Fixed! Windows Update Stuck At 0% In Windows 7/8/10

One of the most frequent errors faced by Windows users is the Windows Update Stuck at 0% error. The error message would look somewhat like the one in the following screenshot above.


This can be quite an annoyance as the error refuses to lead a normal happy life. There is no other way to deal with the hearted errors but to be a bit hard ourselves. Read on, to learn how to fix the Windows Update Stuck at 0% error on Windows 7/8/10 with a few number of easy steps.

Fix The Windows Update Stuck Issue In Windows 7/8

STEP 1

You have to open the Run dialog box first. You can either search for it and then launch it or you can directly launch the Run dialog box by pressing WIN+R keys together. Once the Run dialog box opens up, simply type in services.msc and hit Enter or press OK button.

STEP 2

Now the window for Services opens up. Scroll down and find the entry named Windows update. You need to stop this service. For that, simply right click on Windows update and then click on Stop option as shown in the screenshot.

STEP 3

As next, navigate to the path given below. You can simply copy paste the following path in the File Explorer navigation bar and hit Enter to reach the corresponding folder location.

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution

STEP 4

You will be able to view a number of files/folders in the SoftwareDistribution folder. These are the updates that are downloaded, but not installed. These files/folders can lead to the Windows update stuck at 0% error. So delete all these files to fix the issue. If the files cannot be deleted, simply reboot the system and try again.

STEP 5

Open the Services window again using the Run dialog box just like before. Find the Windows update service to Start it by right clicking on it. Or use the alternate option of clicking on Start the service as shown in the screenshot. This should get your updates downloading up and running.

Fix The Windows Update Stuck Issue In Windows 10

STEP 1

Launch Command Prompt in the administator mode. Once the Command Prompt is launched, type in the following commands one by one and hit Enter to stop the Windows update services.

net stop wuauserv

net stop bits

STEP 2

As next, navigate to the SoftwareDistribution folder by following the given path. Once there, select all the files/folders and hit Delete. If the files cannot be deleted, simply reboot the system and try again.

C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution

STEP 3

Now the Windows update services need to be started again. For that, type in te following commands in the Command Prompt one by one, under administrator privileges, and hit Enter.

net start wuauserv

net start bits

STEP 4

Now if you navigate to Settings->Updates & Security->Windows Update, you will be able to that the error is fixed.

Yup, that’s it. The next time, you get stuck at the Stuck error, don’t hesitate to try out our trick instead of running to a service center. Hope you found the article useful.