Fix "Some Updates Were Cancelled" in Windows 11 & 10
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"Some updates were cancelled. We'll keep trying in case new updates become available" almost never means your PC is broken — it means Windows Update stopped an update partway through and is waiting for the right conditions (storage, network, a clean service state, or a resumed pause) before it tries again. The fix, in order: check whether updates are paused and resume them, run the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter, then reset the update cache if the message keeps coming back. You do not need to touch the registry to do any of this.
Here's the part almost nobody flags: the exact registry key everyone still copies out of old 2017 forum threads for this message — a GUID sitting under RequestedAppCategories — belonged to the Insider Preview flighting system Microsoft retired years ago. That key doesn't exist on a current Windows 11 or Windows 10 install. Deleting a key that isn't there does nothing; hunting for it wastes the ten minutes you actually needed for the fix below.
What changed since we first wrote this
- Then (2017): this message showed up specifically on the Windows 10 Insider fast ring, build 15063, and the fix was deleting one Insider-specific registry key.
- Now: Windows 10's Insider fast ring for that era is long gone, and Windows 10 itself reached end of support on October 14, 2025. The same wording — "Some updates were cancelled" — now shows up on ordinary Windows 11 and Windows 10 installs, for ordinary Windows Update reasons: a paused update ring, a full disk, a stuck service, or a damaged update cache.
- What that means for you: the old registry key is a dead end. The fixes below are for the general, current version of this message.
What this message actually means
"Some updates were cancelled. We'll keep trying in case new updates become available" is Windows Update telling you, plainly, that one or more updates it had queued did not finish, and that it will retry automatically rather than leave your PC stuck. It sits on the Windows Update page in Settings, usually with no error code attached, which is exactly why it's frustrating — there's nothing to look up.
An update gets cancelled mid-flight for a handful of ordinary reasons: you (or your organization) paused updates and an install was in progress at that moment, the download or install ran out of disk space, a Windows Update-related service stopped responding, or the local update cache has a corrupted or half-written file in it. None of these are dramatic. All of them are fixable without reinstalling anything.
It's worth separating this from a genuine failure. A failure comes with an error code you can look up — something like 0x80070002 or 0x8024a206 — and it stops at that code until the underlying problem is fixed. "Some updates were cancelled" has no code because nothing actually failed in that sense; Windows simply couldn't finish this time and is planning to try again on its own schedule, which might be hours away. That's the real reason it feels stuck — you're watching a retry timer, not a broken process.
It also explains the retry itself. Windows doesn't immediately try again the second the cancellation happens — it works to its own background schedule, and that schedule can genuinely take longer than most people expect before the next automatic attempt. That's the entire reason the message exists in the first place: rather than leaving you staring at a dead end, Windows is telling you it plans to try again on its own, later, without asking. If you don't want to wait for "later," a manual "Check for updates" click, or working through the methods below, moves things along faster than leaving it alone.
♂️ Jake's Reality Check
"So it's not actually broken? Because I've had a customer's laptop sitting on my counter for two days with this thing just... looping."
Correct — it's not broken. It's waiting. The word "cancelled" makes it sound like a failure state, but it's Windows Update's polite way of saying "something interrupted this, try again when conditions are better." Two days of looping usually means the underlying cause (paused updates, low disk space, or a stuck service) hasn't been addressed yet — it's not going to fix itself just by sitting there.
Method 1: Check whether updates are paused
This is the fastest fix and the one people skip because it feels too simple. Microsoft's own documentation for the pause feature says it plainly: if an update is in progress when you pause updates, that update is cancelled outright. If you, a family member, or (on a managed PC) your organization's update policy paused updates recently, that alone can produce this exact message.
Both Windows 11 and 10
Open Settings (Win + I), go to the Windows Update page, and look for a "Resume updates" button. If you see one, click it — Windows will immediately check for updates again. You can pause updates for up to 35 days at a stretch, and it's common for someone to pause updates before a trip or a presentation and forget they did it.
✅ Why this is the one to try first
It costs one click, it directly matches the wording of the error ("cancelled" is literally what happens to an update when you pause mid-install), and it fixes the problem for a meaningful share of people who see this message. Nothing else on this page is faster to rule out.
