Windows 10 offers you the choice of when and how to get the latest updates to keep your device running smoothly and securely.

Windows updates are important. It’s recommend to keep automatic updates turned on, as it’s one of the best ways to keep yourself safe from ransomware and other malwares, viruses and online threats. With automatic updates turned off, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to new and emerging attacks.

However, automatic updates for Windows are great in theory, but they doesn’t always work as expected. So in the occasional events, you encounter any update errors (usually you get an error message and an associated error code), you can use this guided walk-through from Microsoft to resolve the issue.

It’s imperative to point out that most common cause of failed updates is that there are usually two updates waiting. If one is a Servicing Stack Update (SSU), it has to install first, and the PC has to restart before it can install the next update. So before you run the troubleshooter, check if you’re still connected to the internet, restart your PC, then try updating again. Also, before you proceed with the online troubleshooter, if restarting doesn’t fix the update issue, you can download and run the Windows Update Reset tool.

To run the tool after you have extracted it from the downloaded zipped folder, right-click wureset_x64 (64bit) file or wureset_x86 (32bit) file depending on your system architecture, then select ‘Run as administrator’.

To select an option, type the number corresponding to the operation you want performed, then hit Enter key. After you must have completed the operations you want, reboot PC. Then see if Windows Update will continue successfully.

In cases, where all of the above methods fails, you’ll need the help of a Windows 10 advanced user to diagnose & resolve the update issues you’re experiencing.