If the server has downloaded automatically an update (such as the SharePoint ones), which you don’t want to install, try following these steps to delete the queue:

  • Open an elevated PowerShell, then run the following command
Stop-Service -Name "wuauserv"
  • Open an elevated PowerShell, then run the following commands to make a backup of the folders we’re going to delete.
cd C:\

'backupwinupdate', 'backupdatastore' | %{New-Item -Name "$_" -ItemType "Directory"}

Copy-Item -Path "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download" -Destination "C:\backupwinupdate" -Recurse
Copy-Item -Path "C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore" -Destination "C:\backupdatastore" -Recurse
  • Check that the backup has been created, then proceed to delete the content of the original folders:
Get-ChildItem -Path “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download” -Include * -File -Recurse | foreach { $_.Delete()}
Get-ChildItem -Path “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore” -Include * -File -Recurse | foreach { $_.Delete()}
  • After clearing the content, you can proceed to start Windows Update:
Start-Service -Name "wuauserv"

You’ll need to reboot at the end of this procedure.

Be sure to clean up the backup folders C:\backupwinupdate and C:\backupdatastore

Published by Azvise