On a managed work or school PC
If there's no "Resume updates" button and the page instead says your organization manages updates, or that updates were paused by policy, this isn't something you can override from Settings — an IT administrator controls it through Group Policy or Intune. Note the message down and hand it to them rather than chasing registry fixes on a PC you don't fully control.
Method 2: Run the Windows Update troubleshooter
The troubleshooter is Microsoft's own automated fixer for exactly this category of problem. It checks for stopped services, a broken update cache, and a few common configuration issues, then applies fixes on its own. It doesn't install the failed update for you — it clears whatever was blocking that update from being retried.
Windows 11
Open Settings, then go to System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters. Find Windows Update in the list and select Run. Let it finish, apply anything it suggests, and restart your PC before checking for updates again. You can reach the same screen faster by pressing Win + I and searching "troubleshoot" from inside Settings.
Windows 10
The path is different here: Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot > Additional troubleshooters. Under "Get up and running", select Windows Update, then Run the troubleshooter. Same rule applies — restart afterward, then check for updates.
⚠️ What this actually breaks
Nothing, in the normal case — the troubleshooter only touches update-related settings and services, not your files. The one thing to know: it can reset custom Windows Update policies (deferral periods, restart scheduling) back to default while "fixing" a broken configuration. If you deliberately set those, check them again afterward.
Which method to try first
| Method | Time needed | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Check for pause | 30 seconds | Always try this first |
| Windows Update troubleshooter | 5–10 minutes | No pause was active, or resuming didn't stick |
| Free up disk space | 5–20 minutes | Drive is under about 20 GB free, especially on a laptop with a small SSD |
| Restart update services | 2 minutes | Troubleshooter says "no problems detected" but it still happens |
| Reset the update cache | 10–15 minutes | It has been repeating for more than a day and nothing above fixed it |
| DISM + SFC | 20–40 minutes | Cache reset didn't help, and updates fail with a specific error code |
Method 3: Free up disk space
Feature updates in particular need a real chunk of free space to stage the new files alongside the old ones before switching over — Microsoft's own guidance puts it at roughly 20 GB free for a 64-bit install. If your drive is close to full, Windows Update will queue the download, hit the wall, and cancel — with exactly this message, and no error code, because from Windows Update's point of view nothing actually failed, it just couldn't proceed.
Go to Settings > System > Storage, and let Windows scan your drive. Temporary files, old Windows update leftovers, and the Downloads folder are usually the easiest wins. On a laptop with a 128 GB or 256 GB drive — Jake sells a lot of these — this is the single most common cause of a stuck update, more common than anything to do with services or the registry.
Worth knowing before you start deleting anything: don't touch the "Windows.old" folder if you see it and you upgraded recently, since that's your rollback path back to the previous version, not clutter. Everything else the Storage scan flags as temporary files is safe to clear.
Method 4: Restart the Windows Update-related services
Three background services do the actual work behind Windows Update: the Windows Update service itself (wuauserv), the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (bits), which handles the downloads, and Cryptographic Services (cryptsvc), which verifies update signatures. If one of these has stalled — not crashed, just stopped responding cleanly — updates will queue up and then quietly get cancelled without ever showing an error.
Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press Enter — this opens the Services console, the same one that's been part of Windows for decades, listing every background service on the PC. Find "Windows Update" in the list, right-click it, and choose Restart. If it isn't running at all, choose Start instead. Do the same for "Background Intelligent Transfer Service."
Method 5: Reset the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders
This is the one that fixes it when nothing above does. Windows Update keeps its downloaded packages, history, and working files in a folder called SoftwareDistribution, and its signature-verification data in a folder called catroot2. If a file in either one is corrupted or half-written — which is exactly what an interrupted download leaves behind — Windows Update will keep retrying against damaged data and keep cancelling.
Renaming these folders (not deleting them — rename, so you can put them back if something goes wrong) forces Windows to rebuild them from scratch on the next check. This is a Microsoft-documented, supported repair step, not a hack.
