Windows 10 windows update cache

Manually clearing the windows update cache will resolve most issues you might be having installing the latest windows updates on your machine.

In this guide I will show to step by step how to easily clear the windows update cache from your machine.

I work in IT and around patch Tuesday I am always visiting people and troubleshooting issues they have with windows updates.  I find that clearing the windows update cache will resolve most issues that you will face.

Some times you might also need to reset windows update components which I have also documented how to do below in this post.

Below I will show you three ways to clear the windows update cache from your machine.

I recommend you try the first manual method and if that does not work try the CMD and powershell method.

Manually

To delete the windows update cache manually do the following

1. Click start, type in “File Explorer” and left click on file explorer
   
2. Right click on “Local Disk (C:)” then left click properties
   
3. On the next windows click on “Disk Clean-up” 
   
4. Next click on “Clean up system files”
   
5. Make sure you tick the boxes next to  “Windows upgrade log files” and “Temporary Windows Installation files” then click on OK.  Your system will now remove these files from your machine.
   
6. Now click start and type in services and then left click on services application.
   
7. Scroll down and right click on Windows Update and click stop. Wait for the service to stop which usually takes less than a minute
   
8. Now open file explorer again and browse to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
   
   
9. Now right click on the download folder and select delete, Hit Yes if you are prompted
   
10. Reboot your machine

We have now managed to manually cleare the windows 10 update cache, Run windows update again to see if your issue is now resolved.

Via Command Prompt (CMD)

To delete the windows update cache via the command prompt (CMD) do the following

1. Click start, type in CMD then right click on “Command Prompt” and select run as administrator
2. If prompted by UAC click YES
3. In the command prompt window type in net stop wuauserv then hit enter (This will stop the windows 10 update application on your machine)
4. Type C: and hit enter
5. Type cd %Windir%\SoftwareDistribution and hit enter
6. Type del /f /s /q Download and hit enter
   
7. All of the windows 10 cache files on your machine will now be deleted
8. Restart your machine

Via Powershell

To remove the windows update cache via powershell do the following

1. Open powershell
2. copy and paste the below in to powershell
   

   net stop wuauserv net stop cryptSvc net stop bits net stop msiserver remove-item -path “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\*.*” -Force

3. Now restart your machine and install the update again

Via Script

To create a script to clear down the windows update cache follow these steps

1. Open notepad
2. Insert the below code in bold
   

   @Echo On net stop wuauserv C: cd %Windir%\SoftwareDistribution Type del /f /s /q Download pause

3. Save the file as Cleardown.cmd on your desktop
4. Right click on the Cleardown.cmd file and select run as administrator
5. When the script has finished it will pause so you can see the output of what it has done

How To Reset Windows Update Components In Windows

If the above solutions did not fix your issue you can try to reset the windows update components.

To Reset Windows Update Components In Windows 10 follow these steps

1. Click start, type in CMD then right click on “Command Prompt” and select run as administrator
2. If prompted by UAC click YES
3. In the command prompt window type in the following commands one by one
   

   net stop wuauserv net stop cryptSvc net stop bits net stop msiserver

4. Next run the following commands
   ren C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
   ren C:\Windows\System32\catroot2 Catroot2.old
5. Now restart your computer

Register BITS and Windows Update .dll Files

It is also a good idea to re-register windows 10 bits and windows update .dll file.  To do this follow these steps

• Click start, type in CMD then right click on “Command Prompt” and select run as administrator
• If prompted by UAC click YES
• In the command prompt window type in the following commands one by one
  cd /d %windir%\system32
  regsvr32.exe /s atl.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s urlmon.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s mshtml.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s shdocvw.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s browseui.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s jscript.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s vbscript.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s scrrun.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s msxml3.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s msxml6.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s actxprxy.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s softpub.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s wintrust.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s dssenh.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s rsaenh.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s cryptdlg.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s oleaut32.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s ole32.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s shell32.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s wuapi.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s wuaueng.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s wups.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s wups2.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s qmgr.dll
  regsvr32.exe /s wudriver.dll
• Restart your machine

Frequently Asked Questions