[newbee_4]

hi, desktop, Win 10 Pro, malwarebytes. 2 days ago, Windows Update ran, no issues. Today, keeps saying Your device is missing important security and quality fixes. Multiple attempts to download including from the admin account don't show anything new. Looking in the Update History, everything shows as Successful. No idea what is missing!

I have no intention of changing to Win 11 and do not have PC Health check, but do you think that might be what it is talking about? No other ideas. Everything seems to be working ok, malwarebytes finds no issues.

 

[Gary R]

Have you run the Update Troubleshooter ?

If not,

Type Troubleshoot into Search > click on Troubleshoot Settings in the search results > Click on Other Trouble-Shooters > Windows Update > Run

 

[newbee_4]

hi, yes I had already tried that. It didn't indicate any issues.
A little more background- I use a hardwired ethernet connection exclusively, the connection is definitely fine. As I usually do, I turned on the computer (full shut down before, I never use sleep or hibernate). Signed into the Limited account I mostly use , opened Settings and opened Malwarebytes before actually connecting the ethernet cable. This message was there before looking for updates.
After I saw the issue , I logged into the Admin account that is also the Microsoft account, and also the other Admin account. All showed the same message when I tried to run Windows Update. Several times updates actually occurred (I didn't notice, possible it was the same one several times?) . Never any other error messages. I'm keeping that computer offline at the moment while I back up files, but here are some photos I took with my phone in case they are useful? Also - lots of space on C, no other error messages, everything seems perfectly ok in every other way as far as I've noticed.

 

[newbee_4]

 

[Gary R]

In your search box type Command Prompt, then select Run as administrator from the list of options.
When prompted by UAC select Yes.

A Command Window will open, copy/type the following commands (below) in one at a time.

After you've entered each command, press Enter, and then let each command complete before you type the next command.

net stop bits

net stop wuauserv

ren %systemroot%\softwaredistribution softwaredistribution.bak

ren %systemroot%\system32\catroot2 catroot2.bak

net start bits

net start wuauserv


When these commands have all completed, close the Command Prompt window and restart your computer.

Please let me know if the problem persists.

 

[newbee_4]

So I connected to the internet and tried, first from the LImited account, which failed. Then again from the Admin account, which also failed. I took screenshots along the way and converted them to pdf, trying to attach here.

Still getting that same message, Your device is missing important security and quality fixes

 

[newbee_4]

cant tell if the pdfs came over so sending them again, also I ran Troubleshooter , posted here

 

[Gary R]

Let's see if your CBS.logs can tell us anything ...

• Open Windows Explorer and browse to the ... C:\Windows\Logs\CBS ... folder.
• Right click on it, and select ... Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder
• A message will appear stating, "Windows cannot create the Compressed (zipped) Folder here. Do you want it to be placed on the desktop instead?"
  • Answer Y to create a folder CBS.zip on your Desktop.
• Please attach it to your next post.
  • If the file is too large, please upload it to a file sharing service and provide the link to it in your next reply.
  • Examples of services to upload to are WeTransfer and TransferKit and SendFileOnline

 

[newbee_4]

here it hopefully is.....

 

[Gary R]

OK, from a quick scan through, it looks like there may be a problem with the SSU (Service Stack Update) you have installed.

What I recommend you do, is to open a topic at Sysnative .... Windows Update Forum Posting Instructions .... because they are the experts in dealing with Windows update problems.

My real expertise is in dealing with Malware, and though I am training to help with Windows Update problems (at the forum I've just linked you to), at this point in time I am far from competent enough to help you directly.

 

[newbee_4]

Many thanks and I will let you know how it turns out.

 

[Gary R]

You're welcome, and I'll be interested to find out exactly what the cause of your problem is.

 

[newbee_4]

hi! came back to answer. Sorry, it has been a while and it was quite a challenge. Here is a link to the sysnative forum thread

[SOLVED] - Your device is missing important security and quality fixes

I can't get rid of this message, which first appeared when I turned on the computer on January 11 2022 (not yet connected to the internet) after a couple of days. I seem to have updated successfully since then (last 3 days or so) but the message never disappears, and no idea what is wrong. I...

www.sysnative.com

Basically, my (limited) understanding is, probably at some point in the past a Windows Update didn't correctly install, but in a way that wasn't obvious until now. Reinstalling a particular update MSU seemed to do the trick. But I did not unfortunately understand some of the scripts that were run before that, so could be they were needed also. Going forward, I will go into Admin, end task for unrelated processes like Adobe, and try to have very little else running while running Windows Update. Hope this is useful! or that the linked thread is useful.

 

[Gary R]

Thanks for posting back. Glad you've got your problem resolved.

Since I'm a member over at SysNative, I've been watching your help topic over there with interest.

You were lucky to have PeterJ helping you, since he's probably the most experienced at resolving Windows Update problems.

Most update problems tend to be caused by previous updates that haven't installed correctly, the trick is trying to establish just exactly how they didn't install correctly, so that you can correct things, and unfortunately the updating process is quite complicated, so that's not always as easy as someone like Peter can make it look.

 

[newbee_4]

Thank you! Yes, he was great and his help much appreciated. I definitely would never have gotten there myself.

 

[Gary R]

That's true for most people. The Windows updating process is a whole lot more complicated than you would imagine, and there's a whole raft of things that have to happen for it to work properly, so unless you've studied the subject in some detail, then it's beyond the average person to resolve some update problems.

To be fair, 99% of the time Windows Updates functions without problem, and when it doesn't there are a number of semi-automated processes you can use to resolve things. However, as you've discovered, there are times when they don't resolve things, at which point people like Peter are a godsend.

I know, because he helped me with a problem as well, and it was working through it, that convinced me that it would be a good idea for me to study the subject further, which I am now in the process of doing.

 

[Rich-M]

Great read you two thanks so much for follow up this subject has long interested me and I must admit in my frustration at times I have just hidden the offending update it it won't install which I am certain is not what I should have done.

 

[Gary R]

Depends what kind of an update it was Rich. If it was a SSU (service stack update) then you'll find that you'll have problems installing future updates.

That's why you can't uninstall SSUs like you can other updates, and why if they go wrong, you can have so many knock on problems.

Of course with W10 & W11, updates are now cumulative, which means you download an update package that contains all the newly released updates, and the update orchestrator in your OS will install all those (and only those) that are appropriate for your machine.

A useful overview of the whole update process can be found in the following article ... How Windows Update works - Windows Deployment

 

[Rich-M]

Interesting read I didn't know any of that thanks!

 

[Gary R]

You're welcome Rich.

Until recently I knew as little as most people do (I still don't know that much), and it's been a bit of an uphill struggle for me to try and rectify that situation.

From what I've seen and read so far there's a lot to learn, and it will be quite some time before I'm anywhere near competent enough to advise people directly.