Steps for Windows 11 and Windows 10 (identical)
Open Command Prompt as administrator — right-click the Start button, choose "Terminal (Admin)" on Windows 11 or "Command Prompt (Admin)" on Windows 10 — and run these lines one at a time, pressing Enter after each:
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptsvc
ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren %systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start cryptsvc
net start bits
net start wuauserv
Restart your PC, then check for updates again. Windows recreates both folders automatically and starts the download fresh, so the first check afterward may take longer than usual — that's normal, not a sign it's stuck again.
✅ Why rename instead of delete
Renaming costs nothing and leaves you an escape hatch — if the rebuild somehow goes worse, you can stop the three services again, delete the new (empty) folders, and rename the .old ones back. Once you've confirmed updates are working normally again, it's safe to delete the old folders to reclaim the space.
Method 6: Check system files with DISM and SFC
If the cache reset doesn't help, the next layer down is the Windows component store — the set of system files updates get merged into. From an administrator Command Prompt or Terminal, run:
sfc /scannow
♂️ Jake's Reality Check
"This DISM thing — is it going to redownload half of Windows over my customer's terrible hotel Wi-Fi?"
It can, but only what it needs. DISM's default repair source is Windows Update itself, so it pulls down whatever component files are actually damaged — not a full reinstall. If the connection genuinely can't support that, it will simply fail and tell you so rather than hang indefinitely; in that case, the cache reset and a wired connection get you further than DISM will on hotel Wi-Fi.
Windows 11 vs. Windows 10: what's different here
These steps are the same on both. Where the OS matters is context, not commands:
Windows 11
25H2 is the mainstream released version as of this writing, with 24H2 still common on machines that haven't been offered the newer release yet. If you're on 24H2, be aware its extended-support clock for Home and Pro editions is running out in October 2026, which is a separate deadline from this update-cancelling issue but worth knowing if this PC hasn't updated in a while for other reasons.
Windows 10 — the one honest EOL line
Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. That doesn't mean it stops working or stops checking for updates — the mechanics in this guide behave exactly the same — but it does mean a Windows 10 22H2 PC without Extended Security Updates (ESU) enrollment isn't getting new security patches anymore, so "some updates were cancelled" on an unenrolled Windows 10 machine is worth pairing with a look at ESU (enroll through Settings > Windows Update, using a Microsoft account) or, longer term, a move to Windows 11 on hardware that supports it.
The adjacent task: confirming the update actually installed
Once the cancelling stops and Windows Update says you're up to date, the next honest question is whether it actually worked — a surprising number of people fix the cancelling loop, see a green checkmark, and never confirm the update they originally needed is really there.
Check the build number
Press Win + R, type winver, and press Enter. This opens a small window showing your exact Windows edition, version, and build number. Compare it against what you expected — if you were chasing a specific feature update, the version string here (like 25H2, or a build number such as 26200.8973) should match.
Check update history
Go to Settings > Windows Update > Update history. This lists every update Windows has attempted recently, with the date it was applied and whether it succeeded. If the update you were originally waiting on shows up here with today's date, you're done. If it's missing entirely, Windows Update considers it not yet offered to your PC — worth another manual "Check for updates" rather than assuming it's stuck.
If a specific KB still won't show up
Search the update history for the KB number you're expecting. If it's absent after everything above, it's possible the update hasn't rolled out to your device yet — Microsoft staggers rollout of many updates over days or weeks rather than releasing to every PC at once — or that a driver or hardware compatibility hold is delaying it specifically for your machine. Neither of those is fixed by anything in this guide; they resolve on their own as the rollout continues.
Edge cases worth knowing about
Third-party antivirus
Security software that hooks deeply into the system — some older or more aggressive antivirus suites do this — can occasionally interfere with an update mid-install, causing exactly this cancellation pattern. Open your antivirus's settings and check that a scan or a "protection" feature isn't actively blocking a file inside SoftwareDistribution or the Windows component store during the update window. You don't need to uninstall it; a temporary disable during one update check is enough to test the theory.
VPN connections
A VPN that routes all traffic, or one with an aggressive kill switch, can drop the connection to Microsoft's update servers mid-download. Disconnect the VPN, check for updates, and see if the message stops. If your organization requires the VPN, this is one to raise with IT rather than work around.
