of the same steps.
By this time around, I mean I have repeated this process several times. When my PC seems to be okay, I have tried to install AutoCAD Architecture 2011 (ACA2011). I have installed the ACA2011 software many times on Windows 7 and Windows 10. It technically is not compatible with Windows 10 but runs okay with only a couple minor issues. When I installed it a couple days ago, I decided to install it in compatibility mode for Windows 7 and ran into an activation issue when it finished and could not open the program. When I uninstalled ACA2011 it corrupted Windows and I needed to reinstall Windows. I thought the ACA2011 activation issue and corrupting Windows after uninstalling it was due to installing it in compatibility mode for Windows 7. After installing Windows again, I decided to just install ACA2011 the normal way as I had previously done with no problems. After installation completed, I had the same activation issue and could not open the program. I now think that there is something different with this version of Windows that is causing the activation issue that I did not have on numerous other installations. I contacted Autodesk, who makes ACA2011 for help but due to the age of the product, they said they could not help. They did offer me ACA2012, however. I should have left things as they were, but before installing ACA2012, I decided to uninstall ACA2011. When I uninstalled ACA2011 it again corrupted Windows and I needed to reinstall Windows again. That is pretty much the whole story of how I got to this point.
I ran the suggested commands and restarted. The first, DISM... returned "The restore operation completed successfully." The second, sfc /scannow returned "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them." After restarting and "Check Updates" a new definition came in but Windows Update still says, "You're not up to date" and "Your device is missing important security and quality fixes."
KB5020683 is still listed in the update history and noted as "Failed to install on 6/30/2026."