Laptops on battery
Feature updates in particular are more likely to defer or cancel on battery power below a certain level, since the install shouldn't be interrupted by the PC dying mid-write. Plug in before checking for updates if the message has been persistent on a laptop.
Virtual machines and remote desktop sessions
On a VM or a PC you're managing over Remote Desktop, an update that requires a restart can cancel itself if the session disconnects at the wrong moment, or if the hypervisor's own snapshot or checkpoint tooling interrupts disk writes mid-install. If this is happening specifically on a VM, check for a pending checkpoint operation before assuming it's the same cache or service issue affecting physical machines.
Managed PCs on WSUS, Intune, or Group Policy
On a work or school PC, an administrator can defer, pause, or block specific updates on purpose — a "safeguard hold" on a known-bad update, a deferral policy, or a paused update ring after a bad patch. None of the methods above will override organizational policy, and trying to force it with local registry edits on a managed device can conflict with what IT is intentionally doing. If you don't personally administer the PC, this message is information to report, not a problem to self-fix.
Should you use a third-party "Windows Update fixer" tool?
Ethan's take is this: "I've never once needed one, and I've fixed this exact message on customer machines more times than I can count. Every one of those tools is a wrapper around the same commands you just ran by hand — restarting services, clearing the cache, running the built-in troubleshooter. Some are fine. Some quietly install a browser extension you didn't ask for. Since you can't tell which is which from the download page, and you gain nothing the free, built-in tools don't already give you, there's no upside to trying one."
⚠️ What this actually risks
"Windows fixer" and "registry cleaner" utilities are one of the more common ways less careful users end up with adware or a browser hijacker on a PC that came in for a simple update problem. If a tool asks for anything beyond running the Microsoft-documented steps above, close it.
The privacy angle: what to check before you post your error online
If none of the above resolves it and you end up posting on a forum or in a Microsoft Q&A thread to ask for help, it's worth a second look at your screenshot before you hit submit. Update history and error screens don't normally expose anything sensitive, but the taskbar, desktop, and any open windows behind the Settings page often do — file names, email previews, browser tabs. Crop the screenshot to just the Windows Update panel rather than a full-screen capture, and leave out your device name and Microsoft account email if the thread doesn't specifically need them; the KB number, error code, and Windows build are the only details anyone troubleshooting the issue actually requires.
For the power user: automating the cache reset
If this is a machine you manage for other people — Jake keeps a version of this on a USB stick for the shop — the eight commands from Method 5 can be saved as a single script instead of re-typed on every PC that comes in. Open Notepad, paste the following, and save it as fix-update.bat (choose "All Files" as the save type so Notepad doesn't add a hidden .txt extension):
:: fix-update.bat — resets the Windows Update cache
net stop bits
net stop wuauserv
net stop cryptsvc
ren %systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
ren %systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.old
net start cryptsvc
net start bits
net start wuauserv
echo Done. Restart the PC, then check for updates.
pause
The script stops the three services, renames both folders so Windows rebuilds them fresh, restarts the services, and pauses at the end so you can read any output before the window closes. Start the file with an "echo off" line so the customer-facing window shows the plain status messages instead of every raw command scrolling past, and keep a comment line at the top noting the date you last updated the script — six months from now, a folder full of similarly named batch files is much easier to sort through with a date in each one than without.
Right-click the saved file and choose "Run as administrator" whenever a machine needs it. This doesn't replace judgment — if a PC has a genuinely full disk or an active organizational pause, the script won't fix either of those — but it turns the one repair step that actually resolves most stuck updates into a double-click instead of eight typed lines.
Frequently asked questions
What does "Some updates were cancelled, we'll keep trying" actually mean?
It means Windows Update queued one or more updates, something interrupted them before they finished, and Windows will retry automatically. It's not an error code and, by itself, doesn't tell you which of several possible causes is behind it.
Is this the same error from the old Windows 10 Insider Preview days?
Same wording, different cause. Back in 2017, on Insider build 15063, it was tied to a specific flighting registry key. That system doesn't exist anymore. Today's version of this message on Windows 11 or Windows 10 comes from ordinary causes: a pause, low disk space, a stuck service, or a damaged update cache.
Do I need to delete a registry key to fix it?
No, and the specific key from the old 2017 fix doesn't exist on current Windows anyway. None of the methods that reliably fix today's version of this message involve editing the registry.
Why do my updates keep cancelling themselves over and over?
A repeating cancellation usually means the underlying cause is still present — the disk is still nearly full, the pause is still active, or the update cache is still damaged. Work through the methods in order rather than just repeatedly clicking "Check for updates," which retries against the same unresolved problem.
Does pausing and resuming updates cause this message?
Pausing while an update is in progress cancels that update by design — Microsoft's own documentation confirms this. If you or someone else paused updates recently, that alone can explain the message, and resuming is usually enough to clear it.
Will running the Windows Update troubleshooter delete my files?
No. It resets Windows Update-related settings and services, not your personal files or installed apps. It can, in the process, reset custom update deferral or restart-scheduling settings back to their defaults.
How much free disk space do updates actually need?
Microsoft's general guidance for installing or upgrading Windows is roughly 20 GB free on a 64-bit system. Smaller quality updates need far less, but if your drive is close to full, that's still a reasonable target before troubleshooting anything else.
Does a VPN really interfere with Windows Update?
It can. A VPN that drops or interrupts the connection mid-download can cause an update to cancel partway through. Disconnecting it temporarily to check for updates is a quick way to test whether it's the cause.
Is it safe to rename SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2?
Yes — it's a Microsoft-documented, supported repair step. Renaming rather than deleting means you can restore the originals if something unexpected happens, though in practice Windows simply rebuilds fresh versions on the next update check.
What's the difference between this and Windows Update actually failing with an error code?
This message typically appears with no error code — it's a retry state, not a failure state. If you instead see a specific code (something like 0x80070002 or 0x8024a206) in your update history, that points to a distinct, identifiable problem and is worth looking up by that exact code.
Can antivirus software cause this message?
Occasionally, yes, if it actively interferes with files being written during an update. It's not the most common cause, but worth testing with a temporary disable if the more common fixes don't help.
Does this affect Windows 10 differently now that support has ended?
The mechanics of the message are identical. What changed is the stakes: on an unenrolled Windows 10 22H2 PC, new security updates have stopped arriving since October 14, 2025, so a stuck update is also a reminder to check ESU enrollment or plan a move to Windows 11.
Should I use a third-party "Windows Update fixer" tool?
There's no reason to. Every legitimate fix these tools apply is a built-in Windows command or setting you can run yourself for free, without giving a third-party program access to your system.
Can my company's network policy be causing this on a work PC?
Yes. WSUS, Intune, and Group Policy can all pause, defer, or hold back specific updates deliberately. If your PC is managed, this is a question for IT rather than something to fix by yourself.
What if this update was actually needed for a security fix, not just a feature?
Treat it the same way — the fixes above apply equally to quality (security) updates and feature updates. If it's a security update specifically, don't leave it cancelled indefinitely; work through the methods above the same day rather than letting it retry on its own schedule for a week.
What if none of these methods work?
Note the exact error code from Windows Update > Update history (not just the "cancelled" message, if a code appears at all), and try the built-in Get Help app's Windows Update troubleshooter, which runs a more thorough diagnostic than the Settings version. If the same specific update keeps failing after all of the above, an in-place repair install — reinstalling Windows over itself while keeping your files and apps — resolves the deeper component-store damage that DISM and SFC sometimes can't reach on their own.
Revision note. Originally published March 21, 2017, back when this message was tied to a single Windows 10 Insider Preview build and one specific registry key. Rewritten August 19, 2026 for Windows 11 and Windows 10 as they exist today. Microsoft has since retired the Insider flighting system that key belonged to, and this same error wording now shows up for far more ordinary reasons — so the fix moved from a one-time registry deletion to the general troubleshooting steps above. If you've been staring at this message for a couple of days already, hopefully one of the methods above gets you unstuck before you have to touch anything more drastic.